Historical fiction genre books (1180)


821.

The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar EN

Rating: 5 (2 votes)
Country: Asia / Iran flag Iran
Description:
An extraordinarily powerful and evocative literary novel set in Iran in the period immediately after the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Using the lyrical magic realism style of classical Persian storytelling, Azar draws the reader deep into the heart of a family caught in the maelstrom of post-revolutionary chaos and brutality that sweeps across an ancient land and its people. The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree is really an embodiment of Iranian life in constant oscillation, struggle, and play between four opposing poles: life and death; politics and religion. The sorrow residing in the dept... continue

822.

The Epic of Askia Mohammed by Nouhou Malio EN

Rating: 4 (3 votes)
Country: Africa / Niger flag Niger
Description:
Askia Mohammed is the most famous leader in the history of the Songhay Empire, which reached its apogee during his reign in 1493-1528. Songhay, approximately halfway between the present-day cities of Timbuktu in Mali and Niamey in Niger, became a political force beginning in 1463, under the leadership of Sonni Ali Ber. By the time of his death in 1492, the foundation had been laid for the development under Askia Mohammed of a complex system of administration, a well-equipped army and navy, and a network of large government-owned farms. The present rendition of the epic was narrated by the grio... continue


824.

The Evenings: A Winter’s Tale by Gerard Reve EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Country: Europe / Netherlands flag Netherlands
Description:
THE FIRST ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF A POSTWAR MASTERPIECE 'I work in an office. I take cards out of a file. Once I have taken them out, I put them back in again. That is it.' Twenty-three-year-old Frits - office worker, daydreamer, teller of inappropriate jokes - finds life absurd and inexplicable. He lives with his parents, who drive him mad. He has terrible, disturbing dreams of death and destruction. Sometimes he talks to a toy rabbit. This is the story of ten evenings in Frits's life at the end of December, as he drinks, smokes, sees friends, aimlessly wanders the gloomy city street and tries... continue

825.

The Expatriates by Janice Y. K. Lee EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / China flag China
Description:
A traumatized college graduate, a lonely housewife, and a burned-out mother of three endure the challenges of their respective demons and families in the face of unexpected consequences within their American expat community in Hong Kong.

826.

The Expedition to the Baobab Tree by Wilma Stockenstrom EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Description:
Wearily, I take the path to the river, there in the cool to fill my being with the sounds of my sister-being, to refresh myself in the modest scents of pigeonwood and mitzeerie, to let my gaze end in a tangle of monkey ropes and fern arches and the slowly descending leaves, and to find rest, all day long, all night long. A young slave girl accompanies her owner on an expedition into the African interior in search of a mythical city. In unfamiliar terrain, the party gets lost. One by one, our narrator's companions disappear, leaving her to take refuge in the hollow of a baobab tree. There, she ... continue

827.

The Fall of the Stone City by Ismail Kadare EN

0 Ratings
Country: Europe / Albania flag Albania
Description:
From the Man Booker International Prize winner comes a story of the great city of Gjirokaster and of a secret meeting that may have changed the face of Europe in the twentieth century

828.

The Far Away Girl: A Heartbreaking and Gripping Novel of Tragedy and Secrets by Sharon Maas EN

0 Ratings
Description:
She dreamed of finding a new life... Georgetown, Guyana 1970. Seven-year-old Rita is running wild in her ramshackle white wooden house by the sea, under the indulgent eye of her absent-minded father. Surrounded by her army of stray pets, free to play where she likes and climb the oleander trees, she couldn't feel more alive. But then her new stepmother Chandra arrives and the house empties of love and laughter. Rita's pets are removed, her freedom curtailed, and before long, there's a new baby sister on the way. There's no room for Rita anymore. With her father distracted by his new family, Ri... continue

829.

The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat EN

Rating: 4 (3 votes)
Description:
It is 1937, and Amabelle Desir is a young Haitian woman working as a maid for a wealthy family in the Dominican Republic, across the border from her homeland. The Republic, under the iron rule of the Generalissimo, treats the Haitians as second-class citizens, and although Amabelle feels a strong sense of loyalty to her employers, especially since her own parents drowned crossing the river from Haiti, racial tensions are heightened when Amabelle's boss accidentally kills a Haitian in a car accident. The accident is a catalyst for a systematic round-up of Haitians, ostensibly for repatriation b... continue

830.

The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Country: South America / Peru flag Peru
Description:
Haunted all her life by feelings of terror and emptiness, forty-nine-year-old Urania Cabral returns to her native Dominican Republic - and finds herself reliving the events of l961, when the capital was still called Trujillo City and one old man terrorized a nation of three million. Rafael Trujillo, the depraved ailing dictator whom Dominicans call the Goat, controls his inner circle with a combination of violence and blackmail. In Trujillo's gaudy palace, treachery and cowardice have become a way of life. But Trujillo's grasp is slipping. There is a conspiracy against him, and a Machiavellian... continue