The story, whether you call it a romance, a historical novel or a horror story - comprising as it does a young woman being offered as a prize in a bowling match, a wife-burning, highwaymen and buried treasure - is of course wholly fiction.

The eight-year-old Princess Irene is lonely in her castle that sits on a mountain. She has only her nursemaid, Lootie, for company. She discovers a a secret, and soon she overhears a fiendish plot by some goblins. Can she foil their plans? George MacDonald's fairy tale "The Princess and the Goblin" is one of the first books in the modern fantasy genre.

'Rupert of Hentzau' (1898) picks up three years after 'The Prisoner of Zenda' ended with Rudolf Rassendyll sadly leaving behind his love, Queen Flavia. Now unhappily married, Flavia writes Rassendyll to reconcile, but the letter is stolen and before long, Rassendyll once again finds himself forced to impersonate the king. Only this time, the ploy promises to leave behind several fatalities.A decidedly darker sequel, this novel once again asks the question, Duty or love? And the ans...

When the Gentleman, Rudolf Rassendyll, leaves behind his quiet English life for a little vacation, he has no idea was he is about the get involved in.'The Prisoner of Zenda' (1894) may on the surface look like your classic story of the young brother of a king plotting the disappearance of his older brother to get to the throne. But this is where comparisons end. Because when King Rudolf gets drugged on the eve of his coronation, his half-brother fails to consider that a distant cou...

HHhH: "Himmlers Hirn heisst Heydrich," or "Himmler's brain is called Heydrich." The most dangerous man in Hitler's cabinet, Reinhard Heydrich was known as the "Butcher of Prague." He was feared by all and loathed by most. With his cold Aryan features and implacable cruelty, Heydrich seemed indestructible—until two men, a Slovak and a Czech recruited by the British secret service—killed him in broad daylight on a bustling street in Prague, and thus changed the course of Hi...

The Well at the World's End is thought to be one of the first examples of an entirely fictional fantasy world, and has greatly influenced later fantasy writers such as C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. The book follows the travels of Ralph, a prince of a tiny country, as he disobeys his fathers wishes and runs away from home to adventure in the world, and seek out the fabled Well at World's End, said to grant eternal youth to those who drink from it.

Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman in his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world.Given the choice between defending Britannia’s frontier against the mighty Sikh army and pleasuring a ravishing maharani in the Court of the Punjab, Flashman knew where he’d rather be. Of course, that was before he found out about the torture chambers or the malevolent inf...

Harry Flashman: the unrepentant bully of Tom Brown’s schooldays, now with a Victoria Cross, has three main talents – horsemanship, facility with foreign languages and fornication. A reluctant military hero, Flashman plays a key part in most of the defining military campaigns of the 19th century, despite trying his utmost to escape them all.When our hero Flashman accepts an invitation from his old enemy, Tom Brown of Rugby, to join in a friendly cricket match, he does not suspect th...

Narrated by Armistead Maupin""Remarkable. . . delectable, addictive."" —New York Times Book ReviewThe second novel in the beloved Tales of the City series, Armistead Maupin’s bestselling San Francisco saga.The tenants of 28 Barbary Lane have fled their cozy nest for adventures far afield. Mary Ann Singleton finds love at sea with a forgetful stranger, Mona Ramsey discovers her doppelgänger in a des...

In Volume II of the Flashman Papers, Flashman tangles with femme fatale Lola Montez and the dastardly Otto Von Bismarck in a battle of wits which will decide the destiny of a continent.In this volume of The Flashman Papers, Flashman, the arch-cad and toady, matches his wits, his talents for deceit and malice, and above all his speed in evasion against the most brilliant European statesman and against the most beauiful and unscrupulous adventuress of the era.From London gami...

Just before his regiment sails off to war in the Sudan, British officer Harry Feversham resigns his commission, wanting desperately to be free of his family’s proud military heritage and terrified of risking his life. He is immediately given four white feathers as symbols of cowardice, one by each of his three best friends and one by his fiancée. To disprove this grave dishonor, Harry dons an Arabian disguise and leaves for the Sudan, where he anonymously comes to the aid of his three frie...

An exploration of the British monarchy from the retreat of the Romans up until the modern day.The monarchy is one of Britain’s longest surviving institutions – as well as one of its most tumultuous and revered. In this masterful book, David Starkey looks at the monarchy as a whole, charting its history from Roman times, to the Wars of the Roses, the chaos of the Civil War, the fall of Charles I and Cromwell's emergence as Lord Protector – all the way up until the Victorian era when...