True Fiction

We talk a lot about the historic and the famous, but what were these people really like? Explore the possibilities with these novels featuring real-life people as characters. Feed your imagination with behind-the-scenes looks at important events and interesting people. And who knows? They could be true.

Circling the Sun by Paula McLain

By the author of The Paris Wife, this novel tells of the exploits of Beryl Markham, aviator, horse trainer,  and adventuress living in Kenya in the early 20^th century. Brave and passionate, Markham comes to life as she moves through British East Africa.

Abundance:A Novel of Marie Antoinette by Sena Jeter Naslund

From her arrival at French court at 14 to her death at the hands of revolutionaries, Marie tells her own story. An intimate portrait of this fascinating and much-maligned woman.

Under theWide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan

Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and his American wife Fanny Osbourne have an intense and tumultuous marriage. The story of their lives together and apart is powerful yet unpredictable.

Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin

As she nears her 81^st birthday, the inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland looks back, from her Victorian childhood to now looming World War I. Yet that pivotal summer when she served as a muse continues to haunt her entire life.

Blood and Beauty by Sarah Dunant

Bastard children of Pope Alexander VI, Cesare and Lucretia Borgia plot and conspire in the chaos of 15^th-century Italy. Corruption and brutality are the norm for this family in their pursuit of power.