|
|
|
Beneath a Marble Sky
Journey to dazzling seventeenth-century Hindustan, where the reigning emperor, consumed with grief over the tragic death of his beloved wife, commissions the building of the Taj Mahal as a testament to the marvel of their love. Princess Jahanara, their courageous daughter, recounts their mesmerizing tale, while sharing her own parallel tale of forbidden love with the celebrated architect of the Taj Mahal. This impressive novel sweeps readers away to a historical Hindustan brimming with action and intrigue in an era when, alongside the brutalities of war and oppression, architecture and the art of love and passion reached a pinnacle of perfection..
Price: $2.99
[ Notify me when price goes down.]
|
|
Doomed Queens: Royal Women Who Met Bad Ends, From Cleopatra to Princess Di
Illicit love, madness, betrayal--it isn’t always good to be the queen Marie Antoinette, Anne Boleyn, and Mary, Queen of Scots. What did they have in common? For a while they were crowned in gold, cosseted in silk, and flattered by courtiers But in the end, they spent long nights in dark prison towers and were marched to the scaffold where they surrendered their heads to the executioner. And they are hardly alone in their undignified demises. Throughout history, royal women have had a distressing way of meeting bad ends--dying of starvation, being burned at the stake, or expiring in childbirth while trying desperately to produce an heir. They always had to be on their toes and all too often even devious plotting, miraculous pregnancies, and selling out their sisters was not enough to keep them from forcible consignment to religious orders. From Cleopatra (suicide by asp), to Princess Caroline (suspiciously poisoned on her coronation day), there’s a gory downside to being blue-blooded when you lack a Y chromosome. Kris Waldherr’s elegant little book is a chronicle of the trials and tribulations of queens across the ages, a quirky, funny, utterly macabre tribute to the dark side of female empowerment. Over the course of fifty irresistibly illustrated and too-brief lives, Doomed Queens charts centuries of regal backstabbing and intrigue. We meet well-known figures like Catherine of Aragon, whose happy marriage to Henry VIII ended prematurely when it became clear that she was a starter wife--the first of six. And we meet forgotten queens like Amalasuntha, the notoriously literate Ostrogoth princess who overreached politically and was strangled in her bath. While their ends were bleak, these queens did not die without purpose. Their unfortunate lives are colorful cautionary tales for today’s would-be power brokers--a legacy of worldly and womanly wisdom gathered one spectacular regal ruin at a time. .
Price: $8.49
[ Notify me when price goes down.]
|
|
Imperial Woman (Buck, Pearl S. Oriental Novels of Pearl S. Buck, 3rd,)
The story of Tzu Hsi is the story of the last Empress in China. In the novel Nobel Prize winner Pearl S. Buck recreates the life of one of the most intriguing rulers during a time of intense turbulence. Tzu Hsi was born into one of the lowly ranks of the Imperial dynasty. According to custom, she moved to the Forbidden City at the age of seventeen to become one of hundreds of concubines. But her singular beauty and powers of manipulation quickly moved her into the position of Second Consort. Tzu Hsi was feared and hated by many in the court, but adored by the people. The Empress's rise to power (even during her husband's life) parallels the story of China's transition from the ancient to the modern way. Pearl S. Buck's knowledge of and fascination with the Empress's life are contagious. She reveals the essence of this self-involved and infamous last Empress, at the same time she takes the reader through China's struggle for freedom and democracy. .
Price: $8.06
[ Notify me when price goes down.]
|
|
The Snow Empress: A Thriller (Sano Ichiro Novels)
Japan, 1699: On a moonlit night on the northern frontier island of Ezogashima, a woman is running through the forest when an arrow strikes her dead. Meanwhile, in the city of Edo, the young son of Sano Ichiro, the samurai detective who has risen to power in the shogun’s court, vanishes during a moon-watching festival. When one of Sano’s political rivals hints that the boy was kidnapped—and may be in Ezogashima—he and his wife, Reiko, begin a desperate journey to find their son…only to discover that the local ruler, Lord Matsumae, is holding the entire province hostage for another crime: The murder of his mistress. So Sano strikes a deal: He will solve the mistress’s murder if Matsumae will free the hostages and return his son. Soon, however, Sano and Reiko find themselves caught up in a dangerous scheme that includes clan warfare, bitter jealousy, and murderous betrayal as they race to unravel the mystery of THE SNOW EMPRESS.
Price: $3.13
[ Notify me when price goes down.]
|
|
When Christ and His Saints Slept: A Novel
"A COMPELLING, WELL-WRITTEN EPIC. . .Penman is an accomplished novelist and certainly has staked a claim to medieval England as her literary fiefdom." --The Philadelphia Inquirer A.D. 1135. As church bells tolled for the death of England's King Henry I, his barons faced the unwelcome prospect of being ruled by a woman: Henry's beautiful daughter Maude, Countess of Anjou. But before Maude could claim her throne, her cousin Stephen seized it. In their long and bitter struggle, all of England bled and burned. Sharon Kay Penman's magnificent fifth novel summons to life a spectacular medieval tragedy whose unfolding breaks the heart even as it prepares the way for splendors to come--the glorious age of Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Plantagenets that would soon illumine the world. "[A] marvelous medieval pageant of a novel. . .Another jewel in [Penman's] already glittering crown." --The Orlando Sentinel "Penman once again tells a tale of kings and queens, singular destinies, and double-crosses. . . .[She] inventively animates a large cast [and] continues to base her narrative on the firm ground of fact." --Kirkus Reviews.
Price: $8.59
[ Notify me when price goes down.]
|
|
Nicholas and Alexandra
|
|
Kiki Strike: The Empress's Tomb (Kiki Strike)
Kiki Strike and the Irregulars saved the world last night. You might want to send them a thank you note. Ananka Fishbein’s mother considers her the resident underachiever of the Upper East Side. Of course, she doesn’t know Ananka’s nights are all about hanging with a butt-kicking superspy named Kiki Strike and their friends, the Irregulars If Ananka’s mom knew her daughter was responsible for protecting a secret world under New York City, she wouldn’t think about sending Ananka to boarding school . . . on a farm! But Ananka doesn’t have time to clean up that misunderstanding. Not when a runaway hottie may have stolen a secret map, a long lost father appears, a two-thousand-year-old Chinese mummy needs saving and way too many secrets threaten the very existence of the Irregulars. .
Price: $4.34
[ Notify me when price goes down.]
|
|
The Last Great Dance on Earth
The Last Great Dance on Earth is the triumphant final volume of Sandra Gulland's beloved trilogy based on the life of Josephine Bonaparte. When the novel opens, Josephine and Napoleon have been married for four tumultuous years. Napoleon is Josephine's great love, and she his. But their passionate union is troubled from within, as Josephine is unable to produce an heir, and from without, as England makes war against France and Napoleon's Corsican clan makes war against his wife. Through Josephine's heartfelt diary entries, we witness the personal betrayals and political intrigues that will finally drive them apart, culminating in Josephine's greatest tragedy: her divorce from Napoleon and his exile to Elba. The Last Great Dance on Earth is historical fiction on a grand scale and the stirring conclusion to an unforgettable love story..
Price: $3.49
[Notify me when price goes down.]
|
|
Tales Of Passion Tales Of Woe
Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe is the much-awaited sequel to Sandra Gulland's highly acclaimed first novel, The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. Beginning in Paris in 1796, the saga continues as Josephine awakens to her new life as Mrs. Napoleon Bonaparte. Through her intimate diary entries and Napoleon's impassioned love letters, an astonishing portrait of an incredible woman emerges. Gulland transports us into the ballrooms and bedrooms of exquisite palaces and onto the blood-soaked fields of Napoleon's campaigns. As Napoleon marches to power, we witness, through Josephine, the political intrigues and personal betrayals -- both sexual and psychological -- that result in death, ruin, and victory for those closest to her..
Price: $3.65
[Notify me when price goes down.]
|
|
|
|
|
