Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK Now a major motion picture starring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes Lady Georgiana Spencer was the great-great-great-great-aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales, and was nearly as famous in her day. In 1774 Georgiana achieved immediate celebrity by marrying William Cavendish, fifth duke of Devonshire, one of England’s richest and most influential aristocrats. She became the queen of... (more)

Lust for Life

by Irving Stone

No artist has been more ruthlessly driven by his creative urge, nor more isolated by it from most ordinary sources of human happiness, than Vincent Van Gogh. A painter of genius, his life was an incessant struggle against poverty, discouragement, madness and despair. Lust for Life skilfully captures the exciting atmosphere of the Paris of the Post-Impressionists and reconstructs with great insight the development... (more)

Mary, Bloody Mary: A Young Royals Book

by Carolyn Meyer

The story of Mary Tudor's childhood is a classic fairy tale: A princess who is to inherit the throne of England is separated from her mother; abused by an evil stepmother who has enchanted her father; stripped of her title; and forced to care for her baby stepsister, who inherits Mary's rights to the throne. Believe it or not, it's all true. Told in the voice of the young Mary, this novel explores the history and... (more)

The President's Lady: A Novel about Rachel and Andrew Jackson

The President's Lady: A Novel about Rachel and Andrew Jackson

by Irving Stone

In this acclaimed biographical novel, Irving Stone brings to life the tender and poignant love story of Rachel and Andrew Jackson. "Beyond any doubt one of the great romances of all time." -- The Saturday Review of Literature

Sacajawea (Lewis & Clark Expedition)

by Anna Lee Waldo

Clad in a doeskin, alone and unafraid, she stood straight and proud before the onrushing forces of America's destiny: Sacajawea, child of a Shoshoni chief, lone woman on Lewis and Clark's historic trek -- beautiful spear of a dying nation. She knew many men, walked many miles. From the whispering prairies, across the Great Divide to the crystal capped Rockies and on to the emerald promise of the Pacific... (more)

The Agony and the Ecstasy

by Irving Stone

Fictional depiction of Michelangelo. Includes bibliography, glossary and a list of the artist's works.

Lucrezia Borgia: A Novel

by John Faunce

“A fascinating story, rich in detail. In every case, Faunce portrays <Lucrezia> believably, with wit and sensitivity.”--Library Journal Hundreds of years after her death, Lucrezia Borgia remains one of the most enigmatic and notorious women of history, accused of incest, of poisoning her rivals, and even of murdering her own father. Born into scandal, she was the daughter of the treacherous Cardinal... (more)

Duchessina: A Novel of Catherine de' Medici (Young Royals)

Duchessina: A Novel of Catherine de' Medici (Young Royals)

by Carolyn Meyer

Young Catherine de' Medici is the sole heiress to the entire fortune of the wealthy Medici family. But her life is far from luxurious. After a childhood spent locked away behind the walls of a convent, she joins the household of the pope, where at last she can be united with her true love. But, all too soon, that love is replaced with an engagement to a boy who is cold and aloof. It soon becomes clear that... (more)

Cassandra's Sister

by Veronica Bennett

How did a country girl named Jenny become the celebrated novelist Jane Austen? A highly engaging historical novel by the author of ANGELMONSTER. Young Jane — or Jenny, as she is called — is a girl with a head full of questions. Surrounded by her busy parents and brothers, Jenny finds a place for her thoughts in the companionship of her older sister, Cassandra. Theirs is a country life full of balls and visits,... (more)

The Heretic Queen: A Novel

by Michelle Moran

In ancient Egypt, a forgotten princess must overcome her family’s past and remake history. The winds of change are blowing through Thebes. A devastating palace fire has killed the Eighteenth Dynasty’s royal family—all with the exception of Nefertari, the niece of the reviled former queen, Nefertiti. The girl’s deceased family has been branded as heretical, and no one in Egypt will speak their names. A relic of a... (more)

Loving Will Shakespeare

by Carolyn Meyer

Poor Anne Hathaway is still living with her callous stepmother, and her prospects for marriage and a home of her own are becoming grim. However, she can’t seem to get charismatic Will Shakespeare out of her mind--even though he is much too young for her. But then one day Will impulsively kisses his childhood friend Anne, changing the course of their lives forever. Here is the story of the childhoods... (more)

Wolf By The Ears (Point)

by Ann Rinaldi

The acclaimed author of The Last Silk Dress and Time Enough For Drums tells the intense, provocative story of a slave, Harriet Hemings, who some believe was the daughter of Thomas Jefferson. "Tantalizing . . . history brought to life by a skillful and imaginative author."--VOYA. An ALA Best Book for Young Adults. HC: Scholastic.

Passions of the MindIrving Stone

Passions of the Mind

by Irving Stone

The Last Queen: A Novel of Juana La Loca

The Last Queen: A Novel of Juana La Loca

by C. W. Gortner

Juana of Castile, the last queen of Spanish blood to inherit her country’s throne, has been for centuries an enigmatic figure shrouded in lurid myth. Was she the bereft widow of legend who was driven mad by her loss, or has history misjudged a woman who was ahead of her time? In his stunning new novel, C. W. Gortner challenges the myths about Queen Juana, unraveling the mystery surrounding her to reveal a brave,... (more)

The Origin: A Biographical Novel of Charles Darwin

The Origin: A Biographical Novel of Charles Darwin

by Irving Stone

Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles

by Margaret George

She was a child crowned a queen.... A sinner hailed as a saint.... A lover denounced as a whore... A woman murdered for her dreams...

Empress: A Novel

by Sa Shan

This is a ravishing historical novel of one of China's most controversial historical figures: its first and only female emperor, Empress Wu, who emerged in the Tang Dynasty and ushered in a golden age.

Joan of Arc (Penguin Lives)

by Mary Gordon

With the passion and grace that mark her bestselling novels of women and faith, Mary Gordon contemplates one of history's earliest and most powerful female martyrs Eternally fascinating, an enigma no less in our time than in her own, Joan of Arc has haunted Gordon's consciousness since childhood. Who was this girl who came from nowhere, supported an equivocal cause, triumphed for a scant few months, failed as a... (more)

LOVE IS ETERNAL - A NOVEL ABOUT MARY TODD AND ABRAHAM LINCOLNIrving Stone

LOVE IS ETERNAL - A NOVEL ABOUT MARY TODD AND ABRAHAM LINCOLN

by Irving Stone

Hadassah: One Night With the King

by Mark Andrew Olsen, Tommy Tenney

Readers everywhere have been moved and challenged by the incredible story of a young orphan girl named Hadassah who became Esther, Queen of Persia. Thoroughly researched and vividly written, Hadassah: One Night With the King is destined for a long stay on bestseller lists. Now in production for a major motion picture release to coincide with the Feast of Purim, March 2005, celebrating God’s providence through... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: biographical novel

by Amanda Foreman

by Irving Stone

by Carolyn Meyer

by Irving Stone

by Anna Lee Waldo

by Irving Stone

by John Faunce

by Carolyn Meyer

by Veronica Bennett

by Michelle Moran

by Carolyn Meyer

by Ann Rinaldi

by Irving Stone

by C. W. Gortner

by Irving Stone

by Margaret George

by Sa Shan

by Mary Gordon

by Irving Stone

by Mark Andrew Olsen, Tommy Tenney