British War Fiction

1879. The British Empire marches into Zululand, and disaster. Newly commissioned and untested, Second Lieutenant William Blackwood arrives from Monmouthshire to the wild frontier of South Africa, as Her Majesty’s forces prepare to crush the Zulu Kingdom. For Blackwood, it is meant to be the beginning of a proud military career: clean uniforms, sharp commands, and the steady march of empire. Instead, he finds confusion, chaos, and the first bitter lessons of war. Tasked with reinforcing a remote column of British and colonial troops, Blackwood is plunged into a campaign of dust-choked ...

Life has dealt him an unfair hand, leaving him with few options. Will a chance encounter with a caring American colonial family provide a poor English boy with a stable home, or will the boy be lost in events that are spiraling out of control? Peter Smith, a boy of humble beginnings, is a testament to the human spirit. Despite his impoverished upbringing, abduction, and mistreatment, he refuses to be defined by his circumstances. Born into poverty and hopelessness on the streets of Portsmouth, England, Peter is forced into a life of crime just to survive. His resilience is tested when he is...

Based on the remarkable true story of Irish convict John Graham, WHITE SPIRIT is an epic historical adventure set in 19th Century Australia. After escaping from the notorious Moreton Bay Penal Settlement, Graham finds refuge with the Kabi, a tribe of Aborigines who eventually accept him as one of their own. Attempts to recapture Graham are orchestrated by a variety of contrasting characters working for the all-pervasive British Empire. They include Moreton Bay's tyrannical, opium-addicted commandant Lord Cheetham, the dashing yet warlike Lieutenant Hogan, native tracker Barega and the penal...

When freedom hangs by a thread, words become weapons. Philadelphia, 1777. Master printer Thomas Hartley believes in liberty, but his press has made him dangerous. Arrested by the British and condemned for treason, he is sentenced to life aboard the notorious prison ship Jersey—a floating hell where more patriots will perish than on any battlefield of the American Revolution. Inside the stinking darkness of the hulk, Thomas discovers a secret world: ministers teaching philosophy through coded taps, lawyers preserving the truth in memory, and patriots smuggling invisible-ink messages to the...

Under Fire, Under Command is a gripping WWII novel that plunges readers into a powerful story of courage and survival, set against the desperate retreat of the British Expeditionary Force in May 1940. It was a time when every decision meant life or death. As Nazi forces blitz through France, newly commissioned 2nd Lieutenant Tom Archer faces his first real command: a depleted, exhausted platoon that he must lead while battling his own fears and self-doubt. But the chaos is only just beginning. As the front collapses around them, Archer and his men are called upon time and again to achieve ...

Private investigator Cormoran Strike must track down a missing writer -- and a sinister killer bent on destruction -- in this "wonderfully entertaining" mystery (Harlan Coben, New York Times Book Review) that inspired the acclaimed HBO Max series C.B. Strike. When novelist Owen Quine goes...

The H.M.S. Leopard pulled into the bay of Pulo Batang looking more like a shabby merchant ship that a man-of-war. The crew had endured a calamitous voyage plagued by gaol-fever, pursued by the Dutch Waakzaamheid, and struck by an iceberg. Suffice it to say, Jack Aubrey was ready for home.

Selected by Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of the century and called "Evelyn Waugh's finest achievement" by the New York Times, Brideshead Revisited is a stunning exploration of desire, duty, and memory. Read by Jeremy Irons, star of the acclaimed 1981 television series based on...

Temeraire * Book 3 After their fateful adventure in China, Capt. Will Laurence of His Majesty’s Aerial Corps and his extraordinary dragon, Temeraire, are waylaid by a mysterious envoy bearing urgent new orders from Britain. Three valuable dragon eggs have been purchased from the Ottoman Empire...

What if you could live again and again, until you got it right? On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. She dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon...

In Leonard Wibberley's classic political satire, a tiny backwards country decides the only way to survive a sudden economic downturn is to declare war on the United States and lose to get foreign aid - but things don't go according to plan. The Mouse That Roared was made into a successful feature film starring Peter Sellers. Books in The Grand Fenwick Series: Books 2 through 5 are best read after The Mouse That Roared, but all of the books can be read and enjoyed at any point in the series. Book 1: The Mouse That Roared Book 2: The Mouse On The Moon Book 3: The Mouse On Wall Street Book 4: ...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A novel to cure your Downton Abbey withdrawal . . . a delightful story about nontraditional romantic relationships, class snobbery and the everybody-knows-everybody complications of living in a small community.”—The Washington Post The bestselling author of...

March 1879. Zululand burns, and the fate of the frontier will be decided on the blood-red heights of Kambula. Second Lieutenant William Blackwood, marches north with the Monmouthshire Fusiliers as Her Majesty’s forces prepare to strike a hammer blow against the enemy. Assigned to Colonel Evelyn Wood’s elite flying column on the untamed frontier, Blackwood is swept into a relentless campaign of raids, skirmishes, and mountain warfare. Here, loyalty is measured in blood, and every patrol could be a man’s last. From the shattered ridges of Hlobane to the storm-wracked heights of Kambula,...

World War II Begins... It's September of nineteen-thirty-nine, and King George of England has just announced to his people that he has declared war on Germany due to their invasion of the Allied country of Poland. This ghastly news immediately falls on the ears of Simon Bentley while he sits enjoying himself at his younger brother George's wedding. Being a Squadron Leader in the Royal Air Force, he knows he must act immediately, so without any hesitation, Simon flees the church basement reception and heads straight for his air base. It is time for all the years of his pilot training to be ...

The New York Times bestselling classic of alternate history, a murder mystery set in a world where the Nazis won World War II—for fans of The Plot Against America and The Man in the High Castle Berlin, 1964. The Greater German Reich stretches from the Rhine to the Urals, and keeps an uneasy...

June 1879. The Zulu Kingdom stands defiant, and Lord Chelmsford’s redcoats march for its heart. The campaign nears its climax, and the British forces gather their strength for the final advance on Ulundi. After months of marching, building, and battle, Lieutenant William Blackwood and the Monmouthshire Fusiliers push east through the wild country of the White Mfolozi. Behind them lie the forts they have built and the comrades they have buried; ahead, the capital of the Zulu kingdom and the promise of victory hard-won. Ordered to join Lord Chelmsford’s main column in the drive toward ...

All chess games end in a murder... It's 1920, the murders of a trade unionist, a knight and a bishop shock Britain. The finger of blame seems to point to Russia. As the body count rises, Kit Aston plays a deadly game of chess with a Russian grandmaster where checkmate is a matter of life or death. The latest Kit Aston whodunnit is a gripping historical crime thriller, full of twists and hilarious one liners which fuses classic murder mystery with a spy novel. The Kit Aston mysteries mix real life historical characters and events with crime thrillers full of red herrings. No books are the ...

Experience the dazzling brilliance of a world like ours—yet infinitely bolder and brighter: a place of kings and warriors, bards and battles, feats of glory and honour. It is a place you will forever wish to be. It is Albion. "When I opened my eyes, I was no longer in the world I knew." Lewis...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER “Historical fiction of the highest order . . . an absolute joy of a book, warm and romantic, and with so much to say about the lives of women in the years following World War I.”—Ann Napolitano, bestselling author of Hello Beautiful A timeless comedy of...

When MI5 agent Dragan Kelly gets word of a ‘priceless treasure’ heard spoken of by Eva Braun in Hitler’s bunker, he’s certain of one thing. He must be the one to find it. Reunited with his team - the enigmatic and unpredictable Sybilla Thorstaadt, and the ‘mad’ priest Wolfgang Rahn - Kelly enlists the help of a tough ex-German paratrooper, Horst Manteufel, the last guard commander in Hitler’s bunker. As Kelly expects, nothing is straightforward. Every step they take is dogged by the sinister and mysterious Thule secret society. If that wasn’t enough, Gestapo chief Heinrich...