10.2 Historical & Period Novels
The Most Fascinating Bestselling Novels showing the most wonderful part of the history and rich characters of the world: French, Irish, Australian, Russian, British, Japanese, Canadian, American and my favorite Mini-series.
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- StarsStefanie PowersLee RemickStacy KeachBeautiful and naïve Maggy Lunel (Stefanie Powers) arrives in Paris completely broke. She becomes an artist's model and the toast of Paris, attracting the attention of Picasso-like painter Julien Mistral (Stacy Keach), an arrogant and selfish man who places his work above everything. Their paths diverge as Mistral's art catches the eye of a rich American woman who becomes his patroness and eventually his wife. During the war years in France, Mistral collaborates with the Germans in order to continue with his work, a decision that will come back to haunt him years later. In the meantime, Maggy has a daughter named Teddy (Stephanie Dunnam), who grows up and falls in love with Mistral, with whom she has a child named Fauve (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu). As Mistral ages, he comes to terms with his selfish past and wartime betrayal through his art, leaving a beautiful legacy for his daughter, Fauve.
- StarsJeremy IronsDiana QuickRoger MilnerThe life, friendships and romances of the protagonist Charles Ryder-including his friendship with the Flytes, a family of wealthy English Catholics who live in a palatial mansion called Brideshead Castle.
- DirectorCharles SturridgeStarsJames WilbyKristin Scott ThomasRichard BealeThe wife's affair and a death in the family hasten the demise of an upper-class English marriage.
- DirectorRobert BiermanStarsGreg WiseKeeley HawesTerrence HardimanWhen the fabulous Moonstone diamond is stolen, all the suspects appear to have alibis. Even the young girl who owns the diamond won't say whom she saw took it. A dear family friend calls in the famous Sergeant Cuff to solve the case, but they'll have to untangle a skein of lies and retrieve lost memories before they'll find the path to the diamond.
- DirectorNicholas LaughlandStarsKeeley HawesJames MurrayTerry MortimerIn this lighthearted romance from Victorian novelist Thomas Hardy, the beautiful new village school teacher is pursued by three suitors: a working-class man, a landowner, and the vicar.
- CreatorJulian FellowesStarsHugh BonnevillePhyllis LoganElizabeth McGovernA chronicle of the lives of the British aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the early twentieth century.
- DirectorVictor FlemingGeorge CukorSam WoodStarsClark GableVivien LeighThomas MitchellA sheltered and manipulative Southern belle and a roguish profiteer face off in a turbulent romance as the society around them crumbles with the end of slavery and is rebuilt during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods.
- StarsJoanne WhalleyTimothy DaltonAnnabeth GishIn this long-awaited sequel to Gone With the Wind, Scarlett's flight from the scrutiny of Atlanta society takes her on a journey to Savannah, Charleston, England, and Ireland, where she discovers her family's roots.
- CreatorDouglas HeyesStarsKirstie AlleyGeorg Stanford BrownDavid CarradineTwo friends, one northern and one southern, struggle to maintain their friendship as events build towards the American Civil War.
- CreatorErnest KinoyStarsDebbi MorganDorian HarewoodPaul KosloThe dramatization of Alex Haley's family line from post Civil War America to the writer's search for his roots.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsJamie FoxxChristoph WaltzLeonardo DiCaprioWith the help of a German bounty-hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal plantation owner in Mississippi.
- DirectorSteve McQueenStarsChiwetel EjioforMichael Kenneth WilliamsMichael FassbenderIn the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free Black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsDjimon HounsouMatthew McConaugheyAnthony HopkinsIn 1839, the revolt of Mende captives aboard a Spanish owned ship causes a major controversy in the United States when the ship is captured off the coast of Long Island. The courts must decide whether the Mende are slaves or legally free.
- DirectorEdward ZwickStarsMatthew BroderickDenzel WashingtonCary ElwesRobert Gould Shaw leads the U.S. Civil War's first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices from both his own Union Army, and the Confederates.
- DirectorMichael AptedStarsIoan GruffuddAlbert FinneyMichael GambonThe idealist William Wilberforce maneuvers his way through Parliament, endeavoring to end the British transatlantic slave trade.
- StarsBen BarnesMarton CsokasHenry ThomasThe story of a group of very different men fighting in the American Colonies for freedom, and how they will shape the future for the United States of America. Based on true stories.
- StarsPaul GiamattiLaura LinneyJohn DossettThe life of one of the USA's Founding Fathers, its second President, and his role in the nation's first 50 years.
- DirectorJames IvoryStarsNick NolteGreta ScacchiGwyneth PaltrowWidower Thomas Jefferson (3rd US president 1801-09) lives in Paris 1785-90 with his daughter. He has a pretty slave girl accompany his other daughter to France. He has an alleged affair with her resulting in children.
- DirectorChristopher MenaulStarsEmbeth DavidtzTom BellGemma JonesAfter an abandoned young woman in late 19th Century England is taken in by a rural couple with three handsome sons, tragic consequences result.
- DirectorRoger SpottiswoodeStarsDonal DonnellyDavid BurkePeter DvorskyA biography of the 18-century Viennese physician Franz Anton Mesmer, who used unorthodox healing practices based on his theory of "animal magnetism."
- StarsPaul DanoJames NortonLily JamesAs the Russian conflict with Napoleon reaches its peak, five aristocratic families face the possibility of their lives being changed forever.
- StarsClaire SkinnerEdward AttertonAnne ReidAgnes manages family affairs on eve of WWI, helps sister Jessie marry across class lines. Faces own class divide when courted by Charles despite parents' disapproval. Her heart torn between Charles and his soldier brother Reginald.
- DirectorCharles SturridgeStarsHelena Bonham CarterJudy DavisRupert GravesAfter a rich Edwardian widow impulsively marries a handsome but poor Tuscan dentist and dies in childbirth, her English in-laws try to gain custody of the baby.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsDaniel Day-LewisMichelle PfeifferWinona RyderA tale of nineteenth-century New York high society in which a young lawyer falls in love with a woman separated from her husband, while he is engaged to the woman's cousin.
- StarsAnna Maxwell MartinCarey MulliganDenis LawsonA suspenseful tale about the injustices of the 19th Century English legal system.
- StarsJoely RichardsonSean BeanJames WilbyA young woman's husband returns wounded after the First World War. Facing a life with a husband now incapable of sexual activity she begins an affair with the groundskeeper.
- StarsDouglas HodgeJuliet AubreyTrevyn McDowellMiddlemarch is a story of provincial life on the brink of momentous change and a deeply moving saga about a group of people striving to give meaning and value to their lives during the Industrial Revolution.
- DirectorJames IvoryStarsMaggie SmithHelena Bonham CarterDenholm ElliottLucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter) shares a brief romance with George Emerson in Florence. Yet as she tries to move on with her life and look for marriage elsewhere, can she truly forget the events of that summer?
- DirectorJoe WrightStarsKeira KnightleyJames McAvoyBrenda BlethynThirteen-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit.
- DirectorRoland JofféStarsDemi MooreGary OldmanRobert DuvallAn affair between a young woman and a pastor has disastrous consequences.
- DirectorAgnieszka HollandStarsJennifer Jason LeighAlbert FinneyMaggie SmithIn this adaptation of the Henry James novel set in 19th-century New York City, a wealthy spinster with an overbearing father is pursued by a handsome fortune hunter who may be only after her money.
- DirectorBobby RothStarsCari ShayneBrigitta DauPaul Anthony StewartA 19th-century woman, companion to a blue-blooded New England girl, falls for an aristocrat.
- DirectorAng LeeStarsEmma ThompsonKate WinsletJames FleetRich Mr. Dashwood dies, leaving his second wife and her three daughters poor by the rules of inheritance. The two eldest daughters are the title opposites.
- DirectorDouglas McGrathStarsGwyneth PaltrowJames CosmoGreta ScacchiWhile matchmaking for friends and neighbours, a young 19th Century Englishwoman nearly misses her own chance at love.
- DirectorDes McAnuffStarsJessica LangeElisabeth ShueBob HoskinsWhen her sister dies in 1846, Bette moves from the château to Paris to work as a theater seamstress. She helps a handsome, starving artist. When her niece lures him away from her, she plans a devious revenge.
- StarsAngus MacfadyenMark UmbersRichard ChamberlainIn 1717, Royal Navy Lieutenant Robert Maynard is sent to the West Indies on a secret mission to destroy notorious pirate ship The Queen Anne's Revenge and its crew.
- DirectorLasse HallströmStarsHeath LedgerSienna MillerJeremy IronsThe fabled romantic Giacomo Casanova, after failing to win the affection of the Venetian woman Francesca Bruni, strives to discover the real meaning of love.
- CreatorMichael HirstStarsJonathan Rhys MeyersHenry CavillAnthony BrophyEpic series reveals the scandalous life of a young king whose affairs and obsession with producing a male heir changed marriage, the church, and the world.
- DirectorTim FywellStarsFrances O'ConnorGreg WiseEileen AtkinsA young woman in her late teens, a reader of novels and with high hopes of romance and passion, marries a widowed country doctor. Although he dotes on her, she is soon bored and discontent. First, she gives her imagination to a law student in town, and next she takes a lover. When he refuses to run away with her, she takes up again with the law clerk. Her spending on dresses and furnishings mounts; these debts and her ill-advised professional counsel to her husband bring his ruin.
- DirectorJane CampionStarsHolly HunterHarvey KeitelSam NeillIn the mid-19th century a mute woman is sent to New Zealand along with her young daughter and prized piano for an arranged marriage to a farmer, but is soon lusted after by a farm worker.
- StarsCarla GuginoAlison ElliottMira SorvinoFour American girls go to England to find husbands.
- DirectorJulian FarinoStarsStephen Campbell MooreOliver MilburnMichael ElwynFollowing the success of his poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage", Byron becomes the toast of London.
- DirectorRichard ThorpeStarsStewart GrangerDeborah KerrJames MasonAn Englishman vacationing in a Ruritarian kingdom is recruited to impersonate his cousin, the soon-to-be-crowned king, after the monarch is drugged and kidnapped.
- DirectorClive DonnerStarsAnthony AndrewsJane SeymourIan McKellenParis, 1792: After France becomes a republic, aristocrats are guillotined. The English Sir Percy tries to save as many as he can as The Scarlet Pimpernel in disguises.
- StarsTom HardyCharlotte RileyAndrew LincolnFoundling Heathcliff is raised by the wealthy Earnshaws in Yorkshire but in later life launches a vendetta against the family.
- DirectorJim GoddardStarsChris SarandonPeter CushingKenneth MoreAn ex-aristocrat from France and an alcoholic English lawyer find themselves crossing paths and in love with the same woman during the French Revolution.
- DirectorJames IvoryStarsChristopher ReeveVanessa RedgraveJessica TandyA Boston feminist and a conservative Southern lawyer contend for the heart and mind of a beautiful and bright girl unsure of her future.
- StarsJan GravesonChristine KavanaghBrendan CoyleSet in 1870s England, the story tells of Annabella Lagrange and the terrible secret her wealthy parents have kept from her. When she finally learns the truth, she runs away and eventually finds solace in the company of her family's former groom, a young Irishman with the very Spanish name of Manuel Mendoza. Together they travel the Northumbria countryside from job to job in his horse and caravan, Annabella trapped in limbo between her upper class upbringing which has rejected her, and the working class who are sometimes suspicious of her, only Manuel understanding her situation.
- DirectorJoe WrightStarsKeira KnightleyJude LawAaron Taylor-JohnsonIn late-19th-century Russian high society, St. Petersburg aristocrat Anna Karenina enters into a life-changing affair with the dashing Count Alexei Vronsky.
- DirectorStephen FrearsStarsMichelle PfeifferRupert FriendKathy BatesThe son of a courtesan retreats into a fantasy world after being forced to end his relationship with the older woman who educated him in the ways of love.
- StarsColin FirthJennifer EhleSusannah HarkerWhile the arrival of wealthy gentlemen sends her marriage-minded mother into a frenzy, willful and opinionated Elizabeth Bennet matches wits with haughty Mr. Darcy.
- DirectorAdrian ShergoldStarsSally HawkinsAlice KrigeAnthony HeadAnne was in love with Frederick, who was rejected by her snobby parents 8 years ago. They've now hit hard times and rent out their mansion to his brother-in-law. He returns a Royal Navy captain. Will he remember Anne?
- DirectorCary Joji FukunagaStarsMia WasikowskaMichael FassbenderJamie BellA mousy governess who softens the heart of her employer soon discovers that he's hiding a terrible secret.
- StarsHarry RichardsonTom HollanderStefanie MartiniPenniless Mary Thorne grows up with her uncle, Doctor Thorne, and develops a friendship with the family at the nearby Greshamsbury Park estate.
- StarsAnna MasseyAngela PleasenceSylvestra Le TouzelImpoverished Fanny Price is sent to live with her more affluent uncle and aunt. The arrival of new neighbors brings a chance for romance to Fanny and her cousins.
- CreatorJohn HawkesworthStarsGemma JonesVictoria PlucknettJohn WelshLouisa Trotter works her way up from being a skivvy to being the queen of cooks, cook to the King, and owner of the Bentinck Hotel. Her life and happenings among the guests and staff of the hotel make up the 31 episodes.
- CreatorHeidi ThomasStarsKeeley HawesEd StoppardAdrian ScarboroughA new family and their servants live at the London townhouse at 165 Eaton Place in 1936.
- CreatorAndrew DaviesKate BrookeStarsRon CookJeremy PivenTom Goodman-HillCenters on the real-life story of the flamboyant and visionary American founder of Selfridge's, London's department store.
- CreatorTony MarchantStarsAndrew BuchanLyndsey MarshalRupert GravesGarrow's Law is the true tale of William Garrow, who acted as counsel for the accused, introducing the concept of 'innocent until proved guilty' at London's Old Bailey.
- DirectorEdward ZwickStarsBrad PittAnthony HopkinsAidan QuinnIn the early 1900s, three brothers and their father living in the remote wilderness of Montana are affected by betrayal, history, love, nature, and war.
- DirectorKevin CostnerStarsKevin CostnerMary McDonnellGraham GreeneLieutenant John Dunbar, assigned to a remote western Civil War outpost, finds himself engaging with a neighbouring Sioux settlement, causing him to question his own purpose.
- StarsFess ParkerPatricia BlairDarby HintonFrontier hero Daniel Boone conducts surveys and expeditions around Boonesborough, running into both friendly and hostile Indians, before, during, and even after the Revolutionary War.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsErrol FlynnOlivia de HavillandRaymond MasseyIn 1854, Jeb Stuart, George Custer and other graduates from West Point are posted to Kansas to help pacify the territory before railroad construction to Santa Fe can resume.
- StarsKevin CostnerBill PaxtonMatt BarrDramatization of the bitter blood feud between the two families on the West Virginia/Kentucky border in the years after the Civil War.
- DirectorYves SimoneauStarsAidan QuinnAdam BeachAugust SchellenbergA historic chronicle based on the book by Dee Brown explains how Native Americans were displaced as the United States expanded west.
- StarsAbbie CornishMarton CsokasIan HartTwo childhood friends, Bill Haskell and Byron Epstein, embark on a journey to Klondike, Yukon, in hopes of discovering a fortune in a remote town.
- DirectorAntoine FuquaStarsDenzel WashingtonChris PrattEthan HawkeSeven gunmen from a variety of backgrounds are brought together by a vengeful young widow to protect her town from the private army of a destructive industrialist.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsSamuel L. JacksonKurt RussellJennifer Jason LeighIn the dead of a Wyoming winter, a bounty hunter and his prisoner find shelter in a cabin currently inhabited by a collection of nefarious characters.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsGene TierneyRex HarrisonGeorge SandersIn 1900, a young widow finds her seaside cottage is haunted and forms a unique relationship with the ghost.
- DirectorRichard BurtonNevill CoghillStarsElizabeth TaylorRichard BurtonAndreas TeuberA man sells his soul to the devil in order to have the woman he loves.
- CreatorDavid S. GoyerStarsTom RileyGregg ChilingirianEros VlahosFollows Leonardo Da Vinci during his early days in Florence, as a young artist, inventor and dreamer, trying to change the future.
- DirectorMichael Landon Jr.StarsMaggie GraceStephen AmellPoppy DraytonElizabeth Thatcher, a cultured young teacher in 1910, fears leaving her comfortable world in the city. But when she accepts a teaching position in a frontier town, she finds new purpose and love with a handsome Royal Canadian Mountie.
- DirectorOliver ParkerStarsRupert EverettColin FirthFrances O'ConnorIn 1890s London, two friends use the same pseudonym ("Ernest") for their on-the-sly activities. Hilarity ensues.
- DirectorSofia CoppolaStarsKirsten DunstJason SchwartzmanRip TornThe retelling of France's iconic but ill-fated queen, Marie Antoinette. From her betrothal and marriage to Louis XVI at 14 to her reign as queen at 19 and to the end of her reign as queen, and ultimately the fall of Versailles.
- DirectorCharles VidorStarsPaul MuniMerle OberonCornel WildeBiography of Frederic Chopin.
- StarsElizabeth MontgomeryHal HolbrookJane SeymourFrontierswoman Sayward Luckett's struggles in Ohio during the late-18th and early-19th centuries.
- StarsKeira KnightleySam NeillHans MathesonDoctor Zhivago falls for Lara despite being engaged. Their forbidden love blossoms amidst the upheaval of the Russian Revolution, impacting his career and family.
- CreatorDebbie HorsfieldStarsAidan TurnerEleanor TomlinsonJack FarthingRoss Poldark returns home after the American Revolutionary War and rebuilds his life with a new business venture, making new enemies and finding a new love where he least expects it.
- DirectorTerry GeorgeStarsOscar IsaacCharlotte Le BonChristian BaleSet during the last days of the Ottoman Empire, The Promise follows a love triangle between Michael, a brilliant medical student, the beautiful and sophisticated Ana, and Chris - a renowned American journalist based in Paris.
- DirectorJean-Claude Van DammeStarsJean-Claude Van DammeRoger MooreJames RemarA group of gentlemen of fortune visits a legendary "Lost City", located in Tibet. They plan to steal a priceless statue "Golden Dragon" during the martial arts tournament.
- DirectorRenny HarlinStarsGeena DavisMatthew ModineFrank LangellaA female pirate and her companion race against their rivals to find a hidden island that contains a fabulous treasure.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsYvonne De CarloRock HudsonMaxwell ReedGilliat,a fisherman/smuggler is in jail, and is offered a pardon if he undertakes a mission to sail to France to rescue Droucette, an English agent whose cover has been blown, and who has now been jailed. Gilliat accepts the challenge.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsRussell CrowePaul BettanyBilly BoydDuring the Napoleonic Wars, a brash British captain pushes his ship and crew to their limits in pursuit of a formidable French war vessel around South America.
- CreatorJohn FuscoStarsLorenzo RichelmyBenedict WongJoan ChenIn a world replete with greed, betrayal, sexual intrigue and rivalry, "Marco Polo" is based on the famed explorer's adventures in Kublai Khan's court in 13th century Mongolia.
- CreatorStephen GallagherJustin BodleRichard MewisStarsSam NeillPhilip WinchesterTongayi ChirisaThe story follows the escapades of Crusoe, who embarks on a high-seas adventure and gets shipwrecked on a remote tropical island.
- DirectorGore VerbinskiStarsJohnny DeppGeoffrey RushOrlando BloomBlacksmith Will Turner teams up with eccentric pirate "Captain" Jack Sparrow to save his love, the governor's daughter, from Jack's former pirate allies, who are now undead.
- DirectorGore VerbinskiStarsJohnny DeppOrlando BloomKeira KnightleyJack Sparrow races to recover the heart of Davy Jones to avoid enslaving his soul to Jones' service, as other friends and foes seek the heart for their own agenda as well.
- DirectorGore VerbinskiStarsJohnny DeppOrlando BloomKeira KnightleyCaptain Barbossa, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann must sail off the edge of the map, navigate treachery and betrayal, find Jack Sparrow, and make their final alliances for one last decisive battle.
- DirectorRob MarshallStarsJohnny DeppPenélope CruzIan McShaneJack Sparrow and Barbossa embark on a quest to find the elusive fountain of youth, only to discover that Blackbeard and his daughter are after it too.
- DirectorJoachim RønningEspen SandbergStarsJohnny DeppGeoffrey RushJavier BardemCaptain Jack Sparrow searches for the Trident of Poseidon to rule the sea while being pursued by old rival Captain Salazar and a crew of deadly ghosts who have escaped from the Devil's Triangle.
- CreatorRobert LevineJonathan E. SteinbergStarsJessica Parker KennedyToby StephensHannah NewFollows Captain Flint and his pirates twenty years prior to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel "Treasure Island."
- CreatorLaurie McCarthyStephanie SenguptaStarsAdelaide KaneMegan FollowsCelina SindenMary, Queen of Scots, faces political and sexual intrigue in the treacherous world of the French court.
- DirectorRichard ThorpeStarsRobert TaylorElizabeth TaylorJoan FontaineA knight seeks to free the captive King Richard and put him back on the throne.
- StarsAnjelica HustonJulianna MarguliesJoan AllenTales of Camelot and Avalon, told from the perspective of the women of Uther and Arthur Pendragon's world.
- DirectorJerry ZuckerStarsSean ConneryRichard GereJulia OrmondLancelot falls in love with Guinevere, who is due to be married to King Arthur. Meanwhile, a violent warlord tries to seize power from Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.
- DirectorPaul MarcusStarsHans MathesonLaura MoranteRike SchmidA six-episode mini-series covering five centuries of the Roman Empire.
- CreatorBruno HellerWilliam J. MacDonaldJohn MiliusStarsKevin McKiddRay StevensonPolly WalkerA down-to-earth account of the lives of both illustrious and ordinary Romans set in the last days of the Roman Republic.
- StarsDerek JacobiJohn HurtSiân PhillipsThe personal and governmental affairs of the Julio-Claudian dynasty at the beginning of the Roman Empire, as recalled by one of its rulers.
- StarsRichard ChamberlainToshirô MifuneYôko ShimadaAn English navigator becomes both a player and pawn in the complex political games in feudal Japan.
- StarsToshi ShioyaNobuko OtowaYûko TanakaTells the story of Oshin, a poor little girl who would someday become the owner of a big supermarket chain in Japan.