Renaissance
The Last Queen
This is the story of Juana “the Mad” of Castile, daughter to Isabel and Fernando and sister to Catherine of…
In the Company of the Courtesan
The Birth of Venus, Sarah Dunant’s first historical novel, is one of my all-time favorite books. Dunant writes with…
The Silver Rose
Good witches, bad witches, thwarted love and dark queens: such is the romantic landscape of the third novel in…
The Secret Supper
Leonardo da Vinci is the patron of thrillers these days – despite the fact that he was, and indeed one…
The Mirror of the Gods : Classical Mythology in Renaissance Art
This is a scholarly study but plainly written with a minimum of technical artistic terms, which makes it accessible…
Basilica : The Splendour and the Scandal — Building St Peter’s
The Basilica of St. Peter’s has dominated the spiritual and physical landscape of the Catholic Church for centuries, an…
The Queen’s Soprano
Based on a true story, The Queen’s Soprano tells the story of seventeen-year-old Angelica Voglia, who must flee to the…
Van Rijn
The subject of Sarah Miano’s second novel is Rembrandt van Rijn. This is by no means a conventional fictional biography…
1610: A Sundial in a Grave
“It’s about sex, cruelty, and forgiveness.” Thus does Mary Gentle commence her marvelously inventive novel of espionage, assassination, and precognitive…
Dressing Renaissance Florence
If ever a book could be compared to a box of chocolates, this is it. Setting out to harness the…
About our Reviews
Over the last 15 years The Historical Novels Review (the society’s print magazine for our members) has published reviews of some 12,000 historical fiction books. We plan to upload them all and make them searchable here.
