"A novel set in Renaissance Italy, and centering on the captivating young duchess Lucrezia de' Medici"-- Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and to devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Moderna and Regio, Lucrezia...

"Bob Inama is an American spy working undercover in East Germany during the 1960s when he is taken prisoner and tortured daily. He survives the ordeal by maintaining his hope in the face of despair, and by committing himself to return alive to the girl he loves, Luisa. Based on a true story"--

1910, Mexico. As the country's revolution spreads, Dolores, the daughter of a wealthy banker, must flee her comfortable life in Durango or risk death. Her family settles in Mexico City, where, at sixteen, she marries the worldly Jaime del Rio. But in a twist of fate, at a party she meets an influential American director who recognizes in her a natural performer. He invites her to Hollywood, and practically overnight, the famous Miss del Rio is born....

"Corbin College, not-quite-upstate New York, winter 1959-1960: Ruben Blum, a Jewish historian--but not an historian of the Jews--is co-opted onto a hiring committee to review the application of an exiled Israeli scholar specializing in the Spanish Inquisition. When Benzion Netanyahu shows up for an interview, family unexpectedly in tow, Blum plays the reluctant host, to guests who proceed to lay waste to his American complacencies. Mixing fiction...

In the year 937, the new king of England, a grandson of Alfred the Great, readies himself to go to war in the north. His dream of a united kingdom of all England will stand or fall on one field--on the passage of a single day. At his side is the priest Dunstan of Glastonbury, full of ambition and wit (perhaps enough to damn his soul). His talents will take him from the villages of Wessex to the royal court, to the hills of Rome--from exile to exaltation....

"December 1938, and storm clouds hover once again over Europe. Josephine Tey and Archie Penrose gather with friends for a Cornish Christmas, but two strange and brutal deaths on St. Michael's Mount--and the unexpected arrival of a world famous film star, in need of sanctuary--interrupt the festivities. Cut off by the sea and a relentless blizzard, the hunt for a murderer begins"--

"Based on the true story of the first modern cookery writer, [this book] is a spellbinding novel about female friendship, the struggle for independence, and the transcendent pleasures and solace of food"--