Books like Balthasar's Odyssey by Amin Maalouf

A 1751 adventure of a sixteen‑year‑old orphan kidnapped by his uncle who follows the Scottish highlanders against English rule.

Rudyard Kipling’s classic novel follows Kim, an orphan raised in colonial India, as he navigates loyalties to his native land, his Irish‑English heritage, and the British Secret Service.

After the Civil War, a veteran newspaper‑reader, Captain Jefferson Kidd, journeys through Texas and agrees to escort an orphaned Kiowa girl, Johanna, to San Antonio—a perilous trek that tests their survival and trust.

In the eve of Britain’s World War II declaration, Harry Clifton escapes a family scandal by joining the Merchant Navy. When a U‑boat sinks his ship, he survives, encounters an American sailor, and assumes the dead man's identity to bury his past.

In the years leading to the Opium Wars, the slave ship Ibis carries a diverse crew of sailors, stowaways, convicts, and passengers—including a bankrupt raja, a widowed village woman, a mulatto American, and an evangelical opium trader—who bond as ship-brothers on a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean.

Amitav Ghosh’s final Ibis Trilogy novel follows soldiers, traders, and spies aboard the Hind as they navigate the deadly opium trade and the 1857 East India and China conflicts, revealing the merciless economics of colonial war.

Accused of mocking the inviolate codes of Islam, the Persian poet and sage Omar Khayyam fortuitously finds sympathy with the very man who is to judge his alleged crimes. Recognising genuis, the judge decides to spare him and gives him instead a small, blank book, encouraging him to confine his thoughts to it alone. Thus begins the seamless blend of fact and fiction that is Samarkand. Vividly re-creating the history of the manuscript of the Rubaiyaat of Omar Khayyam, Amin Maalouf spans continents and centuries with breathtaking vision: the dusky exoticism of 11th-century Persia, with its poetesses and assassins; the same country's struggles nine hundred years later, seen through the eyes of an American academic obsessed with finding the original manuscript; and the fated maiden voyage of the Titanic, whose tragedy led to the Rubaiyaat's final resting place - all are brought to life with keen assurance by this gifted and award-winning writer.

The Red Chamber's captivating tale of friendship and intrigue in the heart of 18th-century Beijing, weaving through layers of Chinese history and societal norms.

An exploration of the Harlem Renaissance through the eyes of its larger-than-life residents in a New York apartment building setting, with satirical characters and themes that intersect with Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Alain Locke. This novel is a blend of historical fiction and satire, set in the vibrant world of the 1920s Harlem and bringing to life the era's vibrant culture and characters. The story is a celebration of the Harlem Renaissance's artistic and intellectual contributions, set against the backdrop of New York's vibrant cultural scene.

A 16th‑century voyage through war‑torn Europe, guided by an elephant named Solomon and his keeper Subhro, as they accompany Archduke Maximilian and his new bride from Portugal to Vienna.

In 1828, twenty‑three‑year‑old naval officer Robert Fitzroy commands HMS Beagle while battling manic depression and pursuing ideals of racial equality and biblical truth, bringing aboard future naturalist Charles Darwin for a voyage that tests their friendship.

Last Hours follows an upper-class English family as they confront the Black Death and a strict quarantine in the midst of a devastating epidemic that threatens to upend their livelihood and social ties.