Books like King Rufus by Emma Mason

Plutarch’s *Lives* presents in-depth character studies of notable statesmen and generals from pre‑Christian Greece and Rome.

Rufus Moffat, a seven-year-old boy living with his widowed mother, experiences strange adventures while trying to learn ventroliquism.

The unearthing of lively, telling anecdotes is the special province of Christopher Hibbert, who delights in forcing readers, in the most entertaining way, to reassess all their notions about some of the world's most intriguing historical figures. His biography of Victoria is no exception. We learn in these pages that not only was she the formidable, demanding, capricious Queen of popular imagination, but she was also often shy and vulnerable, prone to giggling fits and crying jags. Often puritanical and censorious when confronted with her mother's moral lapses, she herself could be passionately sensual, emotional, and deeply sentimental. Her 64-year reign saw thrones fall, empires crumble, new continents explored, and England's rise to global and industrial dominance. Hibbert's account of Victoria's life and times is just as sweeping as he reveals to us the real Victoria in all her complexity: failed mother and imperious monarch, irrepressible woman and icon of a repressive age.--From publisher description.

Jeremy Paxman explores the history and roles of kings and queens, examining how Britain's royal family has functioned and evolved from the past to the present.

Roxelana, a Ruthenian Christian girl who became a captured slave, rose to the unique position of Ottoman queen, wielding diplomatic and administrative influence during Suleiman I’s reign.