Books like Blood & beauty by Sarah Dunant

In an elite New England college, a charismatic classics professor lures a group of eccentric students into obsessive study, leading them from intellectual curiosity to corruption, betrayal, and ultimately murder.

Walter Isaacson’s biography reveals Leonardo da Vinci as a restless genius whose notebooks and inventions connect his celebrated paintings to groundbreaking science, illustrating how curiosity, observation, and imagination forge lasting creativity.

A compelling portrait of Michelangelo through the eyes of his biographer, Irving Stone.

Mario Puzo traces the rise of the Borgia family, revealing the intertwined forces of ambition, faith, and power that shaped one of Italy’s most notorious dynasties.

A concise historical exploration of Mary Boleyn, the lesser-known sister of Anne, set within the Tudor court of 1508–1543.

Sarah Dunant revisits Renaissance Italy’s most infamous family, the Borgias, as Cesare Leone Borgia seeks to unite the Italian city‑states, while Florence sends Niccolò Machiavelli and Lucrezia excels in ruthless political intrigue.

In 1855 Lucy Lobdell cuts her hair, adopts a male persona, and boldly gains freedoms forbidden to women—traveling solo, carrying a rifle, drinking in bars, and forming same‑gender relationships—while confronting public scorn and a nascent understanding of her own sexual identity.

Mary Beth Keane’s *Fever* brings the true story of Typhoid Mary to life, exploring her role as a covert public health threat in early 20th‑century America.

A vivid historical fiction set in Renaissance Italy that follows the rise and challenges of Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of the infamous Pope Alexander VI, illuminating the intrigues and power struggles of the Borgia family.

Set in 11th‑century Palermo under Norman rule, The Ruby in Her Navel follows young knight Thurstan Beauchamp as he navigates politics, faith, and personal loyalties while uncovering conspiracies against the king.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson race to Edinburgh to investigate the murders of two workers on the Palace of Holyrood House, uncovering a plot linked to the historic assassination of David Rizzio, the Italian secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots.

One of the worldʼs leading historians of Renaissance Italy brings to life here the vibrant and violent society of fifteenth-century Florence. His disturbing narrative opens up an entire culture, revealing the dark side of Renaissance man and politician Lorenzo deʼ Medici. On a Sunday in April 1478, assassins attacked Lorenzo and his brother as they attended Mass in the cathedral of Florence. Lorenzo scrambled to safety as Giuliano bled to death on the cathedral floor. April Blood moves outward in time and space from that murderous event, unfolding a story of tangled passions, ambition, treachery, and revenge. The conspiracy was led by one of the cityʼs most noble clans, the Pazzi, financiers who feared and resented the Medici's swaggering new role as political bosses -- but the web of intrigue spread through all of Italy. Bankers, mercenaries, the Duke of Urbino, the King of Naples, and Pope Sixtus IV entered secretly into the plot. Florence was plunged into a peninsular war, and Lorenzo was soon fighting for his own and his familyʼs survival. - Jacket flap.

Historical novel set in roman empire

An historical fiction portrait of the powerful d'Este family in Renaissance Ferrara, weaving intrigue and family drama into a vivid depiction of Italian noble life.

A biographical historical novel that follows the budding friendship between a teenage Louise Brooks and a middle‑aged chaperone as they travel to New York City in 1922, showing how the journey reshapes their lives.