Books like New Kingdom by Wilbur Smith

A sweeping saga set in ninth‑century England, following Uhtred of Bebbanburg as he shifts between Viking and Saxon loyalties while King Alfred the Great battles the Scythe‑touched invaders.

A coming‑of‑age tale that follows teenage girls as they form bonds over shared love for books in a library setting, weaving in themes of friendship, English literature, and the lives of widowers.

In September 1838 a storm blows up on the Indian Ocean and the Ibis, a ship carrying a consignment of convicts and indentured laborers from Calcutta to Mauritius, is caught up in the whirlwind. When the seas settle, five men have disappeared - two lascars, two convicts and one of the passengers. Did the same storm upend the fortunes of those aboard the Anahita, an opium carrier heading towards Canton? And what fate befell those aboard the Redruth, a sturdy two-masted brig heading East out of Cornwall? Was it the storm that altered their course or were the destinies of these passengers at the mercy of even more powerful forces? On the grand scale of an historical epic, River of Smoke follows its storm-tossed characters to the crowded harbors of China. There, despite efforts of the emperor to stop them, ships from Europe and India exchange their cargoes of opium for boxes of tea, silk, porcelain and silver. Among them are Bahram Modi, a wealthy Parsi opium merchant out of Bombay, his estranged half-Chinese son Ah Fatt, the orphaned Paulette and a motley collection of others whose pursuit of romance, riches and a legendary rare flower have thrown together. All struggle to cope with their losses - and for some, unimaginable freedoms - in the alleys and crowded waterways of 19th century Canton.

The story of Isabel and Anne Neville, daughters of the Earl of Warwick who fought for both York and Lancaster, and Anne's unexpected marriage to Richard III and York's rise to power.