Book subscription: Fantastic historical fiction picks from Sara Sheridan

Sara Sheridan has written more than 20 books including novels, non-fiction, TV tie-in, and ghost-writing. Her work has been First Minister’s Summer Pick at the David Hume Institute, shortlisted for the Saltire Prize, the Wilbur Smith Prize and the CWA’s Dagger in the Library. She has also won a Scottish Libraries Award. Her novel The Fair Botanists was Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year 2022 and featured in series 7 of the Queen’s Reading Room. She has also written two plays for BBC Radio 4 and has reported from both Tallin and Sharjah for Radio 4’s Our Own Correspondent.

• What does it mean to be a powerful woman in 12th century England and France? How do you find your place in the world, and your community, when the court decides you're too coarse for its ways?
• 19th century Scotland, London and Africa. A semi-historical journey satirising historical adventures, with a petty thief and a historical Scottish figure. They set out to find the secrets of the Niger river, but reveal more about themselves and the colonial agenda.
• Korea, Indonesia, China in the 20th century. A woman in a retirement home shares stories of her life moving through the events of a century, but can all of the stories possibly belong to her?

• A ship sets sail from 19th century Ireland. Hundreds of refugees are on board - and so is a killer. An engrossing, page-turning tale with a setting that takes you into the past and its injustices.
• You know the Greek myths and their male heroes, but will you think of them differently after reading this perspective? With the precision of a classicist and the craft of a novelist, this is a tale from antiquity made new.
• Does a book read later become historical fiction? This delightful tale from the 1950s has strong substance under the glamour and sheds light on class politics in the post-war era.
• A modern LGBTQ+ classic set in Victorian England. Two lives are intertwined in ways they don't yet know: a love story, a crime caper, a mystery, and an unforgettable read.
• The seething underbelly of Victorian London has never felt so close by. Two investigators follow the trail of one murder and one suicide to a floating hospital in this meticulously researched Gothic thriller.
• An island in the early 800s. This short novel packs a punch, as you follow one hungover Viking trying to survive a most unusual mission.