After a brutal massacre that leaves her the sole survivor of her remote Scottish Highland village, 22-year-old Maggie travels as an indentured servant to the American colonies, where she hopes to start fresh. Her skill as a midwife soon places her in demand professionally, while her beauty attracts some unsavory attention, particularly from a lecherous viscount. Will Maggie, whose own family thought her cursed, be able to find love and success in the New World? Read this book to get glimpse of what life was like in 1760s Virginia.

In 1890s London, Robert Wallis is a debt-ridden poet with a remarkable talent for distinguishing between coffee varieties. His knack for describing flavors lands him a job with coffee merchant Samuel Pinker, whose goal is to categorize every type of coffee bean in existence. Wallis excels at his work until he falls in love with Pinker's daughter Emily and ends up exiled to a coffee plantation in Abyssinia. Here, Wallis learns about the corrupt inner workings of the coffee industry (including its dependence on slave labor) and realizes that ignorance does not excuse complicity. Kirkus Reviews calls this book "a fast-paced narrative propelled by Capella's masterful characterizations."

Emily Faithfull, known to friends as "Fido," is single and successful. She owns her own printing business and is a prominent figure in the burgeoning British women's movement. Everything is going smoothly until, after a seven year separation, Emily's friend Helen Codrington reappears in her life. Helen, unhappily married to an Admiral, is having an affair with a young naval officer--which soon leads to a scandalous and highly public divorce. Emily, caught in the middle, risks losing everything she has worked for in this Victorian melodrama, which according to Publishers Weekly "has style and scandal to burn."

In this novel, which focuses on the 16 year imprisonment of Mary, Queen of Scots, the doomed queen's story is told from the perspective of three key historical figures: Mary's jailer, the Earl of Shrewsbury; his wife, Bess of Hardwick, and Mary herself. When Mary flees Scotland after a rebellion, her half-sister Elizabeth places her in Shrewsbury's custody at his estate in Derbyshire. As the Earl falls in love with his royal prisoner, Bess spies for William Cecil, Queen Elizabeth's agent. Meanwhile, Mary desperately plots one escape after another. Fans of royal intrigue will want to read this latest book by author Philippa Gregory (The Other Boleyn Girl).

Martha Carrier was one of the first women to be tried and hanged as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, during the infamous Salem witch trials. In this novel, Martha's story is told by her nine-year-old daughter, Sarah. Unjustly accused of witchcraft, Martha and Sarah are arrested and thrown in jail. While Martha insists that she alone take the blame, Sarah must fight tooth and nail to survive--both in prison and in front of the judges. One of the few novels about the Salem witch trials to tell the story from a child's point of view, The Heretic's Daughter "provides a fresh, bracing and unconventional take on a much-covered episode" (Publishers Weekly).

Best known as an acclaimed writer of crime fiction, author Dennis Lehane has written a historical epic set in Boston at the end of WWI. Police officer Danny Coughlin, the latest in a long line of cops, is a fresh face on the force and anxious to impress his father. Thus, he agrees to go undercover to infiltrate a group of anarchists involved in labor strikes. As Danny penetrates this underground world, however, he befriends people--such as a beautiful Irish immigrant and a black servant-turned-criminal--who force him to re-evaluate his beliefs. Incorporating real historic events, such as the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic and the 1919 Boston police strike, Lehane "captures the sense of a country coming of age" (Booklist).

In the wake of her tile-maker father's untimely blindness, 16-year-old Griet becomes a maid in the house of painter Johannes Vermeer, where she glimpses a world very different from her own. Griet's nuanced sense of color soon attracts the attention of the artist, who teaches her how to mix pigments as she cleans his studio. But Griet's growing bond with Vermeer does not go unnoticed by the rest of the household, and when the painter chooses her to sit for his next portrait, Griet becomes the subject of gossip. Seventeenth-century Delft, Holland comes alive in this vibrant novel, which in 2003 was made into a film starring Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth.

Growing up in the Bronx during the Great Depression, teenaged Billy Bathgate (he takes his name from his street of origin) becomes the protégé of notorious gangster Dutch Schultz. Believing that his association with Schultz will raise him out of poverty and enable him to care for his sick mother, Billy enthusiastically learns all that the older man has to teach him. Yet the unrelenting violence of the criminal underworld begins to make Billy uneasy, while his love for his boss' lady friend causes him to question his own role in the organization. Don't miss this book, which Publishers Weekly calls "a dark version of the Horatio Alger fable."

As he lies recuperating in an army hospital, a Civil War soldier named Inman decides he's had enough. Without waiting to be pronounced fit for duty, he walks away from the front and undertakes a journey to Cold Mountain, a small town in the mountains of North Carolina. Here, Inman hopes to find his sweetheart, Ada, whom he hasn't seen in years. Meanwhile, Ada's father has died and she has inherited the family farm. However, thanks to her privileged upbringing, she has no idea how to run it. Alternating between Inman's story and Ada's, Cold Mountain is part page-turner, part passionate love story. Will the two be reunited? Find out by reading this book, which was adapted for the screen in 2003.

Born poor in 1920s Japan, nine-year-old Chiyo's life changes when her father sells her to an okiya in Kyoto's Gion district, where she will be trained as a geisha. It's a life that's far less glamorous than Chiyo imagines: little more than an indentured servant, she must submit to her mistress' wishes, whether it means sleeping on wooden blocks or having her virginity auctioned off to the highest bidder. Rechristened "Sayuri," she eventually becomes a success, but longs for freedom, love, and happiness. When WWII destroys the life she's known, Sayuri faces tough choices about her future. This novel "melds sparkling historical fiction with a compelling coming-of-age story" (Booklist).

In this installment of Patrick O'Brian's wildly popular series featuring Captain Jack Aubrey and his friend, surgeon and spy Stephen Maturin, the duo sails to Cape Horn in order to intercept an American frigate that is attacking British whaling ships. However, their mission isn't smooth sailing, as they are forced to deal with spies, traitors, tropical storms, and a marooning. Originally published in 1984, The Far Side of the World, along with several other books in the series, inspired the 2003 film starring Russell Crowe.