Open Books 2024: Books set in the Middle Ages

The Open Books Reading Challenge is a year-long reading challenge for people interested in pushing the boundaries of their reading. For full details of the program, please check-out our page at: https://www.rplmn.org/books-more/discover-more/open-books-reading-challenge

This list is to help you find books that fit the 2024 category of "Books set in the Middle Ages."

Happy Reading!

Updated December 18, 2023
RPL Staff
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Manuscript found in Accra
Coelho, Paulo.
Paper Book
The latest novel from the #1 internationally best-selling author of The Alchemist. There is nothing wrong with anxiety. Although we cannot control God's time, it is part of the human condition to want to receive the thing we are waiting for as quickly as...
1356 : a novel
Cornwell, Bernard
Paper Book
Bernard Cornwell, the "master of martial fiction" (Booklist), brings Thomas of Hookton from the popular Grail Quest series into a new adventure in 1356, a thrilling stand-alone novel. On September 19, 1356, a heavily outnumbered English army faced off against the French in the historic Battle of...
The last kingdom : a novel
Cornwell, Bernard
Paper Book
The first installment of Bernard Cornwell's New York Times bestselling series chronicling the epic saga of the making of England, "like Game of Thrones, but real" (The Observer, London)--the basis for The Last Kingdom, the hit Netflix series. In the middle years of the ninth century,...
The Beatryce prophecy
DiCamillo, Kate
Paper Book
A #1 New York Times bestseller From two-time Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo and two-time Caldecott Medalist Sophie Blackall comes a fantastical meditation on fate, love, and the power of words to spell the world. We shall all, in the end, be led to...
Silence
End, Shsaku
Paper Book
Shusaku Endo's New York Times bestselling classic novel of enduring faith in dangerous times, now a major motion picture directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Andrew Garfield, Liam Neeson, and Adam Driver. "Silence I regard as a masterpiece, a lucid and...
The pillars of the earth
Follett, Ken
Paper Book
#1 New York Times Bestseller Oprah's Book Club Selection The "extraordinary . . . monumental masterpiece" (Booklist) that changed the course of Ken Follett's already phenomenal career--and begins where its prequel, The Evening and the Morning<...
The Vatican princess : a novel of Lucrezia Borgia
Gortner, C. W.
Paper Book
For fans of Philippa Gregory and Alison Weir, bestselling author C. W. Gortner effortlessly weaves history and drama in this captivating novel about one of the world's most notorious families. Glamorous and predatory, the Borgias fascinated and terrorized fifteenth-century Renaissance Italy, and...
The king's curse
Gregory, Philippa
Paper Book
A #1 New York Times Bestselling AuthorThe final novel in the Cousins' War seriesRegarded as yet another threat to the volatile King Henry VII's claim to the throne, Margaret is buried in marriage to a steady and kind Tudor supporter -- Sir Richard Pole, governor of Wales. But her quiet life is...
Genghis : lords of the bow
Iggulden, Conn.
Paper Book
He was born Temujin, the son of a khan, raised in a clan of hunters migrating across the rugged steppe. Temujin' s young life was shaped by a series of brutal acts: the betrayal of his father by a neighboring tribe and the abandonment of his entire family, cruelly left to die on the harsh plain. But...
The buried giant
Ishiguro, Kazuo
Paper Book
From the author of Never Let Me Go and the Booker Prize-winning The Remains of the Day   The Romans have long since departed and Britain is steadily declining into ruin. But, at least, the wars that once ravaged the country have ceased. Axl...
The Middle Ages : a graphic guide
Janega, Eleanor
Paper Book
A unique, illustrated book that will change the way you see medieval history The Middle Ages: A Graphic History busts the myth of the 'Dark Ages', shedding light on the medieval period's present-day relevance in a unique illustrated style. ...
Powers and thrones : a new history of the Middle Ages
Jones, Dan
Paper Book
"Not only an engrossing read about the distant past, both informative and entertaining, but also a profoundly thought-provoking view of our not-really-so-'new' present . . . All medieval history is here, beautifully narrated."--Wall Street Journal "A lively history...
Before Columbus : the Americas of 1491
Mann, Charles C.
Paper Book
A companion book for young readers based on 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, the groundbreaking bestseller by Charles C. Mann.
Hood
Moke, Jenny Elder
Paper Book
Isabelle has only ever known a quiet life inside the walls of the convent, where she lives with her mother, Marien. But after she is arrested by soldiers for defending innocent villagers, Isabelle becomes the target of the Wolf, King John's ruthless right hand. Desperate to keep her daughter safe,...
The time traveler's guide to medieval England : a handbook for visitors to the fourteenth century
Mortimer, Ian
Paper Book
The past is a foreign country. This is your guidebook. A time machine has just transported you back to the fourteenth century. What do you see? How do you dress? How do you earn a living and how much are you paid? What sort of food will you be offered by a peasant or a monk or a lord?...
The tale of Genji
Murasaki Shikibu
Paper Book
Gazing through the portal of Japanese culture at the amorous exploits of Prince Hikaru Genji, this novel tells the story of a time when indigenous Japanese culture still held prominence over the Chinese culture that would come to dominate Japan.
The shadow throne
Nielsen, Jennifer A.
Paper Book
Jennifer A. Nielsen takes readers on an extraordinary journey with the False Prince in this third installment of the New York Times bestselling Ascendance Series.War has come to Carthya. It knocks at every door and window in the land. And when Jaron learns that King Vargan of Avenia has...
She who became the sun
Parker-Chan, Shelley
Paper Book
Two-time British Fantasy Award Winner Astounding Award Winner Lambda Literary Award Finalist Hugo Award Finalist Locus Award Finalist A Dragon Award Finalist Otherwise Award Finalist "Magnificent in every...
The lost queen : a novel
Pike, Signe
Paper Book
Compared to Outlander and The Mists of Avalon, this thrilling first novel of a debut trilogy reveals the untold story of Languoreth--a forgotten queen of sixth-century Scotland--twin sister of the man who inspired the legend of Merlin. I write because I...
Femina : a new history of the Middle Ages, through the women written out of it
Ramirez, Janina
Paper Book
THE #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 CUNDIL HISTORY PRIZE A "Next Big Idea Book Club" Must Read? A groundbreaking reappraisal of medieval femininity, revealing why women have been written out of history and why it matters ...
Good masters! Sweet Ladies! : voices from a medieval village
Schlitz, Laura Amy.
Paper Book
Step back to an English village in 1255, where life plays out in dramatic vignettes illuminating twenty-two unforgettable characters. Winner of the Newbery Medal. Maidens, monks, and millers' sons -- in these pages, readers will meet them all. There's Hugo, the lord's nephew,...
The empress of salt and fortune
Vo, Nghi
Paper Book
Winner of the 2020 Crawford Award! Winner of the 2021 Hugo Award! A Hugo Award-Winning Series! A 2021 Locus Award Finalist A 2021 Ignyte Award Finalist A Goodreads Choice Award Finalist A Book Riot Best Debut Fantasy of All...

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