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
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
Flame in the mist
Ahdieh, Rene?e
Paper Book
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Wrath and the Dawn, comes a sweeping, action-packed YA adventure set against the backdrop of Feudal Japan where Mulan meets Throne of Glass.   The daughter of a prominent samurai, Mariko has long...
On a medieval day : story voyages around the world
Arato, Rona.
Paper Book
What if you could spend a day in the shoes of a child in the middle ages? What would you learn about cultures of the past? On A Medieval Day, part of the On a Day Story Voyages series, uses nine exceptional pieces of historical fiction to give kids just that opportunity. Contrary to the commonly...
Crispin : the cross of lead
Avi 1937-
Paper Book
Winner of the Newbery Medal, Crispin: The Cross of Lead is an action-packed mystery and adventure from master storyteller Avi. Sometimes I ran, sometimes all I could do was walk. All I knew was that if the steward overtook me, I'd not...
Anna of Byzantium
Barrett, Tracy 1955-
Paper Book
For fans of Joan of Arc and Alexander the Great, comes "a gripping saga of alliances, intrigues, deceits, and treacheries" about Anna Comnena of the Byzantine Empire. Anna Comnena has every reason to feel entitled. She's a princess, her father's firstborn and his chosen successor...
The Canterbury tales : a new modern English prose translation by R. M. Lumiansky
Chaucer, Geoffrey -1400
Paper Book
Enriched Classics offer readers accessible editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and commentary. Each book includes educational tools alongside the text, enabling students and readers alike to gain a deeper and more developed understanding of the writer and their...
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,...
Pope Joan : a novel
Cross, Donna Woolfolk.
Paper Book
"Engaging . . . Pope Joan has all the elements: love, sex, violence, duplicity, and long-buried secrets." --Los Angeles Times Book Review For a thousand years men have denied her existence--Pope Joan, the woman who disguised herself as a man and rose to rule Christianity for two years. Now this...
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...
The healer's apprentice
Dickerson, Melanie.
Paper Book
A realistic, fast-paced reimagining of the Sleeping Beauty fairytale full of royalty, romance, and danger. This masterful combination of love and heartbreak--combined with the novel's surprise ending--is everything fans of fantasy, historical, and medieval fiction yearn for. ...
Silence
End?, Sh?saku 1923-1996
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
If you liked the Century Trilogy, you'll love the "extraordinary . . . monumental masterpiece" (Booklist) that changed the course of Ken Follett's already phenomenal career. "Follett risks all and comes out a clear winner," extolled Publishers Weekly on the release...
The bride
Garwood, Julie.
Paper Book
New York Times bestselling author Julie Garwood weaves a bold, breathless tale of a rebellious woman, a fierce chieftain, and the searing love that sealed their destiny. By edict of the King, Scottish laird Alec Kincaid must take an English bride. His choice was Jamie, a fiesty, violet-eyed beauty-...
The Vatican princess a novel of Lucrezia Borgia
Gortner, C. W.
CD
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 1954-
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...
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 1967-
Paper Book
Now in paperback, a literary time machine that takes readers into the sights, smells, and tastes of the fourteenth century--a book that is revolutionary in its concept and startling in its portrayal of humanity. The past is a foreign country. This is your guidebook. A time...
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 and USA Today bestselling Ascendance Series.War has come to Carthya. It knocks at every door and window in the land. And when Jaron learns that King...
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...
A morbid taste for bones : a medieval whodunit
Peters, Ellis 1913-1995
Paper Book
The ambitious head of Shrewsbury Abbey wants to acquire Saint Winifred's sacred remains for his Benedictine order. And when the ensuing controversy leads to murder, Brother Cadfael investigates.
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...
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,...
Sword of the rightful king : a novel of King Arthur
Yolen, Jane.
Paper Book
The newly crowned King Arthur is unsure of himself; worse, the people are unsure of him. Too many people want the throne, and treachery is everywhere. Merlin must do something before the king is betrayed, or murdered, or--worst of all--gets married. So Merlin magically places a sword into a slab...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.