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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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.   "[A] fun feudal samurai drama. . .action...
Crispin : the cross of lead.
Avi, 1937-
Paper Book
Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret.
The Canterbury tales /
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 1340-1400.
Paper Book
One spring day, 30 pilgrims set off from an inn in Southwark for a shrine in Canterbury. The inn keeper offers a free dinner, on their return, to the person who can tell the best story. So begins an assortment of tales from such varied characters as the Knight, the Wife of Bath and the Miller.
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.
Cornwell, Bernard
Paper Book
Go with God and Fight Like the Devil. A fascinating hero and the pursuit of a sword with mythical power - this is the remarkable new novel by Britain's master storyteller, which culminates at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356. The Hundred Years War rages on and the bloodiest battles are yet...
The last kingdom.
Cornwell, Bernard
Paper Book
From New York Times bestselling author Bernard Cornwell comes a saga of fidelity and betrayal that brings to center stage King Alfred the Great, one of the most crucial figures in English history. It is King Alfred and his heirs who in the ninth and tenth centuries fought to secure the survival of...
Pope Joan : a novel
Cross, Donna Woolfolk.
Paper Book
"Pope Joan has all the elements one wants in a historical drama--love, sex, violence, duplicity, and long-buried secrets. Cross has written an engaging book."--Los Angeles Times Book Review In this international bestseller and basis for the 2009 movie of the...
Arthur : the seeing stone.
Crossley-Holland, Kevin
Paper Book
Medieval life meets Arthurian magic in a novel that transcends boundaries of time and age, appealing to children of 9+ and older readers alike. The winner of the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the Smarties Prize bronze award in 2001, this timeless novel is stunningly reissued for a new...
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. [online electronic book]
Dickerson, Melanie.
Ebook
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. Rose has been...
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. [online electronic book]
Garwood, Julie
Ebook
An arranged marriage leads to passionate love in this classic Scottish historical romance from #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Garwood.   By edict of the king, the mighty Scottish laird Alec Kincaid must take an English bride. His choice is Jamie, youngest...
The king's curse
Gregory, Philippa.
Paper Book
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author behind the Starz original series The White Queen comes the story of lady-in-waiting Margaret Pole and her unique view of King Henry VIII's stratospheric rise to power in Tudor England. Regarded as yet another threat to the...
Lords of the Bow.
Iggulden, Conn
Paper Book
The second in 'The Conqueror Series', this novel is an epic story of Genghis Khan continuing to dominate the scene as he matures from the young boy of 'Wolf of the Plains' to the great Conqueror.
The buried giant.
Ishiguro, Kazuo, 1954-
Paper Book
The extraordinary new novel from the author of Never Let Me Go and the Booker Prize#65533;-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...
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...
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.
Ebook
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
Peters, Ellis
Paper Book
The lost queen.
Pike, Signe
Paper Book
The Mists of Avalon meets the world of Philippa Gregory in the thrilling first novel of a debut trilogy that 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,...
Dauntless. [online electronic book]
Sleiman, Dina L.
Ebook
Timothy Grey plans to earn a title by capturing Lady Merry and her band of orphan thieves. But will he carry out his mission when he meets their dauntless leader face-to-face?
The empress of salt and fortune
Vo, Nghi
Paper Book
A young royal from the far north, is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully.Rabbit, a...
The scribe of Siena : a novel
Winawer, Melodie
Paper Book
"Like Outlander with an Italian accent." --Real Simple "A detailed historical novel, a multifaceted mystery, and a moving tale of improbable love." --Publishers Weekly, starred review A NEW YORK POST MUST-READ BOOK

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