2023 Holiday Gift Guide

It’s back by popular demand! Last year, our Gift Guide was the most popular download on our website. This year, it is back with new books, new gifts, and new Lanterns!

Whether you are looking for a ship in a bottle or an embroidery kit or some classical music to listen to while you read, and whether you read Tudor or Ancient Worlds or the Western Expansion or something else entirely, you will find historical fiction to fit your tastes and lots of books and gifts to fit your friends and family. Check out the PLW Holiday Gift Guide today!

Click on any book or product to view it on Amazon.

The Lanterns’ Gift to You:
Cookbooks from Our Kitchens to Yours

Browse Books by Era: Ancient History - 1500s | 1600 - 1850 | 1851 - 1970

Books Set in Ancient History – 1500s

Archer’s Grace

Anne Beggs

Author Website

AD 1224, remote Connacht, Ireland, is a volatile island poised for civil war, with England always threatening. Dahlquin and Scragmuir are bitter enemies, locked in a feud older than memory. Neighboring Ashbury is an equal, neutral ally with both. Eloise, sole heir of Dahlquin rebels against her patriarchal society, preferring her horse and hounds to spinning and ledgers until a treasonous siege catapults her and a stranger from her ancestral home, launching them on a perilous journey and spiritual quest across Ireland. Confronting self and societal doubts Eloise must take on far more than she ever expected, finding love and conflict as she comes of age in this historical epoch.

Bow-and-Arrow Pendant

to be strong and shoot straight

 

Token of Betrayal

C.V. Lee

Author Website

Disillusioned by war, Sir Philippe de Carteret returns home to Jersey to hang up his sword, embrace his duty as seigneur of the island’s most powerful manor, and raise his son in peace and safety.

His plans go awry when the impregnable Mont Orgueil castle falls to the French. De Carteret suspects betrayal from within. To protect the family legacy for his son, he pledges his allegiance to the new lord who governs through terror and oppression, kidnapping and murdering the island’s citizens.

Surrounded by danger, de Carteret and his family are forced to flee their ancestral home. Uncertain of who he can trust, will de Carteret take up his sword again and risk everything to free his homeland?

Based on real people and true events.

Ancient Tankard

a token of camaraderie and bravery

 
 

Betrayal of Trust

C.V. Lee

Author Website

What would you do for love?

15th century. England devolves into chaos as two families fight over the throne during the Wars of the Roses, and the repercussions spill over onto the Isle of Jersey. In an era when shifting alliances and acts of treason are commonplace, three lives become entangled in a web of love, deceit, and revenge.

Meet Philippe de Carteret, an insecure young man, thrust into his ancestral role as the island’s premier seigneur. He inherits a manor in ruins with no means to pay for the repairs.

Add Clement Le Hardy, embittered by the loss of his heritage. He vows to reclaim his rightful legacy and exact retribution on Philippe for his misfortunes.

Enter Margaret Harleston, a headstrong maiden, with powerful connections and a substantial dowry. Determined to forge her own path, she rebels against societal constraints.

This gripping tale, based on real people and true events, takes readers on a page-turning journey from the windswept cliffs of Jersey to the gritty streets of London, culminating in a real-life feat of bravery that is still celebrated on the Isle of Jersey today.

Pearl Pendant

a token of her great value

 
 

The Witchfinder’s Well

Jonathan Posner

Author Website

What if you fell through a time travel portal and landed in Tudor England?

How long before you say the wrong thing to the wrong person? Before you’re accused of being a witch?

For Justine Parker it’s almost immediate. She hardly has time to find her feet in a historical world that’s hostile for women, before she’s on the run from a ruthless witchfinder. He makes it his deadly mission to submit her to a terrifying trial. And if that doesn’t kill her, he’ll burn her to death.

Justine needs to do whatever it takes to keep out of his clutches. But she can’t do it alone – as a stranger in Elizabethan England, she needs help. Handsome Sir William could be her saviour – and even her lover – but his time is running out fast. A cruel twist of history says his own death is imminent.

Now Justine has to face a terrible choice – save herself, or change history and save her new love?

Unless she can find a way to do both.

Tudor Rose Bookmark

the mark of a true Tudor book lover

 
 

Watermark: A Novel of the Middle Ages

Vanitha Sankaran

Author Website

The daughter of a papermaker in a small French village in the year 1320—mute from birth and forced to shun normal society—young Auda finds solace and escape in the wonder of the written word. Believed to be cursed by those who embrace ignorance and superstition, Auda’s very survival is a testament to the strength of her spirit. But this is an age of Inquisition and intolerance, when difference and defiance are punishable “sins” and new ideas are considered damnable heresy. When darkness descends upon her world, Auda—newly grown to womanhood—is forced to flee, setting off on a remarkable quest to discover love and a new sense of self . . . and to reclaim her heritage and the small glory of her father’s art.

Handmade Cotton Paper Journal

to escape into your thoughts

 

Judging Noa: a Fight for Women’s Rights in the Turmoil of the Exodus

Michal Strutin

Author Website

Noa, at sixteen, sets out with the twelve tribes of the Exodus, dreaming of a life of freedom and the Promised Land that her father says will be theirs. When religious fanatics kill her father, Noa and her four sisters are in danger of being sold into bondage. Noa vows to win women’s rights of inheritance to protect her sisters and herself. Pleading her case before ever-higher courts, Noa encounters a malicious judge. When she mutters a curse against him and he dies, she is charged with witchcraft.

Gaining strength and complexity as she approaches the highest judge, Noa and her pursuit causes turmoil among the tribes: she is a notorious troublemaker. And she is heroic. Based on a few biblical verses, the turbulence of Noa’s life is set against the sweeping turbulence of the Exodus and a rigid patriarchy. In Judging Noa, Noa’s quest for justice is a journey that has as much meaning today as it did then.

Camp Chair

for those tired of riding camels or donkeys

 
 

On a Wing and a Dare

Linda Ulleseit

Author Website

In Tremeirchson, a barn leader’s children are expected to follow their parents into the sky, becoming riders of the magnificent winged horses that are the medieval Welsh village’s legacy. Neither Emma nor Davyd, however, want to follow that tradition.

Sixteen-year-old Emma risks losing her family by following her heart. Eager to take her place in the air, she longs to ride a forbidden winged colt born in barn of her father’s biggest rival. She also dreams of the rival’s sons, not sure which she truly loves. Bold and exciting, Evan will someday lead his father’s barn. Davyd is quieter, more dependable, with an ability to get things done. Her father disapproves of both boys and pushes her toward an ambitious newcomer. He also insists she ride the colt he’s picked for her.

Davyd, also sixteen, is plagued with a secret—he is afraid of heights. Refusing to become a rider means public humiliation, his parents’ disappointment, and lifelong ridicule from his brother, Evan. He reluctantly prepares to join his family aloft in the Aerial Games that provide the entire village with its livelihood and tries desperately to think of an alternative.

As Tremeirchson’s barns prepare for the Rider Ceremony, winged horses suddenly start dying. Shocked, the adults hesitate, mired in tradition and politics. Is it a disease or poison? Accidental or purposeful? Someone must discover the answer and act before all the winged horses in the world are gone forever.

 

Winged Horse

for those who love aerial games

 
 

Unlocked

Paper Lantern Writers

Author Website

In much the same manner as Pandora, each Paper Lantern Writer takes a turn opening an old wooden chest, digging out stories spanning seven centuries. The individuals in these tales—heroes, villains, and in between—are more than people from the past. Whether they are making mayhem, waging war, or quietly holding their families together, their strength and fortitude shines on the page. From the Swinging Seventies to the Middle Ages, these characters gather, keep, and spill the secrets of their souls.

Who knows what treasures will be found when this ancient trunk is finally Unlocked?

 Short stories set from Ancient History – 1500s

Joanna’s Choice: A Renaissance story of a woman who longs to escape her scandalous past.

The Dragon Lord: A Medieval tale of romance and religion vying for supremacy at the Winter Solstice.

And other stories from other eras!

 

Small Trunk

you can unlock yourself

Beneath a Midwinter Moon

Paper Lantern Writers

Author Website

What mystery, romance, and adventure lie Beneath the Midwinter Moon?

It may be cold outside, but inside this anthology, the Paper Lantern Writers bring you warm and engaging reflections of holiday celebrations across seven centuries. From the United States to India and Europe, eleven stories of courage, fortitude and love are illuminated by the midwinter moon.

 

Short stories set from Ancient History – 1500s

Phillipe’s Epiphany:A young husband has doubts about his new wife’s fidelity in 15th century London.

A Wicked Turn at Christmas: The return of an old enemy threatens to tear an Elizabethan family apart.

And other stories from other eras!

 

A Moon Lamp

to celebrate your own midwinter holiday

Browse Books by Era: Ancient History - 1500s | 1600 - 1850 | 1851 - 1970

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