Beyond the Desert Gate

10 best books like Beyond the Desert Gate (Mary Ray): The Shakespeare Stealer, The Golden Goblet, The Bronze Bow, Mara, Daughter of the Nile, A Single Shard, Black Horses for the King, I, Juan de Pareja, The Eagle of the Ninth, The Silver Branch, The Trojan War

The Shakespeare Stealer
AuthorGary L. Blackwood
ISBN0141305959
Widge is an orphan with a rare talent for shorthand. His fearsome master has just one demand: steal Shakespeare's play "Hamlet"--or else. Widge has no choice but to follow orders, so he works his way into the heart of the Globe Theatre, where Shakespeare's players perform. As full of twists and turns...
The Golden Goblet
AuthorEloise Jarvis McGraw
I really liked this book when I was 11, and I really liked this book twenty-one years later. Somehow Eloise Jarvis McGraw makes Ranofer, the main character, easily relatable without turning him into a kid that thinks, talks and acts like a twentieth century American kid who happens to be living in ancient...
The Bronze Bow
AuthorElizabeth George Speare
He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. –from the Song of David (2 Samuel 22:35)
The Bronze Bow, written by Elizabeth George Speare (author of The Witch of Blackbird Pond) won the Newbery Medal in 1962. This gripping, action-packed novel tells the story of eighteen-year-old...
AuthorEloise Jarvis McGraw
ISBN0140319298
Mara is a proud and beautiful slave girl who yearns for freedom. In order to gain it, she finds herself playing the dangerous role of double spy for two arch enemies - each of whom supports a contender for the throne of Egypt.

Against her will, Mara finds herself falling in love with one of her masters,...
A Single Shard
AuthorLinda Sue Park
ISBN0440418518
Tree-ear, an orphan, lives under a bridge in Ch’ulp’o, a potters’ village famed for delicate celadon ware. He has become fascinated with the potter’s craft; he wants nothing more than to watch master potter Min at work, and he dreams of making a pot of his own someday. When Min takes Tree-ear...
AuthorAnne McCaffrey
ISBN0345468635
"This fast-moving historical fantasy by bestselling author Anne McCaffrey traces the beginnings of the British cavalry, as recounted by a boy growing up in exciting and perilous times.
"After his father's death, young Galwyn Varianus is apprenticed to his uncle, who puts the boy to work on the...
I, Juan de Pareja
AuthorElizabeth Borton de Treviño
ISBN0374435251
**3.5 stars**

Juan de Pareja's portrait by Velázquez is my favorite painting (every time I see it, it makes me cry) so it was with trepidation and excitement that I started this audio.

The book follows the story of Juan de Pareja and his life as the slave of Diego de Velázquez, the leading...
The Eagle of the Ninth
AuthorRosemary Sutcliff
ISBN0192750453
Classic historical fiction

At the age of eight, I read Eagle of the Ninth, my first encounter with historical fiction. I became hooked. Since then, I have been read Nigel Tranter, John Prebble, Conn Igguden, Simon Scarrow, Ruth Downie, and many others.

Forty-four years later, re-reading...
The Silver Branch
AuthorRosemary Sutcliff
ISBN0192755056
Intrigue, plotting, and battles in the second of Rosemary Sutcliff's best-selling trilogy which began with The Eagle of the Ninth

Violence and unrest are sweeping through Roman Britain. Justin and Flavius find themselves caught up in the middle of it all when they discover a plot to overthrow...
AuthorOlivia E. Coolidge
ISBN0618154280
This book is great in some ways but it falls apart in other ways. First, the characters are absolutely amazing in their description for instance, it gives the back story of Achilles and how he was dipped into the River Styx. While it does give a detailed explanations, the book is not 100 percent accurate....
AuthorSusan Wise Bauer
ISBN1933339098
Now more than ever, other cultures are affecting our everyday lives and our children need to learn about the other countries of the world and their history. Susan Wise Bauer has provided a captivating guide to the history of other lands. Written in an engaging, straightforward manner, this revised...
AuthorJoanne Williamson
ISBN1883937736
A never-before published tale by the author of the best -selling Hittite Warrior, carries the reader back to Ancient Egypt and biblical Jerusalem. It is 701 B.C - rule of the Kushite dynasty in ancient Egypt. Young Prince Taharka, a very minor royal son, succeeds unexpectedly to the throne of Kush and...
AuthorCaroline Dale Snedeker
ISBN0966706722
Young Theras, born an Athenian, is taken to Sparta by a relative when his father is lost at war. He is forced to live like a Spartan, a brutal life with no pity for those who are not physically perfect and totally obedient to Spartan control. After enduring rigorous training and repeated cruel incidents,...
AuthorEleanore M. Jewett
ISBN1883937485
Amidst great mystery, Hugh is left in the care of Glastonbury Abbey by his father who must flee to England too swiftly to be burdened by a crippled son.

Dicckon struck flint and lit a candle, then led the way into the dark passage. "What is this place?" asked Hugh. A sudden turn and they were in a low...
AuthorMargaret Lovett
I first read The Great and Terrible Quest by Margaret Lovett at the age of around 11 or 12, and a friend inspired me to re-read it this month. I remember liking it at that age and being very impressed by the characters, plot, and ending, but I regret that I didn't fully appreciate it back then. I very vaguely...
AuthorErik Christian Haugaard
ISBN0618615121
When the powerful Lord Takeda’s soldiers sweep across the countryside, killing and plundering, they spare the boy Taro’s life and take him along with them. Taro becomes a servant in the household of the noble Lord Akiyama, where he meets Togan, a cook, who teaches Taro and makes his new life bearable....
AuthorMadeleine A. Polland
ISBN1887840559
Macha drove me insane. There I've said it. Yet I'm still able to call this book 4 stars.

Like most of what we do for Sonlight I start a lot of these books with a great deal of skepticism. I think, "This seems wordy and dull and way too detailed with the history to be any good."

Then I get through...
AuthorHenry Winterfeld
ISBN0152162682
In these two delightful history-mysteries, seven boys in Ancient Rome solve strange crimes . . . thanks to some help from their cranky teacher, a little bit of logic, and a lot of amusing misadventure.

It seems the boys can get nothing right: Their teacher's fiftieth birthday is long past (they...
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