The Second Mrs. Gioconda

10 best books like The Second Mrs. Gioconda (E.L. Konigsburg): Shadow Spinner, The Shakespeare Stealer, The Sherwood Ring, Black Horses for the King, I, Juan de Pareja, Hittite Warrior, A Murder for Her Majesty, The Beduins' Gazelle, The Master Puppeteer, The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn

AuthorSusan Fletcher
ISBN0689830513
Originally reviewed on my blog, Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing.

Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher is set in Ancient Persia and it is a retelling of 1001 Arabian Nights. The original tale is the story of Shaharazad, the young woman who tells stories each night to the Sultan, ending before...
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...
AuthorElizabeth Marie Pope
ISBN0618150749
Newly orphaned Peggy Grahame is caught off-guard when she first arrives at her family's ancestral estate. Her eccentric uncle Enos drives away her only new acquaintance, Pat, a handsome British scholar, then leaves Peggy to fend for herself. But she is not alone. The house is full of mysteries and ghosts....
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...
AuthorJoanne Williamson
ISBN1883937388
When Uriah Tarhund's Hititte home is destroyed by invading Greeks, his dying father tells him to go seek a Canaanite named Sisera. "He will help you. For my sake...." When Uriah reaches Judea and saves a young boy from being sacrificed to Molech, he is given succor for a time by the Hebrews. Later, he finds...
AuthorBeth Hilgartner
ISBN0395616190
I usually criticize books, and pick on every single bad thing about them. The characters are weak... The plot was limp, and "horrid"... Or, most terribly, the storytelling was atrocious.
That wasn't the case with this book. And it pleasantly surprised me with no feminist sort of messages. "Girls...
AuthorFrances Temple
ISBN0064406695
When she and he were only babies, they were pledged in marriage. Now Atiyah has been sent away -- a political pawn in a war between the Beduin tribes in the year 1302. He vows to return to her as soon as he can.But while Atiyah is studying at the great university in Fez, Halima is lost in a sandstorm. Rescued...
AuthorKatherine Paterson
ISBN0064402819
Who is the man called Sabura, the mysterious bandit who robs the rich and helps the poor? And what is his connection with Yosida, the harsh and ill- tempered master of feudal Japan's most famous puppet theater? Young Jiro, an apprentice to Yosida, is determined to find out, even at risk to his own life.

Meamwhile,...
AuthorDorothy Hoobler
ISBN0142405418
Dubbed as a Japanese Sherlock Holmes, The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn is a classic, yet simple, mystery with a cultural twist. I remember seeing this book in my brother's room when I was younger and the cover, despite its cheesiness, was curious about the story. Crazy thing is, he still has it, but he's across...
AuthorElvira Woodruff
ISBN0439281342
Best-selling author Elvira Woodruff's thrilling novel set in 1700s London. Now in paperback!

It's 1735. Forrest Harper's life inside the Tower of London consists of three ways to pass the time: chores, chores, and more chores. His only friends are the spirited ravens he tends with his father....
AuthorEloise Jarvis McGraw
ISBN0140322558
Normally, I would not have bought, on impulse, a book with the boring title of "Master Cornhill." However, Eloise Jarvis McGraw just so happens to be a favorite author of mine. I am so glad that I "didn't judge a book by it's cover" and gave this novel a chance. Master Cornhill was beautifully written, with...
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...
AuthorStaton Rabin
"Think, my dear -- just think what it will be like, to be known as the girl who freed the great Napoleon Bonaparte!"

Fourteen-year-old English girl Betsy Balcombe and her family have an unusual houseguest: Napoleon Bonaparte, former emperor of France and the most feared man on earth. Once lord...
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....
AuthorKaren Hesse
ISBN0689839898
It is known that in the summer of 1768, Captain James Cook sailed from England on H.M.S Endeavour, beginning a three-year voyage around the world on a secret mission to discover an unknown continent at the bottom of the globe. What is less known is that a boy by the name of Nicholas Young was a stowaway on...
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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