Novels of the Seventeenth Century

The seventeenth century offers a variety of stirring historical settings, including the Civil Wars in England between the Royalist supporters of King Charles I and the Puritan Parliamentarians; the Thirty Years War that engulfed Germany and its neighbors; the migration from the Old World to the American Colonies and Canada; the last of the witch persecutions, especially the hysteria in the Puritan colony of Salem; and major advances in science led by mathematicians like Kepler and alchemists like Isaac Newton.

For the migration-rich seventeenth century, it is difficult to classify novels set partly in North America and partly in Europe by setting, so all novels set in North America appear in either the British Isles or the Continental Europe categories, depending on where the immigrant characters in a stand-alone novel or series of novels primarily came from. Novels with seventeenth-century settings outside Europe and North America (Africa, Asia, Australia and the Middle East) will be grouped in separate pages, by continent, when posted.

Novels are listed alphabetically by author within the following categories:

The British Isles and North America in the 17th Century
Mysteries: 17th Century Britain and North America
Continental Europe and North America in the 17th Century
Mysteries: 17th Century European Continent and North America

Click on the title for more information from Powell's Books or another online source.

The British Isles and North America
in the 17th Century

Vanessa Alexander, The Loving Cup (2001), about a love affair between the poor clerk of Samuel Pepys and a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine who run afoul of the Restoration-era "papist plot" to overthrow King Charles.

Valerie Anand, The Faithful Lovers, family saga about seventeenth-century descendants of English serfs; #4 in the Bridges Over Time series (see the "Medieval" page for #1 in the series)

Evelyn Anthony, Charles the King (1961), about King Charles I of England, who was executed in 1625, and his wife Henrietta Maria of France.

Aileen Armitage, Flames of Fortune (2002 reissue; originally published 1972 as Child of Fire under the name Aileen Quigley), historical romance about a tavern girl whose fortunes rise after the Great Fire of London, leading her to become involved in the intrigues of two Restoration courtiers.

Aileen Armitage, A Passionate Cause (2000 reissue; originally published 1971 as King's Pawn under the name Aileen Quigley), about a young pregnant woman who goes to England to find her lover and discovers him at the Restoration court of Charles II.

Calvin Baker, Dominion (2006), about a freed slave who settles in the Carolinas in the late seventeenth century and his descendants.

Russell Banks, The Relation of My Imprisonment (1983), the fictional memoir of a coffin-maker who is arrested and thrown into prison.

John Barth, The Sot-Weed Factor, a humorous literary novel about a seventeenth century Englishman in America.

Andrew Beahrs, Strange Saint, about seventeenth century immigrants to the Plymouth Colony in America.

Pamela Belle, The Moon in the Water, about a seventeenth century royalist family during the English Civil War; #1 in the Heron series.

Pamela Belle, The Chains of Fate, about a seventeenth century royalist family during the English Civil War; #2 in the Heron series.

Pamela Belle, Alathea, about a seventeenth century royalist family during the English Civil War; #3 in the Heron series.

Pamela Belle, Wintercombe, about a Puritan family during the seventeenth-century English Civil War; #1 in the Wintercombe series.

Pamela Belle, Herald of Joy, about a Puritan family during the seventeenth-century English Civil War; #2 in the Wintercombe series.

Pamela Belle, A Falling Star, about a Puritan family during the seventeenth-century English Civil War; #3 in the Wintercombe series.

Pamela Belle, Treason's Gift, about a Puritan family during the seventeenth-century English Civil War; #4 in the Wintercombe series.

Erich Beller, Man of Iron (2009), dark historical fantasy about a retired pirate on a quest for revenge who falls into a world of black magic and death; ebook format.

Vanora Bennett, Portrait of an Unknown Woman, about a foster daughter of Thomas More and her attraction to two very different men, the portrait-painter Hans Holbein and a student of medicine with a mysterious background.

Pauline Bentley, The Cavalier's Masque, historical romance set during the English Civil War.

Pauline Bentley, Fallen Angels, about a family of traveling players during the English Civil War and the Restoration; sequel to Rogues and Players, set in Renaissance England.

Virginia Bernhard, A Durable Fire, about women immigrants to the Jamestown Colony in early seventeenth century Virginia.

Marie Brennan, In Ashes Lie (forthcoming in June 2009), historical fantasy set in 1666 about parallel challenges facing the mortal world and the world of fae as a great fire breaks out in London.

Geraldine Brooks, Year of Wonders, about a woman in a plague-stricken English town that altruistically barricades itself away from the outside world.

Bryher, The Player's Boy, about an apprentice actor in early seventeenth century England; Bryher was the pen name of Annie Winnifred Ellerman.

John Dickson Carr, The Murder of Sir Edmund Godfrey (1936), about the murder of a justice of the peace in 1678 which enemies of King Charles II use as a pretext to stir up anti-Catholic sentiment.

John Dickson Carr, Most Secret (1964), set in 1670 and based on his 1934 "Musketeers" novel Devil Kinsmere, published under the pen-name Roger Fairbairn.

Nicholas Carter, Turncoat's Drum (1995), about men fighting on different sides of the English Civil War; #1 in the Shadow on the Crown series.

Nicholas Carter, Storming Party (1996), about men fighting on different sides of the English Civil War; #2 in the Shadow on the Crown series.

Nicholas Carter, And King's Men Crow (1997), about men fighting on different sides of the English Civil War during the 1643 Siege of Gloucester; #3 in the Shadow on the Crown series.

Nicholas Carter, Harvest of Swords (1998), about men fighting on different sides of the English Civil War; #4 in the Shadow on the Crown series.

Nicholas Carter, Stand By the Colours (1999), about men fighting on different sides of the English Civil War; #5 in the Shadow on the Crown series.

Megan Chance, Susannah Morrow: A Novel of Salem, about the Salem witch persecutions.

Maryse Condé, I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem, a literary novel which borrows historical incidents from the Salem witch persecutions and blends them with a modern sensibility and fictional characters like Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter to make a point about racist and sexist attitudes.

Bruce Cook, Young Will, an aging Shakespeare writes a memoir of his misspent youth.

Bernard Cornwell, A Crowning Mercy, about a woman in seventeenth century London.

Anita Davison, Duking Days: Rebellion, about a young woman whose family's property is confiscated after the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685 England; #1 in the Duking Days series.

Anita Davison, Duking Days: Revolution (2008), about a young wife and her struggle for security on the eve of the 1688 Glorious Revolution; #2 in the Duking Days series.

Jan de Hartog, The Peaceable Kingdom, about the seventeenth-century Quaker migration to America; #1 in the Quaker trilogy.

Jan de Hartog, The Lamb's War, about the seventeenth-century Quaker migration to America; #2 in the Quaker trilogy.

Jan de Hartog, The Peculiar People, about the seventeenth-century Quaker migration to America; #3 in the Quaker trilogy.

Christie Dickason, The Lady Tree, about a young Englishman blackmailed into traveling to the Netherlands on a financially risky venture during the "Tulipmania"; #1 in the Lady Tree trilogy.

Christie Dickason, Quicksilver, about a young musician in the court of Charles I who fears he may have become a werewolf; #2 in the Lady Tree trilogy.

Christie Dickason, The Memory Palace, about a young pregnant woman struggling to survive after her baby's father is exiled; #3 in the Lady Tree trilogy.

Christie Dickason, The Firemaster's Mistress, a seventeenth century explosives expert is forced to infiltrate the Gunpowder Plot conspirators as a government spy.

Christie Dickason, The Principessa, an English gunpowder expert, sent to Italy as a spy, meets his match in a wily and beautiful young widow; sequel to The Firemaster's Mistress.

Susan Donnell, Pocahontas, a romantic novel about Pocahontas which portrays her and John Smith as lovers.

Daphne du Maurier, Frenchman's Creek, set in seventeenth century Cornwall.

Daphne du Maurier, The King's General, set in the period between the First and Second English Civil Wars.

Rose Earhart, Dorcas Good: The Diary of a Salem Witch (1999), about the 1692 Salem witch trials.

Robert Edric, The Earth Made of Glass, a literary novel about an investigation into missing church funds in a small town in seventeenth century Lancashire.

Erastes, Transgressions (2009), about two young Puritan men whose secret past as lovers leads one to war and the other to a life as a witch hunter during the English Civil War.

Roger Fairbairn, Devil Kinsmere (1934), an adventure novel with a "Musketeers" theme; Roger Fairbairn was a pen-name of John Dickson Carr, who published a revision of this novel in 1964 under the title Most Secret; out of print and not readily available.

Douglas Galbraith, The Rising Sun (2000), about a young shipworker involved in a Scottish expedition to Darien (now Panama) in 1698 in an attempt to found a colony.

Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Calligraphy of the Witch, about a Mexican servant girl caught up in the Salem witch hunt.

Denise Giardina, Fallam's Secret, about a modern woman who travels back in time to Cromwell's England.

Kathleen Givens, The Legend, historical romance about a highborn Scottish lass who stumbles into romance while on her way to warn her cousin of a murder plot during the time of William and Mary.

Kathleen Givens, The Destiny, historical romance about a young woman in a precarious position after her father's death who takes the risk of freeing a spy caught in her family home during the time of William and Mary; sequel to The Legend.

Elizabeth Goudge, The Child from the Sea, about Lucy Walter, who may have been the secret wife of King Charles II and the mother of his son, the Duke of Monmouth.

Elizabeth Goudge, The White Witch, about a wisewoman, the daughter of a gypsy, whose family members fight on different sides during the English Civil War.

Philippa Gregory, Earthly Joys, about a seventeenth century gardener at Buckingham Palace.

Philippa Gregory, Virgin Earth, a former Buckingham Palace gardener flees to America; sequel to Earthly Joys.

Michael Gruber, The Book of Air and Shadows, a thriller about a contemporary bookstore employee who discovers a seventeenth-century letter which sends him on a quest for an undiscovered work by William Shakespeare.

Diane Haeger, The Perfect Royal Mistress, about Nell Gwynne, the actress who became mistress of the seventeenth century Restoration King Charles II.

Maeve Haran, The Lady and the Poet (2009), a love story about the poet John Donne and Ann More, whom he married in 1601 despite the opposition of her family and his patrons.

Titania Hardie, The Rose Labyrinth (2008), about a woman who receives a heart transplant from a direct descendant of John Dee, Elizabeth I's astrologer, and then becomes swept up in his unfinished project of discovering what lies behind his mysterious family legacy of a tiny silver key.

Simon A. Hart, A Silver Bullet, set during the first Jacobite rebellion in 1689 Scotland; self-published.

Georgette Heyer, Royal Escape, about the seventeenth century King Charles II; uncharacteristically for the queen of the Regency Romance, this is not a romance.

Deborah Homsher, The Rising Shore: Roanoke, about the doomed American colony of Roanoke.

Katherine Howe, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane (2009), about a modern Ph.D. student who finds an old key in her grandmother's house and soon begins to suspect she has personal ties to the witch persecutions in Salem in the 1690s.

Wayne Karlin, The Wished-For Country, about a feud between a man and his former slave in seventeenth century Colonial America.

Brian Keenan, Turlough (2000), about the blind Irish harper and composer Turlough O'Carolan.

Kathleen Kent, The Heretic's Daughter (2008), about a mother and daughter in Salem, Massachusetts, who discover a new respect for each other when the mother is charged with witchcraft.

Karleen Koen, Dark Angels, about a lady-in-waiting in the Restoration court of Charles II.

Rosalind Laker, Far Seeks the Heart, a romantic novel about a seventeenth century Scottish chieftain's wife.

Rosalind Laker, Circle of Pearls (1990), about a woman in Puritan England who safeguards the last remaining gown of Queen Elizabeth I.

Dinah Lampitt, Banishment, a time-travel romance in which a woman finds herself in seventeenth century England during the time of the Civil War.

Patricia Lawson, A Price Above Rubies (1991), about a young woman, the daughter of a weaver in the Cotswolds, as tensions leading to the English Civil War begin to rise.

Hilda Lewis, Wife to Charles II (1965), about Catherine of Braganza, who coped with her husband's notorious womanizing and her own inability to bear a child.

Norah Lofts, Pargeters, about the family who lives in a house named for the pargeter (plasterer) whose skilled work embellished it, and the daughter who agrees to an unhappy marriage during the English Civil War in order to continue living there.

Gerard Mac, Pilgrims: A Novel of the Mayflower (1994), about a London slum girl with a dark secret who flees to America on the Mayflower, where she meets a young man from a different background and falls in love.

Rose Macaulay, They Were Defeated (1932; titled The Shadow Flies in the U.S.), about the poet Robert Herrick and his friends during the seventeenth century reign of Charles I as the English Civil War looms.

F. van Wyck Mason, Cutlass Empire (1949), a romantic novel about Henry Morgan, the seventeenth century Welsh privateer who rose to become Governor of Jamaica.

Kate McCafferty, Testimony of an Irish Slave Girl, about an Irish girl kidnapped at the age of 10 and sold into slavery in Barbados.

Robert McCammon, Speaks the Nightbird, about a witch persecution in 1699 Carolina.

Robert McCammon, The Queen of Bedlam, sequel to Speaks the Nightbird.

Maria McCann, As Meat Loves Salt, about a servant during the seventeenth century English Civil War. Review.

Katharine McMahon, After Mary (2000), about a young woman from a seventeenth century English Catholic family who becomes involved with Mary Ward's pioneering effort to form an uncloistered order of nuns similar to the Jesuit Order.

Susan Meissner, The Shape of Mercy (2008), about a modern college student who takes a job transcribing the diary of a woman victim of the Salem witch trials and becomes involved with the diary's owner, a woman still profoundly affected by her ancestor's experiences.

Siri Mitchell, A Constant Heart (2008), about a woman whose introduction at the court of Queen Elizabeth goes awry, threatening her prospect of being married to the man she loves; Christian message.

Siri Mitchell, Love's Pursuit (2009), about a Puritan woman whose expectations in life and understanding of God are upended when the wealthiest bachelor in her Massachusetts town begins to court her; Christian message.

Jude Morgan, The King's Touch, about Charles II, the English king of the Restoration period.

Toni Morrison, A Mercy (2008), about a young woman sold into slavery in a farming household in 1680 Maryland, when slavery was not yet entrenched in America or specific to a particular race.

James Morrow, The Last Witchfinder, about the daughter of a late seventeenth century "witchfinder" who makes it her mission to end the persecution of witches after she discovers a letter of Isaac Newton expressing the opinion that evil spirits do not exist.

Annette Motley, The Quickenberry Tree, set during the seventeenth century English Civil War.

Kerry Newcomb, Mad Morgan, about a Welshman who escapes from slavery in the Caribbean and turns pirate.

Diana Norman, The Vizard Mask, about two women who use their wits to escape debtors' prison and become involved in intrigues in the Restoration court of Charles II.

Mary Novik, Conceit (2007), about the imaginative and rebellious daughter of poet John Donne. Review

Robert Nye, Mrs. Shakespeare: The Complete Works (1993), a humorous, bawdy novel about Shakespeare's wife.

Robert Nye, The Late Mr. Shakespeare (1998), a humorous, bawdy novel narrated by player in Shakespeare's troupe (all were male) who specialized in women's roles.

Christopher Peachment, The Green and the Gold: A Novel of Andrew Marvell, Spy, Politician, Poet, about the seventeenth English poet who wrote "To His Coy Mistress."

Clive Perry, Faith, Hope and Christopher, about the seventeenth century architect Sir Christopher Wren and Faith Coghill, the woman he married; self-published.

Jean Plaidy, Myself My Enemy (1983; recent edition titled Loyal in Love), about Henrietta Maria, the wife of the seventeenth century English King Charles I

Jean Plaidy, The Wandering Prince (1956), about the Restoration King Charles II, #1 in the Charles II trilogy (now collected in a single volume as The Loves of Charles II).

Jean Plaidy, A Health Unto His Majesty (1956), about the Restoration King Charles II, #2 in the Charles II trilogy (now collected in a single volume as The Loves of Charles II).

Jean Plaidy, Here Lies Our Sovereign Lord (1957), about the Restoration King Charles II, #3 in the Charles II trilogy (now collected in a single volume as The Loves of Charles II).

Jean Plaidy, The Pleasures of Love (1991; new edition titled The Merry Monarch's Wife: The Story of Catherine of Braganza), about the Portuguese wife of the promiscuous Restoration king Charles II; #9 in the Queens of England series

Jean Plaidy, William's Wife (1992; new edition titled The Queen's Devotion), about Mary, the daughter of King James II of England, who married William of Orange, with whom she ruled jointly as a co-equal monarch after her father's death; #10 in the Queens of England series.

Jean Plaidy, The Three Crowns (1965), about King James II and King William and Queen Mary, #1 in the Stuart Saga.

Jean Plaidy, The Haunted Sisters (1966), about King James II and King William and Queen Mary, #2 in the Stuart Saga.

Jean Plaidy, The Queen's Favourites (1966), about Queen Anne, the last of the Stuart line, #3 in the Stuart Saga.

Dudley Pope, Galleon: A Novel, about seafaring during the time of King Charles II.

Lucia St. Clair Robson, Mary's Land, set in seventeeth century Colonial Maryland.

Rafael Sabatini, Captain Blood, about an Englishman sent into slavery in the Caribbean who escapes and turns pirate.

Cheryl Sawyer, The Winter Prince (2007), about Prince Rupert of the Rhine (nicknamed "Rupert the Devil) and his illicit love affair with Mary Villers, the Duchess of Richmond, during the English Civil War when he supported his uncle King Charles I.

Susan Holloway Scott, The French Mistress (forthcoming in July 2009), about Louise de Keroualle, a maid of honor at the French court of Louis XIV who catches the eye of England's Charles II and is sent to him as a "gift" with instructions to act as a spy for France.

Susan Holloway Scott, The King's Favorite (2008), about Nell Gwynn, who rose from poverty as an actress and become the mistress of King Charles II while still in her teens.

Susan Holloway Scott, Royal Harlot (2007), about Charles II's mistress Barbara Villiers Palmer.

Susan Holloway Scott, Duchess: A Novel of Sarah Churchill (2006), about an ancestress of Winston Churchill at the Restoration court of Charles II.

Sir Walter Scott, Old Mortality (1816), about a moderate Scot during the Covenanter uprising who is torn between his loyalty to Scotland and his love for the granddaughter of a royalist.

Sir Walter Scott, The Bride of Lammermoor (1819), the tragic story of a young man in seventeenth century Scotland who falls in love with the daughter of the dishonest lawyer who tricked his father out of his estate.

Sir Walter Scott, A Legend of Montrose (1819), about a love triangle during the Scottish Covenanter uprising of 1640.

Sir Walter Scott, Peveril of the Peak (1822), about a plot to assassinate King Charles II.

Sir Walter Scott, The Fortunes of Nigel (1822), about King James I of England.

Sir Walter Scott, Woodstock (1826), set during the English Civil War.

Anya Seton, The Winthrop Woman (1958), about a seventeenth century Englishwoman who migrates to America with the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Company. Review

Mary Lee Settle, I, Roger Williams, about the man who was secretary to the English jurist Sir Edward Coke and founded Rhode Island, working for the separation of church and state; #1 in the Beulah Quartet (third in the quartet to be published).

Tim Severin, Corsair, about a seventeen-year-old Irish boy kidnapped by corsairs from North Africa and sold into slavery in Algiers; #1 in the Hector Lynch series.

Tim Severin, Buccaneer, an adventure story about an Irish sailor and his feud with a notorious buccaneer; #2 in the Hector Lynch series.

Tim Severin, The Sea Robber (2009), an adventure story about an Irish pirate who makes a dangerous trip around Cape Horn in search of the Spanish woman he loves; #3 in the Hector Lynch series.

John Steinbeck, Cup of Gold (1926), Steinbeck's first novel, featuring Henry Morgan, the seventeenth century Welsh privateer who rose to become Governor of Jamaica.

Neal Stephenson, Quicksilver, about the scientific discoveries of the late 17th and early 18th centuries; set in England, France, the Netherlands and America; #1 in the Baroque Cycle.

Neal Stephenson, The Confusion, about the scientific discoveries of the late 17th and early 18th centuries; set in England, France, the Netherlands and America; #2 in the Baroque Cycle.

Neal Stephenson, The System of the World, about the scientific discoveries of the late 17th and early 18th centuries; set in England, France, the Netherlands and America; #3 in the Baroque Cycle.

Jane Stevenson, The Winter Queen, about a love affair between an African prince and the exiled Queen of Bohemia in seventeenth century Holland; #1 in the Queen of Bohemia trilogy.

Jane Stevenson, The Shadow King, about the son of an African prince and the exiled Queen of Bohemia in seventeenth century Holland; #2 in the Queen of Bohemia trilogy (#3, The Empress of the Last Days, is set in contemporary England).

Rosemary Sutcliff, The Rider of the White Horse, about the Parliamentarian general Sir Thomas Fairfax and his wife Anne, who traveled with him on campaign during the English Civil War.

Josephine Tey, The Privateer (1952), about Henry Morgan, a seventeenth century Welsh privateer who rose to become Governor of Jamaica.

Nigel Tranter, The Wisest Fool, about the friendship of James VI of Scotland (later James I of England), his cousin the Duke of Lennox, and master goldsmith George Heriot; set in seventeenth century London.

Nigel Tranter, Poetic Justice, about William Alexander, who translated the Psalms for the King James Bible.

Nigel Tranter, Unicorn Rampant, about the 1617 return visit of King James I of England to Scotland, where he had ruled as King James VI.

Nigel Tranter, Mail Royal, about a seventeenth century quest to find the letters of Mary Queen of Scots that incriminated her in a plot against Queen Elizabeth and sealed her fate.

Nigel Tranter, The Young Montrose, about James Graham, the Marquis of Montrose, and his difficult relationship with King Charles I.

Nigel Tranter, Montrose: The Captain General, about about James Graham, the Marquis of Montrose, during the Cromwell years and the Restoration; sequel to The Young Montrose.

Nigel Tranter, Honours Even, about the exile of young Charles II in Scotland during the Cromwell years.

Nigel Tranter, Hope Endures, about Thomas Hope, the Scottish lawyer who advised James VI of Scotland (later James I of England) and Oliver Cromwell.

Nigel Tranter, Triple Alliance, about Colonel James Stansfield, who founded the woolen mills at Haddington, Scotland.

Nigel Tranter, The Patriot, about the Scottish republican Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun.

Rose Tremain, Music and Silence, about an English lute player at the court of the Danish King Christian IV in 1629.

Rose Tremain, Restoration, about a surgeon in the court of King Charles II.

Mark Turnbull, Decision Most Deadly (2009), about a man who rises from humble roots through military service and must choose which side to support, Crown or Parliament, with England on the brink of civil war; self-published.

Elizabeth Gray Vining, Take Heed of Loving Me, about the poet John Donne.

William T. Vollmann, Fathers and Crows, about conflicts between European colonists and Native North Americans; #2 in the Seven Dreams series (see the Medieval Viking section for #1, The Ice Shirt).

William T. Vollmann, The Rifles, about conflicts between European colonists and Native North Americans; #6 in the Seven Dreams series (published out of chronological order).

William T. Vollmann, Argall: The True Story of Pocahontas and Captain John Smith, about conflicts between European colonists and Native North Americans; #3 in the Seven Dreams series (published out of chronological order).

Kathleen Winsor, Forever Amber (1944), about a mistress of Charles II who survives plague and the Great Fire of London; a forerunner of the bodice-ripper historical romance genre.

Jeanette Winterson, Sexing the Cherry, a literary novel about a seventeenth century London woman and the child she took in after finding him floating in the Thames.

Marly Youmans, Catherwood, about a woman in seventeenth century Colonial New England.

Nancy Zaroulis, Massachusetts (1991), a family saga that begins with a man's arrival on the Mayflower and follows his descendants, with a special focus on the women, into the 1960s.

Mysteries: 17th Century Britain and North America

John Dickson Carr, The Devil in Velvet (1951), about a time-traveling professor and his attempt to prevent a murder in Restoration London.

Philip Depoy, The King James Conspiracy (2009), about a monk with a secret past and divided loyalties who is hired by the translators of the King James Bible in 1605 to find out who murdered one of the translators.

Susanna Gregory, A Conspiracy of Violence, about a reluctant spy for the government of King Charles II; #1 in the Thomas Chaloner mystery series

Susanna Gregory, Blood on the Strand, about a reluctant spy for the government of King Charles II; #2 in the Thomas Chaloner mystery series

Susanna Gregory, the Butcher of Smithfield, about a reluctant spy for the government of King Charles II; #3 in the Thomas Chaloner mystery series

Philip Kerr, Dark Matter: The Private Life of Sir Isaac Newton, set in seventeenth-century London

Ross King, Ex-Libris (2001), a literary thriller about a London bookseller's efforts to recover a valuable book for an eccentric widow's library at the risk of his life. Review

Edward Marston, The King's Evil, an architect investigates murders in London after the Great Fire of 1666; #1 in the Christopher Redmayne series

Edward Marston, The Amorous Nightingale, an architect investigates murders in London after the Great Fire of 1666; #2 in the Christopher Redmayne series

Edward Marston, The Repentant Rake, an architect investigates murders in London after the Great Fire of 1666; #3 in the Christopher Redmayne series

Edward Marston, The Frost Fair, an architect investigates murders in London after the Great Fire of 1666; #4 in the Christopher Redmayne series

Edward Marston, The Parliament House, an architect investigates murders in London after the Great Fire of 1666; #5 in the Christopher Redmayne series

Edward Marston, The Painted Lady, an architect investigates murders in London after the Great Fire of 1666; #6 in the Christopher Redmayne series

Fidelis Morgan, Unnatural Fire, a humorous mystery about a former mistress of Charles II who turns to scandal-sheet journalism with the assistance of her maidservant and stumbles across a murder; #1 in the Countess Ashby de la Zouche mystery series

Fidelis Morgan, The Rival Queens, a humorous mystery about a countess and her maidservant who witness a murder in a concert hall while evading a bailiff; #2 in the Countess Ashby de la Zouche mystery series

Fidelis Morgan, The Ambitious Stepmother, a humorous mystery about a countess and her maidservant who encounter a case of poisoning while in France; #3 in the Countess Ashby de la Zouche mystery series

Fidelis Morgan, Fortune's Slave, a humorous mystery about a countess and her maidservant who attract murderous ruffians when they seek investment advice during a time of frenzied financial speculation; #4 in the Countess Ashby de la Zouche mystery series

Iain Pears, An Instance of the Fingerpost, a thriller set in seventeenth-century Oxford

Christi Phillips, The Devlin Diary (2008), a modern Cambridge Fellow and a historian find clues to the murder of a professor in an unsolved case of serial killings in the court of Charles II in 1672; #2 in the Claire Donovan series in which a modern young woman solves mysteries connected with historical events in various times and places.

Elizabeth Redfern, Auriel Rising, a murder mystery set in 1609 London, a time of religious conflict

Martin Stephen, The Desperate Remedy: Henry Gresham and the Gunpowder Plot, a mystery set during the reign of James I; #1 in the Henry Gresham mystery series

Martin Stephen, The Conscience of the King: Henry Gresham and the Shakespeare Conspiracy, a mystery set during the reign of James I; #2 in the Henry Gresham mystery series (#3 and #4 are set during the time of Queen Elizabeth I; see the Renaissance section)

Betsy Tobin, Bone House, a murder mystery set in an English village in 1603; debut novel

Leonard Tourney, Time's Fool, as an old man, William Shakespeare is forced to turn sleuth

Continental Europe and North America in the 17th Century

Evelyn Anthony, Anne of Austria

John Banville, Kepler, about the irascible seventeenth-century German mathematician who discovered the elliptical orbit of Mars

Ronald Bassett, Witchfinder General (1966), a novel about Matthew Hopkins, who tortured and prosecuted witches during the seventeenth century English Civil War; the 1968 horror movie Witchfinder General is supposed to have been based on this novel.

Willa Cather, Shadows on the Rock, set in seventeenth-century Quebec

Tracy Chevalier, Girl with a Pearl Earring, about a servant girl who works for the artist Vermeer in seventeenth-century Holland. See more novels about artists

Andrei Codrescu, The Blood Countess, about Elizabeth Bathory, a seventeenth-century Hungarian countess who murdered young women to bathe in their blood

Thomas B. Costain, High Towers, about seventeenth-century Frenchmen in Canada.

Daniel Defoe, Memoirs of a Cavalier (1720), a novel written in the form of a memoir by an English mercenary who fought in the armies of the Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus and the English King Charles I from 1632 to 1648 during the latter part of the Thirty Years War.

Brian Deming, Wind Time, Wolf Time, about a brother and sister during the Thirty Years War in early seventeenth century Germany.

Henrietta Drake-Brockman, The Wicked and the Fair (1957), about the 1629 shipwreck of the Batavia off the coast of Australia and the subsequent mutiny by a small group of sailors who murdered many of the survivors.

Alexandre Dumas, The Black Tulip, set in seventeenth-century Holland.

Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers, about three soldiers in seventeenth-century France; #1 in the Three Musketeers series.

Alexandre Dumas, Twenty Years After, about three soldiers in seventeenth-century France; #2 in the Three Musketeers series.

Alexandre Dumas, The Vicomte de Bragelonne, about three soldiers in seventeenth-century France; #3 in the Three Musketeers series.

Alexandre Dumas, Louise de la Valliere, about three soldiers in seventeenth-century France; #4 in the Three Musketeers series.

Alexandre Dumas, The Man in the Iron Mask, about three soldiers in seventeenth-century France; #5 in the Three Musketeers series.

Susanne Dunlap, Emilie’s Voice, about a beautiful singer in seventeenth century Paris and Versailles.

Umberto Eco, The Island of the Day Before, set in seventeenth-century Paris during the age of astronomical discoveries.

Arabella Edge, The Company, about a disastrous 1629 voyage of the Dutch East India Company.

Kathleen O'Neal Gear, This Widowed Land, set in seventeenth-century Quebec.

Mary Gentle, A Sundial in a Grave: 1610, about an impoverished aristocrat who acts as a spy for the French finance minister in 1610 as a plot to assassinate King James I of England is being hatched.

Anne Golon, Angelique: Marquise of the Angels, about a seventeenth century French nobleman's daughter who joins the local peasant children in their games; #1 in the Angelique series (originally published in a single volume with The Road to Versailles under the pen name Sergeanne Golon).

Anne Golon, Angelique: The Road to Versailles, about a seventeenth century French nobleman's daughter who wins favor at court; #2 in the Angelique series (originally published in a single volume with Marquise of the Angels).

Anne Golon, Angelique and the King, about a seventeenth century French nobleman's daughter in the court of the Sun King at Versailles; #3 in the Angelique series.

Anne Golon, Angelique and the Sultan (also titled Angelique in Barbary), about a seventeenth century French nobleman's daughter kidnapped by pirates and sold as a slave; #4 in the Angelique series.

Anne Golon, Angelique in Revolt, about a seventeenth century French nobleman's daughter who comes into conflict with the French king during the Huguenot rebellion; #5 in the Angelique series.

Anne Golon, Angelique in Love, about a seventeenth century French nobleman's daughter who flees France and sails to America; #6 in the Angelique series.

Anne Golon, The Countess Angelique (originally published in two parts in 1966 as Land of the Redskins and Prisoner of the Mountains), about a seventeenth century French nobleman's daughter in the wilderness of North America; #7 in the Angelique series.

Anne Golon, The Temptation of Angelique, about a seventeenth century French nobleman's daughter in North America during the hostilities between the Indians and the English settlers; #8 in the Angelique series.

Anne Golon, Angelique and the Demon, about a seventeenth century French nobleman's daughter in North America; #9 in the Angelique series.

Anne Golon, Angelique and the Ghosts, about a seventeenth century French nobleman's daughter journeys to Quebec; the author feels this is misnamed in English, as the literal translation of the French title would be "Conspiracy of Shadows"; #10 in the Angelique series.

Günter Grass, The Meeting at Telgte (original German edition 1981; English translation 1990), about a German poet who invites a group of his literary colleagues to join him in a small Westphalian town to observe and discuss the negotiations there in 1647 which ended the Thirty Years War.

Michael Gruber, The Forgery of Venus, about a modern artist who finds himself plunged into the world of the seventeenth century painter Velázquez. See more novels about artists

Sandra Gulland, Mistress of the Sun (2008), about Louise de la Valliere, the remarkable horsewoman who became the first mistress of King Louis XIV of France. Review

Joanne Harris, Holy Fools, set in seventeenth-century France

Kathryn Harrison, A Thousand Orange Trees (1995; also titled Poison), about two women born on the same day in 1661, one a niece of Louis XIV, the other the daughter of a silk grower, and the parallel lives they live in Spain during the Inquisition.

Kathryn Heyman, The Accomplice (2004), about a young woman who survived the 1629 shipwreck of the Batavia and became the mistress of one of the mutineers who murdered many of the other survivors

Margaret Irwin, Stranger Prince: The Story of Rupert of the Rhine (1938), about the seventeenth century German prince who fought for the Royalists in the English Civil War, earning the nickname "the Mad Cavalier."

Jane Johnson, Crossed Bones (titled The Tenth Gift in the U.S.), about a young Cornishwoman kidnapped by Barbary pirates to be sold as a slave in seventeenth century Morocco and the modern London woman who discovers her diary.

Michael Kernan, The Lost Diaries of Frans Hals (1995), about a graduate student who finds a set of centuries-old notebooks in a garage and becomes absorbed in translating what seem to be the diaries of the seventeenth century Dutch painter Frans Hals.

Rosalind Laker, Sail a Jewelled Ship, about the builders of a ship and the women who loved them in seventeenth-century Sweden.

Rosalind Laker, The Golden Tulip, about a fictional woman apprentice to the Dutch artist Jan Vermeer.

Rosalind Laker, To Dance With Kings, a family saga about four generations of women beginning with a fan-maker's daughter who joins the court at Versailles during the seventeenth century reign of Louis XIV.

Alexandra Lapierre, Artemisia, about the seventeenth century Italian woman painter Artemisia Gentileschi.

Tobsha Learner, The Witch of Cologne, about a Jewish midwife accused by the Inquisition in the seventeenth-century German city of Cologne

Hermann Löns, The Warwolf: A Peasant Chronicle of the Thirty Years War (1910, first English translation 2006), about a German peasant farmer and his struggle to protect his community during the Thirty Years War.

Stephen Marlowe, The Death and Life of Miguel De Cervantes (1996), about the author of the seventeenth century Spanish classic Don Quixote, who survived war and a life as a captive in Algiers before he began to write.

Arthur Meeker, The Ivory Mischief, about two seventeenth-century Frenchwomen whose lives take different directions.

Sarah Emily Miano, Van Rijn (2006), about a young publisher in 1667 Amsterdam who arranges to meet the aging artist Rembrandt van Rijn, and a woman poet whose fascination with the artist matches the publisher's. See more novels about artists

Deborah Moggach, Tulip Fever, about a Dutch painter in seventeenth century Amsterdam. See more novels about artists

Donna Russo Morin, The Courtier's Secret (2009), an adventure novel about a woman who lives a double life at the court of Louis XIV, sometimes as a woman and sometimes disguised as a swordsman who fights alongside a pair of musketeers.

Sallie Muirden, Revelations of a Spanish Infanta (1996), about the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez and the 12-year-old infanta he paints in 1650. See article on Historical Novels about Artists.

Arturo Perez-Reverte, Captain Alatriste, about a swordsman in seventeenth-century Spain; #1 in the Captain Alatriste series.

Arturo Perez-Reverte, Purity of Blood, about a swordsman in seventeenth-century Spain; #2 in the Captain Alatriste series.

Arturo Perez-Reverte, The Sun Over Breda, about a swordsman in seventeenth-century Spain; #3 in the Captain Alatriste series.

Arturo Perez-Reverte, The King's Gold (2008), about a swordsman in seventeenth-century Spain; #4 in the Captain Alatriste series.

Arturo Perez-Reverte, The Man in the Yellow Doublet (2009), about a swordsman in seventeenth-century Spain; #5 in the Captain Alatriste series.

Pierre Pevel, The Cardinal's Blades (2009, forthcoming in the U.S. in Sept. 2009), swashbuckling historical fantasy about a swordsman summoned by Cardinal Richelieu to protect France from its enemies in Spain and the Court of Dragons, where dragons, tame and wild, exist alongside humans.

J.B. Pick, The Last Valley (1959), about a soldier during the Thirty Years War who happens across a village untouched by its ravages and, when soldiers from an opposing army coverge on the village, strikes a bargain with them to remain in the village over the winter; a 1971 movie starring Michael Caine and Omar Sharif was based on this novel.

Donald Michael Platt, Rocamora (2008), about the spiritual director of the Spanish Infanta, set in seventeenth century Spain and Amsterdam.

Frederic Richaud, Gardener to the King, about the gardener at Louis XIV's Versailles.

Carme Riera, In the Last Blue, about Conversos (Spanish Jews who converted to Catholicism) on the Island of Majorca during the time of the Spanish Inquisition.

Judith Merkle Riley, The Oracle Glass, about a young woman in seventeenth-century Paris who makes her living masquerading as a 150-year-old sorceress.

Frances Sherwood, The Book of Splendor, about Prague during the seventeenth-century reign of Rudolph II.

Henryk Sienkiewicz, With Fire and Sword (1884), about heroic knights who fight to preserve Polish unity when an alliance of Cossacks, Tatars and peasants rebel; #1 in the Polish trilogy.

Henryk Sienkiewicz, The Deluge (1886), about heroic Polish knights during a war between Poland and Sweden; #2 in the Polish trilogy.

Henryk Sienkiewicz, Fire in the Steppe (1887), (also titled Colonel Wolodyjowski), about a courageous husband and wife who fight to preserve Polish unity; #3 in the Polish trilogy

Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Slave, about a seventeenth century Polish Jew forced into slavery after an uprising who regains his freedom and falls in love with a Christian.

Josef Svátek, The Memoirs of a Prague Executioner (1905), about the life of an executioner in Prague, the capital of Bohemia, during the Thirty Years War.

Beverly Swerling, City of Dreams: A Novel of Nieuw Amsterdam and Early Manhattan, about immigrants to New York in 1661

Susan Vreeland, Girl in Hyacinth Blue, a series of linked short stories which follow a Vermeer painting back through time to its genesis in seventeenth century Holland

Mysteries: 17th Century European Continent and North America

Maan Meyers, The Dutchman (1992), a Dutch sheriff on Manhattan Island in 1664 investigates what seems to be the suicide of a tavern owner as English ships in the harbor threaten Dutch possession of the island; #1 in the Dutchman Chronicles mystery series.

Maan Meyers, The Dutchman's Dilemma (1996), in 1675, a former sheriff with a Dutch background is happily settled down as husband, businessman and father in 1675 New York when a murder unleashes talk of witchcraft, and his wife seems to be targeted as the next victim; #4 published in the Dutchman Chronicles mystery series (#2 in order of setting).

Maan Meyers, The Kingsbridge Plot (1994), a young surgeon with a Dutch background in 1675 New York discovers a plot to assassinate General George Washington when he looks into a case of murder; #2 published in the Dutchman Chronicles mystery series (#3 in order of setting).

Maan Meyers, The High Constable (1995), in 1808, a middle-aged doctor with a Dutch background assists New York's High Constable in investigating murder and corruption in high places; #3 published in the Dutchman Chronicles mystery series (#4 in order of setting).

Maan Meyers, The Lucifer Contract (1993), a New York reporter with Dutch ancestry teams up with an attractive barmaid to foil Confederate plotters in 1864; #5 published in the Dutchman Chronicles mystery series (#5 in order of setting).

Maan Meyers, The House on Mulberry Street (1997), a police detective with Dutch ancestry in 1895 New York investigates the murder of a journalist, to which an attractive woman photographer seems linked; #5 published in the Dutchman Chronicles mystery series (#6 in order of setting).

Maan Meyers, The Organ Grinder (2008), a New York policeman with Dutch ancestry investigates a series of murders in 1899 and begins to wonder whether the woman he loves, a photographer with a social conscience who has been photographing streetwalkers, may be targeted; #7 published in the Dutchman Chronicles mystery series (#7 in order of setting).

Christi Phillips, The Rossetti Letter (2007), a modern university student researching her Ph.D. thesis about a seventeenth century courtesan encounters a dangerous rival when she goes to Venice to solve a centuries-old mystery; #2 in the Claire Donovan series in which a modern young woman solves mysteries connected with historical events in various times and places.

Francesco Sorti, Imprimatur (2008), a thriller about a plot to assassinate the pope in 1683.

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