First Century CE to 900’s CE
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Place of Setting | Author | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
British Isles | Surasky, Jan | Rage Against the Dying Light | Celtic Queen Boudicca, who led uprising against Roman Empire in 60 CE |
China | Larsen, Jeanne | Silk Road | Historical fantasy set in 700’s including Buddhist and Taoist folktales |
China | Randel, Weina Dai | The Moon in the Palace | Based on the life of Empress Wu, who lived in the 600’s |
China | Shan Sa | Empress | Based on the life of Empress Wu |
England | Bradley, Marion Zimmer | The Mists of Avalon | 400’s to 500’s – classic historical fantasy of King Arthur’s time |
England | Vasbo, Vibeke | The Song of Hild | Princess Hild and her journey to become an abbess in the 7th century |
England | Griffith, Nicola | Hild | 600’s – based on the life of St. Hilda of Whitby |
Europe | Cross, Donna Woolfolk | Pope Joan | In the 800’s, a young woman disguises herself as a man to gain education and, eventually, the papal throne |
France | Holland, Cecelia | The Angel and the Sword | A Spanish princess disguises herself as a man to fight the Vikings in Paris (800’s) |
India | Divakaruni, Chitra | The Palace of Illusions | Mahabharata (Hindu epic) re-told from a woman’s POV |
India | Patel, Vaishnavi | Kaikeyi | Inspired by one character from the Ramayana (Hindu epic) |
Italy | Ferri, Linda | Cecilia | Based on the life of St. Cecilia in the 2nd century CE |
Italy | Whittemore, Christine | Inscription | Based on the life of a female saint |
Middle East | Anton, Maggie | Rav Hisda’s Daughter, Book I: Apprentice | Late 200’s–a Talmudic sage’s daughter studies Jewish sorcery in Babylonia |
Middle East | Fredriksson, Marianne | According to Mary Magdalene | Early Christianity through the eyes of a woman |
Middle East | Hoffman, Alice | The Dovekeepers | Survivors of the Masada massacre of Jews by Romans |
Middle East | Weizman, Janice | The Wayward Moon | 800’s – the life and adventures of a Jewish woman |
Portugal | Hooper, Emma | We Should Not Be Afraid of the Sky | Five early Christian saints |
Vietnam | McLean, Elizabeth | Imagining Vietnam | Starts in the 10th century and progresses to the 20th century |