Historical Novels on My Bookshelf Quiz

Answer: Mary Rowlandson

Rowlandson is kidnapped and forced to live with the Indians for months. In that time, she sees how their way of life can be better than that of the Puritans. The book shows Mary being considerably more sympathetic towards the Indians than the real Mary's narrative does.

The discrepancy is explained thus: Mary wants her narrative to show the good things she observed in captivity. However, Increase Mather, who asks her to write, alters her words to make the Indians less sympathetic.

Answer: The White Queen

"Wolf Hall" is the first in a series about Thomas Cromwell's rise and fall; Anne is an important character, though not the main one. Mary, Anne's sister, is the subject of "The Other Boleyn Girl". Anne's pre-Henry VIII life is shown in "The Queen's Promise". "The White Queen" is about Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV, and takes place many years before Anne's birth.

Answer: Isabel and Juana

"The Queen's Vow" is about Isabel of Castilla, how she becomes queen, and what she does after ascending to the throne. "The Last Queen" covers the disastrous marriage of one of her daughters, who is eventually called "Juana la Loca", or "Juana the Mad". Whether or not she was insane is a subject of debate.

Answer: Elisabeth of Austria

These books by Allison Pataki cover the life of Empress Elisabeth, also called Sisi, from meeting her husband Franz Joseph until her death. In reality, Sisi's sister Helene was supposed to marry the Emperor; instead, Franz fell in love with Sisi and married her. Sisi did not have a happy life as Empress and traveled whenever she could.

Answer: Circus

Jacob leaves college when his parents die because their house was mortaged to pay for his tuition. He can no longer afford to stay in school, and likewise has no place to live, so he hops a circus train. He starts caring for the animals when the circus owner finds out he's a vet. The story is told by a much older Jacob in a nursing home.

Answer: Dress as men

The girl Rahima has no brothers; her parents make her a bacha posh, meaning that she lives as a boy and gets all the privileges thereof until she marries. Everyone knows that she's a girl but pretend she's a boy. Throughout the novel, a relative tells Rahima about Rahima's disfigured aunt Shekiba, who dressed as a man to guard the sultan's harem. Rahima endures a horrible marriage until she finds a way to break free.

Answer: The Ghost Bride

Protagonist Li Lan agrees to marry a dead man so that his soul can be at peace. The marriage also helps her family financially. The fantasy aspects come in when Li Lan ventures into the land of the dead. "The Wooden Man's Bride" is a film with a similar premise--a woman must marry her dead fiance when he dies trying to rescue her from bandits--albeit with no fantasy elements.

Answer: Rebel Queen

The queen of the title is Lakshmibai, Rani of Jhansi. She is not the main character, however. We follow the girl Sita, who trains to be part of the Rani's personal guard. After she becomes one of the guard, she observes the British coming to subjugate the Rani's kingdom.

Answer: The Raven's Heart

"The Raven's Heart" is about a cross-dressing woman in the court of Mary, Queen of Scots. She never visits Egypt. "Daughter of the Gods" is about Hatshepsut, a female pharaoh. "Desert God" is part of Wilbur Smith's series about Ancient Egypt. Cleopatra's sisters Arsinoe and Berenice are the protagonists of "Cleopatra's Shadows"; Cleopatra herself hardly appears.

Answer: Epidemics

In "Year of Wonders" and "The Last Town on Earth", towns try to keep the plague and Spanish flu out by quarantining their towns. These novels have basis in fact: historically, many towns attempted to thwart the plague by cutting themselves off from the outside world. In these two books, neither town succeeds.

Instead of quarantining themselves, a group in "Company of Liars" decide to outrun the Black Death and travel until the plague dies out in the cold weather. Each of the travelers has a secret, and they start dying one by one...