Historical Fiction California

Brought to you by Penguin. 'I've done my damndest to rip a reader's nerves to rags, I don't want him satisfied.' Shocking and controversial when it was first published, The Grapes of Wrath is Steinbeck's Pultizer Prize-winning epic of the Joad family, forced to travel west from Dust Bowl era...

Benedict Cumberbatch reads Franz Kafka's famous story of man-turned-insect, Metamorphosis Winner of AudioFile Earphones...

Includes an exclusive audio Q&A between Kristin Hannah and award-winning narrator Julia Whelan, offering behind-the-scenes insight into the story and its narration. 'One of the greatest storytellers of our time' Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing 'A story of love, family, unbreakable...

'What an emotional journey, beautifully written and with an unforgettable setting . . . A stunning novel full of heart, hope and enduring love in all its forms. A heart-wrenching mystery to savour' AMANDA GEARD A haunting mystery of a family's darkest secrets from the worldwide bestselling...

John Steinbeck's powerful evocation of the suffering and hardship caused by the Great Depression, and a panoramic vision of the struggle for the American Dream, The Grapes of Wrath includes a critical introduction by Robert DeMott in Penguin Modern Classics. 'I've done my damndest to rip a...

The classic Western, now newly repackaged as part of Bantam's Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures program—with never-before-seen material from Louis and his son, Beau L'Amour. "I am Johannes Verne, and I am not afraid." This was the boy's mantra as he plodded through the desert alone, left to die...

"Narrator Angela Dawe’s warm voice varies seamlessly to capture the many characters, their fear, fortitude, and, in some cases, vileness. There is nothing subtle about this adventure, but it is exhilarating and hard to resist." -- Washington Post From the bestselling author of Prayers for Sale...

Louis L’Amour’s long-lost first novel, faithfully completed by his son, takes readers on a voyage into danger and violence on the high seas. Fate is a ship. As the shadows of World War II gather, the SS Lichenfield is westbound across the Pacific carrying eighty thousand barrels of...

In this compulsively-readable historical novel, from the author of the critically-acclaimed Two Sisters, comes the story of two young women—one in America’s Gilded Age, one in scrappy modern-day California—whose lives are linked by a single tragic afternoon in history. 1888: Elizabeth...

Aislin Byrne harbors a powerful love for the wild, untamed lands of Rancho La Paloma. The threat of its financial ruin only strengthens her feelings and seals her resolve to save her home. But the fight to rescue the rancho will draw her into a drama rife with conflict and secret sorrow, and send her on a desperate journey that will test her mettle, and change her life forever.

Juliet must bear the burden of caring for her younger sisters, but that doesn't thwart her desire to run away to be a star on the stage. Taking her sisters, she heads to New York, where her journey to stardom is swift, but the price of fame is dear.

Emmeline Amity Callahan is a feisty charmer with a needy heart. Emmeline's an ugly duckling. At least that's what she thinks, that is until she receives a gift that leads her to California's Big Valley where she makes a surprising discovery.

Brash detective Rick Barron enters the infamous Hollywood fast lane in this thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Stone Barrington series. Los Angeles, 1939. It’s Hollywood’s Golden Age, and Rick Barron is a suave and sharp detective on the Beverly Hills force...

""The Californians is an absolute pleasure from end to end, a thrilling, century-spanning, wholly American tale of art and money, family and land, treasure and time....A brilliant read for fans of Anthony Doerr, Dana Spiotta, and Don DeLillo.”—Matt Bell, author of Appleseed For fans of Trust...

After turning a film student's directorial debut into a hit movie, New York mobster and movie fanatic Vinnie Callabrese takes off for the bright lights of Hollywood, where he begins a new life as Michael Vincent, Producer. A natural born wheeler-dealer, he lands not only a major studio deal but...

First there were roses and the notes in her mailbox signed simply, "Admirer." Then, the accident. One minute Chris Callaway was one of Hollywood's brightest rising stars, starting a new picture that could send her career skyrocketing; the next, she was falling from the unfinished deck of her...

“Written with grace, empathy, and bright imagination, Learning to See gives us the vivid interior life of a remarkably resilient woman. Dorothea Lange’s story is about passion and art, love and family, but also about the sacrifices women make—and have always made—to illuminate the truth...

New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Lowell creates another masterpiece of excitement and chills, passion and surprise. When Lacey Quinn inherits the striking landscapes done by her late, much-loved grandfather, she believes they are as good as anything hanging in museums. But the...

AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A thrilling historical mystery about a young woman searching for her father, a young man trying to solve an impossible problem, and the quest for the power to transcend time. “From Vienna to San Francisco, I was swept away by this fascinating search for family...

A landmark modern classic about the Korean American immigrant experience and the dawn of Los Angeles’s Koreatown A Penguin Classic Kim Ronyoung (Gloria Hahn, 1926–1987) tells the story of Haesu and Chun, immigrants who fled Japanese-occupied Korea for Los Angeles in the decade prior to...