If You Like 'Memoirs of a Geisha', Try...

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See is the story of two girls in nineteenth century China and their friendship from age seven. Lily narrates the story as an old woman, relating how her friendship with Snow Flower grew and then fell apart with a major betrayal.

• Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Book Club Discussion Questions

Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors is a fictional story surrounding the building of the Taj Mahal. While historians agree that the Taj Mahal was built by an emperor in the seventeenth century who was grieving the loss of his wife, the true details surrounding this story have been lost. Shors imagines them in Beneath a Marble Sky, bringing to life a story of love, war, beauty and tragedy.

• Read a complete review of Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors
• Beneath a Marble Sky Book Club Discussion Questions

Anita Amirrezvani's debut novel, The Blood of Flowers, tells the story of a young woman in 17th-century Iran with a passion for knotting rugs. Her life is thrown into an uproar when her father dies, and she and her mother must depend on the kindness of wealthy relatives and hope that the young woman finds a wealthy husband.

• Read a complete review of The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani
• The Blood of Flowers Book Club Discussion Questions

In Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier writes a fictional story around the creation of Johannes Vermeer's famous painting by the same title. Girl with a Pearl Earring transports readers to the Netherlands in the seventeenth century.

• Girl with a Pearl Earring Book Club Discussion Questions

If you find England’s King Henry VIII and his six wives fascinating, you’ll want to pick up The Constant Princess or one of Philippa Gregory’s other novels that chronicle the lives of women in the King’s court. More than a historical novel, The Constant Princess is an appealing look at Queen Katherine of Aragon before she married King Henry.

• Read a complete review of The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory

Kathleen Kent’s debut novel, The Heretic’s Daughter, tells the story of the Salem Witch Trials. It’s a story that’s been told many times before, but Kent manages to bring fresh passion and urgency to the tragic hysteria that gripped New England in 1692.

• Read a complete review of The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent
• The Heretic's Daughter Book Club Discussion Questions

The Painter from Shanghai, from first-time novelist Jennifer Cody Epstein, tells the fictionalized story of Pan Yuliang, a real woman who was one of the most prominent -- and controversial -- painters of the 20th century. Superbly written, Cody Epstein’s novel paints its own haunting and inspiring tale of the woman who went from being sold into prostitution to exhibiting her paintings in the finest salons in Paris.

• Read a complete review of The Painter from Shanghai by Jennifer Cody Epstein
• The Painter from Shanghai Book Club Discussion Questions