Historical novels are my favorite genre, and I recently finished an excellent one... "Pope Joan" by Donna Woolfolk Cross.
There is a legend that was widely believed for centuries that a woman diguised as a man reigned as Pope for two years in the ninth century. The author has taken that legend and fleshed it out, imagining the life of this woman from her childhood to her death while reigning as Pope. Most scholars and the Catholic Church deny that "Pope Ioannes" ever existed. However, the author, in her afterword, presents a fairly convincing argument that the story of the female Pope is indeed true. True or not, this novel is a fascinating depiction of life in the early Middle Ages. Joan is a woman who thirsts for knowledge in an age when most people were illiterate, and all doors to learning were closed to women.
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