Here are 64 books that Conclave fans have personally recommended if you like
Conclave.
Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
Why do I love Vatican Intrigue? Well, here’s just one example. When the cardinal electors vote for a new pope, they process through a locked Sistine Chapel toward Michelangelo’s fresco of the Last Judgment and drop their twice folded paper ballots into a large golden chalice, a process that hasn’t changed for centuries. The faster the world turns and evolves, the more I am drawn to the Vatican’s many ancient traditions and protocols. And, the funny part is, I am not a particularly conservative person; it’s just that I appreciate the Vatican as a huge counterweight to the rapid changes taking place in the rest of the world.
If you are one of those people (you know, the sort that read The DaVinci Code but didn’t read any of Dan Brown’s other—much better—books) stop what you are doing and upload Angels & Demons into your Nook or Kindle right now.
Dan Brown has his shortcomings, yes, but nobody does Vatican Intrigue better. Nobody. And his plotting and background research are truly exceptional. Read it.
CERN Institute, Switzerland: a world-renowned scientist is found brutally murdered with a mysterious symbol seared onto his chest.
The Vatican, Rome: the College of Cardinals assembles to elect a new pope. Somewhere beneath them, an unstoppable bomb of terrifying power relentlessly counts down to oblivion.
In a breathtaking race against time, Harvard professor Robert Langdon must decipher a labyrinthine trail of ancient symbols if he is to defeat those responsible - the Illuminati, a secret brotherhood presumed extinct for nearly four hundred years, reborn to continue their deadly vendetta against their most hated enemy, the Catholic Church.
Separating the true stories from the myths, The Duty of Memory provides a deeper understanding of the diverse motivations that drove ordinary people to join an underground network of French Resistants despite terrible odds and horrifying consequences.
This book takes the reader inside the true story of men and women…
Why do I love Vatican Intrigue? Well, here’s just one example. When the cardinal electors vote for a new pope, they process through a locked Sistine Chapel toward Michelangelo’s fresco of the Last Judgment and drop their twice folded paper ballots into a large golden chalice, a process that hasn’t changed for centuries. The faster the world turns and evolves, the more I am drawn to the Vatican’s many ancient traditions and protocols. And, the funny part is, I am not a particularly conservative person; it’s just that I appreciate the Vatican as a huge counterweight to the rapid changes taking place in the rest of the world.
To say that I loved this book is an understatement.
I have actually read it three times because it is that good. Daniel Silva has the best prose in thrillerdom, and his characters, especially the pope, are brilliant. Gabriel Allon, the art restorer turned spy, is also my favorite character from any thriller series, and the insertion of Gabriel into Vatican City still makes my heart beat faster. Read it!
Why do I love Vatican Intrigue? Well, here’s just one example. When the cardinal electors vote for a new pope, they process through a locked Sistine Chapel toward Michelangelo’s fresco of the Last Judgment and drop their twice folded paper ballots into a large golden chalice, a process that hasn’t changed for centuries. The faster the world turns and evolves, the more I am drawn to the Vatican’s many ancient traditions and protocols. And, the funny part is, I am not a particularly conservative person; it’s just that I appreciate the Vatican as a huge counterweight to the rapid changes taking place in the rest of the world.
This book has everything: great characters, interesting history, and a plot that will keep you turning the pages.
But the thing that really impressed me was the details. If you, like me, are big on the little things that give a book true authenticity, you will love The Vivaldi Cipher. And it is just the beginning: with eleven more books in the series, you can get your fill of Vatican intrigue.
During the election of a new Pope in the mid-18th century, famed violinist Antonio Vivaldi learns of a ring of art forgers who are replacing the Vatican's priceless treasures with expertly-painted fakes. Desperate, the composer hides a message in a special melody, hoping someone, someday, will take down the culprits . . .
Nearly three hundred years later, the confession of a dying Mafia Don alerts a Venetian priest to a wealth of forged paintings in the Vatican Museum, and the key to their identities lies hidden in a puzzling piece of music. Father Michael Dominic, prefect of the Secret…
In the first century, Rome’s celebrated love poet Ovid finds himself in exile, courtesy of an irate Emperor, in the far-flung town of Tomis. Appalled at being banished to a barbarous region at the very edge of the Empire, Ovid soon discovers that he has a far more urgent -…
Why do I love Vatican Intrigue? Well, here’s just one example. When the cardinal electors vote for a new pope, they process through a locked Sistine Chapel toward Michelangelo’s fresco of the Last Judgment and drop their twice folded paper ballots into a large golden chalice, a process that hasn’t changed for centuries. The faster the world turns and evolves, the more I am drawn to the Vatican’s many ancient traditions and protocols. And, the funny part is, I am not a particularly conservative person; it’s just that I appreciate the Vatican as a huge counterweight to the rapid changes taking place in the rest of the world.
I love to learn interesting things when I read. The Third Secret is loaded with Vatican history and lore.
I am also a sucker for ancient prophecies and closely guarded secrets, and man does The Third Secret have these! Combine this with a very relatable main character and a villain you will love to hate, and you have a page turner that will keep you up at night.
What is the Third Secret? It is rumoured to be a prediction so shocking that it has been locked away for over eighty years. Could this be what is drawing Pope Clement XV to the Vatican archive, night after sleepless night? When Father Colin Michener is sent on a secret mission to the highlands of Romania, he is pitched into a vortex of suspicion, deceit, murder and forbidden passion. Suddenly, he is forced to face the very thing that has so distressed the Pope - and to unravel a mystery that will shake the world.
Religion, faith, and belief are very personal things that can invoke powerful emotional and intellectual responses. Responses are shaped by social conditioning during childhood that can last a lifetime, engendering spiritual comfort or deep disturbance in adulthood. I began to question my Catholic indoctrination as I started to delve into historical accounts of early Christianity and the evils inflicted on the world under the banner of doing God’s work, politics waged by the Vatican to maintain secular power, distilling it all into something I finally felt comfortable with.
Fascinated by the Roman Catholic Church and its internal organization, many years ago, I naively assumed the Vatican was the world’s center of piety and righteousness and the guardian of the world’s morality. This book helped me shed a stark light on reality.
I never knew that from the 16th century, the Church maintained a secret service, the Holy Alliance, that meddled in every aspect of European politics. In 1930, they were renamed ‘The Entity,’ with its counterespionage arm, the Sodalitium Pianum, and the Vatican had its CIA. Once I started, I couldn’t put this book down, shaking my head. Laundering money for the Mafia, helping Nazi officers escape to South America, funding revolutions, assassinating those who stood in their way…This work blew me away and left me stunned and much wiser.
For five centuries, the Vatican - the oldest organization in the world, maker of kings and shaper of history - has used a secret spy service, called the Holy Alliance, or later the Entity, to carry out its will. Forty popes have relied on it to carry out their policies. It has played a hitherto invisible role confronting de-Christianisations and schisms, revolutions and dictators, colonisations and expulsions, persecutions and attacks, civil wars and world wars, assassinations and kidnappings.For the first time in English (already a bestseller in Spain and France), Eric Frattini tells the comprehensive tale of this sacred secret…
More than anything, I consider myself an artist. I rely on intuition or “gut feelings” to guide me. The laws of the universe have proven to me that thoughts do become things. I often say, think good thoughts. The books I’m recommending, are all about following your instincts and releasing any outcome to find the treasures in your life. I believe in the law of attraction. I love food, music, and Hollywood and have invited it all into my restaurant. I’m a chef with a culinary arts degree, an award-winning author and chef to the stars. Feeding many celebrities from Bradley Cooper and Ryan Gosling to The Cake Boss and Alton Brown. Dreams do come true!
Did you ever want to escape your life? Like that soap commercial, “Calgon, take me away!” That just so happens in this book. The Pope and the Dalai Lama decide they need a break from their high-profile lives and just want to slip away into society. To be unnoticed and ordinary. So they don a disguise and escape the Vatican in a Maserati? Thus begins this story, a part whimsical, part spiritual road trip touring Italy, detailing cultural and political differences alongside the identities with which we define ourselves and that one difficult question gets asked, exactly where and how far does one person’s tolerance or openness end? This delightful story kept me captivated while sharing spiritual inspirations and words of hope and kindness.
What happens when the Pope and the Dalai Lama decide they need a secret vacation?
Roland Merullo’s playful, eloquent, and life-affirming novel finds the world’s two holiest men teaming up for an unsanctioned road trip through the Italian countryside--where they rediscover the everyday joys and challenges of ordinary life.
During the Dalai Lama’s highly publicized official visit to the Vatican, the Pope suggests an adventure so unexpected and appealing that neither man can resist: they will shed their robes for several days and live as ordinary men. Before dawn, the two beloved religious leaders make a daring escape…
As an art school drop-out who'd been majoring in sculpture, I'm fascinated by material culture—artifacts created by early peoples that reveal their cultural values. Often, the relics and sites that engage both archaeologists and readers suggest unexpected depths of knowledge that show human ingenuity through the ages. I strive to incorporate the details of an artifact or monument's creation into the clues and descriptions in my work, hopefully illuminating a little-known historical realm, if only by torchlight as the adventure unfolds. The fact that I get to explore so many exotic locations, in research if not in person, is a definite plus!
Silva's series follows a retired Mossad agent who is now an art restorer. As an art school drop-out, that instantly appealed to me!
Much as I enjoy adventure and history both, it's character that keeps me engaged. Silva's not creating just one person, he builds an entire network of ex-Mossad agents, family members, and more—while still driving a plot that keeps you guessing.
Silva's attention to historical detail is as rich as his protagonist's focus on art history. Every one of his scenes accomplishes so much to bring characters, settings, and conflicts to life. You can read the series out of order, but you'll miss some of the richness of the changing relationships Silva invests in.
Silva's work explores our own relationships with history as well, especially when his characters launch an "op" that requires using every tool in their espionage kit to bring off near-magic results.
Gabriel Allon, master art restorer and assassin, returns in a spellbinding #1 New York Times bestselling novel 'Allon is the 21st century Bond' Daily Mail
Bruised and war-weary following his secret war to bring down a terrorist mastermind, Gabriel Allon returns to his beloved Rome to restore a Caravaggio masterpiece.
But early one morning Gabriel is summoned by his friend and occasional ally Monsignor Luigi Donati, the all-powerful private secretary to the Pope. The broken body of a beautiful woman lies beneath Michelangelo's magnificent dome. Donati fears a public inquiry will inflict more wounds on an already-damaged Church so…
I am a cradle Catholic raised in Ireland, Italy, and the UK. I have always had a troubled relationship with the church’s obsession with power and sexuality. As a professional historian at the University of Kent, I decided to investigate the Roman Church's political role during the twentieth century. Unlike my previous work, I have now had to consider a time in which I was partly alive and analyse events I lived through. As a liberal Catholic, I cannot claim complete objectivity, but these books and my own research proved to me that a better and more vibrant church that follows the spirit of the Second Vatican Council is not merely possible but necessary.
I feel that stylistically and in terms of passion, this is non-fiction at its best; it reads like a thriller.
Kertzer is a master of narrative, and his indictment of the indifference of the church before the German occupation of Europe and the Holocaust troubled me deeply as a person of faith. Despite being a professional historian, I was impressed by the humanity of his treatment of real people.
His description of the round-up of the Jews of the Rome Ghetto is genuinely moving, highly disturbing, and brought tears to my eyes. My particular enjoyment of the book came from its many archival discoveries in the Vatican Archives.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The most important book ever written about the Catholic Church and its conduct during World War II.”—Daniel Silva
“Kertzer brings all of his usual detective and narrative skills to [The Pope at War] . . . the most comprehensive account of the Vatican’s relations to the Nazi and fascist regimes before and during the war.”—The Washington Post
Based on newly opened Vatican archives, a groundbreaking, explosive, and riveting book about Pope Pius XII and his actions during World War II, including how he responded to the Holocaust, by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Pope…
I’ve been interested in ancient Egypt ever since I read Asterix and Cleopatra when I was a boy. The hilarious moment of Obelix accidentally knocking off the Sphinx’s nose has always stayed with me in particular. By my early twenties, I was reading authors like Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval, and Colin Wilson, who showed me that what we think we know about ancient Egypt is not wholly correct. For instance, there’s little evidence that the Great Pyramid’s purpose was to be a tomb and the Sphinx seems to be much older than Egyptologists believe. In 2010, at thirty-four years old, I finally got to visit the wonders of Egypt myself.
As one of earth’s oldest civilisations, ancient Egypt can tell us a lot about early religion and how it affected later spiritual practices and faiths. In this book, Tony Sunderland begins with the question: why is there an Egyptian obelisk standing in the centre of St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City? The question becomes even more pertinent when you learn that the obelisk celebrates an ancient sun god! I loved this fascinating book that traces religion from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia through to early Christianity and beyond. Whatever your level of historical religious and spiritual understanding is, The Obelisk and the Cross comes highly recommended.
Why does an ancient Egyptian obelisk celebrating the god of the sun stand in the centre of St Peter's Square in Vatican City, the home of the Pope and the heartland of Catholicism? Taking this mysterious fact as his starting point, Tony Sunderland examines the history of religious belief in an attempt to understand how what has happened in the past continues to exert a ghostly influence in the present. Going right back to the voluptuous mother goddess figures of our ancestors, the pantheons of the Greeks and Romans, the wisdom of the Hebrew Bible, the birth of Christ, the…
Almost Home is a fictional retelling of the last great tragedy of the Civil War.
In late April 1865, almost 2,000 newly freed Union prisoners of war are packed onto the steamer Sultana, in poor repair and with a listed capacity of 376 passengers. Among them are four Indiana soldiers…
I fell in love with Italy when I traveled there with my family in 2013. While touring through this fascinating country, I felt inspired to write about it. When I came home, I threw myself into research. That research spawned my debut novel, Into the Lion’s Mouth, which is set in Renaissance Venice. I am always on the lookout for all things Italian, podcasts, TV shows, and definitely books. Since middle grade is my sweet spot, I am a sucker for a middle grade book set in Italy. Here are some of my favorites that will have you browsing airplane tickets to Italy and beyond.
This last book is a classic and part of a series that would be helpful for other travel adventures. It’s the only non-fiction book on the list. But it’s a great introduction for kids wanting to know more about the place they are travelling. While originally published in 1960 the book was updated in 2007. This is a great overall introduction to Rome and its history and a good place to start piquing a young traveler’s interest.
Like the other Sasek classics, this is a facsimile edition of the original book. The brilliant, vibrant illustrations have been meticulously preserved, remaining true to his vision more than 40 years later. Facts have been updated for the 21st-century, appearing on a "This is . . . Today" page at the back of the book. These charming illustrations, coupled with Sasek's witty, playful narrative, make for a perfect souvenir that will delight both children and their parents, many of whom will remember the series from their own childhoods. This is Rome, first published in 1960, traces the history of Roman…
