176 ratings | 269 reviews | avg rating:4.24

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C.P. Lesley

Goodreads Author

Born

in The United Kingdom

Website

http://www.cplesley.com

Twitter

cplesley

Genre

Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, Romance

Influences

Elizabeth Peters, J. K. Rowling, Jean Plaidy ...more

Member Since

June 2012

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/cplesley

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As a child, C.P. Lesley thought everyone told stories while falling asleep. It never occurred to her that anyone would pay her for them, and for a long time, she was right—no one would. But after years of producing horrible prose, reading books about novel writing, and pestering hapless fellow-writers and friends to read her drafts, some of the advice stuck, and she finished The Not Exactly Scarlet Pimpernel, followed by Legends of the Five Directions and Songs of Steppe & Forest, two series set during the reign of Ivan the Terrible.

When not thinking up new ways to torture her characters, she edits other people’s manuscripts, reads voraciously, maintains her website, and takes classes in classical ballet. That love of ballet also finds exp ...more

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Combine Editions
C.P. Lesley’s books

Average rating: 4.18 · 195 ratings · 94 reviews · 19 distinct works

	The Golden Lynx (Legends of the Five Directions, #1) 4.02 avg rating — 56 ratings — published 2012 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Winged Horse (Legends of the Five Directions, #2) 4.35 avg rating — 23 ratings — published 2014 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Not Exactly Scarlet Pimpernel 4.29 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 2012 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Swan Princess (Legends of the Five Directions, #3) 3.88 avg rating — 17 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Vermilion Bird (Legends of the Five Directions, #4) 4.67 avg rating — 12 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Shattered Drum (Legends of the Five Directions, #5) 4.64 avg rating — 11 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Song of the Siren (Songs of Steppe & Forest, #1) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 10 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Song of the Shaman (Songs of Steppe & Forest, #2) 4.13 avg rating — 8 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Desert Flower (Tarkei Chronicles, #1) 4.14 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 2014 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Song of the Storyteller (Songs of Steppe & Forest, #5) 4.17 avg rating — 6 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by C.P. Lesley…

637 posts
C.P. Lesley's Blog

Interview with Kevin Ashton

Interview with nonfiction writer Kevin Ashton, whose multi-millennial history of storytelling, then and now, just came out with Harper.

View more on C.P. Lesley's website »

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Published on March 06, 2026 06:00

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Series by C.P. Lesley

Legends of the Five Directions (5 books)
by

C.P. Lesley (Goodreads Author)

4.20 avg rating — 122 ratings

Songs of Steppe & Forest (6 books)
by

C.P. Lesley (Goodreads Author)

4.06 avg rating — 35 ratings

Tarkei Chronicles (2 books)
by

C.P. Lesley (Goodreads Author)

4.30 avg rating — 10 ratings

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C.P.’s Recent Updates

C.P. Lesley wrote a new blog post Interview with Kevin Ashton Interview with nonfiction writer Kevin Ashton, whose multi-millennial history of storytelling, then and now, just came out with Harper.
22 hours, 47 min ago · like
C.P. Lesley made a comment in the group Goodreads Librarians Group — Adding 3 books to an existing series & 1 of those to my author profile topic " Wonderful. Thank you, Liralen! "
Jun 04, 2025 01:03PM

More of C.P.'s books…

Polls

March 2013: FA Read

The Golden Lynx by C.P. Lesley

49 votes 46.7%

Rav Hisda's Daughter, Book I: Apprentice: A Novel of Love, the Talmud, and Sorcery by Maggie Anton

46 votes 43.8%

Dreaming the Maya Fifth Sun by Leonide Martin

10 votes 9.5%

105 total votes

1 comment

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Historical Fictio...: Challenge #11 (Feb/Mar 2013): Tasks & Questions	113	231	Mar 26, 2013 09:10AM
Historical Fictio...: Respond to positive reviews on GR?	107	243	Nov 25, 2014 11:46AM
New Books Network: Historical Fiction	88	35	Aug 09, 2019 10:38AM
The Reading For P...: How do you get your books? What works for you?	51	171	Dec 30, 2020 10:33PM

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C.P.’s Quotes

“You have to kill a lot of trees before you write anything good.”
― J. K. Rowling

8 likes

“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”
― W. Somerset Maugham

tags: writing

3855 likes

“The Muse wants to know that you're serious.”
― Friend of Rosanne Cash mentioned on "On Being"

1 likes

“Think Positive.”
― Maribel C. Pagan

54 likes

“Stories to read are delitabill (delightful)
Suppose that they be nocht but fable (fiction)
Then should stories that suthfast were (truthful)
- And they were said in good manner -
Have double pleasure in hearing.
The first pleasance is the carping (reading aloud)
And the tothir the suthfastness
That shows the thing richt as it was;”
― John Barbour

tags: i-the-bruce-i-14th-century

8 likes

More of C.P.’s quotes…

recent posts
C.P.’s Groups

Historical Fictionistas — 16057 members — last activity 3 hours, 5 min ago
Welcome to Historical Fictionistas! We want to experience all different kinds of HF with all different kinds of people. The more diverse, the better. ...more

Ancient & Medieval Historical Fiction — 6157 members — last activity Mar 01, 2026 01:32PM
The focus of this group is historical fiction set in Ancient and Medieval eras(with some post Medieval), in any geographical location. Preference is g ...more

History Buffs United — 515 members — last activity Feb 20, 2026 01:33PM
This group is for anyone who loves to read or write historical fiction. Our purpose is to recommend great reads, share our own writing, and help fello ...more

The DWS Outpost — 26 members — last activity Mar 30, 2019 04:27PM
This is a new offshoot of the ongoing Dead Writers Society group, and is intended to provide a place for DWS members to discuss recent and currently p ...more

THE Group for Authors! — 12992 members — last activity 10 hours, 51 min ago
This is a group for authors to discuss their craft, as well as publishing and book marketing.

Laurie R. King Virtual Book Club — 1397 members — last activity Oct 10, 2024 03:17PM
The official book club for readers of mystery author Laurie R. King

New Books Network — 20 members — last activity Apr 04, 2020 04:39AM
A network of author-interview podcasts from the New Books Network (http://newbooksnetwork.com).

Goodreads Librarians Group — 315354 members — last activity 0 minutes ago
Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra ...more

Storyist — 4 members — last activity Apr 09, 2016 08:53AM
An (unofficial) group for authors united by a common writing suite. A place to share and discuss the books we're reading, as well as network and shame ...more

Seven Sisters Book Club — 219 members — last activity Jun 07, 2020 10:26AM
A group for reading, sharing, discussing, and celebrating books written by alumnae of Mt. Holyoke, Bryn Mawr, Wellesley, Barnard, and Smith . . . and ...more

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C.P.’s Friend Comments

Comments (showing 1-6) post a comment »

date

newest »

message 6: by C.P.

Aug 16, 2015 06:31PM

Sandra wrote: "Hi C.P. Since not much has been happening on History Buffs United, I don't know if you saw the post that my alt-history book FROM THE ASHES is now available. (You once posted I should let you kno..."

Thanks, Sandra, and congratulations!

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message 5: by Sandra

Aug 16, 2015 03:42PM

Hi C.P. Since not much has been happening on History Buffs United, I don't know if you saw the post that my alt-history book FROM THE ASHES is now available. (You once posted I should let you know when it came out--but that was two years ago; my how time flies) :)

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message 4: by C.P.

Feb 26, 2013 03:59PM

Lavender wrote: "Oh, nuts! You started reading The Sekhmet Bed just as I am about to re-release it with (I hope) all those damn typos cleaned up!"

It's okay. I saw a few, but not enough to fuss about. Give me a good story (which you do), and I'll forgive a few typos.

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message 3: by Libbie Hawker

Feb 25, 2013 07:30PM