The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson.
Readable, entertaining overview of well, yes, English and how it got that way. English is kind of a "sweep it all up and throw it together" kind of language, with words, spelling, and grammar often borrowed from other languages. Bryson explains some of these.

Maisie Dobbs
Birds of a Feather
Pardonable Lies
A Lesson In Secrets
Among The Mad
Messenger Of Truth all by Jacqueline Winspear.
Series of mysteries set in the 1930's involving Maisie Dobbs, Psychologist and Investigator. Maisie, daughter of a London costermonger, becomes a nurse in Flanders in WWI, and also becomes a detective. Excellent series detailing the changes in post-war England, a decade or more after the Great War.

Year Of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks.
Anna Frith's village, in 1665-1666, is stricken by the Plague. How does she cope when all seems lost?

Masques of Gold by Roberta Gellis.
Lissa de Flael, apothecary, is married to goldsmith Peter. Why should he want to marry her when she is not trained to his craft? Why is Peter murdered six weeks later? And how will Lissa deal with her attraction to Sir Justin FitzAilwin, the lord of the London Watch, who is investigating Peter's murder? Set in London of 1215 with the rumblings of baronial dissatisfaction which will lead to the signing of the Magna Carta.