Good Historical Fiction books?

Question

Any historical fiction that you've enjoyed and would recommend me to read? details on what it is about please!

Answer 1

It depends on whether you want historical novels about persons that really existed or pure fiction in a historical background. I would second the recommendation on Philippa Gregory.
All the Jean Plaidy books are based on real persons, but she also wrote historical romances under the name Victoria Holt.
Winston Graham's "Poldark "series. Cornwall from the 18th century onwards, a family saga.
Katherine Gordon' s."Peacock " series which start at the time of the mutiny in India and end after the second world war, following one particular Anglo Indian family.
Sergeanne Golon's "Angelique" series. The life of a young noblewoman at the time of Louis the 14th . Her adventures took her from her native Poitou to America via Toulouse, Paris, Versailles, Morocco, and protestant La Rochelle.
If you are a fan of the Jane Austen period, the Georgette Heyer books are well written, lightweight and amusing. (The Grand Sophy. Friday's Child. These Old Shades)
Bookshops are full of heavyweight historicals at the moment.
I suggest you go to your local Oxfam bookshop. They have stacks at £1.99 each, you can take your pick, and at that price you cannot go wrong. I can recommend Julian Rathbone's novels based on real events.
Happy reading!

Answer 2

Barbara Erskine writes excellent historical fiction as does Sharon Penman. I can't recommend these two authors highly enough.

My favourite novel about Elizabeth I is called Legacy by Susan Kay - it's a bit different from the others.

If you want to embark on a series try Cynthia Harrod-Eagle's Moreland Dynasty series. The first one is set at the end of the medieval period and the latest one is set in WW1. The books are about successive generations of the same fictional family, though they interract with real historical figures, and they cover all the main periods of British history. They're really interesting.

Answer 3

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. The book describes the battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War from the viewpoint of generals and lowly foot soldiers. For someone who has always enjoyed touring the G-burg battlefield, this book gave me a good insight into the fighting that took place there.

Another great historical fiction book is Compass Rose by Nicholas Montserrat. It describes the battle action of a British destroyer during World War II and describes the life aboard ship during the war.

Answer 4

Anything by Philippa Gregory or Elizabeth Chadwick - I love everything they've written!

A lot of PG's books are set around Tudor times, but she also wrote about the Bristol slave trade and a set about the beginnings of the Ashmolean (I think!) museum in Oxford.

The books I've read by EC are set earlier, around the 1100s. Both of these writers base their books on real people and events.

Rose Tremain has written two historical novels that I know of - Music & Silence and Restoration, both set around 1600-1700.

If you want to go way back in history, try the 'Clan of the Cave Bear' series by Jean M Auel - set in the time of woolly mammoths and men discovering how to make fire!

Answer 5

Children Of Kaywana, by Guyanese author Edgar Mittelholzer.The book is based on true historical facts . The book is set in Guyana, and tells about the inter-personal relationships between slaves and the slave owners. One family stands out in the book : The Van Groenwegels. The main setting is the Berbice plantation of Fort Nassau.True historical facts are mentioned : The slave up-rising in Guyana, etc.

Answer 6

Katherine by Anya Seton. The fictional relationship with John of Gaunt. An excellent introduction to Mediaeval history.

Answer 7

Some great historical fiction I have read are:
Tobsha Learner's "The Witch of Cologne" (In a sensuous 17th-century saga set in German Catholic Cologne, Learner transports readers to a time when studying the ancient Kabbalah could prove deadly for a young Jewish midwife. Ruth bas Elazar Saul is the headstrong daughter of the chief rabbi of Deutz, Cologne's Jewish ghetto. She undertakes the forbidden course of mystical study, her Sephardic mother's legacy, before absconding to Amsterdam to escape an arranged marriage. There, Ruth acquires the contemporary midwifery skills she will combine with her sacred learning, and upon her return to Cologne she delivers wealthy burghers' babies using new lifesaving methods, earning a reputation for more than medical genius. Word of her skills travels quickly, and as the Spanish Inquisition stretches its tentacles to the Rhineland, Ruth is arrested for sorcery by the sadistic archbishop Carlos Vicente Solitario, whose persecution of her is fueled by a stymied youthful obsession with her mother. Ruth's keen intelligence and bravery in prison win her an ally, Canon Detlef von Tennen, who falls passionately in love with the "Jewess." The two marry, and Learner has readers rooting for the survival of their unlikely alliance. This steamy, riveting page-turner is also a paean to the triumph of a woman's spirit.

Tracy Chevalier's "Girl With a Pearl Earring" (romance)
Matthew Pearl's "The Dante Club" and "The Poe Shadow" (thriller/myster)
Kathryn Lasky's "Beyond the Burning Time" and "Blood Secret" (young adult)
Elizabeth George Speare's "The Witch of Blackbird (children's fiction, but still a great read)

Answer 8

Anything by Philippa Gregory, last I read was A Respectable Trade re slave trade and it was gripping and vivid. My mum reads her but i didn't pass that one on, too graphic! The Other Boleyn Girl also thoroughly recommended.

Andrew Taylor's Lydmouth series, set in 1950s

Charles Todd's series about a shellshocked policemen haunted by WWI

John Lawton's Troy series, policeman during and after WWII

Answer 9

The 'Richard Sharpe' series, by Bernard Cornwell
The 'Jack Aubrey' series, by Patrick O'Brian
The 'Brother Cadfael' books, by Ellis Peters
'The Last Prince of Ireland', 'Lion Of Ireland', 'Pride Of Lions' & 'Red Branch', by Morgan Llywelyn
You can check out the details on these and any books at the sites below.

Answer 10

Andrea:
I answer this question with sincerity but reluctantly as some who ask this question and I give my answer. They then report it as spam. Please do not do this to me too. On other questions my answers have risen me to the 250 point level because of the help I have given other writers. The site below has two history fiction books on it and discription of both. What better than from the author himself.
Wayne
Wayne