Before I moved my blog, I was doing a series of “favorites” posts. Those posts are some of the ones that I wish most I could move over here. I have to find a way to re-write them and make them different enough not to get hit with plagiarism. Which is weird, since I wrote them to begin with! Oh, well, I can’t do anything about that – but I can write the posts I had planned for the future, starting with this list of what I believe is some of the best historical fiction.
While choosing these books, I didn’t include novels from authors like Dickens, Austen, and their contemporaries. Yes, those are historical novels to us, but the authors were writing about contemporary life, or life in their very near past. I only included novels with topics that were actually historical to the authors themselves. I also excluded any novels that include an element of time travel, which adds fantasy in the mix, therefore no Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon or The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen, no matter how brilliant they are.
12th Century; Europe to the Byzantine Empire
The Walking Drum
L’Amour is best known for his westerns, and I have read and enjoyed quite a few of those, as well, but this swash-buckling adventure is my favorite of his works. The main character, Kerbouchard, is one of my favorite male characters – he’s a fighter, scholar, and a lover. The story takes you from Europe through Russia and to the Byzantine Empire, with Kerbouchard searching for his father and finding romance along the way.
14th century; Norway
Kristin Lavransdatter
Kristin Lavransdatter is a trilogy (The Wreath, The Wife, and The Cross) that follows Kristin’s life from girlhood to through the end. I was teaching the kids the Middle Ages for history, and asked Carol for an adult novel to read for myself as a companion to our studies. She told me that no other book she had read gave a more complete and descriptive account of life during that time period. The religion, government, culture, social customs, clothing, food, celebrations – it’s all covered, and Undset’s writing places you right there, seeing it all as you read. Make sure you get the translation by Tina Nunnally, (Penguin Classics has the entire trilogy, and the covers are beautiful) because other translations have taken sections out.
1490s; Italy
Leonardo’s Swans
17th century; Italy
The Passion of Artemisia
This novel is the story of Artemisia Gentileschi, one of the premiere female painters of the Renaissance. Vreeland has fictionalized some portions of Artemisia’s life, but for the most part sticks to history. Her story is fascinating, and deals with the different conditions that women lived under as compared to men. I listened to this one on audiobook – it was wonderful – and then spent some time online, looking at Artemisia’s beautiful paintings.
17th century; England
Year of Wonders
This is a novel about a small village in England who quarantines themselves during the plague.
1690s; Colonial America
The Heretic’s Daughter
In my opinion, this is one of the best novels dealing with the Salem Witch Trials.
1790s (during the French Revolution); London
Burning Bright
Chevalier writes of two young teens whose lives brush up against the greatness of William Blake. If you like audiobooks, this one is wonderful to listen to – the reader does all the accents perfectly.
1840s to 1916; Ireland
Trinity
This is one of my favorite novels of all time. I fell in love with Conor Larkin the first time I read it, and I fall again every time I re-read it. Uris writes passionately of history and the men and women who make history. My heritage is in Ireland, and so this novel particularly resonates with me.
World War II
Guernica
Guernica was a village in the Basque region of Spain, where the Nazis carried out a firebombing raid, testing out the methods they would later unleash on the Allies. This novel follows a family from Guernica in the days leading up to the raid and in the devastation afterward.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
This epistolary novel tells of the German occupation of the Channel Islands.
A Thread of Grace
This story tells of Jew fleeing over the Alps in the final days of the war, and of the Italians who risked their lives to shelter them, saving more than 40,000 Jews from execution.
Post-World War II; Israel
Exodus
Another sweeping historical saga from Uris, this one tells the story of the men and women who build the fledgling nation of Israel after World War II.
Great post! I’ve read a few of these, and have some on my shelves. I’ve also added a bunch to my wish list.
I loved Guernsey too. Guernica is in my stacks – sounds like I need to get to it.
Thanks for this list. I really like historical fiction so I am going to check into many that you have listed.
I feel like I almost need to cut/paste your whole post into a Word file or something, so I don’t lose track of all these.
Twitter: Wordlily
says:
Have you read the Archer translation of Kristin Lavransdatter? That’s the one I read (I purchased it before I knew the Nunnally translation was highly praised), and I actually liked the language used; I didn’t know content was left out, though. It also is available with gorgeous covers. :p
I enjoyed both Lavransdatter and Guernsey; no real comparison, though; Lavransdatter was better.
Twitter: booksandmovies
says:
Melissa – hope you like the ones you read!
Kathy – Guernica is beautifully written. Heart-breaking, but beautiful.
Deanna – you’re welcome!
Phyl – feel free! Of course, you could bookmark the post – it’s not going anywhere.
Word Lily – I haven’t read that translation. I’m a little bugged by abridgements of books, so I try to read the unabridged versions. I’ve heard good things from people who’ve read other translations than Nunnally out there – could have been the Archer – so I know there are other good translations out there.
Twitter: youvegottaread
says:
I’m impressed with you…you’ve read your way around! I have to admit, I’m lost here in this arena. Outlander is as close as I’ve gotten (with the exception of the millions of WWII novels I’ve read) to historical fiction. Guernica is on my list though!
Great list and I love the brief descriptions. I’ve read a couple (and agree with you), have one on my TBR Shelf and have several on my TBR List.
I was inspired by your blog move and created a new one after the loss of my blog.
BTW, everything distils into reading is my new blog. Please do visit it, subscribe to it or follow it! Do help me spread the word.
Great list! I love historical fiction, but somehow I keep pushing it to the bottom of my list – I really should read more. I’ve added a few from your list to my wishlist – thank you!
Great list. I’m going to bookmark it too. I’m so glad you included a Louis L’Amour book. He’s a favorite of my husband’s so I’ve read quite a few of his books and find them very enjoyable.
Great list. I’m going to bookmark it too. I’m so glad you included a Louis L’Amour book. He’s a favorite of my husband’s so I’ve read quite a few of his books and find them very enjoyable.
Good list, and I definitely agree with Kristen Lavransdatter, Year of Wonders (the next time I’m in the UK, I’m going to visit the village described in the book), the Potato Book, and A Thread of Grace–all excellent reading!
Twitter: booksandmovies
says:
Sandy – I read a lot of hf in high school, then got away from it, and have just recently gotten back into it in the past couple of years. There is a lot of quality hf being written right now!
Joy – my descriptions kind of petered out as the list got longer…
Gautami – I’ve changed my link and will blog about it, too!
Jackie – thank you for stopping by! I hope you like the ones you try.
Margot – If you like L’Amour, you should read his memoir, “Education of a Wandering Man” – it’s basically his memoir on reading and being a self-educated man. Loved it!
Cathy – That would be amazing to visit the village in the book!
Excellent list. Some I have never heard of but you have piqued my interest. My tbr is growing by leaps and bounds. Thank you
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Twitter: booksandmovies
says:
Jennygirl – I know – those tbr lists seem to grow exponentially, don’t they?
Yes, that is unfortunate about those posts. But you did a great job with this one, too. All these books look interesting and some are already on my TBR list!
Twitter: booksandmovies
says:
Rebecca – thank you.
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Great list! I am extremely interested in reading the Louis Lamour book. I have read a few of his westerns and absolutely loved them- I am a huge historical fiction/western fan, and in fact just finished reading a really great one… ‘The Shopkeeper’ by James D. Best and have been looking for other great reads! Although this Louis Lamour book is not a typical western book, I am sure I will still love it- I love this author! Thanks for the great tip. I didn’t even realize that this book existed!
Twitter: booksandmovies
says:
Becky – glad you found my list! I hope you like The Walking Drum.
I am sure I will love it! Thanks again!
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