I enjoy reading historical fiction. Does anyone have some suggestions?
I enjoy reading historical fiction. Does anyone have some suggestions?
Related
81 answers
126 answers
114 answers
88 answers
105 answers
81 answers
45 answers
142 answers
102 answers
77 answers
Loading Please wait
Is there a particular era you are looking for? Margaret George writes historical biographies that are really good but also fairly lengthy. Victoria Thompson writes historical mysteries that have been enjoyable (the earliest ones are the best. I read Windy City Blues by Renee Rosen earlier this year and I really enjoyed that. The Cottingley Secret by Hazel Gaynor was really good as well.
Yes! I just read the Cottingley Secret and the Memory of Violets by Hazel Gaynor and loved them both. I like the mysteries and nothing too lengthy. Thank you. I will look into Windy City Blues.
Ms. Rosen has other books but I haven’t read them yet. The Thompson books are a pretty quick read.
I really enjoy the Victoria Thompson books!
Steve Berry does historical fiction mixed in with some facts which I find interesting. It’s sort of got a crime/thriller angle to most books but they are enjoyable x
Ooh, I would like that too!
Steve Berry is good.
He’s fantastic and usually does a book per year so there are plenty to keep you going ?
Oh will have to follow this one I’m looking to
Pillars of the Earth
Definitely this!!!!
And world without end. Book #3 comes out soon, too.
@Jenifer there is a book 3??!!!! Oh my god I can’t wait
@Kerry
@Jenifer wow I would have never known thanks so much ?
@Kerry no problem! I was excited to stumble across it as well.
What sort are you looking for? The outlander series is fantastic if you’re into Scottish culture with a mix of romance and drama.
I just finished The First Daughter about Thomas Jefferson’s eldest daughter and how she helps him through America’s independence and up to his presidency.
If you’re more into WWII stories, Everyone Brave Is Forgiven, All The Light We Cannot See, and The Nightingale are amazing reads
Lol ohhhh I know! I follow both of them through my book page… I can’t wait for the Hamilton one to come out
I love stories about strong women, mystery, thriller. Not so much romance. I have read so many WWII books, I think I need a change. I have read All THe Light and Nightingale and enjoyed them both. I think y’all have given me some direction. Thank you!!
If you like American History around the Era of the Revolution, first daughter is fantastic. Especially since the authors used hundreds of letters from Thomas Jefferson to help them build their story. It felt more real
I like romance novels, I won’t lie, however, the romance in outlander is very real and really shows how love can defy time itself. It’s a very cool concept of a story and Diana Gabaldon has clearly done her research because they are some big books… But really interesting. I learned a lot from them, and watching the starz show makes it that much more of an enriching experience
America’s First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoi. The founding of the country as see by Thomas Jefferson’s daughter.
Karen maitland is a writer I discovered this year – her books tend to be set in the Middle Ages 12-14th centuries. I suspect they’ve all got a bit of a twist you don’t expect! I’ve only read one and loved it – I can’t wait to read more!
The other lady who I’ve heard about is Barbara erskine and have books by her in my TBR pile.
Thank you
New York The Novel by Edward Rutherford
You could read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak ?
Those That Save Us
Mudbound
The Goldfinch was a pretty solid read too
Dudley from The Skye O’Malley saga by Bertrice Small
Code name verity
If you like historical fiction and mystery, I recommend Ellis Peter’s Brother Cadfael Chronicles
Phillipa Gregory does an amazing job with the Tudor family. All of her books are great. Margaret George’s books on Henry VIII and Cleopatra were also excellent.
Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon ?
The only historical fiction book I’ve read is Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Good book though.
You could try Rhys Bowen. She has two historical fiction mystery series that are good. The Molly Murphy series is set in New York at the turn of the century (1900’s) and the Her Royal Spyness series takes place in England in the 1930’s/1940’s. Both are very good. The Molly Murphy books are a bit more serious and the Royal Spyness books are funny.
Stalking Jack the Ripper, by Kerri maniscalco, the gentalmans guide to vice and virtue by Mackenzie lee.
Stalking Jack the Ripper is on my TBR
The Alice Network.
Michelle Moran has really good books
Let me know if u like Irish historical fiction with a bit of paranormal (ghost).
Bohermore (The Pirate Queen Book 1) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XBD47X1/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_W36KzbJDMNRJY
The Alice Network
Spring Came on Forever by Bess Streeter Aldrich.
John Jakes series
The Kent Family Chronicles and the North & South trilogy…
@Kristopher been so long since I have read them. They are good!
I’m with you there. Ages since I’ve read about the Kent Family. The trilogy was difficult to get through, especially in “Love & War”, when a certain character was killed… 🙁
The Young Titan by F. Van Wyck Mason. You will have to order a used copy.
R.F. Delderfield books like A Horseman Riding By trilogy, the Swann Saga trilogy; the novel, “…And Ladies of the Club”, my personal favorite; the Poldark series; the Maisie Dobbs mysteries; all of Edward Rutherfurd’s novels; “Winds of War” and “War and Remembrance” by Herman Wouk, GWTW….I’m sure there’s plenty more. Historical fiction is my favorite genre, and one I hope to add a title to it someday with me as the author….
Anything written by Edward Rutherford..and Sharra
Rutherfurd is terrific!
read all his books..Mitchner reborn
Ah yes…Michener…have read just “Texas”, “Alaska” and “Hawaii”… Definitely missed a few… 🙂
My favorite The Source..read it twice in 30yrs
Will put that on the “To Read” list…
Michener’s best was by far is “Centennial” but all of his are good!
Will put that on the list too… 😉
Centennial had me in tears..i stopped reading him after Poland it was not good..he had ghost writers then
I had heard he has a team of “researchers”…I think I came across this in the Acknowledgement in either “Texas” or “Alaska”…
@William writes some really good historical fiction. Back Bay was very good.
Any of Philippa Gregory’s books
The Kent Family Chronicles by John Jakes is one I have read more than once
Yep..forgot about Jakes”excellent suggestion
If you’d enjoy the early colonial days of North America, try the books by Alan Eckert
A tale of two cities
Dickens is soo hard to read in my opinion but great nonetheless. Took me forever to get through this.
Really? I’m not really a fan of HF, but after reading Oliver Twist I had to read A tale and I must say, “brilliant”
I know it’s not fiction yet Knights Templar by Patrick Auerbach.
Also, Templars Quest Trilogy: lost ark by Thomas H. @Ward
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
My vote would be for the classic Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind!
Rhett Butlers People is pretty good also
Under The Wide and Starry sky was actually really good!
Bernard Cornwell The last Kingdom.
C. C. Humphreys “Vlad: the last confession”
Jeff Shaara’s “The Rising Tide” is excellent, for understanding the world’s stakes–and involvement–in WWII. https://www.amazon.com/Rising-Tide-Novel-World-War/dp/0345461371
Anne Perry’s books about Thomas and Charlotte Pitt and there is a new one about their son. She has a William Monk set of mysteries. Try Stop You’re Killing Me and try Goodreads. Stop You’re Killing me has a historical section on the side. These are historical mysteries
City of Dreams by Beverly Swerling. The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant. Girl with a pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks.
I second, third, fourth, and fifth Philippa Gregory. I’ve just picked up one of her books and it is keeping me enthralled. I’m going to read all of her books.
Deanna Raybourn — I love her Veronica Speedwell Mysteries. So far there are only 2 books out. The 3rd is due out in January 2018 and I have heard there are 2 more after that.
“America’s First Daughter” Loved it!!
Oh my gosh I loved this one! Stephanie Dray is a great writer
Anything by Sharon Kay Penman or Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Hall” followed by “Bring Up the Bodies”.
Phillipa Gregory, Anne O’brien, Alison Weir and Jean Plaidy, to name but a few. Good luck!
Alison Weir is an incredible writer – her nonfiction books are also very good.
I second everything by Phillipa Gregory
Gone With The Wind, or Forever Amber. Both excellent reads!
Two of my all time favorites!!
The Walking Drum
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by the English author Anne Brontë.
Outlander!!!
I have told my children that my books in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series are to go with me regardless of how far I downsize. As my memory starts to fade, I can just keep rereading the series and by the time I reach the end – the earlier ones will become new again. (And I can reread them simply because they are so good and well researched,)
Roses
Jean Auel if you want to go waaaayyy back.
Loved reading, Jean Plaidy, also wrote under Victoria Holt.
I grew up loving Victoria Holt books. That’s how I ended up in Britain
I grew up in London, my mum used to read them. That’s how I came to read them.
The Time in Between by Maria Duenas (Historical fiction about a young seamstress who falls in love and goes to North Africa (Tanger) when the Spanish Civil war breaks out in the 1930’s.. She leave Mom at home in Madrid and must overcome several bumps in the road to get ahead.
Historical fiction is very broad time line. What periods do you mostly enjoy? Civil War (if you are American), American Revolution, Renaissance, Middle ages, dark ages, time of Christ, ancient Greece or Egypt, Elizabethan, Regency. What what what
Helen Dunmore’s “The Siege” and “The Betrayal”.
Ken Follett’s Fall of the Giants trilogy.
Tess Gerritsen, The Bone Thriller – about a serial killer in Boston in the 1830s.
Dawn in a Distant Shore. By Sara Donati- it’s amazing and the start of a series ?
The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy, a real classic. https://www.amazon.de/Forsyte-Saga-Complete-English-ebook/dp/B0184T6RZK/ref=sr_1_7?s=books-intl-de&ie=UTF8&qid=1503154745&sr=1-7&keywords=galsworthy+forsyte+saga
The Chronicles of St. Mary’s series by Jodi Taylor is really good! I think there’s 8 main books and a few novellas set between them.