I like historical fiction. I’m taking a break from World War II books. Any other suggestions?
I like historical fiction. I’m taking a break from World War II books. Any other suggestions?
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Reading The Other Boleyn Girl. Loving the story, hating the misogyny. Half way thru, and would recommend it.
Have you read Time and Again?
By deborah heal
The Help, The Kitchen House, The Invention of Wings, My Dear Hamilton
@Beatrice I loved The Help and The Kitchen House! Both were so good!!
@Courtney me too!
The Help, The Invention of Wings, Orphan Train, The Secret Life of Bees
Here are some of my favorites:
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka
The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. (Suggested by my husband)
Cane River!
I read “The little Duke” & loved it! by Charlotte Mary Yonge
The Bregdan Chronicles by Ginny Dye
Moloka’i by Alan Brennert and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Have you read My Dear Hamilton? Very good.
Also Daughter Of A Daughter Of A Queen
One Thousand White Women!!!
Eric Larson. Anything by him.
@Rachel oh yes, totally agree!!!
The Nightingale, The Alice Project
She did say she was taking a break from WWII stuff. 🙂
@Deb No worries, I have done the same thing before. LOL
@Deb the Alice Project was one of my favorites
The Turtle Catcher.
Anything by Phillippa Gregory or Francine Rivers.
I’m currently reading The Girls in The Picture and am really enjoying it. It’s about Mary Pickford, the first actor to have her name on a movie marquee, and the first to become an international celebrity. It’s historical fiction based on a real person. Gets into the struggles women had in Hollywood in the early 1900s, when the industry was run by men only
My Name is Resolute, and These is My Words (2 others in series) All by Nancy E Turner
American Princess by Stephanie Marie Thornton, Sweet Madness by Trisha Leaver, Whistling past the graveyard by Susan Crandall, The Kitchen House, The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin, Kindred by Octavia Butler, Freshwater Road by Denise Nicholas
Have you ever read any of Harry Turtledove’s books?
@Jamie do you like his? We have a bookstore and I love his work but not too many people read him. I love his plots!
@Joyce
Really enjoyed his world war series. Still waiting to get his volcano series
Nightingale
The Unlikely Spy by Daniel Silva is wonderful!
@Cathy I have read all of the Gabriel Alon series. The Black Widow is my favorite.
Speaks the nightbird by Robert mccammon
The Gil Cunningham series, mysteries and historical, really well reasearched.
Ken Follett! Pillars and World Without End. Can’t beat them
And Columnof Fire…trilogy.
Midnight’s Children. By Salmon Rushdie
Kate Quinn has written 2 wonderful series: Ancient Rome and the Borgia family.
The Native Son.
History of the World by Andrew Marr
Kate Morton’s books are fantastic ( all of them ).
Also Geraldine Brooks .
There are some very interesting Irish ones
The Shardlake Series by C. J. Sansom
The Aviator’s Wife is one I recommend to everyone, soo good! The Perfume Collector, also a great read. ❤️
Bernard Cornwell, Simon Scarrow, Ben Kane, Manda Scott, Hilary Mantel, Ken Follett and Conn Iggulden are all authors that I’d recommend…
And on a stranger side…
Perfume bu Susskind
and
The Poisoning Angel by Jean Teule (my only 5* review from last year)
Have you read any Victoria Hislop? The Thread and The Island are my favourite of her books
Blood and sugar
How to be Human by Paula Cocozza
Diana Gabladon (Outlander Series) or Conn Iggulden (Genghis Khan)
@Maurya I second Outlander. Those are my favorite books ever !!!
PhilippaGregory is ace
@Lucy agree!
Elizabeth Chadwick and c j sansom
Anything written by James Michner!!! Centennial, Hawaii and Chesapeake are fantastic to name a few.?
I just finished a great book The Lighthouse Keepers Daughter by Hazel Gaynor. If you like mysteries I love the Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny or 11/22/63 by Stephen King, Ut us hard to get away from WW 2 these days.
Michelle Moran writes about Madame Tussaud or Cleopatra or Mata Hari. She is my favorite historical fiction author.
The Road to Alexander (ancient Greece)
Necessary Lies
Amy Tan
Ken Follett
Homegoing (the Audible is awesome)
The Weight of Ink
@Moana, several books called Homegoing on Goodreads. What author?
@Laura
The audiobook was incredible, most excellent performances.
Thanks!
Here’s something else, I’m dying to know someone who read these books by Anthony Marra.
The Czar of Love and Techno
A Constellation of Vital Phenomenon
They are set in Chechnya in the 90s (80s?) – but take you back to the history of the region. Amazingly heartbreaking and hopeful. This modern history that I didn’t understand or even really knew about has touched me forever.
The Shardlake series…?
Molokai and Honolulu by Alan Brennert
@Pat loved both
Gray Mountain by John Grisham
@Pat painted House was good too
@Melodie yes
@Pat painted house is one of his BEST
All of Steve Berry’s “Cotton Malone” novels
I like Tracey Chevalier (except for the apple trees one). Historical based fiction from a whole variety of eras.
Two good authors of Roman historical fiction are Simon Scarrow and Douglas Jackson. both have good book series and great descriptions of the Roman army and ancient Rome.
@Fred that’s is something I would read .
Try a little nonfiction. The Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance was really good . I thought it read alot like a fiction novel.
I enjoyed all the James Michener books.
Some of the Gill Paul books, each seems to have somebody famous crop up, even if they’re not a principal character.
I’ve read two which I enjoyed – The Secret Wife (Russian royal family including their massacre) and No Place for a Lady (Florence Nightingale has a minor part).
Haven’t read the others because they’re based on real people I’m not interested in reading about (Princess Diana, the Queen Mother, Elizabeth Taylor…).
Ginny Dye wrote a series of historical fiction about before, during and after the Civil War. They are called The Bregdan Chronicles. Very interesting and easy reading. Characters are relatable!
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand! It is not fiction but it is an awesome read!!! All The Light We Cannot see is also really good too!
@Michele Hillenbrand also write Seabiscuit ❤️
If you’re into vintage, Rafael Sabatini.
I love Anya Seton.
I loved the Bregdan Chronicles!
I’m currently reading Tamara Alexander. Start with “With this Pledge”. Based on true characters in civil war times. Have truly enjoyed her books.
Lisa See and AmyTan are great for Asian based stories. One of my all time favs is Snowflower and the Secret Fan. Philippa Gregory are based around Middle Ages totality. Rootsby Alex Haley. John Jakes American history. I could go on n on
@Melodie Thanks. Love Lisa See and Any Tan!
@Melodie The African by Harold Courlander. It’s the book Haley plagiarized.
Dolores Fisheries did not know that ?
@Melodie will you check out Anthony Marra? I think it’s right up your alley.
The Czar of Love and Techno
A Constellation of Vital Phenomenon
Philippa Gregory’s Cousins and Tudor series…Ken Follett’s trilogy…News of the World…Eleanor Oiliphant Is Completely Fine…An Island of Sea Women by Lisa See and any/all of her books….
The book thief
This is WWII!
@Patty book thief is ww2
Oh right it still worth the read though
Atlantropia articles its an alternate history of what would have happened if they dammed the Mediterranean sea
It is kinda ww2 but not really having anything to do with it
Necessary Lies is SO good!
It really is!!
The Alice Network
@Deb another great book by Kate Quinn! She’s written a slew of them!
@Kathy Call Me Alice is the only other book of hers that I’ve read. What else would you recommend?
@Deb two series: one set in Ancient Rome (Emperor Hadrian) and the other about the Borgias (the pope and his mistress.) I loved them!
@Kathy Thanks!
Moloka’i by Alan Brennert
Coming Home by Rosamund Piltcher
Tara Road by Maeve Binchy
Other People’s Children by Joanna Trollope
Before we were yours
@Christina yes a great read ?
Daughter of A Daughter of A Queen.
Sarah Dunant has written a series of books set in Renaissance Italy that are absolutely fantastic. The protagonists are always female and focus on not only what life was like for these women but on other events taking place at the time. Start with The Birth of Venus which happens during the Bonfire of the Vanities in Florence. The last two focused on the life of Lucrezia Borgia.
@Jenny saving this info?
@Jenny agree 100%! The opening sequence of the birth of Venus is the best I’ve ever read!
Moana Gray they are fab. There is 5 of them so far I think.
C J Samson – Shardlake series. Tudor “whodunnits”. Fabulous characters and historical accuracy. You are almost there with his description of smell! Read in order. You won’t regret. I’ve read them all three times.
Also any and all of Lisa See’s novels.
Out of the easy by Ruta Sepetys,
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant,
On a Cold Dark Sea by Elizabeth Blackwell, Tiffany Girl by Deeanne Gist
Anything by Authors Kate Quinn, Michelle Moran, Samantha Dray, Sarah Poole
One thousand white women?
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
@Anne one of my all time favorites!
I loved The other boelyn girl by philippa Gregory!
Tea planters wife, or The Separation by Dinah Jefferies. Great reads
@Carol I enjoyed tea planters wife. I’ll have to try the Separation ?
John jakes
I love WWII novels as well. I’ve been reading an occasional thriller, which is not my usual genre but sometimes different is ok!
@Linda I do too