Need historical fiction recommendations

[Shayne Parkinson]

Originally Posted by shore_pk

Can you tell me the order of the books? I found 2 that were free and I'm not sure which one is first?

TY

Order:
Sentence of Marriage
Mud and Gold
Settling the Account
A Second Chance

The short story "All I Want" isn't part of the series, and is set later, between the two World Wars.

[Shayne Parkinson]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

May I suggest The Secret River by Kate Grenville, historical fiction about the early English settlers of Australia (so part of it takes place in England). There are some parts that are very disturbing, though.

Shayne, I will have to check out your books since they sound like they might be up my alley. I am wondering if you have read The Secret River and what you thought of it?

eP

Thanks, eP. No, I haven't read "The Secret River", though I've heard good things about it. I should probably add it to my TBR list.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Mike L

Regarding Robert Goddard. For the benefit of those who don't know him, he is a British writer who writes intricate thrillers and conspiracy novels, often involving modern characters investigating some sinister event in the past. His first book, Past Caring, and also In Pale Batallions (mentioned by Gmw) are excellent, but I think he went off the boil with his later books.

I do believe those two are his very best, yes, but also among my favourites are: Take No Farewell, Beyond Recall and Days Without Number. The rest of his, while not particular favourites, are almost all on my list of books worth re-reading. The possible exception is his third book, Painting the Darkness, which I think dragged on too long.

[MickeyC]

Highly recommend the Flashman series by George MacDonald Fraser. Very funny, accurate and damn intersting to read

[Tattncat]

I would suggest 3 - "King's General" by Daphne Du Maurier
it's an oldie but without doubt one of the best I have ever read.

More currently, I would suggest Kris Kennedy as far as I know she has only written two books. They are both well worth reading. The books are: "Conqueror" and "The Irish Warrior". These two books are currently in print.

[6charlong]

You might like War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. You can get a public domain copy for free from Feedbooks:

http://www.feedbooks.com/book/83/war-and-peace

[Kerfuffle]

The Aubrey-Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian. Basically wooden ships of war during the Napoleonic wars. Very very good historical fiction.

Also, the I Claudius novels by Robert Graves (in fact, any historical novel by Robert Graves).

[mgscarsbrook]

I would recommend Robert Harris -- his series on Cicero and Rome is excellent (Imperium, Conspirata).

For something different, I would also recommend Follett's Jackdaws -- its about women spies in WW2. A fairly unique subject.

Of course, I would also suggest my own historical thriller THE MARLOWE CONSPIRACY. It's set in Elizabethan England and involves Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare teaming-up to expose a high-level government conspiracy!

[sunnysmiles]

Nigel Tranter and Noah Gordan are both very good authors. I love historical novels . What about Taipan , Shogun I cannot think of the authors name.

[Latinandgreek]

Originally Posted by mgscarsbrook

I would recommend Robert Harris -- his series on Cicero and Rome is excellent (Imperium, Conspirata).

I'll have to check it out! I'd love to see someone else's take on Cicero.

[Latinandgreek]

Originally Posted by mgscarsbrook

For something different, I would also recommend Follett's Jackdaws -- its about women spies in WW2. A fairly unique subject.

A great book that touches upon spies in WW2 is "What's Bred in the Bone" by Robertson Davies; I suppose you could classify it as historical fiction. I laughed out loud while reading it, and I cried, too. It's part of a trilogy, the first book being "The Rebel Angels"; it can be read as a stand-alone, however.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by sunnysmiles

What about Taipan , Shogun I cannot think of the authors name.

James Clavell. He's one of my dad's favourite authors, so I grew up reading his books. Very "thinly disguised non-fiction", with lots of real-life stuff woven into his Asian saga.

King Rat and Shogun are not only excellent reads, but also a very good movie (with Alec Guiness) and TV miniseries (with Toshiro Mifune), respectively. Noble House with Pierce Brosnan is also pretty decent.

Tai-Pan… well, not so much, despite the presence of Joan Chen, who's completely wasted in the role.

If the OP likes early US history, Barbara Hambly's written quite a few.

There's The Emancipator's Wife, which is about Mary Todd Lincoln and was shortlisted for a Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in a Civil War Novel, or whatever they call it, and Patriot Hearts, about four prominent women attached to the early presidents: the wives of Washington, Madison, Adams, and Sally Heming for Thomas Jefferson.

Plus she's got two historical sleuth series: Benjamin January, with an ex-slave surgeon/musician in antebellum New Orleans, and under the pseudonym surname Hamilton, a new pre-Revolutionary colonial one with future First Lady Abigail Adams. The January series has very mild paranormal elements, however, which I think the OP didn't want? But it's just the barest trace: a couple of voodoo curses and maybe some precog/hauntings rather than full-on vampire/werewolf stuff.

Best recs: Emancipator's Wife and the January series, which I very highly recommend. The others are good, too, but don't quite reach the same heights, imho. For what it's worth, Hambly teaches history at a college somewhere in California, so she knows what she's doing.

And all the above books except for the first four of the January series are available in low-ish priced e-book editions from Random House, iirc, so you can probably pick them up for around $4-8 with a Kobo coupon if you've a compatible reader.

Oh, and for historical Ireland/England, you might want to try Morgan Llywelyn. Excellent stuff from all time periods, though with a heavier focus on medieval/ancient. But she's got a couple of post-1700s books focusing on various aspects of Ireland and the Irish/English clash that are available as e-books from Tor/Macmillan.

[SlowRain]

Originally Posted by sunnysmiles

What about Taipan , Shogun I cannot think of the authors name.

James Calvell. I liked Noble House the best, but Tai-pan and Shogun were okay.

[astrangerhere]

As I believe the OP asked for free books, I suggest the Rafael Sabatini Captain Blood books. Don't be fooled by the title. The books are a fantastic picture of piracy as told by a doctor (who, yes, is named Blood) who is wrongly accused of a crime and sent to a sugar plantation as a slave. You won't find the typical swashbuckling, parrot-on-the-shoulder drivel here. Blood is intelligent and is a great precursor if you want to read the not free Aubrey-Martin books at any point.

I read the book in a matter of days and was much the better for it. I am not sure if MR has them, but i am positive that Feedbooks has them.

[sgoldkin]

You can't beat Kenneth Roberts for historical fiction.
Of the below, I would recommend "Rabble in Arms" and "Oliver Wiswell" for things we didn't learn about the American Revolution in school.

Unfortunately, these are all under copyright, so no free gutenberg versions.
In fact, I haven't found any ebook versions anywhere. (So, I guess I should apologize for posting this to an ebook thread.) Fortunately, used copies are easy to come by. You can often find copies at library and book sales for 25 cents or less. Also online at Amazon.com and Abebooks.com.


Arundel (1929) - The American Revolution through the Battle of Quebec
The Lively Lady (1931) - War of 1812
Rabble in Arms (1933) - Sequel to Arundel; the American Revolution through the Battles of Saratoga
Captain Caution (1934) - War of 1812
Northwest Passage (1937) - French and Indian War and the Carver expedition
Oliver Wiswell (1940) - The American Revolution from a Loyalist's perspective, from the Siege of Boston to the United Empire Loyalists
Lydia Bailey (1947) - The Haitian Revolution and the First Barbary War
Boon Island (1955) - 1710 shipwreck on Boon Island, Maine

see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Roberts_(author)