Historical Fiction Recommendations

[Uncle Robin]

A series I saw recommended here at mobilereads is the Muzaffar Jang series by Madhulika Liddle, set in Mughal Delhi. Her bio links to her sister, a professional historian who specialises in the period, and the mystery novels are a fun way to learn quite a lot about an era and a realm not much represented in historical fiction.

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Funny that, I was the other way round. I like Follett's spy novels, but I could not get into Pillars to save my life.

Just shows we're all different and have our own preferences. I've never tried one of his spy novels. Not my genre.

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

My favorite historical fiction, in no particular order:

Pillars of the Earth by Follet and the Sequel World without End (didn't care for the third)
Beneath a Scarlett Sky by Sullivan
Armegedon by Uris
Mila 18 by Uris
The Plum Tree by Ellen Marie Wiseman (any book of hers is good, this one stood out)
All the Light we Cannot See by Doerr
The Robe by Douglass
Gone with the Wind by Mitchell
The Physican by Gordon and the Sequel Shaman
The Secret Chord by Brooks (Most of hers are good, this one outstanding)
The Tatooist of Auschwitz by Morris (Currently have Cilka's Journey the sequel on deck)
The Nightingale by Hannah
Shashenka by Montefiore (and the two sequels)
A Gentleman in Moscow by Towles
War and Peace Tolstoy (probably my fav)
Russka by Rutherford (IMO his best work having read Sarum and London)


I read a lot of historical fiction, it's my favorite Genre. WWII is obviously big for me based on the list.

I've read and enjoyed Pillars, Gone with the Wind and Russka, which gives me high hopes for Beneath a Scarlet Sky which is waiting on my Kindle.

[Pulpmeister]

And there's one I recently uploaded in the Library, "Blood Royal", by H Bedford-Jones, set in upper Michigan (Mackinac and Beaver Islands) in the early 19th C and later, not a western by the way, but covering a lawless period when a Mormon prophet James Strang had himself crowned King of Beaver Island; and a fictionalised account of what followed his assassination.

And for a series of short stories, try (by the same author, also in the Library here) "The Sphinx Emerald", which follows the fabled Sphinx Emerald from ancient Egypt to modern days and historical figures whose lives it touched.

[Pulpmeister]

Oh, and, er, "Gone With the Wind", also here!

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

My favorite historical fiction, in no particular order:

<snip!>
Beneath a Scarlett Sky by Sullivan
<snip!>
I read a lot of historical fiction, it's my favorite Genre. WWII is obviously big for me based on the list.

I have to be in the minority about this book. It's supposed to be based on a real person's life. It read to me like the musing of an old fisherman - entirely unbelievable. And the fact that he waited to tell the story until all involved are dead?

[drofgnal]

Originally Posted by ReadingManiac

I've read and enjoyed Pillars, Gone with the Wind and Russka, which gives me high hopes for Beneath a Scarlet Sky which is waiting on my Kindle.

I loved Beneath a Scarlet Sky. Very enjoyable. Pillars has a prequel coming out in Sept of this year. Looking forward to that one.

[hildea]

I liked Pillars of the Earth. I have extremely mixed feelings about Gone With the Wind -- I loved it when I first read it, but it's incredibly racist.

Some favourite historical fiction: Most of McCullough's "First Man in Rome" series. In the latest ones Gaius Julius Caesar becomes too much of a super hero, making the books less interesting.
Barbra Hambly's Benjamin January series, starting with "A Free Man of Color" are crime/detective stories set in New Orleans in the 1830s.
Elizabeth Wein's "Code Name Verity" and "Rose under Fire" are very good, although not exactly happy books.

Originally Posted by The beginning of "Code Name Verity"

I AM A COWARD

I wanted to be heroic and I pretended I was. I have always been good at pretending. I spent the first twelve years of my life playing at the Battle of Stirling Bridge with my five big brothers, and even though I am a girl they let me be William Wallace, who is supposed to be one of our ancestors, because I did the most rousing battle speeches. God, I tried hard last week. My God, I tried. But now I know I am a coward. After the ridiculous deal I made with SS-Hauptsturmführer von Linden, I know I am a coward. And I’m going to give you anything you ask, everything I can remember. Absolutely Every Last Detail.

Here is the deal we made. I’m putting it down to keep it straight in my own mind. ‘Let’s try this,’ the Hauptsturmführer said to me. ‘How could you be bribed?’ And I said I wanted my clothes back.

It seems petty, now. I am sure he was expecting my answer to be something defiant – ‘Give me Freedom’ or ‘Victory’ – or something generous, like ‘Stop toying with that wretched French Resistance laddie and give him a dignified and merciful death.’ Or at least something more directly connected to my present circumstance, like ‘Please let me go to sleep’ or ‘Feed me’ or ‘Get rid of this sodding iron rail you have kept tied against my spine for the past three days.’ But I was prepared to go sleepless and starving and upright for a good while yet if only I didn’t have to do it in my underwear – rather foul and damp at times, and SO EMBARRASSING. The warmth and dignity of my flannel skirt and woolly jumper are worth far more to me now than patriotism or integrity.

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by hildea

I liked Pillars of the Earth. I have extremely mixed feelings about Gone With the Wind -- I loved it when I first read it, but it's incredibly racist.

So is Huck Finn, but in both cases it's a matter of historical accuracy.

Which leads me to a recommendation:
Yellow Crocus by Laila ibrahim and the sequel, Mustard Seed. There's a third book but I haven't read it yet. It's on my Kindle.

These tell just how bad it was to be black before and just at the end of the civil war, from the slaves' point of view. It's very well-written and historically accurate, which means it's disturbing.

[hildea]

<off topic>
It's a long time since I read Huck Finn, but as far as I remember, slavery is portrayed as a bad thing there. In Gone With the Wind, slavery is portrayed as good, the emancipation of slaves after the Civil War is portrayed as bad for both white and black people, and Ku Klux Klan are describes as heroes.

[curtw]

Lawrence Norfolk is very good. Depending where your interests lie, one of these may scratch your itch (they are not a series):

Lempriere's Dictionary
The Pope's Rhinocerous
In the Shape of a Boar

[drofgnal]

Originally Posted by ReadingManiac

So is Huck Finn, but in both cases it's a matter of historical accuracy.

Which leads me to a recommendation:
Yellow Crocus by Laila ibrahim and the sequel, Mustard Seed. There's a third book but I haven't read it yet. It's on my Kindle.

These tell just how bad it was to be black before and just at the end of the civil war, from the slaves' point of view. It's very well-written and historically accurate, which means it's disturbing.

A lot of good historical fiction is disturbing. Take an excellent book, The Tattooist of Auschwitz. It's a very disturbing book. So was Mila 18. One of the points of historical fiction is to provide a window to our past and hopefully learn from the mistakes. Dickens in that regard wrote a lot about the plight of children. I'd like to think we've learned from those past mistakes.

I don't reject reading a good historical fiction novel because it might be disturbing.

[hildea]

<off topic>

Originally Posted by drofgnal

I don't reject reading a good historical fiction novel because it might be disturbing.

I agree absolutely. None of books I recommended above shy away from describing disturbing aspects of history. When I call Gone With the Wind racist, it's not because it describes a dark period of history, but because it conceals that darkness. In Mitchell's world, slaves are happy. When they get their freedom they get confused and unhappy, or become vicious criminals so that the gallant gentlemen of Ku Klux Klan need to risk their lives to keep them in check.

Note, I'm not saying that anyone who likes Gone With the Wind are racists. I found How to be a fan of problematic things helpful in sorting out my mixed feelings about a lot of books and films.

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by hildea

<off topic>
It's a long time since I read Huck Finn, but as far as I remember, slavery is portrayed as a bad thing there. In Gone With the Wind, slavery is portrayed as good, the emancipation of slaves after the Civil War is portrayed as bad for both white and black people, and Ku Klux Klan are describes as heroes.

I don't remember the Klan coming into it at all. Having read it three times, I see it very differently. At the beginning, slavery is just what is, the life Scarlet has grown up in. As the war causes hardships all around, Scarlet develops as a character and the roles of black and white are something she has to think outside of when she tells her sisters to work the farm.

I do remember a scene where some of the husbands are out doing something illegal and one of them gets shot, is that the scene you're thinking of?

[hildea]

Originally Posted by ReadingManiac

Having read it three times, I see it very differently. At the beginning, slavery is just what is, the life Scarlet has grown up in. As the war causes hardships all around, Scarlet develops as a character and the roles of black and white are something she has to think outside of when she tells her sisters to work the farm.

I agree that this is also a theme in the book. As a teenager, I really liked a heroine who was good at maths and bad at people, and had a practical, pragmatic view of life. And I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't really think about the racism in the book.

I do remember a scene where some of the husbands are out doing something illegal and one of them gets shot, is that the scene you're thinking of?

I went to pick up my copy, which still had the bookmarks from when I last discussed this with someone. Yes, that scene is one of the two mentions of KKK that I found when last I looked. Two men (one black, one white) attack Scarlett and try to rape her, she escapes, and KKK (where the husbands are members) go to kill the two men. I have a Norwegian edition of the book, here's part of it:

Originally Posted by Gone With the Wind, chapter 45

"Naturligvis er mr. Kennedy i klanen, og Ashley, og alle de mennene vi kjenner," ropte India. "De er mannfolk, er de ikke? Og hvite menn og sydstatsmenn. Du skulle være stolt av ham"
--
In English, my translation:
--
"Of course mr Kennedy is a member of the klan, and Ashley, and all the men we know," India shouted. "They are men, aren't they? And white men and Southern men. You should be proud of him"

But the worst part is a lenghty infodump in chapter 37 about conditions in the south after the war. It mentions KKK by its full name, and claims that it was founded by "tragic necessity" to protect white women from former slaves. There's also a lot about how Black people were happier as slaves. I was about to quote some examples, but can't stomach it.