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What's your favourite historical novel? Tell us and be in with a chance to WIN a SIGNED COPY of Helen Dunmore's new novel Exposure plus backlist book bundle

138 replies

UrsulaMumsnet · 01/02/2016 15:11

Set against a backdrop of the Cold War, spies and scandal, Helen Dunmore's remarkable new novel, Exposure, out this week, tells the story of a woman's determination to protect her family at all costs. When Lily's husband is accused of passing on highly sensitive information to the Soviets, and arrested, Lily is forced to confront forbidden love, intimate betrayal and the devastating power of exposure.

"Exposure is the sort of winter read you hanker for...the period is so meticulously re-created that you almost hear the hiss of the gas streetlamps." - The Times

"This book is a triumph - a marvellous piece of seamless storytelling." - Penelope Lively

Share your favourite historical novels for a chance to win a signed copy of Exposure, plus a backlist bundle of books including Sunday Times bestseller The Lie and The Betrayal.

Helen Dunmore is the author of fourteen novels. Her first, Zennor in Darkness, explored the events which led to D H Lawrence’s expulsion from Cornwall (on suspicion of spying) during the First World War. It won the McKitterick Prize. Her third novel, A Spell of Winter, won the inaugural Orange Prize, now the Bailey’s Prize for Women’s Fiction. Her bestselling novel The Siege, set during the Siege of Leningrad, was described by Antony Beevor as ‘a world-class novel’ and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel of the Year and the Orange Prize.

She is fascinated by the Cold War era, which was also the era of her childhood, and is the setting for Exposure, and by the secrets, betrayals, loves, lies and loyalties which make up the period’s intimate history.

What's your favourite historical novel? Tell us and be in with a chance to WIN a SIGNED COPY of Helen Dunmore's new novel Exposure plus backlist book bundle
What's your favourite historical novel? Tell us and be in with a chance to WIN a SIGNED COPY of Helen Dunmore's new novel Exposure plus backlist book bundle
What's your favourite historical novel? Tell us and be in with a chance to WIN a SIGNED COPY of Helen Dunmore's new novel Exposure plus backlist book bundle
OP posts:
HelenMEvans · 04/02/2016 23:15

War and Peace, a great story made even more special by the current TV programmes.

jt75 · 04/02/2016 22:14

The Book Thief.

eddiemairswife · 04/02/2016 14:38

With reference to Schindler's Ark, I wonder why the film was called Schindler's List.

Quogwinkle · 04/02/2016 13:23

I have another favourite. Schindler's Ark by Thomas Kenneally. It was one of the set texts when I did A Level English. Heartbreaking and beautifully written, but in a factual and unemotional way. I remember we had a discussion about whether it could ever be made into a film. We agreed that it would be hard to watch if it ever was. I went to see the film several years later and it was just as hard to watch as I thought it might be, unflinching in the portrayal of the horrors. A truly great novel, complemented by a superb film.

minsmum · 04/02/2016 12:56

I would say that my favourites are The Siege, Wolf Hall and the Stranger Prince. However my absolute favourite has to be Mila 18 by Leon Uris it's about the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto.

cyrillicsquirrel · 04/02/2016 09:14

Really hard to choose, but probably 'Toby's Room' by Pat Barker. It's sad and very poignant, but so well written.

barricade · 03/02/2016 13:14

Tough one ... probably a choice between one of the following five -->

  1. Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' has to be the most epic of historical fiction.
  2. 'Master and Commander' - the first of O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin 20-novel series
  3. 'Ivanhoe' by Sir Walter Scott
  4. 'The Inheritors' by William Golding (best known for his novel 'Lord of the Flies')
  5. 'Restoration' by Rose Tremain
Pickofthepops · 03/02/2016 12:31

Love in a cold climate - so evocative and dry

574ejones · 02/02/2016 20:44

I loved Phillippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl - it really sparked an interest in history in me.

cookiemonster66 · 02/02/2016 19:31

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak really moved me, seeing the war from a German childs perspective, really opened my eyes

teddy2k · 02/02/2016 17:30

"Birdsong" by Sebastian Faulks set in the First World War. It was beautifully written and I really felt I was in France at the time of the First World War.
My other favourite book is "Testament of Youth" by Vera Brittain also set in the First World and gives an honest account of how Young people's lives were changed by this War. There is also a good insight into the life of the VADs and what it was like to be a Nurse in the First World War.

aginghippy · 02/02/2016 16:53

If I have to choose just one, it would be Regeneration by Pat Barker

I don't want to choose just one, there are so many I loved because the characters stayed with me -
The Siege
As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann
Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier
Burial Rites (which I never would have read except it was a mn book of the month. Thank you mn!)

lionheart · 02/02/2016 16:27

Emma Donaghue, Slammerkin, is a favourite. Bleak but full of little insights.

CityDweller · 02/02/2016 14:35

I recently read The Winter Isles (by Antonia Senior) and really loved it. Strong female lead and about a period of Scottish history I didn't know much about. And a page turner too.

Loula117 · 02/02/2016 13:33

Wolf Hall!

Although I do also love all Philippa Gregory's books and I enjoyed reading the Poldark saga last year.

Hygge · 02/02/2016 13:09

Recently I've read Labyrinth by Kate Mosse, which is a fictional story told in part against the backdrop of the persecution and massacre of the Cathar Heretics in Carcassonne.

I really felt involved with the time and place and the people, and would now love to visit the places described in the book.

I also loved Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, telling the story of Ursula, as she grows up and her life through the second world war and beyond. The twist of what happens to her against a historical backdrop was really fascinating.

I loved Pillars of the Earth because it was about ordinary people as much as it was about people in power.

And right back to childhood, I still have my two copies of Odysseus: The Greatest Hero Of Them All, which came from a BBC TV series they really ought to repeat. I must have read them almost to bits as a child, but they've stayed sellotaped together long enough that I can now read them to DS as well. I loved those books and the myths and history they encompassed.

cathisherwood · 02/02/2016 12:53

I love Birdsong by Sebastian Faulkes. He really brings the horror of living in the trenches to life

flso · 02/02/2016 11:49

All The Light We Cannot See was amazing :)

JengaWenga · 02/02/2016 11:07

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent is a beautiful book. Set in Iceland in 1829.

Fizrim · 02/02/2016 10:05

Raj Quartet by Paul Scott, probably better known as the TV series the Jewel in the Crown. Set in the time of partition, and covers different characters/stories over the same time period across the four books.

kateandme · 02/02/2016 10:02

Katherine webb writes great novels that span past and present. and I love those,the ones where we learn of the past story then are brought into the current with different characters telling their tales throughout.
the secret garden is one of them but I cant remember the authors name.

DickDewy · 02/02/2016 09:53

Very difficult to choose as I love so many.

I have very fond memories of Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy.

Totally engrossing, it kept me rapt through an entire flight to Australia. This was pre children, obv.

Mrsmuddlepie · 02/02/2016 09:53

I loved Wolf Hall and Hilary Mantell's subsequent novels about Thomas Cromwell. However my vote probably goes to Helen Dunmore and The Siege (of Leningrad). I stumbled upon it by accident and the power of the story stayed with me to the extent that I suggested it for my book group. In spite of the huge suffering of the Russian people living in Leningrad at that time, the book is strangely uplifting and focuses on human determination to survive at all costs. It is told through the eyes (and stomachs!) of one family and their day to day struggle with starvation.
The book inspired me to research something of the historical events on which it was based. It was the most lethal siege in recorded history and resulted in the deaths of one and a half million people. The tender love story at the heart of the book is set against a backcloth of starvation, brutality and death. There is reference to the huge numbers of people dying side by side with domestic details such as supposedly nutritional recipes based on leather belts and other leather items.
I think the book would certainly make my top ten favourite novels, let alone my top ten best loved historical books.

noscat · 02/02/2016 09:30

Hilary Mantel's "A Place of Greater Safety". I fell in love with most of the characters, I even began to understand Robespierre's motivation and beliefs. Her conversational and realistic writing (very similar in Wolf Hall) really draws you in. Wonderful book - I recommend it to everyone

Belo · 02/02/2016 09:19

Actually, I'm not sure if I can stop at just one book. Wild Swans by Jung Chang was a fantastic read. I read it when it in the mid 90s when it first came out. Up until then I had seen Mao Tse Tung as being a people's leader so the book was a real eye opener for me.

I've also really enjoyed A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry set in the late 70s during the Emergency in India and the turmoil around that. I read it almost 20 years ago but the characters have still stayed with me.

Other books I've enjoyed are The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh and, set in more recent history, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun.

I enjoy reading books which as well have a fantastic story also teach me about a period in history.

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