Big Historical Fiction

I devoured all of Victoria Holt's novels as a teen but looking back they all stick pretty closely to the same formula!

@MrsMoastyToasty
How funny - I’m just reading posts now … we both like Victoria Holt books (which I discovered as a teenager - Bride of Pendorric was my first) and Philippa Carr - the same 2 pseudonyms for Jean Plaidy/Eleanor Burford !
We must have similar tastes

Jean Plaidy, Alison Weie, one of my favourite books I go back to is Katherine by Anya Seton

@Winelover2021 - yes! Another vote for Alison Weir, Six Queens series…

@KillingMeDeftly. Great to come across someone else who knows it… I have got People of the Book but not read it yet - looking forward to it though

I like Anne O Brien, she writes about lesser known women such as Joan of Kent, Alice Perrers (mistress of Edward lll) etc, I really enjoy them!
I also absolutely loved Alison Weir’s Six Queens series, actually felt like you got to know each one in their own right. ☺️

I also loved Jean Plaidy … but writing as Victoria Holt and Phillips Carr

Actually - her real name was Eleanor Burford - she had at least 7 or 8 pen-names, a very prolific writer - in swifter the styles/genres including history, and romantic books

@AnonyMum21 I loved Year of Wonders too. Was literally in tears at the last line. I also liked People of the Book, by the same author.

Very excited to come back and read this thread when I have more time …
But have to throw in my ‘gut reaction’ first thoughts …
If you are open to different periods of history I strongly recommend Jean Auel books - do start with Clan of the Cave Bear (they are better in correct sequence) - all huge books, great story but also learn SO much …. (With a touch of literary artistic licence)

Also, Mary Renault is fantastic - my favourite is The King Must Die (about Theseus and bull-leaping in Crete) but that might be because that was the first book of hers that I read…

One other - very relevant after going through a pandemic!
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
“ novel is written in the point of view of a housemaid named Anna Frith, on what she lives through when the plague hits her village. It is based on the history of the small Derbyshire village of Eyam that, when beset by the plague in 1666, quarantines itself in order to prevent the disease from spreading further”

I absolutely LOVED this, great story and agin learned so much! Based on TRUE story… but again, with some fictional licence!

@mrselizabethdarcy if only CHE would continue with it! But she lost the contract a while ago I enjoyed her War at Home series which covered WWI (with guest appearance from a certain Morland Dynasty character) and she's got the first in a new series out that is set in the early 1900s.

I second Morland Dynasty. I've read and re-read them again. They are fab !

Plaidy was my "gateway drug" to historical fiction! Her Tudor novels like Murder Most Royal (Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard) are her best. The others get a bit samey and don't have the depth of research that say, Penman or Chadwick do.

Jean Plaidy. She also wrote as Victoria Holt and Phillippa Carr. Each pseudonym has a distinct style.

A rather lurid novel I read recently was Tsarina by Ellen Alpsten about Catherine I of Russia. Not Catherine the Great but the wife of Peter the Great, who was born a Polish or
Lithuanian peasant and rose to become Empress of Russia. It's a bit blood-thirsty but there isn't much out there about Catherine and she is a fascinating character. I think there's now a sequel about Empress Elizabeth.

Also Ken Follets century series about the 20th century.

Those were much better than his Pillars of the Earth series, which never truly felt to me like they were set in the Middle Ages. He was on much firmer ground with the 20th century. Surprised they've not been optioned as a TV series as POTE was, but it would be a very expensive one given the times the trilogy covers.

What a nice thread for a Saturday morning!

I enjoy Barbara Erskine too. Her recent novel about Offa's daughter was a bit of a departure as it deviated from her "woman moves to remote cottage after relationship breakup and discovers ghosts and an attractive neighbour" formula.

I also like Edward Rutherford - Paris and Sarum are my favourites.

I started reading the conn iggulden genghis Khan series and found it incredibly engrossing - some of the same stuff occurs in game of thrones but this was real... it is violent, but because that was the life but it isn't dwelt on IMO.

Also Ken Follets century series about the 20th century.

Before Elizabeth Chadwick started writing about Eleanor of Aquitaine and William Marshal etc, she wrote pure historical fiction where real-life characters only had walk on parts. Those are worth seeking out - I absolutely loved The Champion and The Love Knot. I've actually "known" her for years through various historical fiction groups and she's active on social media and interacts with her readers a lot. I'm fascinated with the time period she covers and she's been very responsive when I've asked her various questions on her research etc.

honesttogod Lady of Hay is Barbara Erskine. She’s written quite a few similar ones with past and present interweaving, past lives, ghosts etc.

Diana Lampitt (aka Deryn Lake) also wrote the Sutton Place trilogy about a real life Tudor mansion and the curse which was apparently laid on it by Edward the Confessor’s wife. It’s got a bit of a bodice ripper vibe but it’s not bad.

Andrew Taylor's Cat Lovett series set in the aftermath of the Great Fire of London is great. I'm on the second - first is called Ashes of London.

I recently read Penman's Land Beyond the Sea and enjoyed it, though it's sad to think she's no longer with us.

Have you tried Cynthia Harrod-Eagles' Morland Dynasty series? There's 35 of them, spanning the Wars of the Roses to the 1930s so they will keep you busy for a while! She also wrote a trilogy of books on Russia that covered the Napoleonic wars, Crimean war and Revolution, all seen through the eyes of English women who'd moved there.

Definitely Katherine by Anya Seton. Jean Plaidy Queen of this Realm is great on Elizabeth I. There's also Legacy about her too but can't remember the author of that. Edward Rutherford London is great. For light and frothy the Lady of Hay is good, can't remember author...