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Original poster

What FICTION books would you recommend around the periods in GCSE History?

68 replies

LittleOwl153 · 22/02/2023 13:01

My DD is doing GCSE History. She likes to read around the history topics she is doing and is well read in the Tudor period (her favourite period!) through Phillippa Gregory, Anne O'Brien, Alison Weir, Susan Higginbotham.

Syllabus includes:

  • British America 1713-1783: Empire and revolution
  • Early Elizabethan England 1558-1588
  • Weimer and Nazi Germany 1918-1939
  • Whitechapel 1870-1900
  • Crime and punishment c1500- present day!

She gets alot from historical context
through reading so looking for authors with a reasonable reputation for being historically correct.

She's 14, but reads very well and usually adult books these days. She has picked out some My Story books too which are children's level.

I don't like historical fiction so I'm clueless so hoping the hive mind will come up with some good materials for her!

Thank you!

OP posts:
SheilaFentiman · 24/02/2023 23:22

Great thread

gretell · 24/02/2023 23:16

Lemondrizzle20 · 24/02/2023 17:43

Her style is a little old fashioned by modern standards but Jean Plaidy wrote generally accurate historical novels, more fictionalised history really.

She also wrote a series called the Daughters of England about a family from Tudor times to WWII, some of the later books were ghost written and it shows in the style.

For American history including Revolutionary period try John Jake's.

A few of us had read Jean Plaidy on the history modules at university. Entertaining stuff. She took rumour and ran with it in a lot of cases. I'd recommend, as the people who read it for history A'Level especially thought her books were an interesting read.

newtb · 24/02/2023 21:51

What about the book London ? By the author that wrote Airport. It's based on the history so covers a longer period but still interesting.

blackwingedstilt · 24/02/2023 19:33

SweetSakura · 24/02/2023 19:31

Fair point. Although I read this as a teen and it felt as readable as fiction if that makes sense?

Show quote history

Yes definitely very readable.

SweetSakura · 24/02/2023 19:31

blackwingedstilt · 24/02/2023 19:24

Although I now realise the OP asked for fiction..

Show quote history

Fair point. Although I read this as a teen and it felt as readable as fiction if that makes sense?

blackwingedstilt · 24/02/2023 19:24

SweetSakura · 24/02/2023 17:47

I third this! Really vivid descriptions of life as a teenage girl during this period.

Show quote history

Although I now realise the OP asked for fiction..

SweetSakura · 24/02/2023 17:47

blackwingedstilt · 24/02/2023 16:15

Another vote for this, I read it as a teen 30 years ago and it has really stayed with me.

Show quote history

I third this! Really vivid descriptions of life as a teenage girl during this period.

Lemondrizzle20 · 24/02/2023 17:46

Oh and for restoration period you could try Alathea by Pamela Belle although it makes more sense if you read the two previous books set in the civil war.

Lemondrizzle20 · 24/02/2023 17:43

Her style is a little old fashioned by modern standards but Jean Plaidy wrote generally accurate historical novels, more fictionalised history really.

She also wrote a series called the Daughters of England about a family from Tudor times to WWII, some of the later books were ghost written and it shows in the style.

For American history including Revolutionary period try John Jake's.

peanutbuttertoasty · 24/02/2023 17:39

@LittleOwl153 yes! Though it's a novel rather than a biography, though there are elements of it being based on vita sackville west. Time travels through different periods but I found the Elizabethan bit v evocative. A long time since I read it though!

TheMarzipanDildo · 24/02/2023 17:30

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 22/02/2023 18:43

This is not historically accurate , though. I know a history tutor who is in despair because students insist on parroting Mantel anti -Catholic views, which completely misrepresented the facts around this period, especially the character and writings of Thomas More.

Gregory is an enthralling writer, I find her insights into character very interesting, but again she is factually incorrect. For example, Mary Boleyn was the older sister, not the younger, and spent her formative years at the French Court…..

I think that books set in the periods, but which avoid dramatising actual historic characters are maybe safer.

Show quote history

Surely that’s the difficulty with all historical fiction novels though? They are always going to foreground the writer’s personal notions and prejudices, and they tend to prioritise a good yarn over historical accuracy (rightly imo, although if you know a period too well it is annoying)

Historical fiction can still give you a feel for a period and introduce you to some of the main players.

Teacheronmission · 24/02/2023 17:18

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell is good- is a fictional story of Shakespeare's son

deeplybaffled · 24/02/2023 16:50

Oh, and the Susanna Gregory books set in restoration London about the time of the plague / great fire of London might have some relevant stuff for crime and punishment too.

Whataretheodds · 24/02/2023 16:22

The Book Thief
Moll Flanders
Shardlake series/ CJ Sansom

Is there a geographical focus for the crime and punishment paper?

blackwingedstilt · 24/02/2023 16:15

deeplybaffled · 22/02/2023 22:47

And Mischling Second Degree is excellent for Nazi Germany- Ilse Koehn. It’s mostly autobiographical about growing up as a child in Germany with one Jewish grandparent .

Another vote for this, I read it as a teen 30 years ago and it has really stayed with me.

newtb · 24/02/2023 16:14

Anya Seton wrote Katherine which iirc is about John of Gaunt.

MrsJackRackham · 24/02/2023 15:43

@mdh2020 Forever Amber is set in restoration times, although still a great read.
CJ Samson books are great, all about a Tudor lawyer so a lot of crime etc.
Rory Clements books are Elizabethan murder mysteries.

Original poster
LittleOwl153 · 24/02/2023 15:32

RunnyPaint · 23/02/2023 10:59

This is a great thread! My DD is 13 and has similar interests, and will be doing the same history gcse syllabus, by the sounds of it. She is going to look into the list and has a couple of recommendations of her own. Some of these may be a bit young for your 14yo, but take a look:
Treason by Berlie Doherty
Once by Morris Gleitzman
The Executioner's Daughter by Jane Hardstaff.

It's an Edexcel course - but not the main one I believe.

Suggest your dd looks at the my story and my royal story books. I think they are similar levels to her recommendations but still on the bookshelves here! There is one about the Berlin Olympics and a few on the Elizabethan time period I think... maybe more.

OP posts:
MurderAtTheBeautyPageant · 24/02/2023 15:31

The Scent of Death by Andrew Taylor is a good and gripping murder mystery set in Manhattan during the 1770s.

Original poster
LittleOwl153 · 24/02/2023 15:25

peanutbuttertoasty · 22/02/2023 23:09

I love the Elizabethan bit of Orlando

Are we talking about the Virgina Woolf biography? That might be right up her street.

OP posts:
gretell · 24/02/2023 15:18

This is not historically accurate , though. I know a history tutor who is in despair because students insist on parroting Mantel anti -Catholic views, which completely misrepresented the facts around this period, especially the character and writings of Thomas More.

That's true! It's not just students who take that as gospel. I can understand why they would, as the detail and research overall is excellent.

Original poster
LittleOwl153 · 24/02/2023 15:12

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 22/02/2023 18:43

This is not historically accurate , though. I know a history tutor who is in despair because students insist on parroting Mantel anti -Catholic views, which completely misrepresented the facts around this period, especially the character and writings of Thomas More.

Gregory is an enthralling writer, I find her insights into character very interesting, but again she is factually incorrect. For example, Mary Boleyn was the older sister, not the younger, and spent her formative years at the French Court…..

I think that books set in the periods, but which avoid dramatising actual historic characters are maybe safer.

Show quote history

I - and more importantly my dd - agree. She gets furious with inaccuracies in the historical detail! Tudor periods I'm not to worried about this as she knows the facts (too) well. Definitely an issue in other eras though.

OP posts:
RunnyPaint · 23/02/2023 10:59

This is a great thread! My DD is 13 and has similar interests, and will be doing the same history gcse syllabus, by the sounds of it. She is going to look into the list and has a couple of recommendations of her own. Some of these may be a bit young for your 14yo, but take a look:
Treason by Berlie Doherty
Once by Morris Gleitzman
The Executioner's Daughter by Jane Hardstaff.

peanutbuttertoasty · 22/02/2023 23:09

I love the Elizabethan bit of Orlando

Svalberg · 22/02/2023 23:05

Thought I'd quoted the Anne Perry reco, sorry!