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Original poster

Feeling bereft after finishing Wolf hall trilogy!

43 replies

Fiftyisthenewsixty · 02/07/2023 21:05

What next? I just really want to read something that takes me back so completely to a certain period in time. It took me ages to get round to reading The Mirror and the Light as the size put me off but I think in the end I loved it the most of all! Any other fans?

OP posts:
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ZZTopGuitarSolo · 13/07/2023 13:42

HonoriaLucastaDelagardie · 03/07/2023 19:49

Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond series? Start with Game of Kings. They do need to be read in order, because of revelations and developments that take place throughout the series.

(I was also going to suggest Shardlake.)

Also her House of Nicollo series. Absolutely loved those.

Loving this thread - thank you OP.

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 13/07/2023 13:35

Any historical novel by Rosemary Hawley Jarman, especially We Speak No Treason (Richard III) and Crown in Candlelight (Henry V, Katherine of Valois and Owen Tudor).

beguilingeyes · 13/07/2023 10:52

Sharon Penman's novels about The Plantagenets, or her Richard III epic The Sunne In Splendour.

highlandcoo · 05/07/2023 16:21

The Anne Boleyn one was really interesting and gave quite a different slant on her life.

Original poster
Fiftyisthenewsixty · 05/07/2023 07:29

was going to suggest Alison Weir’s six part series on Henry VII’s wives too. Really immersive and readable. I’m three down three to go!
I'd forgotten about these! I've only read the first one.

OP posts:
highlandcoo · 04/07/2023 23:08

I was going to suggest Alison Weir’s six part series on Henry VII’s wives too. Really immersive and readable. I’m three down three to go!

and the Cazalet Chronicles are also fab. (but stop after the first four)

nauticant · 04/07/2023 22:16

You might want to have a look at the Giordano Bruno series (set at the time of Queen Elizabeth I) by S. J. Parris. The first book is Heresy.

DuesToTheDirt · 04/07/2023 22:02

Slightly different vein, Days Without End by Sebastian Barry (American Civil War, but that doesn't begin to describe it).

JaneyGee · 04/07/2023 21:58

Fiftyisthenewsixty · 04/07/2023 21:02

Read it and loved it!

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If you liked that, you might enjoy an historical novel by Robert Graves based on the life of John Milton. I think it was called Wife of Mr Milton. It’s very good.

Also, Anthony Burgess wrote a novel about Shakespeare. It’s called Nothing Like the Sun and is the single most beautiful thing I have ever read. The prose is breathtaking. Harold Bloom (the great Shakespeare critic) thought it was a masterpiece.

Xiaoxiong · 04/07/2023 21:20

The Aubrey/Maturin books by Patrick O'Brien.

Original poster
Fiftyisthenewsixty · 04/07/2023 21:02

DuesToTheDirt · 04/07/2023 20:04

Maggie O'Farrell, Hamnet

Read it and loved it!

OP posts:
DuesToTheDirt · 04/07/2023 20:04

Maggie O'Farrell, Hamnet

Persiana · 04/07/2023 18:44

It's not as literary, but Ken follet pillars series is something you can immerse yourself in.
I still have the mirror and the light but the size has been daunting me a bit! I loved the others so will get on it

roundcork · 04/07/2023 18:43

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the request of the user.

CatOnAHotShedRoof · 04/07/2023 18:41

Have you read Alison Weir's Six Tudor Queens series? I'm part way through them and am loving the historical detail.

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 04/07/2023 17:02

The Merlin/Arthur trilogy by Mary Stewart. Stewart seems not to be so well known these days (altho R4 is having an adaptation of one of her novels next weekend) but the Merlin and Arthur story will, IMO, never be better written than this one.

Ladyofthelake53 · 04/07/2023 16:59

Katherine by Anya Seton is one of my favourites

Ladyofthelake53 · 04/07/2023 16:56

Bernard Cornwall the books The Last Kingdom was based on

MumLass · 04/07/2023 16:48

Have you tried any of Ken Follets series? The Kingsbridge series are excellent starting in 997AD.

Also the Century Trilogy which follows WW1, the Russian Revolution and WWII.

greyhairnomore · 04/07/2023 16:44

@MrsDanversGlidesAgain it certainly does.

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 04/07/2023 13:04

greyhairnomore · 04/07/2023 04:30

Fabulous book.

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Takes serious commitment, though.

JaneyGee · 04/07/2023 13:03

greyhairnomore · 04/07/2023 04:34

I haven't read them but people on here recommend the Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard and A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell.
Both long series.

Yes, great suggestions.

I'd also recommend Edward St Aubyn's Melrose novels. It isn't historical fiction, but you do get a series of novels following the life of a single individual – beautiful prose, very funny, great dialogue, and vivid characters.

Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour novels are great as well. Again, all the novels are based around a single character. Ford Madox Ford's Parade's End? Ford is hugely underrated. Or how about The Forsythe Saga?

HonoriaLucastaDelagardie · 04/07/2023 12:38

I started the first one and couldn't get into it. Is it worth persevering?

Most people say it takes a while to get into, but is worth it in the end.

Dorothy Dunnett doesn't explain everything that's going on as it happens, just lets the story unfold until it's all explained at the end - except the parts that are part of the continuing story.

escapingthecity · 04/07/2023 11:41

HonoriaLucastaDelagardie · 03/07/2023 19:49

Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond series? Start with Game of Kings. They do need to be read in order, because of revelations and developments that take place throughout the series.

(I was also going to suggest Shardlake.)

I started the first one and couldn't get into it. Is it worth persevering?

escapingthecity · 04/07/2023 11:41

The Man on a Donkey is the most brilliant historical novel I've read and a real doorstopper, also set during the Tudor era. I've just started Cathedral by Ben Hopkins which is set in C13th Alsace and is excellent. For something lighter but still incredibly well researched, try Andrew Taylor's Ashes of London series (sometimes called the Cat Lovett series).

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