Historical fiction recommendations

[TerrysNo2]

Hello all

In the last 12 months I have really enjoyed the following historical fiction books:

• Company of Liars, Karen Maitland
• Guernica, Dave Boling
• Winter in Madrid, C J Samson

I am currently reading Pompeii by Robert Harris but will probably finish it today.

I am enjoying this genre of fictional characters / storylines set around factual events.

Can you recommend any others for me, especially if they are available on Kindle?

Thanks!!

Love Dorothy Dunnett - best books ever. But Patrick O'Brian is very good. On a different track, has anyone read Doomsday by COnnie Willis? About travelling back to the time of the black death - well worth reading

Second Wolf Hall, and also liked Restoration by Rose Tremain.

Robert Harris' others are also good as someone else mentioned.

Would you consider something like this? All of Claire Tomalin's books I have read are, without exception, excellent. They are biographies but SO well written and interesting. I can't recommend them highly enough. I also loved Jane Austen: A Life - just brilliant.

Another vote for 'This Thing of Darkness' and 'The Crimson Petal and the White'.

I also really enjoyed Manda Scott's Boudica series. 'Dreaming the Eagle' is the first one.

I finished Pompeii by Robert Harris (loved it) a couple of weeks ago and have only just finished Dissolution by CJ Samson and I'm on to his second in this series Dark Fire.

I can totally recommend this series, I'm only about half way through the second book by they're fab. They're about a lawyer who is told to work for Cromwell during the period of Henry VIII reign.

I have read half of Manda Scott's Boudica 'Dreaming the Eagle' but I wasn't too fussed about it and I think a better book came along.

Bernard Cornwell's Saxon series
Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
World without End Ken Follett

Wow, I can't believe no one's mentioned Rose Tremain, especially Music and Silence, and Restoration.
Totally different kind of history, but have you read Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada? Amazing book based on true events about Germsn resistance during WW2.

Cross-posted....

I about to recommend Rose Tremain's Music and Silence and Restoration too!
Also Helen Dunmore's The Siege set in Leningrad in WW2

Ooh yes, I'm up for a DD thread :-)
Would agree with Patrick O'Brien, and This Thing of Darkness.

I'm currently reading The Golden Prince by Rebecca Dean - something that came up on Amazon recommendations, and definite recommendation to try! Easy reading but she includes a lot of issues and society details. It's about the young Edward VIII in his first love affair.

For a lighter read, you could try Lyndsey Davis' series of murder-mysteries set in ancient Rome. Easy reading, but they do seem to be historically accurate. The first is The Silver Pigs (I think!)

OK, that should be Lindsey Davis
It's the Falco series.

Don't think anyone has mentioned the Chaloner series by Susanna Gregory.

Leon Uris is good (more recent history).

Sharon Penman has written some epic very readable books.

The Morland series by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles is good.

Pat McIntosh - the Gil Cunningham mysteries in 1400 Glasgow are quite fun.

Legacy by Susan Kay is super, and another thumbs up for Dorothy Dunnett. I am just re reading the Niccolo books and they are all superb, along with the Lymonds.

Katherine by Anya Seton is fab - I've read and re-read that loads of times since my teens. John of Gaunt/Chaucer's era and just wonderful.

Another one for Manda Scott's Boudica series - stick with it, the second book really ramps it up, I was hooked.

If anyone who has read it would like to start a little discussion so I can have a swoon over certain characters, I'd be much obliged...

Another one here, how could I forget.... Diana Galbordan!!

Ooh, hephaestus, I'm glad someone else liked the Manda Scotts! I even got them in hardback 'cos I couldn't wait for the paperbacks to come out .

Hephaestus your name reminded my of my favourite historical novels of all time - Mary Renault's Alexander trilogy. And everything else she ever wrote.

The rose of Sebastopol was excellent, also CJ samsons Shardlake series. Not read but everyone raves about Patrick o brian

I would second (or third, or fourth) Rose Tremain's Restoration and Wolf Hall.

I really enjoyed Carlos Ruan Zafon's (sp!) 2 books set in turn of the century Barcelona - Shadow of the Wind, and something else, the title of which escapes me. They are really atmospheric gothic novels, and real page turners.

For a fantastic sense of place and time how about Brideshead revisited? I know it features fictional characters, but the 1920s-1940s are beautifully evoked. I have re-read the book, and an watching the DVD box set (with the gorgeous Anthony Andrews) whilst doing my ironing.