Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

If I'm in the mood for...

20 replies

MilesHuntsWig · 24/02/2015 22:18

....something historical, plot-based, with some mystery/supernatural undertones (for example like "The Historian" or "The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane") what would you recommend?

OP posts:
ZeddyByeBye · 25/02/2015 00:26

I haven't read either of those books yet, but I'm a huge fan of these:

www.katequinnauthor.com/index.htm

MilesHuntsWig · 25/02/2015 08:29

That looks a bit different, might give it a go thanks Zeddy!

OP posts:
fizzycolagurlie · 26/02/2015 04:14

The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon. Historical, mysterious, plot based ripping yarn.

DuchessofMalfi · 26/02/2015 05:23

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susan a Clarke? Just finished reading it and really enjoyed it. It's got history - set during Napoleonic Wars and has magic and fantasy, bags of mystery and intrigue.

Also (not read but heard it's gpod) The Golem and the Djinni.
Maybe either of those two would fit the bill?

DuchessofMalfi · 26/02/2015 07:39

Susanna. ..

Mama1980 · 26/02/2015 07:52

Zeddy, I was just about to suggest Kate Quinn too Smile
Suggest the mistress of Rome to start with, I'm hooked on these books.

AliceLidl · 07/03/2015 18:27

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry. It's set in modern day Salem but is about a family with a witchcraft background and a good bit of mystery about them even now.

Or The Witch's Trinity by Erika Mailman. It's not set in modern times, it's set in Germany during a famine in the 1500's, and an elderly woman is accused of being a witch and put on trial, but there's also a lot of back story about the village and the famine and what it was like to live in a time of suspicion and accusation.

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks is about a book restorer who is restoring a book called a Haggadah, and it moves between the present day where the book is being restored and back through time to each of the people who had care of the book through history.

MilesHuntsWig · 09/03/2015 21:10

Thanks everyone!

OP posts:
CoteDAzur · 12/03/2015 12:30

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is fantastic, as Duchess said.

Drop by Dan Simmons also fits what you are looking for. It is about the last years of Charles Dickens' life, narrated by his friend & fellow author Wilkie Collins, with definite mystery/supernatural angles.

DontDrinkandFacebook · 12/03/2015 12:44

I am currently reading Book of Human Skin by Michelle Lovric.

It's a bit tricky to get the hang of at first, lots of archaic dialogue, and it's definitely not for the faint hearted or squeamish, but by God, it's fabulous, and manages to be funny as well as very, very dark.

Here's what they say on amazon:

13 May, 1784, Venice: Minguillo Fasan, heir to the decaying, gothic Palazzo Espagnol, is born. Yet Minguillo is no ordinary child: he is strange, devious and all those who come near him are fearful. Twelve years later Minguillo is faced with an unexpected threat to his inheritance: a newborn sister, Marcella. His untempered jealousy will condemn his sister to a series of fates as a cripple, a madwoman and a nun. But in his insatiable quest to destroy her, he may have underestimated his sister's ferocious determination, and her unlikely allies who will go to extraordinary lengths to save her…

'This book is fabulous - funny, horrific, subversive - in short a wholly addictive read. I don't think I have enjoyed anything as much since Perfume' (Joanne Harris)

'If it doesn't scoop all the prizes, we live in an unjust world. It's an absolute corker ... It's years since I enjoyed a novel this much - or felt such strong envy of an author for having the breadth and richness of imagination to create such a world' (A.N. Wilson)

'This is, essentially, a love story told by a delightfully riotous collection of characters and voices ... Fantastically gripping' (Marie Claire)

'A witty, exciting, over-the-top page-turner which becomes increasingly addictive... Quite unlike anything else around - and all the better for that' (Daily Mail)

agoodbook · 16/03/2015 19:17

as anyone else mentioned Barbara Erskine? - I've read nearly all of them, best is Lady of Hay

FitzChivalry · 16/03/2015 19:48

Try the assassin trilogy by Robin Hobb. Amazing and unputdownable.

kesstrel · 16/03/2015 21:29

The Seance, by John Harwood. Also Sarah Waters' Affinity. Barbara Hambly's Those Who Hunt the Night. All lovely atmospheric Victorian settings with supernatural elements, and all very well written. Harwood's other books are good that way too.

Moln · 16/03/2015 21:42

Have a look at Company of Strangers by Karen Maitland

childoftheeighties · 16/03/2015 22:11

Bitter greens by Kate Forsyth. A dark tale based around the Rapunzel fairytale and 16th century France.

flightywoman · 16/03/2015 22:19

Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant is very good.

And The Floating Book by Michelle (MR) Lovric is also really good too.

flightywoman · 16/03/2015 22:27

And if you like young adult, then Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly is a big and thrilling one too.

JP32 · 18/03/2015 17:49

Second 'The Book of Human Skin'!

If you liked 'The Historian', would recommend 'The Quick' by Lauren Owen. May be a bit too much in the same vein, but a fun read.

MilesHuntsWig · 18/03/2015 20:04

Wow this thread keeps getting revived, thanks again!

OP posts:
SilkStalkings · 25/03/2015 13:59

Farundell and the sequel Fate by LR fredericks. Can't wait for the third novel in the set to come out!

New posts on this thread. Refresh page