What's your favourite historical novel? Tell us and be in with a chance to WIN a SIGNED COPY of Helen Dunmore's new novel Exposure plus backlist book bundle

[UrsulaMumsnet]

Set against a backdrop of the Cold War, spies and scandal, Helen Dunmore's remarkable new novel, Exposure, out this week, tells the story of a woman's determination to protect her family at all costs. When Lily's husband is accused of passing on highly sensitive information to the Soviets, and arrested, Lily is forced to confront forbidden love, intimate betrayal and the devastating power of exposure.

"Exposure is the sort of winter read you hanker for...the period is so meticulously re-created that you almost hear the hiss of the gas streetlamps." - The Times

"This book is a triumph - a marvellous piece of seamless storytelling." - Penelope Lively

Share your favourite historical novels for a chance to win a signed copy of Exposure, plus a backlist bundle of books including Sunday Times bestseller The Lie and The Betrayal.

Helen Dunmore is the author of fourteen novels. Her first, Zennor in Darkness, explored the events which led to D H Lawrence’s expulsion from Cornwall (on suspicion of spying) during the First World War. It won the McKitterick Prize. Her third novel, A Spell of Winter, won the inaugural Orange Prize, now the Bailey’s Prize for Women’s Fiction. Her bestselling novel The Siege, set during the Siege of Leningrad, was described by Antony Beevor as ‘a world-class novel’ and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel of the Year and the Orange Prize.

She is fascinated by the Cold War era, which was also the era of her childhood, and is the setting for Exposure, and by the secrets, betrayals, loves, lies and loyalties which make up the period’s intimate history.

[lionheart]

Emma Donaghue, Slammerkin, is a favourite. Bleak but full of little insights.

[aginghippy]

If I have to choose just one, it would be Regeneration by Pat Barker

I don't want to choose just one, there are so many I loved because the characters stayed with me -
The Siege
As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann
Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier
Burial Rites (which I never would have read except it was a mn book of the month. Thank you mn!)

[teddy2k]

"Birdsong" by Sebastian Faulks set in the First World War. It was beautifully written and I really felt I was in France at the time of the First World War.
My other favourite book is "Testament of Youth" by Vera Brittain also set in the First World and gives an honest account of how Young people's lives were changed by this War. There is also a good insight into the life of the VADs and what it was like to be a Nurse in the First World War.

[cookiemonster66]

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak really moved me, seeing the war from a German childs perspective, really opened my eyes

[574ejones]

I loved Phillippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl - it really sparked an interest in history in me.

[Pickofthepops]

Love in a cold climate - so evocative and dry

[barricade]

Tough one ... probably a choice between one of the following five -->

1. Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' has to be the most epic of historical fiction.
   
2. 'Master and Commander' - the first of O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin 20-novel series
   
3. 'Ivanhoe' by Sir Walter Scott
   
4. 'The Inheritors' by William Golding (best known for his novel 'Lord of the Flies')
   
5. 'Restoration' by Rose Tremain

[cyrillicsquirrel]

Really hard to choose, but probably 'Toby's Room' by Pat Barker. It's sad and very poignant, but so well written.

[minsmum]

I would say that my favourites are The Siege, Wolf Hall and the Stranger Prince. However my absolute favourite has to be Mila 18 by Leon Uris it's about the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto.

[Quogwinkle]

I have another favourite. Schindler's Ark by Thomas Kenneally. It was one of the set texts when I did A Level English. Heartbreaking and beautifully written, but in a factual and unemotional way. I remember we had a discussion about whether it could ever be made into a film. We agreed that it would be hard to watch if it ever was. I went to see the film several years later and it was just as hard to watch as I thought it might be, unflinching in the portrayal of the horrors. A truly great novel, complemented by a superb film.

[eddiemairswife]

With reference to Schindler's Ark, I wonder why the film was called Schindler's List.

[jt75]

The Book Thief.

[HelenMEvans]

War and Peace, a great story made even more special by the current TV programmes.

[Susangilley7]

It has to be Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. This book brought the Tudors to life for me. More instructive then any history lesson as a child!

[Cornishblues]

Mine is Robert graves' I Claudius.

[MooseyMoo]

Historical books, which are based on real life events/characters, are my favourite books to read.

I read The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally when I was 19 and was so moved by the storyline and fascinated by the characters. Keneally's dedication still gives me goosebumps "...To Arabanoo and his brethren, still dispossessed..."

[truckingirl]

Ken Follets Pillars of the Earth

[Muskey]

The sunne in the splendor was a fantastic book.

[choccyp1g]

Wolf Hall, Bring up the Bodies and A Place of Greater Safety in equal first place.

[ElviraCondomine]

Cue for Treason.
Yes it's a children's book, but it got me hooked aged 9 on both historical fiction and Shakespeare (well and romance too) which is no bad thing.

As an adult... Precious Bane. Set 100 years before it was written, approximately. As a vision of a lost way of rural English life it's unsurpassed (plus has the best heroine and hero ever.)

[sassolino]

One of my top favourite historical reads is trilogy by Sigrid Undset "Kristin Lavransdatter".
I have recently been reading a lot of books about pioneers, the series called Red River of the North. Fascinating.
I do tend to read a lot of historical books, especially whodunnits. Michael Jecks is one of my favourite authors. He's also a very nice chap, follow him on Twitter and FB, he's great at communicating with his fans.

[Silvertap]

The sunne in splendour by Sharon penman. Totally made me a Ricardian once j read it as a teen and have revisited it many times since.

Love how many ideas there are on here - a few books I haven't heard of.

[ladydepp]

Regeneration by Pat Barker, first in her wonderful trilogy about shell shock, psychiatry and poetry in WW1. Brilliant book.

[lemonymelanie]

King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett.

About Macbeth. Fabulous.

[cressetmama]

A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley. A charming teenage romance, that I insisted on having read in primary school and read to my son, about the Babington plot.