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Original poster

Is there such thing as 16th century historical fiction not fictionalising the kings and queens?

34 replies

TakesTheCake · 27/08/2017 08:39

We attended a Tudor day the other day, which really interested me in the way they lived. I am due a new book so I thought I would look around for one set in that time period (with authentic dialogue would be good!).

However, everything I find is based on the lives of the kings and queens of the period - fictionalising the life of Anne Boleyn, for example. Or William Shakespeare. CJ Sansom, Phillippa Gregory... all based on the lives of real people.

This doesn't interest me. I am just looking for a story about invented characters in that time period. Like Ken Follett but set in Tudor times. (I have read Pillars of the Earth already).

Does it exist?!

OP posts:
GinIsIn · 27/08/2017 08:43

There are real historical characters in Pillars of the Earth though? Do you mean you want ones with a fictional protagonist? If so, some you might like although not Tudor -
'Lady of Hay' by Barbara Erskine
'The Fool's Girl' by Celia Rees

AlpacaLypse · 27/08/2017 08:45

C J Samson's Shardlake books?

AlpacaLypse · 27/08/2017 08:46

I know they're based around the court and Cromwell and Henry VIII are characters but most of it is pretty well researched stuff touching on the reality of life in the period.

thenightmanageress · 27/08/2017 08:48

Another vote for Shardlake. Loved every one of Them.

NataliaOsipova · 27/08/2017 08:50

Ooh - off topic - but please can I ask where the Tudor day was? My MIL is fascinated by anything like that.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 27/08/2017 08:57

It's harder to find a publisher for things that don't have kings and queens in.

I agree you might very well get on with Shardlake despite the appearance of real people from time to time.
They are very good.

My all-time favourite, much underrated writer, Norah Lofts, was extremely good at writing about ordinary people in a way that made their everyday life exciting and highly charged. She wrote more about the 15th century than the Tudors, but her House At Old Vine trilogy, starting with The Town House, takes you from 1400 to the present with a lot on the earlier periods. That would be my top recommendation.

Xenophile · 27/08/2017 09:09

There's an excellent book called Five Wounds which is sold as YA, but I found that I really enjoyed as well. It's set during the time of the dissolution of the monasteries so slap bang in the era you're interested in and it is fabulously researched.

Amazon Page

KeiraTwiceKnightley · 27/08/2017 09:17

A little later but Phillipa Gregory wrote a series set in America following early settlers and focused on John Tredescant (Botanist and founder of a big museum Bodleian collection? in Oxford). I enjoyed these. Book 1 is called virgin Earth iirc.

crazymissdaisy · 27/08/2017 09:20

Was it at Kentwell Hall in Suffolk by any chance? A Traveller in Time by Alison Utley is a children's book that's beautifully evocative, a little girl in an ordinary house but the babbington plot is happening in the background.

Original poster
TakesTheCake · 27/08/2017 09:31

Natalia, it was at Kentwell Hall, beR Sudbury. It was the best history thing we have ever done! I am applying to join the Tudor music players too!

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Original poster
TakesTheCake · 27/08/2017 09:31

near Sudbury.

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PreppedForDiagrams · 27/08/2017 09:34

Have you tried the Moorland (Morland?) saga? Not read them since my teens but they start off in the 1400s or 1500s about a horse breeding family that eventually became aristocracy. Completely made up Smile

NataliaOsipova · 27/08/2017 09:34

Ooh - thank you, Takes. I will look into that.

Jedbartletforpresident · 27/08/2017 09:37

Check out "Turn of the Tide" by Margaret Skea - and the sequel "A House Divided". Set in 16thC Scotland - it features real characters (inc King James) and real clan members, but the main protagonist is a fictional creation. The books are excellently written and even with no prior knowledge of Scottish history they are easy to read and understand. The first book can take a while to get into because there are A LOT of characters and it can be confusing when they switch between their clan names and Christian names, but if you keep an eye on the character list at the start of the book and get through the first few chapters you'll race through to the end and be desperate to read the sequel to find out what happens next.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 27/08/2017 09:46

Takes, I used to take part in Kentwell as a Tudor back in the 1980s back when there was a big recreation that lasted 3 weeks, and that's how I discovered Norah Lofts - the owner recommended her not only for the historical detail but also for the local atmosphere - she lived in Bury St Edmunds - and because one of her books, Bless This House, is supposedly inspired by Kentwell.

OublietteBravo · 27/08/2017 09:46

Oh - I was going to recommend Five Wounds too, but I see that Xenophile has beaten me to it. I'm from the North, so it was interesting to see that area depicted. I have to confess I knew nothing at all about the pilgrimage of grace before I read it.

InfiniteCurve · 27/08/2017 09:59

Dorothy Dunnett.
The Lymond series are in that time period,the main characters are fictional (Sad!) but historical characters also appear - they are fantastic,well written,involved books.
She also wrote a series set earlier,a book about Macbeth and some light mystery books - all good!

Original poster
TakesTheCake · 27/08/2017 10:03

Natalia, last day today I think :-(

Thanks for all suggestions. Shall spend a happy couple of hours looking at them all. Love shopping for a new book!

And yes, fictional protagonist, I should have said. Happy for the backdrop of kings, queens and court to be factual and authentic, but don't enjoy focus on their lives.

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Original poster
TakesTheCake · 27/08/2017 10:04

Wow, Countess! That is what I am going to do - sounds amazing! Will check out Lofts too.

Love love Kentwell Hall!

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Trills · 27/08/2017 10:19

I am usually a fan of Philippa Gregory but found the Virgin Earth ones a bit creepy - the bits in America anyway.

thebookeatinggirl · 27/08/2017 10:22

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks is great (story set in a plague village). It's 1666, as is Restoration by Rose Tremain, although both Stuart rather than Tudor, but close-ish. Love Shardlake series too.

GinIsIn · 27/08/2017 10:45

Oh I've been to that Tudor day. The house is amazing but everyone insisting on making conversation with you saying 'ye gads, yay verily foresooth' did my head in!

fatowl · 27/08/2017 13:21

Another vote for Shardlake, historical tudor backdrop but fictional normal people are the main focus (they are basically historical detective stories)
Currently rattling through #4 at quite a rate.

I asked about historical fiction on this thread a while back, got some good recommendations I'd not heard of before

historical fiction

lucydogz · 27/08/2017 23:21

Darn, I was going to recommend Norah Lofts but countess got in before me. As well as the House at Old Vine Trilogy, there are several others, all excellent. The Devil at Clevely is an excellent background to the Enclosures, but she wrote many more, as well as several based on queens. The other great thing is that characters in the House trilogy appear in other books. For me she is the best historical novelist.

cdtaylornats · 27/08/2017 23:34

Bernard Cornwell Grail Quest series 15th century
Edward Marston Bracewell series Elizabethan
Simon Hawke Shakespeare and Smythe series Elizabethan