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

[TakesTheCake]

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?!

Barbara Willard's Mantlemass series - the first book is about a young girl who is sent off to the countryside and they were published as children's books.

Another Traveller in Time fan.... It's been a favourite since I was about nine, and it was one my mum loved too. Is it still in print?

Plenty of fiction about Christopher Marlowe, Shakespeare, and other playwrights and actors. Death in Deptford, Cue for Treason, The Players' Boy, Morality Play...

I am buried deep in a Norah Lofts book as we speak, and wanted to put my thanks for the recommendation. Hitting the spot, with my only gripe the lack of authentic dialogue. Will peel through the suggestions anew when I have finished it, and find the book I will read after this.

glad you're enjoying it - which one is it? On another note, do you think we'd understand authentic dialogue? Perhaps we'd find it tedious to read? I think Hilary Mantel has talked about this.

Hurrah! So glad
I don't think anyone does actually authentic dialogue. The Victorians liked to do pseudo medieval with lots of thees and thous and fair maidens but it wasn't really authentic. The trouble is not only that some of the words have changed completely but also many look the same but have changed meaning so it would be pretty confusing.

I loved A Traveller in Time. From Amazon, it's available new or on Kindle, or quite easily available secondhand.

Dorothy Dunnett, the Lymond books. Dense, satisfying, challenging, and available on Kindle. I got these in the 80s in my late teens, and still read them at 51. They are a tour de force.

This is for the Plantagenet era but I love Katherine by Anya Seton.