Good historical novels

[Torvean32]

I've just been binging on good historical series on Netflix. I love Barbarians and also The Last Kingdom (involves mainly fighting between saxons and vikings). I'm nearly at the end and I'm gutted.

Anyway in the past I've found historical fiction to be poor, far too focused on relationships.

So I wonder is there good historical literature out there ( please no Philippa Gregory)? I love from the Romans onwards. Lose intetest after Battle of Culloden 1725 ish. Love history about those who fought in the resistance in WW2.

Any information on good books/authors is great.

Also any series/films I may have missed out please fill me in.

Thank you

Fourthing Dorothy Dunnett, Lymond chronicles or the House of Niccolo.

Patricia Finney who also writes as P F Chisholm about treason and the Scottish border in the 1590s. But the Queen is Dorothy Dunnett

@SenecaFallsRedux

Restoration by Rose Tremain

'Music and Silence' (same author) is equally brilliant.

And Pamela Belle too. Also Diana Norman who writes with a real understanding of the constraints on women but so engaging as nd exciting. I really recommend these. Also wrote as Arianna Franklin. Not anything like as well known as they ought to be

@Copperas Diana Norman! Thanks for reminding me about her. Just what I need.

You’re quite right: they’re very good and should be better known.

Ken Follet is great! I have just finished The Evening and the Morning, the prequel to Pillars of the Earth

Can anyone recommend any specific Diana Norman titles? I've never heard of her so have no idea where to start.

@IntermittentParps

The first one I read was The Vizard Mask, which was great. Also recommend Taking Liberties, Shores of Darkness and Blood Royal.

Thank you, Snapsnapcrocodile, they all sound excellent.

I agree re Diana Norman and C J Samson's Shardlake novels - I also loved his Spanish Civil War novel Winter in Madrid. I've also liked some of Sharon Penman's books, Here Be Dragons most of all. I tend to prefer books that are either not about real monarchs, or if they are about royalty and aristocrats, that little enough is known that the historical facts and preconceptions don't get in the way of story and character.

I'm currently reading #5 in Lindsey Davis' Falco series - they are really wisecracking private eye novels transposed to ancient Rome, but entertaining and the historical setting feels quite convincing.

Andrew Taylor has written books set in several historical periods - The Ashes of London is the first of 4 books set in the 17th century - I still have two to read. My other favourites by him are not set in one of your suggested preferred period and some people don't see 1950s England as historical enough but the Lydmouth novels starting with An Air That Kills are very well written and show life in an era which seems relatively close in time but yet very far away in some ways, such as social attitudes.

These are all crime series. Stella Duffy is also a crime writer but has written two really interesting novels inspired by what is known of the life of Theodora, who became Empress in Byzantine Constantinople from really unlikely beginnings

Ursula K. Le Guin's Lavinia takes place in Italy before Rome...so you have conquerors, Tuscans, etc.

Also, a lot of the Cecelia Holland's books are excellent medieval historical novels. I liked Great Maria and The Secret Eleanor

Mila 18 by Leon Uris - a novel based on the true story of the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto.

Ooh I’m very familiar with about half these authors (currently re reading Georgette Heyer for the umpteenth time) and never heard of the others - goody, lots to try!

I will add:
The Weight of Ink - Rachel Kadish
The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka’s Journey - though more memoir than historical novel
The “Dreaming” series about Boudicca era Britain - Manda Scott
Tudor series - Jean Plaidy (enjoyable rather than highbrow)

Oh and A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Although again not exactly a historical novel. But extraordinary.

The Secret Children by Alison McQueen - about "secret" children born to British tea planters in India. Also "Under The Jewelled Sky" set in the last days of the Raj and the partition of India.

Mary Renault's The Alexander Trilogy. In fact, everything by her.. The most beautiful exploration of Greek myth ever

I had no idea about the Ursula Le Guin book that Delphinium mentioned, but I’ll check it out, because I’m about to recommend historical fiction by another sci fi author.

Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle is a trilogy set just where your interest ends. It’s about calculus, and currency, and roistering.

After your period, but for others following the thread, Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey and Maturin series is a defining work in historical fiction that doesn’t get enough airtime compared to Hornblower. Set in Nelson’s navy, they are just packed with adventure, detail and thinky stuff about the lives of our predecessors. What did it mean for these sailors to be out at sea for unknown periods, which could extend to years beyond what they had expected? Who can command a warship without real time feedback from their boss? And what is the value of conversation when there is nothing else to do? I love them.

Love all these mentions! I've been searching for some good older historical novels as I'm a bit tapped out by 18th-20th century history.

I am going to check out The “Dreaming” series about Boudicca era Britain - Manda Scott. Thanks @minipie !

Allan Massie’s four Roman novels are great, not sure they are still in print - Antony, Augustus, Tiberius and Caesar.