Fiction Books with Real People As Characters

[EllieQ]

Just wondering how other people feel about reading books where a real person is one of the characters in the book?

I’m reading The Rose Code by Kate Quinn at the moment, which is set at Bletchley Park during WW2, and one of the main characters (Osla) is having a fling/ relationship with Prince Phillip. Yes, that Prince Phillip!

It’s a plausible storyline in the sense that she’s from an upper-class family and was a debutante, they meet at a party, he’s a dashing Navy Lieutenant, but it feels weird to read about a real person in a fiction book.

Other historical figures are in the book (Alan Turing, Churchill), but only briefly, while there have been a few scenes between Osla and Phillip so far, as well as letters between them while he’s on duty in the Med. he’s also mentioned writing letters to his younger cousin Lilibet...

I’m only halfway through the book, but I feel that it detracts from the plot lines for the other main characters. It also stops that suspension of disbelief while I’m reading the book.

Has anyone else read this, or something similar, and felt the same way?

I agree with you. I read the book recently and really couldn’t see the relevance of that part of the plot. To be honest I didn’t enjoy the book as a whole as much as I expected to. Found it a bit thin somehow.

Sorry, I can't tell from your words whether you realise that Margaret Osla Henniker-Major was a real person, who was his girlfriend. He was five years older than Princess Elizabeth so she was 13 when war began and he was an 18 year old. You can google her.

The latest books by Anthony Horowitz are about him, the writer, joining a detective in his adventures.

Works well, like writing as dr Watson.

Georgette Heyer wrote "The Spanish Bride" which is like a novel to read, but is based on real people. She researched much.
I know she wrote complete fiction Regency romances but she also wrote "The Conqueror" and "Royal Escape" and "The Infamous Army", all based on real history. The last one had a fictional heroine but it's set at the time of Waterloo and has what is reckoned to be an excellent description of the Battle of Waterloo, and she also adds in some fictional people from a couple more of her earlier novels. I quite liked her mixture. It's a long time since I read them.

@upinaballoon

Sorry, I can't tell from your words whether you realise that Margaret Osla Henniker-Major was a real person, who was his girlfriend. He was five years older than Princess Elizabeth so she was 13 when war began and he was an 18 year old. You can google her.

No, I didn’t know this! Have googled her, and it does say on the Wikipedia page that the character in The Rose Code is based on her. The plot line seems less strange now I know it’s not just inventing a romance with a prince, though knowing the character of Osla is based on a real person is also strange.

I suppose part of it is that it’s quite recent history, compared to Georgette Heyer. It feels more invasive, somehow?

@lancashirebornandbred I agree that the book seems quite slight, especially when compared to The Huntress, which is the only other book I’ve read by Kate Quinn. It’s not gripping me in the same way.

It's quite the fashion nowadays to make fiction out of the Royal Family- books in bookshops, Netflix!

I think the 100 year rule post death should be in place. If they are very minor characters then ok, but if you are giving a plot line then there needs to be no chance of anyone knowing them still alive.

This is different from a novelised real event BTW, where they basically take actual events and add a script. It's usually clear which those are.

@upinaballoon

It's quite the fashion nowadays to make fiction out of the Royal Family- books in bookshops, Netflix!

True - I read a book called The Windsor Knot recently which has the Queen solving a murder at Windsor Castle!

100 years after death is way too restrictive. People have been writing WWII books with Churchill as a character since the seventies if not earlier. Your rule would have them embargoed for another fifty years or so.

The crossover with detectives is weird and everywhere.. I recently read a novel where the Bronte sisters solved a murder. Poor things they were always trying to keep Bramwell out of the pub.

The true blood books had Elvis as a vampire, but nobody was aloud to call him by his name.

But did it give Churchill a plot or was he in the background?

I felt the same way as you. I don’t mind odd references to real people, but in that book, a whole new story line was invented. It didn’t sit right with me. They could have easily made him a fictional prince, Prince Erik the 3rd of Denmark for example.

Ironically, I read another book which features the Queen as a sleuth. Because it was so far fetched, it didn’t seem so bad.(forgotten it’s name). Enjoyed the book.

The Windsor Knot - just seen the post upthread. That’s it (hadn’t read that far down when I posted). Because it was comical, seemed fine.

I don’t like real people in fiction books unless they are very peripheral characters. The only exception is He, by John Connolly. Inside the mind of Stan Laurel, a marvellous stream of consciousness narrative that just pulled me in.

I was actually reading the Rose Code when Prince Philip died, which was quite strange

I don’t enjoy stories like that. It’s fun if characters are well researched and lived a long time ago like medieval times, but to write about people when their children are still alive seems very exploitative and tasteless to me. Also has a vibe of “It’s ok for me to make money out of exploiting their family history because they’re richer than me.”

I wouldn’t bother with that book.

One of the best books I've ever read, and I read a lot, is 'Blonde' by Joyce Carol Oates, based on Marilyn Monroe's life. It's a phenomenal tour de force that gets completely inside her imagined experience and totally convinces and immerses the reader, IMHO.
I think writing a real person can be immensely powerful and revelatory done well.

I’m not sure. I see what you’re saying but there are lots of films etc based on the same - I mean The Crown is incredibly popular and that literally depicts their real life, all the affairs and arguments of people who are still living. At least this sounds more heavily fictionalised.

I think it’s weird if the other characters in the novel are fictional to randomly include a famous person. I always remember Tom Cruise suddenly showing up in American Psycho and it just felt so weird - although fitting in that novel!

I read ‘Rodham’ recently. It’s the writers take on Hilary Clinton had she left Bill after his earliest indiscretion. I really enjoyed it.

The Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian.(Master and Commander with Russell Crowe is based on these). The Aubrey character is very literally based on Thomas Cochrane and it's full of real people either directly named or very obviously based on real people.

Once you get into the language they are a superb read.

Has anyone read Curtis Sittenfeld's 'American Wife'? It's a fictionalised account of the life of Laura Bush (as in, ex-First Lady Laura Bush) and is surprisingly excellent, totally couldn't put it down. But yes, it did feel unsettling from an ethical perspective.

I’ve finished the book now, and in the author’s note at the end she says that a few of the characters were based on/ inspired by people who worked at Bletchley Park during the war, including Osla. I really wish that information had been at the start of the book, as the Prince Phillip storyline would have seemed less strange.

In general, I’m not keen on books/ films/ TV about real people when they’re are still alive - it seems intrusive. I’ve watched a few episodes of The Crown and it felt uncomfortable.

Historical fiction about real characters doesn’t bother me as much, and the occasional cameo from a real person is fine if it seems plausible - Churchill visits Bletchley Park in the book (as I’m sure he did in real life) and this is written from the POV of the characters seeing him and listening to a speech he gives. That seems realistic in the context of the book.

@HarlanPepper

Has anyone read Curtis Sittenfeld's 'American Wife'? It's a fictionalised account of the life of Laura Bush (as in, ex-First Lady Laura Bush) and is surprisingly excellent, totally couldn't put it down. But yes, it did feel unsettling from an ethical perspective.

This is the first book I thought of too! I enjoyed it but I had to switch off from it being George W Bush/Laura Bush as I couldn’t cope with the sex scenes .

Going back to the 17th century Stacey Hall's The Familiars had lots of real characters. But it's true one doesn't feel the same about more recent characters.

Not entirely sure I can read about George and Laura Bush...