Historical Fiction Book Recommendations please

[JeromeKJerome]

I am just about to finish The Cazalet Chronicles which I have loved. I've also enjoyed The Diary of a Provincial Lady.

Other favourites have included the CJ Sansom's Shardlake series and all of Sharon Penman's books.

I've tried but haven't enjoyed any Phillipa Gregory, Elizabeth Chadwick or Alison Weir.

Has anyone got any ideas of what I can read next?

I like Andrew Taylor’s Ashes of London Series, set after the Great Fire, and Laura Shepherd Robinson’s Blood and Sugar, set in the 1780s. Also Bodies of Light and Signs for Lost Children by Sarah Moss (Victorian).

I really enjoy Ken Follett’s historical fiction but I love Philippa Gregory so he might not be your cup of tea.

Edward Rutherford is great, and Hilary Mantel.

I’ve had some great recommendations for historical fiction from previous threads so hopefully more people will be along OP!

I can't stand Phillips Gregory but love Ken follett

Robert Harris's Cicero trilogy is excellent. Have you read the Wolf Hall trilogy?

Conn Igguldons Gates of Rome series is fantastic

(His tudor series, not so much)

I would really really recommend A Winter in Madrid, CJ Sansom's novel about the Spanish Civil War. The first 3/4 or so of it was absolutely exceptional.

Not really historical fiction as it was written at the time, but Olivia Manning's Balkan Trilogy is a wonderful read.

Oh god yes, Olivia Manning! The Balkan and Levant trilogies are among my favourite novels of all time.

And if you liked the Cazalets, you would probably also enjoy Life After Life by Kate Atkinson and The Whalebone Theatre which is a new novel out this year. Can't remember the author but very Cazalety.

Ariana Franklin - Mistress of the Art of Death series

Always love Georgette Heyer - light and fluffy but very very well written

Bernard Cornwell Last Kingdom Saxon chronicles (vikings, Alfred the great)

For incredible but extremely densely plotted and complex historical fiction, I’ve recently got into Dorothy Dunnett - finished the Lymond chronicles and am on the House of Niccolo ones now. Lymond are set in Scotland, France, Europe, turkey etc around the time of Mary Queen of Scots. Niccolo ones are starting in Bruges around the early days of wars of the roses.

Also, if you haven’t read Outlander books, give them a try!

Oh, and Elizabeth Gaskell- Cranford.

Sharon Penman's wars of the roses books are fab. The Sunne in Splendour is about Richard III and is very much on his side, so that's interesting to read about.

If you can get hold of them, I love Edith Pargeter books - she's the author of the Cadfael novels but she has a series about building medieval cathedrals (The Heaven Tree) and a standalone about Henry IV/Henry V called A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury.

Have you read The Name of the Rose? It's amazing, but brutal.

If you like the Cazalets, maybe drift into contemporary detective fiction eg Dorothy L Sayers.

Have you read Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day?

Dorothy Dunnett, her Lymond Chronicles and House of Niccolo. Challenging reads but, in my opinion, the best historical fiction ever written.

Thanks for the recommendation @Talipesmum and @AthenaWhite The first of the Lymond Chronicles is only 99p on kindle so I’m downloaded that.

Enjoy! If you stick with it you won't regret it. They are remarkable books.

Second Conn Iggulden - gates of rome and the genghis khan series (I didn’t mind the war of the roses one either)

I love Wilbur Smith too - the Courtney’s of Africa, there’s so many of them but Monsoon is incredible!

Also Sarum by Edward Rutherford is absolutely epic - starts with cavemen!

Sarah Waters writes very evocatively and readably - mostly Victorian era and the first half of the 20th century. I didn’t get on with Affinity, but maybe try Fingersmith or The Night Watch. The Little Stranger is brilliant but very creepy!

Ooh excellent, enjoy!
I would very much recommend browsing this blog as you’re reading, or afterwards: nowyouhavedunnett.blogspot.com/p/game-of-kings-first-in-lymond-chronicles.html?m=1#main

I found I was sometimes (ok, quite often) missing what was going on, and this is a great spoiler-free-if-you-read-chapter-by-chapter recap and blog discussion on each chapter. Really added to my enjoyment, as it sets a lot of historical context.

For later books, I’ve been reading the Dorothy Dunnett section on the Tapatalk book discussion forum (mostly devoted to outlander but there’s a strong DD section) - it’s like being part of a book group, which is great as you find you want to see what others thought too.

Oh I love the look of that thanks!!

Thank you all some great recommendations here to work through.

I like Sarah Dunant especially her book about the Borgias

Pat McIntosh, the Gil Cunningham series. Not the easiest read as there were many words I've not seen before, but once i got an eye for the language (medieval glaswegian scots) spoken by the characters, I couldn't put them down. I needed my Scots dictionary...absolutely wonderful stories.