Historical Fiction Recommendations?

[AnneCatherineJane]

I am trying to get back into reading more regularly as my youngest is getting slightly more sensible. I really love historical fiction, and wondered if anyone had any good recommendations? Particularly women-focussed. I have read quite a lot of Tudor historical fiction (Philippa Gregory etc), so might be good to read about a different era. I have already read and loved The Red Tent and most Tracey Chevalier books.

Thanks in advance!

Hilary Mantel is the queen, you just have to stick with it. A Place Of Greater Safety is amazing too.

The Man On The Donkey is incredible. Again, you have to give it a good shot but it’s worth it.

I've enjoyed The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell. I loved Hamnet by the same author but a lot of people didn't!

Katherine by Anya Seaton is a great story covering a lot of the later plantagenates from the Edwards through to the start of the War of the Roses, with a brilliant strong central female character.

If you are already familiar with this part of history then it's quite fun to read The Wheel of Fortune by Susan Howatch which echoes the same family dynamics in a 20th century context where the inheritance of a family home is substituted for the throne of England.

Oh yes, Katherine is a classic :)

It took me four goes to get through Wolf Hall. Dull. I finished it eventually and wondered what the fuss was all about. Loved the TV version also.
Not tempted to try the next one.

I loved Wolf Hall but think Bring Up the Bodies had an urgent brilliance to it that Wolf Hall and The Mirror and the Light don't have. Suspect it's an easier read because it covers a shorter time period which is very well known (the removal of Anne Boleyn) whereas the other two cover a much longer and more complex time period.

Agreed @JaninaDuszejko , Bring Up The Bodies is the gem in the trilogy.

I'm waiting eagerly for the second series of Wolf Hall, but Mark Rylance is doing huge amounts of theatre at the moment so we may have to wait.

Part of the problem is that I'm sick to death of the Tudors. Write about something other than Henry VIII ffs!

Rosemary Hawley Jarman - the fifteenth century. Penman is good but RHJ is better, esp on Richard III and that part of the 15c.

Two that were writing in the 40s and 50s were Norah Lofts and Margaret Campbell Barnes. Well written if a bit dated.

Another vote for Norah Lofts. ‘The Lute Player’ narrated by several characters around Richard the Lionheart, is absorbing and has the most extraordinary female character ( won’t say too much more).

Mary Renault is the Queen of fiction set in Ancient Greece, and Rosemary Sutcliffe is not just for children ,’The Flowers of Adonis’ is quite graphic about Alcibiades and his various lovers.

Gillian Bradshaw specialises in Byzantine set novels, terrific sense of place and period.

if you ever track down any books by Margaret Irwin, you are in for a treat. Maybe historical fiction doesn’t date as much as contemporary?

if you ever track down any books by Margaret Irwin, you are in for a treat

Oh my goodness yes. Another forgotten historical novelist who wrote about women as women, not as adjuncts to powerful men.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Irwin_(novelist)

Not woman focussed, but the series of novels about Gordianus the Finder by Stephen Saylor, set in Ancient Rome (OK to recommend a male author? 😐)

Have you read hilary mantel? I like her French revolution tome as well as wolf Hall trilogy. Heavy going though. Philippa Gregory she isn't!

I have this on my shelves, have read it a couple of times and keep looking at it thinking 'must re-read' but the sheer length and heavy going drive me to something else. Mind you, any writer who can make me feel sorry for Robespierre is worth the effort (loved Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, think The Mirror and The Light needed pruning).

It's not to everyone's liking as it involves women being murdered but I'm obsessing over this one! Set in the 1800s USA.

Very well written and thought out, more twists and turns that Spaghetti Junction!

I love anything by Rose Tremain, Kate Atkinson, and Sarah Waters, lots of focus on women's lives. Elena Ferrante also excellent, if you like 20th century.

For massive page turning yarns my guilty pleasure is Ken Follett's Kingsbridge series.

Has anyone mentioned The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper.

Absolutely loved it - but found the beginning hard going. So you need to stick with it.

I've bookmarked so many suggestions here! Thanks for starting this, OP

Sarah Dunant In the Company of the Courtesan (set in Venice)
The Witchfinders Sister
The Familiars.

Michelle Moran - really enjoyed her fictional books set in Ancient Egypt.

@EvelynKatie thanks, I was thinking ancient Egypt might be interesting! I really loved The Red Tent but haven’t found anything else like that.

@Framboisery thanks for the suggestion, I have read some of the other Sarah Dunant books and loved them. Will have a look at the others too.

@Marmighty I don’t think I’ve read any Kate Atkinson so will take a look. Aren’t the Ken Follett ones really long? That always puts me off 🙈

The Kingmaker series by Toby Clements is fantastic. It is not focused on a female character but the main pair of characters include a very strong, resourceful woman. It's war of the roses era, i also get bored with everything Tudor

@Ylvamoon that looks really good, thanks for the suggestion. It has reminded me that just before covid I was reading The Silence of the Girls but stopped for a while because there was a plague and I couldn’t face it! I can’t remember if I ever finished it.

An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears

@ModerationInEverything ah that looks really good too- thanks! Although I feel a bit Tudor-ed out, I am tempted to read some Alison Weir as haven’t read any of hers and have been meaning to.