Feeling bereft after finishing Wolf hall trilogy!

[Fiftyisthenewsixty]

What next? I just really want to read something that takes me back so completely to a certain period in time. It took me ages to get round to reading The Mirror and the Light as the size put me off but I think in the end I loved it the most of all! Any other fans?

Oh yes loved it, have developed a sort of in awe dream-boss / mentor crush on Cromwell.

Similarly bereft

CJ Sansom - Shardlake series.

Unfortunately I have read them all too and felt the same!

Oh no , I'll have another think.

Hah…you beat me to it!!

I know what you mean about immersing yourself in a particular place or period. I envy Tolkien lovers. I don’t dislike LOTRs, but don’t truly love it either. To be able to fully buy into Tolkien’s world must be great. The closest I can get is Sherlock Holmes. I love listening to Stephen Fry read the Holmes series and can’t recommend it highly enough. I feel the same about P. G. Wodehouse. Dickens, of course, created a world, as did Jane Austen and the Brontes, but I’m not sure if that’s what you’re looking for.

Have you tried the Hornblower books? Or the Flashman series? Walter Scott, maybe?

Robert Graves wrote some wonderful historical novels. The I Claudius books would be the obvious place to start, but Count Belisarius is good. I read Kipling’s Kim at Christmas and was very, very impressed. It’s beautifully written, tender and humane. He also brings 19th-century India to life - the colours, the smells, the food, etc.

Have you read Mary Renault'sAlexander trilogy?I read it recently and I am in absolute awe. I think she is truly a match for Mantel in terms of the brilliance and seriousness of her approach to historical fiction. And on top of that she is utterly, sublimely readable, much much more so than Mantel.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm checking them out.

Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond series? Start with Game of Kings. They do need to be read in order, because of revelations and developments that take place throughout the series.

(I was also going to suggest Shardlake.)

Have you read A Place of Greater safety

Try Stella Riley or Elizabeth Chadwick? Both really well researched historical fiction!

Fabulous book.

I haven't read them but people on here recommend the Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard and A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell.
Both long series.

To be honest op I could find nothing to fill the Cromwell size gap left after reading The wolf Hall tribology, it just took time (and a couple of rereads of it!!!) to be able to move on 😁 oh and a few watches ot the bbc show! Hilary Mantels other books are excellent but noting will replace WH. I personally didn't take to the Shardike novels because they weren't from Cromwells pov.

I found reading McDermotts (I think that was his name, historian) book on Cromwell good to see how accurate WH was.

But It just takes time 😢😁

There's always this if you have a spare 400 or so quid 😁😁

I'm currently reading The Last Tudor by Philippa Gregory, which is all about Lady Jane Grey and her sisters.
You could also try her other Plantagenet and Tudor novels.

Thanks all! I'm ordering A Place of Greater Safety and probably rereading a bit of Shardlake too.

😄 Sounds a bit intimidating tbh! Maybe I'll save my cash!

The Man on a Donkey is the most brilliant historical novel I've read and a real doorstopper, also set during the Tudor era. I've just started Cathedral by Ben Hopkins which is set in C13th Alsace and is excellent. For something lighter but still incredibly well researched, try Andrew Taylor's Ashes of London series (sometimes called the Cat Lovett series).

I started the first one and couldn't get into it. Is it worth persevering?

I started the first one and couldn't get into it. Is it worth persevering?

Most people say it takes a while to get into, but is worth it in the end.

Dorothy Dunnett doesn't explain everything that's going on as it happens, just lets the story unfold until it's all explained at the end - except the parts that are part of the continuing story.

Yes, great suggestions.

I'd also recommend Edward St Aubyn's Melrose novels. It isn't historical fiction, but you do get a series of novels following the life of a single individual – beautiful prose, very funny, great dialogue, and vivid characters.

Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour novels are great as well. Again, all the novels are based around a single character. Ford Madox Ford's Parade's End? Ford is hugely underrated. Or how about The Forsythe Saga?

Takes serious commitment, though.

@MrsDanversGlidesAgain it certainly does.

Have you tried any of Ken Follets series? The Kingsbridge series are excellent starting in 997AD.

Also the Century Trilogy which follows WW1, the Russian Revolution and WWII.