Book suggestions for historical fiction, women's biographies and westerns

[Freshton]

Please could I have some new book suggestions? I asked a couple of years ago and got some great ones

I love historical fiction and non fiction including biographies, particularly about women. I never seem to gel with the most popular authors in that genre. have tried a few Phillipa Gregory books over the years but not really enjoyed them. Also tried Alison Weir but not a fan. They are well researched but there's something about the writing style, I wish I could better articulate why I don't like certain books!

Last book I read was House at Rivington by Kate Morton which was alright but based on the reviews I expected to like it more.

I'm now reading the Handmaid's Tale and I really love it. Also read Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix and enjoyed that so maybe I need to switch to contemporary US fiction? I love Westerns too

I came here to say I keep hearing about Lonesome Dove recently. I haven't read it. I wonder why it is in the zeitgeist suddenly (it's from 1985).

Lonesome Dove is rather a slow moving miniseries, good acting and realistic but slow. IMHO of course.

I don’t read much historical fiction, but enjoyed Cecily by Annie Garthwaite

I really enjoyed Good Wives by Margaret Forster. It's non-fiction and explores the lives of three women - Mary Moffat who went to Africa in the 1800s with her husband David Livingstone, Fanny Stevenson who was married to the writer Robert Louis Stevenson, and Baroness Jennie Lee, the influential MP of the early 20th century.

If you would like to try different historical fiction from different cultures, try:

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (Lisa See)
Pachinko (Min Jin Lee)
Palace of Illusions (Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni)
The Glass Palace (Amitav Ghosh)
Lion Women of Tehran (Marjam Kamali)

Another vote for Sharon Kay Penman- I love all her books.

And Pillars of the Earth is a such a fun read.

Lonesome Dove is a brilliant book.

The quality of the TV adaptation is neither here nor there, as the OP wasn’t asking for TV recommendations.

Westerns used to be one of my favourites. Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey is one of the few westerns classed as a novel and of literary worth. I head it on Radio 4 a Sunday Serial. (~20 years ago).
@Freshton Have you read any William Macleod Raines? He lived in Western States for much of his life.

Not sure if any of these 'westerns' have been mentioned but I've enjoyed them:

The Virginian - Owen Wister - is excellent but not in the style of a 'traditional' western.
Appaloosa by Robert B Parker is stunning. Sparse, gritty, violent.
The Heavenly Table by Donald Ray Pollock is also worth reading.

Second, third and fourth this!

I couldn't put it down. I've now given it to three people-four if I count my husband who read my copy-and they all really enjoyed it.

What a book!

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt is a good Western.