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historical fiction recommendations

You may want to check out some of Gore Vidal's books. I'm currently reading Creation which is about the ancient world. Most of his historical fiction is about America though. Burr and Lincoln are a couple of examples.
 
ooo, i loved I, Claudius too.
for those of you who like Sott's Ivanhoe, you might want to try his Quentin Durwood, if you haven't already.
some others; The Jewel in the Crown, The Golden Strangers by Henry Treece ("Set in the grey, twilight world of the Stone Age, the story of a young prince—Garroch—who tries to repel the invasion of Britain by the 'Golden Strangers'"), The Lyre Player, The Name of the Rose and Baudolino by Umberto Eco.
my mom recommends Antonia Fraser and Morgan Llewellyn.

o, and the Brother Cadfael stories are good too.
 
City of Dreams by Beverly Swerling.

This novel follows the early history of Nieuw Amsterdam (later named New York). You won't get bored with the historical stuff b/c most of the book follows the dramatic saga of a family; the American saga of pride and ambition, love and lust, love and hate, and alot of family scandal. I couldn't put the book down b/c of all the stories and, since I am interested in the medical field, of all the bizzarre medical revolutions.
 
I enjoyed the audio versions of the following books:

'Girl with a Pearl Earring' by Chevalier

The first book in the
‘Canaan’ Trilogy ~ 'Sarah' by Halter
('Zipporah' and 'Lilah' will be coming in future years)

The first book in the
‘China’ series ~ 'Empress Orchid' by Min
(others on the way)

J.K.
 
What about Phillippa Gregory's books? I loved The Queen's Fool (from the reign of Edward VI to the beginning to Elizabeth I's reign.) and The Other Boleyn Girl (through Mary Boleyn's life- in the 1500's.). I think they weren't really historically accurate, but they were good stories. And if you don't mind reading some young adult stuff, Carolyn Meyer is pretty good. Her books seem to be largely concered with the Tudor period as well.
 
I just finished reading two books by David Liss - A Conspiracy of Paper and A Spectacle of Corruption. The main character in both is a retired Jewish boxer who works as a "thieftaker" and of cource, attracts his own amount of trouble along the way. They are set in the early 1700's in London. In some ways, a similar style to Caleb Carr.
 
I'd recommend The Sorrow of War. It is a hauntingly powerful Vietnam war novel. Much of it is clearly autobiographical, and the blurred distinction between the narrator and the protagonist, Kien, eventually collapses. It is structured as a series of reminiscences, jumping backwards and forwards in time between the events most salient in memory, events which take on a different hue each time they are examined. Kien looks back not just at his ten years at war, but at his final days at school, his work with an MIA team after the war, the slow disintegration of his life since, and the solace he finds in his writing. The Sorrow of War manages to convey not just the immediate horrors of war, but also the emotional damage it wreaks and the dislocation of lives it causes; it is one of the best war novels I have read.
 
"Threads: The Reincarnation of Anne Boleyn" by Nell Gavin is historical fiction - but it's different because it has Anne Boleyn reviewing her past lives in an effort to come to terms with Henry VIII and forgive him. I wouldn't recommend it for people who prefer formula fiction though (standard romances for instance) because it's really different from anything like that - it's inspirational as well as historical fiction. I loved it and my friends loved it. High recommendation.
 
I'd recommend either "The Other Bolyen Girl" or "The Queen's Fool" as well. Philippa Gregory is a really good historical fiction writer. She came out with her latest book, "The Virgin's Lover" recently, though it's not out on paperback yet. If you're going to read her, start with "The Other Bolyen Girl" because her books go in chronological order.
 
I'll have to third "The Queen's Fool" by Philippa Gregory. That was my surprise favorite book of last year. It's very rare for a book to completely take me in to the point that I want to research the subject material, but after reading that, I couldn't get enough of Tudor England!
 
I skimmed through the previous posts, so If I mention somethign already named, my apologies:)

I woudl recommend Michael Moorcock's Pyat Quartet novels, they are simply incredible, and I actualy am starting to enjoy Moorcock's fiction work more than his fantasy offerings:

Byzantium Endures
Jerusalem Commands
Laughter of Carthage
Vengeance of Rome (forthcoming)

There simply incredible works

Also his other works like The Brothel in Rosenstrasse , are highly recommended.

I also loved Japanese Inn by Oliver Statler, and another very impresive debut novel by Ian Pears entitled An Instance of the Fingerpost.

fantasybookspot.com
 
I saw The Alienist by Caleb Carr mentioned before, and I have to agree. I read it for a history class on the progressive era. I truely enjoyed it, although the first couple chapters did make me a bit scared at home alone at night.

I'd also recomend Small Island by Andrea Levy, which I just finished. It was about Jamaican immigrants to England post WWII. Fabulous depiction of recial injustice faced during and after the war.
 
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