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Historical Novels
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Author:  Fiona Mc [ Thu Jul 29, 2010 11:39 am ]
Post subject:  Historical Novels

Can anyone reccommend any historical novels please? Preferably English or European ones. I'm going through a phase of wanting to read that kind of stuff and find it hard to find any that are really good. Have tried Dianna Dabbledon/Babbledon(?) but it left me cold and have tried Philipa Gregory, but found it hard to get into it, though that could be because I got lost on who was who. Loved the two Ken Follett's wrote and could actually understand it all so much better.

Any suggestions would be welcome, thanks.

Author:  judithR [ Thu Jul 29, 2010 12:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

Georgette Heyer (mostly fluff but fun), Amanda Quicke (spp?) (rude but fun). Philippa Gregory as Victoria Holt or Jean Plaidy, AM Maugham (Monmouth Hal) as a few.

Edited to add C.S Forrester's Hornblower series.

Author:  cestina [ Thu Jul 29, 2010 12:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

If you enjoy gardening then you might like the two Philippa Gregory's that deal with the Tradescant father and son - they were gardeners to royalty and introduced many plants to this country. I think they are in a different league from her other books: "Earthly Joys" and "The Virgin Earth." And it's fairly easy to keep track of who is who.

The Shardlake series by C.J.Sansom is stunning. A combination of detailed historical background, set in the time of Henry VIII, and exciting detection. For an earlier period, the Brother Cadfael books by Ellis Peters. And even farther back in history the Sister Fidelma mysteries by Peter Tremayne give a fascinating insight into the early Irish church and legal system - and their very enlightened attitude to women.

I loved Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel but it's not always easy to keep track of what is going on.

For a look into European history, or rather family life with a background of Prussian 19th Century customs and morals, Sybille Bedford's A Legacy is an interesting read - it's one of the suggested books for next month's CBB Book Club choice.

For some of us Georgette Heyer is the historical novelist to outshine all others - but they may be too frivolous for your purposes. There are certain of her books that are better to start with than others - there was a thread on this but it may have vanished now.

What period of history are you particularly interested in? If we know that then we can home in better on recommendations! :D

Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Thu Jul 29, 2010 12:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

For a very, very funny (and surprisingly accurate - or as far as I know!) book, may I please recommend 'An Utterly Impartial History of Britain' by John O' Farrell? It may not be quite what you meant, but it will tell you a lot about British history - with references to other major events in Europe that affected us - and you will laugh a lot too!

In searching for that, I also noticed he's released another, similar, one for modern history... Guess what I'm about to waste money I don't have on?

Something which might be slightly more what you meant is this book - just a particular favourite of mine!

Author:  emma t [ Thu Jul 29, 2010 1:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

Fiona Mc wrote:
Can anyone reccommend any historical novels please? Preferably English or European ones. I'm going through a phase of wanting to read that kind of stuff and find it hard to find any that are really good. Have tried Dianna Dabbledon/Babbledon(?) but it left me cold and have tried Philipa Gregory, but found it hard to get into it, though that could be because I got lost on who was who. Loved the two Ken Follett's wrote and could actually understand it all so much better.

Any suggestions would be welcome, thanks.



Do you mean Diana Gabbaldon :) ?I love her books! Have to admit that they are a wee bit long and am still plowing through 'A breath of snow and ashes'.
I have just finished reading 'The White Queen' by Philippa Gregory which was wonderful; all her books especially the Tudor ones are brilliant.

Ooh,Chubby Monkey, may have to just read that one you recomended about Henry the eigth's last wife :)

Author:  cal562301 [ Thu Jul 29, 2010 2:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

emma t wrote:
Fiona Mc wrote:
Can anyone reccommend any historical novels please? Preferably English or European ones. I'm going through a phase of wanting to read that kind of stuff and find it hard to find any that are really good. Have tried Dianna Dabbledon/Babbledon(?) but it left me cold and have tried Philipa Gregory, but found it hard to get into it, though that could be because I got lost on who was who. Loved the two Ken Follett's wrote and could actually understand it all so much better.

Any suggestions would be welcome, thanks.



Do you mean Diana Gabbaldon :) ?I love her books! Have to admit that they are a wee bit long and am still plowing through 'A breath of snow and ashes'.
I have just finished reading 'The White Queen' by Philippa Gregory which was wonderful; all her books especially the Tudor ones are brilliant.

Ooh,Chubby Monkey, may have to just read that one you recomended about Henry the eigth's last wife :)


Sorry, but I have to disagree about Philippa Gregory's books being brilliant. Like someone else further up (I think) I tried several times without sucess to read The Other Boleyn Girl - and no, I haven't seen the film, so that wasn't an influence.

Funnily enough, however, I do like her when she writes as Jean Plaidy or Victoria Holt.

Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Thu Jul 29, 2010 3:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

I can take or leave Phillippa Gregory - I've read and enjoyed some of her books (three, I think) but I don't go out of my way to buy them. Though I do know that mum quite enjoys them, so I'm always looking for an opportunity to suggest that she buys a couple and lends them to me...

What I liked about the rec. further up (to shamelessly plug it further) was that the author was a historian, and so I felt I could trust what was written to be fairly accurate as well. A good plot and racy writing are all well and good, but in historical novels I do demand accuracy too!

Author:  emma t [ Thu Jul 29, 2010 4:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

ChubbyMonkey wrote:
I can take or leave Phillippa Gregory - I've read and enjoyed some of her books (three, I think) but I don't go out of my way to buy them. Though I do know that mum quite enjoys them, so I'm always looking for an opportunity to suggest that she buys a couple and lends them to me...

What I liked about the rec. further up (to shamelessly plug it further) was that the author was a historian, and so I felt I could trust what was written to be fairly accurate as well. A good plot and racy writing are all well and good, but in historical novels I do demand accuracy too!


It sounds really good :) Will be placing an order to Amazon soon! love anything Tudor-related, and really would love to write a book set in these times. One day; will have to put reams of research into it...

Other recomendations I've seen on my bookshelves are: Rosalind Miles; she's written a novel set in Elizabethan times, and the other ones I read by her were based on the Tristan and Isolde legends. Another author is Juliet Marillier, whose novels are a little bit on the fantasy side, but historicle detail is in them too for the time periods they are set in.

Author:  cestina [ Thu Jul 29, 2010 5:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

cal562301 wrote:


Funnily enough, however, I do like her when she writes as Jean Plaidy or Victoria Holt.

That'll be 'cos she's not the same person Cal :). Jean Plaidy predates Gregory by quite a long way - I was reading her in my teens in the 1950s. PG was only born in 1954. Plaidy (or rather Eleanor Hibbert) wrote as Philippa Carr, not Gregory.....

I agree, I find her books unsatisfying - except the two that I mentioned above which to me might have been written by a completely different author. Brilliantly researched and daughter (pickiest reader I have ever come across ) and I galloped through both of them.

Author:  cal562301 [ Thu Jul 29, 2010 5:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

cestina wrote:
cal562301 wrote:


Funnily enough, however, I do like her when she writes as Jean Plaidy or Victoria Holt.

That'll be 'cos she's not the same person Cal :). Jean Plaidy predates Gregory by quite a long way - I was reading her in my teens in the 1950s. PG was only born in 1954. Plaidy (or rather Eleanor Hibbert) wrote as Philippa Carr, not Gregory.....

I agree, I find her books unsatisfying - except the two that I mentioned above which to me might have been written by a completely different author. Brilliantly researched and daughter (pickiest reader I have ever come across ) and I galloped through both of them.


Sorry about that. Was someone else's mistake further up, I think. I just copied blindly - seldom a good idea! :roll: :D :oops:

Author:  Kathy_S [ Fri Jul 30, 2010 4:22 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

For me, the queen of British historical fiction remains Rosemary Sutcliff. Some of hers have never gone out of print, and I'd expect more reprints if if it's true that The Eagle of the Ninth is coming out as a movie.

Geoffrey Trease also wrote a fair amount of decent historical fiction.

Some of Sally Watson's books are set in Scotland and/or England, from Shakespearean times through the mid-18th century.

Edith Pargeter, who wrote the Brother Cadfael series as Ellis Peters, also produced straight historical fiction (The Green Branch, The Scarlet Seed, A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury). If you like the historical mystery genre, other series include Sister Frevisse (Margaret Frazer) and Owen Archer (Candace Robb).

Some American young adult classics set in the UK or continental Europe include:
*The Trumpeter of Krakow, Eric Kelly, 1928 (15th century Poland)
*Adam of the Road, Elizabeth Janet Gray, 1942 (13th century England; Adam & father are minstrels.)
*The Good Master (1935) and The Singing Tree (1939), Kate Seredy (pre-WWI Hungary)
*Piper to the Clan, Mary Stetson Clarke, 1966 (Cromwell defeats the Scots at Dunbar.)
*Red Lion and Gold Dragon, Rosemary Sprague, 1967 (1066; Saxons are the good guys.)
*The Striped Ships, Eloise Jarvis McGraw, 1991 (Bayeux tapestry. Author better known for Egyptian settings.)
*A Proud Taste for Scarlet & Miniver, E.L. Konigsberg, 1973 isn't strictly a historical novel, but a very amusing take on Eleanor of Aquitaine. (Same author as From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)

How long ago does it have to be to count as "historical"?

Author:  chattie [ Fri Jul 30, 2010 8:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

I've read and re-read and re-read Dorothy Dunnett's House of Niccolo series and Lymond Chronicles. The Niccolo ones (8 books) start with Niccolo Rising and are set in the 15th century with locations including Bruges, Cyprus, Trebizond, Timbuktu, Egypt, Scotland, Iceland and Poland as the hero is a merchant banker (and much else!). The Lymond ones (6 books) start with The Game of Kings are are set in the 16th century with locations including Scotland, England, France, Turkey and Russia as the hero is a Scottish/French nobleman (and much else!).

http://www.dorothydunnett.co.uk/

Author:  Nightwing [ Fri Jul 30, 2010 9:00 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

In the YA-ish category, I really enjoyed "The Bride's Farewell" by Meg Rosoff although it isn't set in any obvious period or country.

"Gatty's Tale" by Kevin Crossley-Holland is a really interesting book about a girl on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the Middle Ages. (It's a companion novel to a series, but I hadn't read the series at all when I read it and enjoyed it all the same).

"A Rose for the Anzac Boys" by Jackie French has Kiwi and Australian protagonists, but is set in England and France during WWI.

Author:  emma t [ Fri Jul 30, 2010 11:04 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

Julie Garwood is another favourite of mine; she's an American author who's novels are Historicle/Romances; her eariler books are set in England/Scotland and have quite racey plots :)

Author:  cestina [ Fri Jul 30, 2010 11:34 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

I like the look of the Konigsberg - must see if I can track it down.

When I was a child I had a book from Boots Circulating Library that I loved so much I left it around for our puppy to chew so that my parents would have to pay the library for it and I could keep it. (It clearly never occurred to me that if I had asked my father to buy it, he would have done so :? )

It was called Castle Rhanby and is about 3 brothers growing up in a Welsh castle in the Middle Ages. Googling just now reveals it was by someone called Meta Shaw and that she has written other historical fiction for children, in particular The Twisted Talisman and Grasping Hands, which I shall now try to track down at a reasonable price.

Has anyone else read anything by her?

Author:  Jane [ Fri Jul 30, 2010 11:58 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

There is a superb but little-known historical novelist of whom I am a huge fan - Valerie Anand. She firstly wrote a tetralogy on the lead-up to and aftermath of the Norman Conquest (Gildenford, The Norman Pretender, The Disputed Crown and King of the Wood) and then a linked series of novels (Bridges over Time) starting with the Gildenford massacre and ending with the moon landings! Almost certainly only available through the second-hand/ex-library market nowadays but well worth tracking down. There's also a standalone about Perkin Warbeck - Crown of Roses. Her more recent novels are more in the romantic historial fiction vein - still readable, but not in the same league IMO. She also writes Elizabethan detective fiction under the name Fiona Buckley - total hokum but entertaining enough, although not in the CJ Sansom league.

I also like Sharon Penman, especially the one about Simon de Montfort.

Author:  Mona [ Sat Jul 31, 2010 10:56 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier is the story of Mary Anning and her discovery of ichthyosaur and plesiosaur skeletons at Lyme Regis. I found it a real page-turner, and the early 19th century atmosphere is very well evoked.

Author:  Thursday Next [ Sat Jul 31, 2010 2:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

I loved the three books making up the Jacobite Trilogy, by D K Browster. I read the first (and in my opinion the best) Flight of the Heron when I was at school and the other two, Gleam in the North and Dark Mile later on and have reread them several times since.. Now if you see them the three books are all combined into one volume. I'm not sure if you can get them new now but still readily available secondhand from Amazon and Ebay.

Quite a romanticised view of the Jacobite rebellion but extremely readable and I still love them.

Author:  tiernsee [ Sat Jul 31, 2010 5:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

Without a doubt Anya Seton one of my favourite novelists. Two in particular I would recommend are Green Darkness (set in the Tudor times) and Katherine (story of Katherine Swynford wife of John of Gaunt). I also enjoy Jean Plaidy (Madame Serpent, the story of Catherine de Medici) being a particular favourite.

Author:  Jenefer [ Sun Aug 01, 2010 9:26 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey is a detective novel about a historical event.
DK Broster wrote other historical novels as well as the Jacobite Trilogy. The Flight of the Heron is the best.
Mary Renault wrote about Greece and a trilogy about Alexander the Great.

Author:  Lulie [ Sun Aug 01, 2010 4:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

Elizabeth Chadwick wrote some good novels set in various time periods. Also Alison Weir's novels about Lady Jane Grey and Eleanor of Aquitane are very readable although I find her non-fiction very dry.

Author:  MaryR [ Sun Aug 01, 2010 6:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

Then there's Alys Clare, who writes about a knight and a Mother Abbess in the twelfth century. She ahs completed that series of 12 books and is now writing about a different period.

And of course one shouldn't forget the Sister Fidelma books by Peter Tremayne about a nun/brehon/princess in the 7th century in Ireland. The first one is set at the Council of Whitby, where the Celtic and Roman Christians met to debate the annual date of Easter. One learns a great deal about this Golden Age in Ireland, when women had equal status with men and the old were cared for.

Author:  Kirsty [ Tue Aug 03, 2010 9:23 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

I second the Elizabeth Chadwick rec by Lulie - she's my new favourite author, and I'm running out of new-to-me books of hers to read :cry:

Sharon Penman is also a favourite, "The Sunne in Spleandor" is one of the best books about War of the Roses I've read. And her trilogy soon-to-be-expanded about Eleanor of Aquitane & Henry (and then Richard-Lionheart & Bad-King-John) is great too.

Paul (PC) Doherty has written loads of books set in verious times, mostly mysteries though.

There are loads more authors tat i enjoy too if you want more recs! Although there's enough here already to keep you going for ages...

Author:  Tor [ Tue Aug 03, 2010 10:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

Forever Amber?!!!

And on a similar note, I've just finished The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber, which is a very funny, but also quite poignant, bawdy romp through late Victorian London.

It is quite rude, however. So delicate sensibilities beware!

Author:  Fiona Mc [ Wed Aug 04, 2010 1:14 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

Thanks everyone for the reccommendations. Anyone have any suggestions with Russian History?

Author:  Alison H [ Wed Aug 04, 2010 5:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (author of the Morland Dynasty series) has written a trilogy about 3 generations of the same family, one set during the Napoleonic Wars, one set during the Crimean War and one set during the Revolution, for Russian history - Anna, Fleur and Emily. They're excellent. For more recent history, The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons covers the Second World War. Petersburg by Emily Hanlon for the 1905 Revolution and the "main" Revolution.

Author:  Lolly [ Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

If you like crime fiction, R N Morris has written three novels (A Gentle Axe, A Vengeful Longing and A Razor Wrapped in Silk), using the detective from Crime and Punishment (which I've never read) as his main character. I've read the last two and thought they were brilliant - I love the way he writes, as if the book has been translated from another language.

I also like Boris Akunin's Pelagia novels, which have a nun as his detective and are set in turn of the century Russia.

Author:  Kirsty [ Wed Aug 04, 2010 10:51 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

Fiona Mc wrote:
Thanks everyone for the reccommendations. Anyone have any suggestions with Russian History?


There's also Russka by Edward Rutherfurd, he writes great big sweep-of-history novels, following families throughout history. He's also written London, Sarum, two about Ireland, and most recently New York.

I've found this site really useful with her lists of historical novels (about 5000 all up!) You should be able to find something there to read... :lol:
http://www.historicalnovels.info/index.html

Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Wed Aug 04, 2010 12:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

For Russian history I always read the Russian authors - Dostoevsky is fantastic, and I really enjoyed 'Anna Karenina' (W&P is sat looking hopefully at me... I'm working up to taking the plunge!) but then I'm very into classics, so I accept that that might not be for everyone!

I'll second anything by Edward Rutherford - I've only read 'Sarum', but I read it so many times our copy fell apart, and I've been meaning to get more by him ever since.

Author:  Jenefer [ Wed Aug 04, 2010 4:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

The Snow Mountain by Catherine Gavin is about the Russian Revolution

Author:  Lolly [ Wed Aug 04, 2010 5:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

Dr Zhivago!!!!!

Author:  Llywela [ Thu Aug 05, 2010 8:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

I would second the Dostoevsky rec - I really enjoyed Crime and Punishment. And back when I studied history at uni, we read Alexandra Kollontai's Love of Worker Bees, which is pretty good - although modern history, rather than medieval or early modern.

Non-Russian historical novels I've enjoyed include Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks (set during the Plague, 1666) and Edward Charles' In The Shadows of Lady Jane, which follows the turbulent short life of Lady Jane Grey through the eyes of a servant in her household. I've also enjoyed the novels of Isabel Allende, if you're interested in 19th century South American history.

I also tend to read a lot of history texts as if they were novels (yeah, I know, I know :roll: :lol: ). Alison Weir's Isabella and Bettany Hughes' Helen of Troy are both excellent reads, and so is Tom Holland's Rubicon (albeit a bit slow in the beginning). Oh, and Ian Mortimer's The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England is a brilliant read. :) I would also recommend Jane Mulvagh's Madresfield, which covers a thousand years of the history of a single house and its occupants, and Stella Tillyard's Aristocrats. And Katie Hickman's Daughters of Britannia, which tells the stories of diplomatic wives through the ages (usually in what the diplomatic service likes to call 'hardship postings') I can read again and again and never get bored.

Author:  Alison H [ Thu Aug 05, 2010 8:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

Llywela wrote:
I also tend to read a lot of history texts as if they were novels (yeah, I know, I know :roll: :lol: )


Oh, me too! I used to read university history text books in bed when I was a student :roll: .

Author:  Mona [ Thu Aug 05, 2010 10:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

Alison H wrote:
Llywela wrote:
I also tend to read a lot of history texts as if they were novels (yeah, I know, I know :roll: :lol: )


Oh, me too! I used to read university history text books in bed when I was a student :roll: .

And if you'd like something which is non-fiction and reads like a novel, I'd suggest Alison Weir's Mary Queen of Scots: And the Murder of Lord Darnley .

Author:  Kirsty [ Fri Aug 06, 2010 9:05 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

Alison H wrote:
Llywela wrote:
I also tend to read a lot of history texts as if they were novels (yeah, I know, I know :roll: :lol: )


Oh, me too! I used to read university history text books in bed when I was a student :roll: .


Nothing wrong with that at all :mrgreen: . Thye can be waaay more entertaining than the average novel, especially the ones that deal with the less-well known areas of history.
SLOC buys me non-fiction history quite often (he gets to the better bookshops) - once he learnt what periods/people i was interested in.

Author:  Katarzyna [ Mon Aug 16, 2010 3:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

Jane wrote:
I also like Sharon Penman, especially the one about Simon de Montfort.


Falls the Shadow - which is the 2nd book in the 2nd trilogy...

books are:
When Christ and His Saints Slept - which is Stephen & Maud and the civil war
Time & Chance - which is the beginning of the Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine story
Devils Brood - takes the story to the end of Henry's reign and into Richards
Here Be Dragons - Story of King John's illegitame daughter joanna and her husband, Llewelyn Fawr
Falls the Shadow - Simon & Nell De-Montfort/Henry III and Edward II
The Reckoning - Which is Edward II and Llwelyn ap Gruffydd and the capture of Wales.

Sunne in Splendour - is the story of Richard III

(sorry - huge fan of Sharon Penman's work - also like her fictional historical crime series as well)

Other historical books i like are - the Anya Seaton books - particularly Katherine and The Winthrop Woman, Elizabeth Chadwick's Children of Destiny (which is about the Cathars), the Shardlake books which are crime/history and the Robyn Young's Brethren Series (crusaders).

Author:  Emma A [ Mon Aug 16, 2010 7:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

I've only read one of Margaret Irwin's books - The Stranger Prince - about Rupert of the Rhine, but very much enjoyed it.

Second (or third) the Shardlake novels by C J Sansom. I also like Frank Tallis's books set in turn of the century Vienna, featuring a practising psychologist and disciple of Freud's (often a bit grisly, since they're also detective novels).

Cynthia Harnett's historical novels (written for children) are very entertaining, full of period detail and exciting plots - I enjoyed The Load of Unicorn, The Woolpack and The Stars of Fortune. Terry Jones' Squire books (again for children) are entertaining and appear to contain a lot of good Crusade-era history.

Lastly, I really enjoy Jane Aiken Hodge's books set in the 19th century - Greek Wedding (set around the Greek War of Independence), Watch The Wall (smuggling in Sussex) and, my favourite, Savannah Purchase (set in Savannah at the end of the Napoleonic wars).

Author:  Loryat [ Thu Aug 19, 2010 4:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

Alison H wrote:
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (author of the Morland Dynasty series) has written a trilogy about 3 generations of the same family, one set during the Napoleonic Wars, one set during the Crimean War and one set during the Revolution, for Russian history - Anna, Fleur and Emily. They're excellent.


Interesting...

I don't think you can beat CH-E for historical family saga as long as you're looking for a light read with a fair amount of history. It's funny how those Morlands manage to get themselves involved in almost every important British historical event of the last 500 years. :)

Author:  Alison H [ Thu Aug 19, 2010 6:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

I would love to write a series like the Morland dynasty series, only starting from the Norman Conquest rather than the Wars of the Roses, even if it was just for myself (which it would be because I can't imagine anyone else wanting to read it :lol: ), but due to the considerable inconvenience of having to go to work :roll: I'd never have time. I love the idea of writing the history of the country using the experiences of one family!

Author:  Simone [ Fri Aug 20, 2010 9:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

Alison H wrote:
I would love to write a series like the Morland dynasty series, only starting from the Norman Conquest rather than the Wars of the Roses, even if it was just for myself (which it would be because I can't imagine anyone else wanting to read it :lol: ), but due to the considerable inconvenience of having to go to work :roll: I'd never have time. I love the idea of writing the history of the country using the experiences of one family!


I'd certainly want to read it, Alison :D

Author:  Tor [ Fri Aug 20, 2010 9:46 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

you should do it Alison! Go on! Though we'd miss your drabbles, it would be worth it if you put that talent into a book/series like that!

Ooh! Or maybe you could persuade GGBP to let you write the 'history' of the Bettany clan :lol:

Author:  cestina [ Fri Aug 20, 2010 1:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

I'd love to read it too Alison - why not write Book One as part of NaNoWriMo this year?

Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Fri Aug 20, 2010 2:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

Another who would definitely read it!

Author:  Clare [ Sat Aug 21, 2010 10:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Historical Novels

tiernsee wrote:
Without a doubt Anya Seton one of my favourite novelists. ... Katherine (story of Katherine Swynford wife of John of Gaunt).

I read this on holiday and I thought it was brilliant. I couldn't put it down! I now want to learn so much about John of Gaunt, who I'd only ever studied in the context of Richard II.

I can also recommend Alison Wier's books - Innocent Traitor and The Lady Elizabeth. She is a Tudor historian and has written many history books before she diverted into fiction. Very compelling books.

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