Recommend some big fat historical fiction

Or some densely plotted crime fiction, or some lyrical Southern/Appalachian fiction, or a historical mystery.

I have an Amazon gift certificate to spend. Normally I buy used books and get more bang for the buck. Buying ONE book is hard!

I’ve read and loved Crimson Petal and the White, Fingersmith, Slammerkin, Alias Grace, The Dollmaker, A Gracious Plenty, Birdsong, A Year of Wonders, Forever Amber, etc. etc. – I’m looking for something like those.

I haven’t read anything published recently except for The March and The Last Witchfinder and English Passengers.

Is there something new out there that I’ve missed? (I hated The Historian and didn’t care much for Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.)

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Big fat historical fiction: that would be London by Edward Rutherfurd.

I think Michener’s got the Big, Fat Historical Novel genre pretty well covered. Hawaii and Centennial bot start in pre-historic times and cover their respective areas up until the 70’s, IIRC.

Dunno if this is your kind of thing, AuntiePam, but I really enjoy Diana Gabaldon’s big, fat historical time-travel romances, starting with Outlander.

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. Charts the story of India after independence through the eyes of an extended family and the people they know. It’s brilliantly done, one of my favourite books - and at 1,000+ pages, you can’t get much fatter than that!

Big Fat Historical Fiction: Practically anything by Garry Jennings. (Be warned: Aztec is bloody.)

I enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl, by Philippa Gregory, which is set during the reign of Henry VIII. The Constant Princess, about Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife, was less enjoyable because I found the premise to be historically suspect, but if you don’t know or care about the history behind it, I suppose it’s good.

I’m very old :), so I’ve read all of these (which are great) except for A Suitable Boy. Is it as good as A Fine Balance, my only other experience with Indian fiction?

Haven’t read this one. I love the Tudor-Plantaganet period. I’ll check it out.

How about Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle. You don’t get much fatter than that. Also, it’s a great read.

A Fine Balance has a similar scope, but not a similar sweep. Plus AFB is terribly upsetting and depressing, whereas A Suitable Boy, while sad in parts, is overall very charming.

Yes. It’s DELICIOUS.

If I Never Get Back by Daryl Brock is my favorite book of all time (meaning it’s the only one I’ve read more than twice) and it turned me on to the realization that I like historical fiction.

It’s about the earliest days of pro baseball and Mark Twain, though. But it’s a humdinger of a great book.

My standard suggestion for this genre is Piece of Cake by Derek Robinson.

It’s about RAF fighter pilots in the Battle of Britain. It kind of reminds me of some of Clint Eastwood’s “revisionist” westerns like The Outlaw Josey Wales and Unforgiven, mainly in its use of the anti-hero. It also has a lot to say about the British class system of the time, and the tactics and strategies employed in WWII.

No mention of Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series?! One of the best! Start with The First Man in Rome - each of the 6 books is definitely big and fat and scrupulously researched - and once you get past the ancient Roman names, a great read…

For an historical mystery - other than the obvious **The Alienist ** and The Name of the Rose - I strongly recommend **An Instance of the Fingerpost ** by Iain Pears - set in 1660’s Oxford, it deals with a murder mystery and quickly gets tangled up in plots having to do with the fall of Cromwell and the potential return of the monarchy to England. Most characters are real and most of the events really happened - stitched together quite nicely…

And somewhat kinky, like all of Jennings works.

Second on the Masters of Rome. Read it at the same time as Steven Saylors’ Roma Sub Rosa.

Much more modern, but you can’t go wrong with The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. One of the best books I’ve read in years.

I enjoyed The Lion of Ireland

Is this the series that starts with Quicksilver? I started it a few months ago and bogged myself down by taking notes.

Wordman, I loved the Pears book, and another one he wrote, The Dream of Scipio. Reloy3, loved Kavalier & Clay too.

I’ll check on McCollough and the others. Maybe Amazon will have the “look inside” feature for the RAF and baseball-time travel books.

Maybe I shouldn’t have asked. I’m making a list and will probably end up spending way more than the gift certificate. :slight_smile:

[sub](Fixed thuh sistah’s coding. – Uke)[/sub]

You might also like ‘The Virgin’s Lover’, and ‘The Queen’s Fool’, both also by Philippa Gregory. I found them less big and fat and satisfying than The Other Boleyn Girl but good for a short plane trip.

YMMV.

Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell is excellent. It’s about the Italian resistance and the Jewish refugees they helped during World War II.

I just finished The Eagle’s Daughter by Judith Tarr, which was a bit fluffier, but still enjoyable. Its set in the 800s and tells the story of a Byzantine princess who comes to the Holy Roman Empire as part of a marriage alliance and becomes involved in political machinations there.

An oldie but goodie is The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault. It’s set in Athens during the Pelopennesian War. She does a wonderful job of getting into the mindset of ancient Greeks, not just putting characters with modern mores and values in a historical setting.

I enjoyed a lot of Morgan Llywelyn’s work; I’d have a hard time classifying it all as historical fiction, as so many mystical/mythical elements are put forward as literally true, but they do have a good strong backing in history with a bit of legend thrown in (to varying degrees). My favorites were Druids, Bard, Red Branch and Finn mac Cool; Lion of Ireland and Druids would be more historical and less legendary than the others, being based on more recent events, though all of them have very thoroughly researched information on the culture and day to day life of their time.