# Historical fiction recommendations, please! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 22, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-fiction-recommendations-please/493939 "2009-04-22T03:09:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PeacePlease](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71c47a/32.png) [@PeacePlease](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeacePlease)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-fiction-recommendations-please/493939/1 "2009-04-22T03:09:06Z")
I love historical fiction. I just finished up **The Winds of War** and **War and Remembrance** by Herman Wouk (who is still alive at the the ripe old age of 93!). Other authors I have enjoyed include Philipa Gregory, Gary Jennings, Leon Uris, and Margaret George, off the top of my head. I really enjoyed the narrative and learned a ton about WWII from the Wouk books (especially about the war in the Pacific theater.) I’ve never cared for reading about war as a topic so a lot of it was new information for me. Mr. Wouk called them ‘war romances’ but there was certainly plenty of detail! I would prefer nothing more than this level of war-type stuff. But I love learning about history in this kind of way. It really makes it come alive for me. Does anybody have any recommendations for me in this arena? I love books with maps and family trees!! I need to return this tome (War and Remembrance) to the library so any new recommendations would be greatly appreciated! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-fiction-recommendations-please/493939/2 "2009-04-22T03:28:54Z")
George MacDonald Fraser ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-fiction-recommendations-please/493939/3 "2009-04-22T03:29:14Z")
Middle Ages Kings, Queens, Knights, Wars etc.: Sharon Kay Penman, Elizabeth Chadwick Genghis Khan: Conn Iggulden Edo Period Japan: Lesley Downer WWII Jeff Shaara ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-fiction-recommendations-please/493939/4 "2009-04-22T04:44:34Z")
I liked Ken Follett’s _Pillars of the Earth_, if you have any interest in the middle ages. ---
**Author:** ![PeacePlease](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71c47a/32.png) [@PeacePlease](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeacePlease)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-fiction-recommendations-please/493939/5 "2009-04-22T05:07:03Z")
I’ve heard that you either love or hate **Pillars of the Earth.** I actually own that book and have had a hard time getting into it. Did you, **squeegee**? ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-fiction-recommendations-please/493939/6 "2009-04-22T05:41:40Z")
The Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian. Absolutely magnificent. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-fiction-recommendations-please/493939/7 "2009-04-22T05:59:47Z")
You didn’t mention which Leon Uris books you have read. If you haven’t read **Trinity** , you have missed a feast! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-fiction-recommendations-please/493939/8 "2009-04-22T06:04:57Z")
The Tarn Trilogy. Wasn’t quite finished before the author kicked off, but I rather liked it. Hannah Closs was the author. I really liked it. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-fiction-recommendations-please/493939/9 "2009-04-22T06:23:08Z")
> [@PeacePlease](#): > > I’ve heard that you either love or hate **Pillars of the Earth.** I actually own that book and have had a hard time getting into it. Did you, **squeegee**? Well, I somewhat cheated – I read it during a week’s tour of southern England; I was traveling through about the territory the book covered, so it was pretty easy to get caught up the book. I still think it is a worthwhile book if you’re interested in that period in England, although it is just average quality. ---
**Author:** ![PeacePlease](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71c47a/32.png) [@PeacePlease](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeacePlease)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-fiction-recommendations-please/493939/10 "2009-04-22T07:13:38Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > Well, I somewhat cheated – I read it during a week’s tour of southern England; I was traveling through about the territory the book covered, so it was pretty easy to get caught up the book. I still think it is a worthwhile book if you’re interested in that period in England, although it is just average quality. Cheater, cheater!!! My very favorite historical novels involve London for the same reason…I’ve been there! I love the history of London and England so this is another book that I obviously should plow through, eh? See, now **Zoe** , Trinity was another one that I had and it was a struggle for me to get past the first few pages. I just looked it up to refresh my memory and it is the one that I thought it was about Irish history. I’ve never really had an interest in Ireland, but I will give it another try on your recommendation. Thanks to all. I’m currently one of the unemployed SDMBers so I have been reading. A lot. ---
**Author:** ![maplekiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@maplekiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maplekiwi)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-fiction-recommendations-please/493939/11 "2009-04-22T08:13:42Z")
The Forsythe Saga may be what you’re looking for. A big family saga. I prefer Jean Plaidy’s Tudor historicals to Phillippa Gregory. Less sensational. I think she is out of print, so you may have to try second hand book shops. As well as regency romances, Georgette Heyer also wrote historical novels. The Conqueror was the best of them. You may lake her regencies though, as she uses real life figures as secondary characters. One example of this kind would be Regency Buck. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-fiction-recommendations-please/493939/12 "2009-04-22T09:54:46Z")
I love the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwall. Maybe not as deep as some of the others mentioned but very entertaining. I was not very familiar with that part of history when I read them and it intrigued me. At the end of each book there is an afterward that puts it in historical perspective. It was amusing that often the most outrageous and fictional sounding parts of the book were often the parts that were firmly based on history. By the end of the series it became harder to buy the fact that he was at every major event over 40 years. I would suggest reading them in the order they were written to get a feel for how the character progressed. He wrote a bunch of prequels but I think they shoud be read after. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-fiction-recommendations-please/493939/13 "2009-04-22T10:19:25Z")
You might want to try Wilbur Smith for Africa / Rhodesia. He has also done a great Egyptian novel called River God, which is a tracription and dramatisation of actual Egyptian scrolls. The other one that’s possible is James Clavell. (Shogun, Taipan, and for a novel set in WWII prison camp, King Rat) ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-fiction-recommendations-please/493939/14 "2009-04-22T10:21:23Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > George MacDonald Fraser Seconded - his [Flashman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Paget_Flashman) books are amusing, exciting and informational. A reviewer once said of the [Hornblower books by C.S.Forester](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Hornblower) ‘you can practically taste the salt in the sea breeze’. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-fiction-recommendations-please/493939/15 "2009-04-22T10:52:09Z")
I’ll third Flashman. My wife is a huge fan of Patrick O’Brien’s books, and the one of them I’ve read was pretty fun. I recently read [Pride of Carthage](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_of_Carthage), a novelization of Hannibal’s life. I found it very interesting and gripping, got so involved in it that I realized I was avoiding reading the last third, where I knew that Hannibal was going to fail. It may be too militaristic for your tastes, but there’s a lot going on in that book besides battles. Don’t get me wrong–the battles are very well-written–but a lot of the book is about camp followers, Hannibal’s sisters, and other folks who aren’t directly involved in the fighting. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-fiction-recommendations-please/493939/16 "2009-04-22T10:52:54Z")
David L. Robbins: More WWII novels. Liberation Road about the Red Ball Express, supply route. War of the Rats Stalingrad ---
**Author:** ![Estilicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Estilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estilicon)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-fiction-recommendations-please/493939/17 "2009-04-22T11:41:10Z")
The “Accursed Kings” series by Maurice Druon. What are they about? The last capetos, the first Valois and the origin of the Hundred Years war between France and England ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-fiction-recommendations-please/493939/18 "2009-04-22T11:57:58Z")
I enjoyed Gates of Fire (the Battle of Thermopylae) and Tides of War (Alcibiades) by Steven Pressfield, but these are more military history books; character development is not a strong feature of them. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-fiction-recommendations-please/493939/19 "2009-04-22T12:50:58Z")
> [@PeacePlease](#): > > Cheater, cheater!!! My very favorite historical novels involve London for the same reason…I’ve been there! I love the history of London and England so this is another book that I obviously should plow through, eh? > > . Then you should read _London_ by Edward Rutherford. It gives the history of London from pre-Roman times to the present day through episodes in the lives of a few families and their descendants. I found it enjoyable and interesting. Fascinating details of how to make chain mail and forge coins, for instance! ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-fiction-recommendations-please/493939/20 "2009-04-22T12:54:04Z")
Because of The Dope, I found **Flashman** and [Marcus Didius Falco Series](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsey_Davis) by Lindsey Davis. Learn Roman history without your brain drying up and find out you want to fark the hero and his best friend along the way (regardless of your sexual proclivities.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-fiction-recommendations-please/493939.md?page=2)