I’m surprised to be the first one to recommend The Winds of War and War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk. They don’t come any bigger and fatter - over 2,000 pages between the two books. But they are page turners! And you’ll come away with an incredible understanding of World War II.
It’s an American “War and Peace.” Just a remarkable read.
I find it hard to believe that noone has mentioned Kenneth Roberts yet. If you like American history, especially the period of the Revolutionary War, you can’t beat any of his long, exciting, hisorically accurate novels. Most people start with “A Rabble In Arms”, a choice I endorse.
I strongly recommend anything by Rutherford (I liked Sarum the best), and Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth. I wish Follett would write more like it! Great book!
I liked Cross’s book Pope Joan, too, but I have to agree with Lissa that it is probably pretty short on historical fact.
Forgot one…if you haven’t read Gone with the Wind, it’s a great read…I couldn’t put it down!
Jennings books have a lot of sex too 
Let’s see… Colleen McCullough has already been mentioned. Sharon Kay Pennman’s The Sunne in Splendour wasn’t, (I don’t think) although she was.
So here’s my contribution: Pauline Gedge, especially The Eagle and the Raven. Wonderful, sweeping tale of the Roman conquest of Britain.
If you want a trashy, fun historical fiction novel, try *Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor. To boil it down, it’s a book about a girl who sleeps her way the top in the court of Charles II of England. It’s incredibly rich in historical detail. Nell Gwynne has a part in it and the heroine goes through the plague and the great fire. Amber is a lot like Scarlett O’Hara-- selfish, vain and spoiled, suffering from an unrequited love. It’s not high literature-- it’s a trashy romance novel, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun to read.
Lissa, I loved Forever Amber. Kathleen Winsor wrote another big fat one – Wanderers Eastward, Wanderers West – I remember them as guilty pleasures, but maybe they were better than that.
If you want more trashy stuff, try the Angelique series by a husband-wife team, Sergeanne Golon. They’re from the 60’s or 70’s. I remember them as very compelling. I’ve wanted to read them again to see if they hold up but they’re hard to find and pricey. I was even less critical as a reader in my 20’s than I am now. 
There sure are a lot of books mentioned here that I’d like to read again. Since I’m old and forgetful, I probably could, and it’d be like the first time.
Another great one is the two-volume Paradise Falls by Don Robertson, about life in a small Ohio town right after the Civil War. Robertson uses some of the same characters from his Civil War trilogy, which is also excellent.
It’s actually a 1976 mini-series starring Derek Jacobi. It’s very good.
I really should never open these ‘recommend me a book’ threads because then my wish list on Amazon swells expotentially and then taunts me for the 12 pages of other books I will never, ever get too in my life to read. I hate you all.
One I would like to recommend, if Roman Times and a great male lead (and his best friend is great too and the female lead is wunderbar) is your kinda thing: Lindsey Davis’s Falco Series Her site where you can find all her books titles in order ( which is important.)
How come no one ever gives me a Big Fat Amazon gift Certificate?
:smack: :o
Anyway … I’m right now reading Conscience of the King by Alfred Duggan:
I highly recommend it - a really evocative bit of historical fiction about the founder of the line of Wessex kings (thus indirectly the founder of the English monarchy). Evocative of, and as good as, I, Claudius.
The joke of the title is that the protagonist has no conscience whatsoever - he is very obviously a sociopath. I won’t spoil it, but the theme is the fall of Romano-Britain and the high price paid by encouraging the decay of civilization through extreme, unremitting selfishness … quite a cautionary tale.
I second the recommendations for The Winds of War, War and Remembrance, and The Winthrop Woman and would like to add I, Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles.
And, although not medieval, certainly big, fat, and historical - …And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer.
Bumping to thank you for recommending this book! Nobel Prize or not, it’s very engaging. I’m entranced.
Historical novelists should also read this. It’s not easy to weave research into a story so that it doesn’t feel like research, but Undsett has done it. It feels like she was there.
Thank you!!
My favorite book – and the one I’ve been able to convert friends to – is Trinity by Leon Uris. It’s set in Ireland in the 19th Century. I’ve read it twice and my husband read it aloud to me once – with pauses for unabashed weeping.
It is a long book. I will tell you honestly that it takes at least 150 pages or more before it begins to grab you. But when it does, it doesn’t let you go. That book took on an intensity that grew into reverence. I’ve been in love with someone named Connor Larkin ever since. And I’ve understood rebels everywhere a little better.
My one book to take to a desert island will always be this one. Always.
I liked Trinity – I have a soft spot for Leon Uris – Exodus and Mila 18, especially Mila 18.
Maybe it’s time for a re-read. Thanks for reminding me about this book.