Last week’s list of favourite historical fiction generated a huge amount of interest, and many comments. Some mentioned they had already read most of the books on the lists while others said it would help them make selections for summer reading and beyond.
With your future reading in mind, I’ve gone deeper into the survey data and extracted books with 5 to 9 mentions. And what a variety of choices! As always if you notice something incorrect, please let me know. FC = mainly fictional characters. FHF = famous historical figures. Congratulations to the authors of these wonderful books.
| A Burnable Book | Bruce Holsinger | FC |
| A Morbid Taste for Bones | Ellis Peters | FC |
| A Tale of Two Cities | Charles Dickens | FC |
| All My Love, Detrick | Roberta Kagan | FC |
| Atonement | Ian McEwan | FC |
| Azincourt | Bernard Cornwell | FC |
| Birdsong | Sebastian Faulks | FC |
| Boudica Series | Manda (MC) Scott | FHF |
| Cadfael Series | Ellis Peters | FC |
| Centennial | James Michener | FC |
| Checkmate | Dorothy Dunnett | FC |
| Code Name Verity | Elizabeth Wein | FC |
| Devil’s Brood | Sharon Kay Penman | FHF |
| Falls The Shadow | Sharon Kay Penman | FHF |
| Fingersmith | Sarah Waters | FC |
| Fire From Heaven | Mary Renault | FHF |
| The Firebird | Susanna Kearsley | FC |
| Flowers From the Storm | Laura Kinsale | FC |
| Forever Amber | Kathleen Winsor | MHF |
| Game of Kings | Dorothy Dunnett | FC |
| Gates of Fire | Stephen Pressfield | FC |
| Girl With a Pearl Earring | Tracy Chevalier | FHF |
| The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society | Mary Ann Shaffer & Anne Barrows | FC |
| Harold the King | Helen Hollick | FHF |
| Hawaii | James Michener | FC |
| Hild | Nicola Griffith | MHF |
| Hornblower Series | C.S. Forester | FC |
| Innocent Traitor | Alison Weir | FHF |
| Jane Eyre | Charlotte Bronte | FC |
| Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell | Susanna Clarke | FC |
| Killer Angels | Michael Shaara | FC |
| King Hereafter | Dorothy Dunnett | FHF |
| Longbourn | Jo Baker | FC |
| Lymond Chronicles | Dorothy Dunnett | FC |
| Maisie Dobbs Series | Jacqueline Winspear | FC |
| Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles | Margaret George | FHF |
| Medicus | Ruth Downie | FC |
| Memoirs of Cleopatra | Margaret George | FHF |
| Mistress of the Art of Death | Ariana Franklin | FC |
| My Name is Red | Orhan Pamuk | FC |
| North and South | John Jakes | FC |
| One Corpse Too Many | Ellis Peters | FC |
| Peggy Pinch | Malcolm Noble | FC |
| People of the Book | Geraldine Brooks | FC |
| Poldark | Winston Graham | FC |
| Possession | A.S. Byatt | FC |
| Regeneration | Pat Barker | FC |
| Sarah’s Key | Tatiana de Rosnay | FC |
| Shadow of Night | Deborah Harkness | FC |
| Shardlake Series | C.J. Sansom | FC |
Somehow I missed this second bunch of titles 🙁
| Sharpe Series | Bernard Cornwell | FC |
| Silent in the Grave | Deanna Raybourn | FC |
| Snow Flower and the Secret Fan | Lisa See | FC |
| Stonehenge | Bernard Cornwell | FC |
| The Autobiography of Henry VIII | Margaret George | FHF |
| The Count of Monte Cristo | Alexandre Dumas | FC |
| The Crystal Cave | Mary Stewart | Myth |
| The Daughter of Time | Josephine Tey | FC |
| The Empty Throne | Bernard Cornwell | FC |
| The Forever Queen | Helen Hollick | FHF |
| The Forgotten Garden | Kate Morton | FC |
| The Killer Angels | Michael Shaara | FC |
| The Last Kingdom | Bernard Cornwell | FC |
| The Miniaturist | Jessie Burton | FC |
| The Mists of Avalon | Marion Zimmer Bradley | Myth |
| The Nightingale | Kristin Hannah | FC |
| The Reckoning | Sharon Kay Penman | FHF |
| The Red Queen | Philippa Gregory | FHF |
| The Red Tent | Anita Diamant | MHF |
| The Scarlet Lion | Elizabeth Chadwick | FHF |
| The Shadow of the Wind | Carlos Ruiz Zafon | FC |
| The Signature of All Things | Elizabeth Gilbert | FC |
| The Song of Achilles | Madeline Miller | FHF |
| The Three Musketeers | Alexandre Dumas | FC |
| The Twentieth Wife | Indu Sundaresan | FHF |
| The Warlord Chronicles | Bernard Cornwell | FC |
| Time and Chance | Sharon Kay Penman | FHF |
| Under the Eagle | Simon Scarrow | FC |
| Winds of War | Herman Wouk | FC |
Even more to choose from!
5 Responses
Thank you for the list! Perfect to get some inspiration for my holiday reads 🙂
Thank you Mary for all your hard work in completing this huge survey. Most of my favourite authors are here but there are lots more intriguing books and authors for me to investigate. I wonder if there might be any alternate history novels and authors such as Alison Morton and her brilliant Roma Nova series in any future surveys?
I’m sorry David Blixt wasn’t on the list…. he’s a gifted historical novelist! Two favorites are Stone and Steel in the Colossus Series, and The Master of Verona in The Star-Cross’d Series.