Favourite Historical Fiction – Part 2

Source: Beyond the Elements of Style
Source: Beyond the Elements of Style

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!

Share this post

About the Author

Meet M.K.Tod

Meet M.K.Tod

The historical fiction author behind A Writer of History...

All Categories

Subscribe to the Blog

Receive the latest posts on writing and reading historical fiction via email.

Join 2,202 other subscribers

5 Responses

  1. 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?

  2. 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.

Leave a Reply