50 Essential Historical Fiction Books

Whether or not you consider yourself a fan of historical fiction, you've heard the names Hilary Mantel, Eleanor Catton, Anthony Doerr and Kristin Hannahrepeatedly over recent years. No longer dismissed as bodice-rippers rife with anachronisms or dreary textbooks dressed up in barely discernible plots, historical fiction is gaining the respect of critics and readers alike, regularly appearing on shortlists for major literary awards and on bestseller lists around the world.

Generally speaking, historical fiction is any story that is set in a time period in the past, but depending on who you ask, the criteria can be more - or less - stringent than that. The Walter Scott Prize, created in 2010 to recognize excellence in UK, Irish, and Commonwealth historical fiction, limits the definition to events that take place at least 60 years before publication, during a historical period with which the author has no personal experience.

Regardless of how long ago an historical novel takes place, accuracy and authenticity of the historical setting are absolutely essential. But that doesn't just apply to the physical setting; the worldview of the characters, their values, mores, and general sensibilities must accurately reflect their era. Truly great historical fiction has the ability to portray those sensibilities in a way that can do more than just provide a glimpse into the past - it can also provide insight into contemporary situations and ways of being.

The fact that we're talking about fiction also means that while historical authenticity is important, imagined elements of the story don't have to be based on fact. There is a wide variety of opinion on how much artistic license a writer should be permitted with fictional components, as reflected in the diverse selection below. For the actions and experiences of fictional characters, some will say the only limitation is the author's imagination but for non-fictional events and people, the story must stay true to the historical record. Others allow more leeway, allowing the author to put real people into imaginary situations, as long as the historical outcome remains unaltered.

The books listed below include examples of historical fiction by the strictest of definitions, as well as those that fudge the rules a bit - or a lot. Written over the last 200+ years, with settings that range from ancient Rome in Robert Graves' I, Claudius, to 19th century Egypt and an imaginary relationship between Gustav Flaubert and Florence Nightingale in Enid Shomer's The Twelve Rooms of the Nile, to 15th Centrury Florence in George Eliot's study of the Italian Renaissance, Romola.

50 Essential Historical Fiction Novels

The Nightingale

Kristin Hannah

Two sisters face horrific challenges in France during WWII.

 

I, Claudius

Robert Graves

A fictionalized autobiography of the Roman emperor Claudius.

 

All the Light We Cannot See

Anthony Doerr

This heartwrenching tale of World War II won the Pulitzer in 2015.

 

The Twentieth Wife

Indu Sundaresan

The story of one of the most controversial empresses of India's 16th century Mughal Empire.

The Other Boleyn Girl

Philippa Gregory

An entertaining if inaccurate portrayal of Anne Boleyn's sister, Mary.

 

Wolf Hall

Hilary Mantel

Booker Prize winner documenting Thomas Cromwell's rise to power in the court of King Henry VIII.

 

Bring Up the Bodies

Hilary Mantel

Sequel to Wolf Hall, chronicling Cromwell's machinations to rid Henry VIII of Anne Boleyn.

 

The Three Muskateers

Alexandre Dumas

Swashbuckling tale of d'Artagnan and the three Musketeers in 17th century France.

Silence

Shusaku Endo 

The story of a Portugese Jesuit missionary's persecution in 17th century Japan.

 

Waverley

Walter Scott 

Originally published in 1814 and set 100 years prior, considered the first historical novel.

 

A Tale of Two Cities

Charles Dickens

Parallel stories intersect in London and Paris during the French Revolution.

 

The Book of Negroes

Lawrence Hill 

An 18th century woman journeys from freedom in Africa, to slavery in the US, and back to freedom again.

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet

David Mitchell 

Love story between a clerk for the Dutch East India Company and a disfigured Japanese midwife.

 

War and Peace

Leo Tolstoy

Tolstoy's epic masterpiece depicting the French invasion of Russia during the Napoleonic era.

 

Death Comes for the Archbishop

Willa Cather

Two priests travel 1851 New Mexico in the wake of the Mexican-American War.

 

Gone With the Wind

Margaret Mitchell

The Pulitzer Prize-winning tale of the American South during the Civil War and Reconstruction.

The Leopard

Giuseppe di Lampedusa 

Sweeping saga of Sicilian society during Italian unification in the 19th century.

 

The Far Pavilions

M. M. Kaye 

This romantic epic set in 19th century India under British rule has been compared to Gone With the Wind.

 

Oscar and Lucinda

Peter Carey 

Winner of the 1988 Booker Prize, about the misadventures two gambling misfits in 19th century Australia.

 

Alias Grace

Margaret Atwood 

A fictionalized account of a notorious 1843 murder case in pre-Confederation Toronto, Canada.

Cloudsplitter

Russell Banks 

Story of radical 19th century abolitionist John Brown, told from the perspective of his only surviving son.

 

The Last Crossing

Guy Vanderhaeghe

Complex saga of Victorian England and the North American frontier, told from multiple points of view.

 

March

Geraldine Brooks

Winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize, retells Little Women from the perspective of the absent Mr. March.

 

Measuring the World

Daniel Kehlmann 

Two 19th-century German scientists with different approaches to measuring the world.

The March

E.L. Doctorow 

Sherman's March to the Sea near the end of the American Civil War, told through a large and diverse cast of characters.

 

The Long Song

Andrea Levy 

A bawdy, farcical, yet unflinching portrait of a 19th century Jamaican slave girl on the brink of emancipation.

 

The Painted Girls

Cathy Marie Buchanan

The model for Edgar Degas' Little Dancer Aged Fourteen is brought vividly to life.

 

The Sisters Brothers

Patrick Dewitt

Multiple award winner about two 19th century hired guns traveling from Oregon to California.

The Twelve Rooms of the Nile

Enid Shomer 

A fictional friendship between Florence Nightingale and Gustave Flaubert, set in Egypt in 1850.

 

The Luminaries

Eleanor Catton 

This Booker Prize winner part love story, part mystery, set against the backdrop of New Zealand's 19th century gold rush.

 

Caravans

James A. Michener

Story of an American diplomat in Afghanistan following WWII, originally published in 1963.

 

Troubles

J.G. Farrell 

Ineligible when published in 1970, Troubles was awarded the 'Lost Man Booker Prize' in 2010.

August 1914

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 

An epic chronicle of events leading up to the Russian Revolution.

 

Three Day Road

Joseph Boyden 

Two young Cree men from Northern Ontario become snipers for the Canadian army in WWI.

 

Midnight's Children

Salman Rushdie 

A story of children born at or near the moment of India's independence from Britain.

 

The Thorn Birds

Colleen McCullough 

Melodramatic family saga of early 20th-century life in the Australian outback.

The Poisonwood Bible

Barbara Kingsolver 

The family of a Baptist missionary adjusts to life in the Congolese jungle in the early 1960s.

 

Memoirs of a Geisha

Arthur Golden 

The fictional memoir of a geisha, from age nine to adulthood, in pre- and post WWII Japan.

 

The Night Watch

Sarah Waters 

An evocative story of London during WWII, told in reverse chronological order.

 

The Colony of Unrequited Dreams

Wayne Johnston 

A fictionalized portrait of Joey Smallwood, Newfoundland's colorful first premier.

The Historian

Elizabeth Kostova 

An interweaving of the stories of Vlad the Impaler, Count Dracula, and a 1930s search for Vlad's tomb.

 

Arthur & George

Julian Barnes 

The story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's efforts to exonerate George Edalji, a solicitor falsely accused of a crime.

 

Shanghai Girls

Lisa See 

When WWII reaches Shanghai, two sisters leave a life of privilege to enter arranged marriages in the US.

 

Half-Blood Blues

Esi Edugyan

Highly original story of an interracial jazz band in Berlin and Paris during the early days of World War II.

The Egyptian

Mika Waltari

1949 Finnish novel that was the bestselling foreign novel in the US until 1983.

 

The Pillars of Earth

Ken Follett 

Intrigue surrounds the construction of a cathedral in 12th century England.

 

Kristin Lavransdatter

Sigrid Undset 

1928 Nobel Prize-winning trilogy depicting Norwegian life in the Middle Ages.

 

The Name of the Rose

Umberto Eco

A highly-literary murder mystery set in a 14th century Italian monastery.

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

Victor Hugo

A gothic novel that inspired a flood of tourists to Paris' most famous cathedral.

 

Romola

George Eliot

Eliot's study of life in Florence during the 15th century Italian Renaissance.

The Raven

The Raven is black as night

But, her heart remains pure
She is always misunderstood
Her motives are always in question
She is seen as the dark messenger
That is far from the truth
Her messages come from above
They are laced with truth and love
They may not always be happy
But, they are the truth
She bears no feelings of spite nor malice
She makes no judgements of right or wrong
Her lonely voice echoes her hearts song
She spends her nights singing alone
She doesn't think of the future or the past
She only thinks of her given task
She spreads her wings and takes flight
For another dark and lonely night

Tearsica Brooks
Artist Unknown

THE 10 RUSSIAN LITERARY HEROINES YOU SHOULD KNOW

The recent screening of BBC’s War and Peace has inspired many a TV viewer to dust off their old copy of Tolstoy’s masterpiece and give it another go. Daring ones, seduced perhaps by the radiance of Natasha Rostova, might be persuaded to dig into the vast world of Russian literature in search of other memorable female characters. Where to begin? Look no further. Here is your guide to the VIPs of Russian literary heroines.

Yes, we know, all happy heroines are alike; each unhappy heroine is unhappy in her own way. But here’s the thing: In Russian literature, happy characters are scarce. In fact, Russian heroines share a predisposition to making things difficult for themselves. And that’s ok, because their beauty as literary characters derives, in great part, from their capacity to suffer, from their tragic destinies. From their Russianness.

The narrator of Back to Moscow, my debut novel, finds himself in Moscow, working—or pretending to work—on a PhD about Russian literary heroines. He navigates his way among the real women he encounters by recalling lessons he has learned reading the Russian classics. Except that, as he soon finds out, Russia is no longer the country described by Tolstoy or Chekhov. And Moscow at the turn of the 21st-century is a chaotic metropolis undergoing fast and profound transformations where women, well, rarely behave by the book.

The most important lesson to remember about Russian women characters is this: Their stories are not about overcoming obstacles so that they can live happily ever after. As the custodians of long-honored Russian values, Russian heroines know better; they know that there is more to life than happiness.

Tatyana Larina, Eugene Onegin

In the beginning, there was Tatyana. She is the Eve of Russian literature. Not just because she came first, but because Pushkin occupies a unique, godlike place in Russian hearts. Any Russian worth his salted cucumber is able to recite entire poems by the father of modern Russian literature (and, after a couple of vodkas, many will do so). Pushkin’s masterpiece, Eugene Onegin, is, in reality, not the story of Onegin, but that of Tatyana, the young innocent girl from the provinces who falls for him. Unlike Onegin, who is a cynical bon vivant corrupted by modern European values, Tatyana embodies the essence and purity of the Mysterious Russian Soul—including a proneness to self-sacrifice and a disdain for happiness, as exemplified in her celebrated rejection of the man she loves.

Anna Karenina

Unlike Pushkin’s Tatyana, who resists the temptation of taking off with Onegin, Tolstoy’s Anna decides to dump both her husband and her son so that she can elope with Wronsky. A bit of a drama queen, Anna is particularly good at making all the wrong choices, choices for which she will have to pay. Her main mistake is not, however, to have an affair or to abandon her child. Anna’s sin, the source of her tragic fate, is that in her “selfish” attempt to feed her own romantic and sexual desires, she forgot Tatyana’s self-sacrificing lesson: If you see light at the end of the tunnel, cool down and step aside; it might just be an oncoming train.

Sonya Marmeladova, Crime and Punishment

In Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, Sonya stands as the antithesis of Raskolnikov. Both a whore and a saint, Sonya accepts her existence as a long road of martyrdom. After learning about Raskolnikov’s crimes, she doesn’t take off; on the contrary, she takes it upon herself to save his soul, including, in a memorable scene, by pestering Raskolnikov with her Bible and reciting the story of Lazarus’ resurrection. Sonya is able to forgive Raskolnikov because she believes all men are equal before God, and God forgives. For remorseful murderers, a real catch.

Natalya Rostova, War and Peace

Natalya is everyone’s dream. Smart, cheerful, spontaneous. Natalya is fun. If Pushkin’s Tatyana seems too good to be true, Tolstoy’s Natalya feels real, alive. Partly because, in addition to her many qualities, she is also capricious, naive, coquettish and—in her own early 19th-century way—a bit of a tease. In War and Peace, Natalya begins as a charming teenager, exuding joy and vitality. As the novel advances and she grows older, she learns the lessons that life has set for her, taming her fickle heart and managing to become a fuller and wiser person, a woman who—uncharacteristically for Russian heroines—is still smiling after more than a thousand pages.

Irina Prozorova, Three Sisters

At the beginning of Chekhov’s Three Sisters, Irina, the youngest, is radiant and hopeful. While her older siblings, bored of life in the provinces, are whiny and moody, Irina’s naive soul is filled with endless optimism. She daydreams of going back to Moscow where, she believes, she will find true love and they will all be happy. But, as the chance of moving to Moscow evaporates, and Irina understands that she might be stuck in her village, she can’t help but lose her spark. Through Irina and her sisters, Chekhov shows us that life is a long succession of dull moments, only occasionally interrupted by short bursts of joy. As Irina, we all spend our time distracted by irrelevant thoughts, dreaming of a better future, but gradually accepting the unimportance of our own existence.

Liza Kalitina, Home of the Gentry

In Home of the Gentry, Turgenev nails the quintessential Russian heroine. Liza is young, naive, pure-hearted. She finds herself with two suitors: a young officer—handsome and cheerful—and an older sad married man. Guess her pick? Liza’s choice tells us a great deal about the Mysterious Russian Soul. She clearly goes for misery. Liza’s choice tells us that, in life, the pursuit of melancholic sorrow is as valid an option as any. At the end of the story, Liza gives up on love and enters a monastery, embracing a life of sacrifice and privation. “Happiness was not for me,” she says, by way of explanation. “Even when I had hopes for happiness, my heart was always heavy.” What a bundle of joy.

Margarita, The Master and Margarita

Chronologically the latest addition to the canon, Bulgakov’s Margarita—from The Master and Margarita—is as bizarre a heroine as they come. Beginning the novel as an unhappily married woman, she becomes the master’s mistress and muse, only to turn, later on, into a broom-flying witch. Margarita is a source of energy for the master, becoming—as Sonya had done for Raskolnikov—his healer, his lover, his savior. When the master is in trouble, Margarita turns to no other than Satan for help, and, after a love-driven Faustian arrangement, she is finally reunited with her lover, if not exactly in this world.

Olga Semenova, “The Darling”

In “The Darling,” Chekhov tells the story of Olga Semenova, a loving and gentle soul, a simple person who, we are told, lives to love. Poor Olga finds herself a young widow. Twice. With no man left to love, she has nothing to live for and retreats into isolation, with only the company of her cat. In a review of “The Darling,” Tolstoy wrote that Chekhov, intending to mock the unsophisticated woman, had accidentally created a most endearing character. Tolstoy went further, scolding Chekhov for being too harsh on Olga, by judging her intellect and not her soul. According to Tolstoy, Olga embodies the capacity of Russian women to love unconditionally, a virtue unknown to men.

 Madame Odintsova, Fathers and Children

In Turgenev’s Fathers and Children (often mistranslated as Fathers and Sons), Madame Odintsova is, as her name suggests in Russian, a lonely woman. At least by the standards of her time. Even if created as an odd character, Madame Odintsova has aged well and has become, among literary heroines, a kind of a pioneer. In contrast to other female characters in the novel, who submit to the obligations imposed on them by society, Madame Odintsova—who is not only childless, but also motherless and a widow—stubbornly perpetuates her independence, refusing, in a gesture reminiscent of Pushkin’s Tatyana, her one chance at true love.

Nastasya Filipovna, The Idiot

The heroine of The Idiot, Nastasya Filipovna, is, in herself, a study in Dostoyevskian complexity. Nastasya is an exploited woman and a victim of her own beauty. Orphaned as a little girl, she is raised by an older man to be a kept as a mistress. But in her attempt to break free from her destiny—and as she tries to become her own version of the femme fatale—wounded Nastasya cannot escape a sense of guilt that will cast a shadow over her decisions. In the tradition of other Russian heroines, life presents Nastasya with different options—mostly in the form of men. But by honoring that very tradition, she will be unable to make the right choices, succumbing instead to the forces of destiny and, ultimately, letting herself drift toward her own tragic end.

http://lithub.com/the-10-russian-literary-heroines-you-should-know/

Moles

Under the leaves, under

the first loose
levels of earth
they're there -- quick
as beetles, blind
as bats, shy
as hares but seen
less than these --
traveling
among the pale girders
of appleroot,
rockshelf, nests
of insects and black
pastures of bulbs
peppery and packed full
of the sweetest food:
spring flowers.
Field after field
you can see the traceries
of their long
lonely walks, then
the rains blur
even this frail hint of them --
so excitable,
so plush,
so willing to continue
generation after generation
accomplishing nothing
but their brief physical lives
as they live and die,
pushing and shoving
with their stubborn muzzles against
the whole earth,
finding it
delicious.

by Mary Oliver
Art Omar Rayyan

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