[Mithfânion]

I'm reading Penman's magnificent "Sunne in Splendour" about Richard III and was hoping others might have some other great ideas about Historical Fiction books. They need not necessarily relate to England.

Cheers

[Rob B]

Moved this to General Discussion.
~~FitzFlagg~~


Edit: just want to put a link in to our other thread of this nature: Any more old fashioned adventures? (http://www.sffworld.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=702), in anticipation of when it falls off the end of the page! :). Sammie.

[Arty]

Yeah, anything by Sharon Kay Penman...particularly If There Be Dragons and also When Christ and His Saints Slept.

[mundanemies]

Steven Pressfield's excellent Gates of Fire and Tides of War. First one tells of Thermopylai and Leonidas' 300 Spartans and the other of Alkibiades. Very good retellings of Anciet Greece.

Any historical novel by Mika Waltari.

Ross King's Ex Libris. After Interregnum in England.

Umberto Eco's brilliant Name of Rose and Foucault's Pendulum[/b]. Secret histories, very well written and full of interesting tidbits.

Wilbur Smith's South African historical romances are well-written entertainment, if not the cream of the crop http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

Eiji Yoshikawa's Musashi is very good, if not the most entertaining historical novel I've read. Tells the story of Musashi Miyamoto, legendary samurai/ronin who spent his life for learning how to fight. Strong stuff there.

Samuel Shellaberger's books have always been very nice reading. Mary Renault is one of the best, not to mention remarkable Dorothy Dunnett, who's simply divine. Sadly she passed away quite recently.

Oh, Rosemary Sutchcliff! Cecelia Holland.

It's been a while since I last read most of those, so I don't remember all the titles, not to mention that some of them I've read in Finnish http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

Orhan Pamük! Anything by him!

[SusF]

Robert Graves' I, Claudius and Claudius the God - Livia is the best villaness ever, and she's a historical character.

Susan

[Cadfael]

I second the Robert Graves books, brilliant!

I have to mention The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael by Ellis Peters, the series is made up of 18 stand-a-lone books about a 'detective' monk in the time of King Stephen.

Many years ago I read a book called We Speak No Treason, which re-tells the story of Richard the 1st, from the perspective of three courtiers, cannot remember the author. http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/frown.gif

[Mithfânion]

Gates of Fire seems just the kind of thing for me, so I'll definitly but that one. Very cool cover btw, the Bantam paperback.

I've heard a lot of great things about I claudius as well, they even made a miniseries out of that, didn't they?

If there be dragons is about Prince John and 12th century England isn't it?

Recently read an Alexander the great trilogy Manfredi (not available in the US i think, the movie will be based on it) soI'm not yet starting another trilogy on him (Renault wrote that one).

I heard great things about Dunnet (I think her first is Game of Kings) but I continuously find people saying that they are difficultly written. But since you have Umberto Eco in that list as well, I suppose that wasn't a problem for you ha ? http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif But are they difficult? I'm not a native English speaker soI might encounter some difficulties with old style English which would take away from my enjoyment of the books...

Should check out We speak no treason

[AuntiePam]

We Speak No Treason was written by Rosemary Hawley Jarman. The Amazon reviews are mixed. Maybe rightfully so. I read it years ago and loved it, but at that time, I was into historical "romance" more than history.

Rose Tremain writes good historical fiction too. "Restoration" was even made into a pretty decent movie.

Good historicals are hard to find, but I agree with everything everyone's listed here. Good choices.

Thomas Costain's books probably aren't in print, but he did an excellent series on the Plantaganets, and his book "The Tontine" was a good read too.

I hope this thread stays alive -- I'd like to see more recommendations.

Connie Willis' "Doomsday Book" is a nice mix of history and science fiction.

"Morality Play" by Barry Unsworth -- more than just a story with period costumes, food and dialect -- Unsworth's depiction of medieval thought and behavior is alien enough to ring very true.

[whitebelly]

mundanemies, at least someone who knows and likes Ohran Pamuk !!! http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif Let me clutch you to my white belly etc. etc. http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/wink.gif

Have you read 'My name is Red' yet? Haven't myself, it's groaning under the weight of twenty-odd fantasy books, but I'm tempted to move it on top of the pile, it's just too intriguing. "The Black Book" makes me want to go to Istanbul.

Those of you who like Eco, give Pamuk a try. He's much better.

wb

[This message has been edited by whitebelly (edited December 29, 2001).]

[Cadfael]

Thanks AuntiePam, you have put me out of my misery... I was racking my brain for the author of 'We Speak No Treason'.

BTW, the book is actually about Richard the 3rd, and is in three parts (all in a single book), The Maiden's Story, The Fool's (or Jester's??) Story and The Nun's Story.