Historical Fiction - learning while I read!

Historical fiction is by far my favourite genre. It feels like a way of learning something new whilst also indulging in the ultimate pleasure.

I began in my early teens by borrowing my mum's books and reading authors like Georgette Heyer, Elizabeth Jane Howard, and Rosamunde Pilcher, then followed those with choices on my own such as Phillippa Gregory, Hilary Mantel and Tracy Chevalier. Meeting Louis de Berniere's Captain Corelli was the highlight of my 16th summer. I loved them all, and used to search out novels that were well over 400 pages because those allowed me to stay in their far away worlds for as long as possible.

For history enthusiasts, historical fiction serves as a cornerstone that vividly resurrects the ways of life from bygone eras. The genre, often characterized by its immersive storytelling and attention to detail, has produced some best-selling literary works that span decades. While this genre has historically been dismissed as trite, there is now a surge in its popularity, and whether their storylines explore the Tudor era or other important historical epochs, readers have remained intrigued.

My Top Historical Fiction Novels

To celebrate this genre, here is a list of my favourites: 

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles 

This is the book that I now recommend to anyone that wants an epic historical novel spanning many generations.  In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.
It is one of the best books I have ever read and the TV adaptation with Ewan McGregor in the title role is really worth a watch too. 

Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres 

This is one story that has always stayed with me, mainly because the ending shows just how devastating war is to the every day lives of the peopler affected. It is 1941 and Captain Antonio Corelli, a young Italian officer, is posted to the Greek island of Cephallonia as part of the occupying forces. At first he is ostracised by the locals, but as a conscientious but far from fanatical soldier, whose main aim is to have a peaceful war, he proves in time to be civilised, humorous - and a consummate musician.

Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier 

I adore the way Tracy Chevalier paints a distant age with a rich and provocative palette of characters. Told through a variety of shifting perspectives- wives and husbands, friends and lovers, masters and their servants, and a gravedigger's son, this story follows the fortunes of two families in the emerging years of the twentieth century.

The Grand Sophy by Georgette Hayer

Georgette Heyer created The Grand Sophy by tapping into the English Regency era, where society had very stiff expectations. Like most of Heyer’s work, The Grand Sophy has a riveting component to it: the ability to whisk readers away to a different world, where manners were as rigid as corsets and societal norms dictated every move. Heyer’s skillful storytelling follows the story of Sophy Stanton-Lacy, a strong-willed and unconventional young woman, and Charles Rivenhall, a wealthy heir. The two have different worldviews, but fall in love eventually.

Russka by Edward Rutherfurd 

Rutherfurd's incredible novels have long been a favourite of mine. He manages to take complicated Historical events and intertwine them with the lives of normal people to make them so much more relatable to the reader. Spanning 1800 years of Russia's history, people, politics, and culture, Russka tells a grand saga that is as multifaceted as Russia itself. This is a story of a great civilisation made human, played out through the lives of four families who are divided by ethnicity but united in shaping the destiny of their land.

The Verdun Affair by Nick Dybeck 

Some of the most powerful war stories also have interweaving themes of romance and human sorrow. The most incredible thing about The Verdun Affair, Dybek ushers his readers into the aftermath of Europe’s World War I by following the story of Chicago natives Tom and Sarah Hagen, two Americans struggling to wrap their minds around the devastation of the war, but gradually developing an illicit affair.

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell 

I have fond memories of watching the iconic movie adaptation with my nana but reading the book itself opens up a world of complex issues like social class, race, war, gender and slavery in a way that doesn't come across in the film. To achieve this, Mitchell introduced readers to Scarlett O'Hara, whose character evolves as she navigates multiple changes and difficulties within the story. Scarlett is considered one of literature's most memorable and complex heroines, and Gone with the Wind is a monumental piece of literary art in American history. 

Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher

This was one borrowed from my mum and I have read it so many times. Against the backdrop of an elegant Cornwall mansion before World War II and a vast continent-spanning canvas during the turbulent war years, this involving story tells of an extraordinary young woman's coming of age, coming to grips with love and sadness, and in every sense of the term, coming home... Brimming with awesome, unforgettable characters, Coming Home is a book I treasure forever.