Favorite HF Author?

rebecca · Post by **rebecca** » Tue June 12th, 2012, 2:56 am

[quote=""Michele Kallio""]I would have to say that Elizabeth Chadwick and Sharon Kay Penman top my list of favourite HF authors. I would add Barbara Erskine and Robert Graves. The more I think of it the more names I come up with, but, the above named are definitely my favourites![/quote]

I agree with Chadwick(can't wait for her Eleanor of Aquitaine series)and I love Penman. I also enjoyed Taylor Caldwell when I was in my teens and Edith Wharton....As far as that goes I also enjoyed Catherine Cookson-They called her books 'pot boilers' but I think she had great insight into human nature. I have read ALL of her books.

Bec

Wolfshead · Post by **Wolfshead** » Wed September 26th, 2012, 3:35 pm

Bernard Cornwell is the one I look out the most for, although I've never read any of his Sharpe novels (not really my time period).

BrianPK · Post by **BrianPK** » Wed October 3rd, 2012, 12:57 am

I can't praise Nigel Tranter enough. I've been reading him for years now and I've become very attached to his style of writing. I find his novels read even better 2nd or 3rd time around. If I were to be a castaway on a desert island I'd be perfectly happy with his novels and also a few of Bernard Cornwell's and Anya Seton's of course.

Helen_Davis · Post by **Helen_Davis** » Sun November 11th, 2012, 2:51 pm

Can I say myself? I will be published.

Just kidding(although I've been told by several agents I have talent.) Michelle Moran, no question.

markbutler532 · Post by **markbutler532** » Fri January 18th, 2013, 3:03 pm

Conn Iggulden! His research is incredible...For the Conqueror Series he actually spent time in Mongolia living with the tribes! Oh and Bernard Cornwell, I'm a sucker for the Sharpe books.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Mon June 24th, 2013, 11:17 am

I second James Michener and add Christian Jacq. Charlton Daines is my new favourite author though.

I'm also planning to read more Ronald Frame, and I like the earlier books by Edward Rutherfurd.

Gabriele Campbell · Post by **Gabriele Campbell** » Sun July 21st, 2013, 3:06 pm

[quote=""markbutler532""]Conn Iggulden! His research is incredible...For the Conqueror Series he actually spent time in Mongolia living with the tribes! Oh and Bernard Cornwell, I'm a sucker for the Sharpe books.[/quote]

Too bad he couldn't also spend some time with Caesar, because those books are so full of stupid mistakes that I gave up on the series.

JenniferLovesRoxi · Post by **JenniferLovesRoxi** » Wed August 7th, 2013, 11:51 pm

I'm a little late to this thread but I wanted to put in my two cents.

I love Pauline Gedge. I started off reading her HF set in Ancient Egypt and fell in love with her writing completely. One of my absolute all- time favorite books ever is Child of the Morning about Hatshepsut. I had had her The Eagle and the Raven on my TBR pile for years but always hesitated to read it. Often, when an author writes a lot of excellent books set in a certain time or place and then switch to something totally different, they seem to be lacking in some ways. But when I did finally pick up The Eagle and the Raven I remembered all over again why I fell in love with Pauline Gedge in the first place.

Juliet Marillier- Marillier is technically more Historical Fantasy than Historical Fiction, but her Sevenwaters trilogy is simply beautiful, particularly the first book Daughter of the Forest. One of my favorite books ever.

Sharon Kay Penman- Her The Sunne in Splendour is perhaps the one book that I will forever compare all other HF books to. Perfection.

Stephanie Dray- I just discovered this relatively new author a few months ago but I read everything she has written so far and loved every one of them, particularly her short story The Princess of Egypt Must Die which I really which she would turn into a full length novel.

Margaret George- her The Memoirs of Cleopatra made me fall in love with history. This was the first HF book I ever read and the only reason I even picked it up was because I was looking for the longest book I could find in the bookstore and this was it. I had always hated history until I read this and I have been an HF fanatic ever since. The Autobiography if Henry VIII was also amazing.

Okay, I know this thread is called Favorite Author-- singular, not plural, but there is no way I can pick just one. These are the authors off the top of my head that immediately come to mind when I think about authors and books that really left a lasting impression on me.