Adult historical fiction..YAWN

[donroc]

Divia,

B&N and the other 1 or 2 surviving chains make it near impossible to shelve good HF from the independent small publishers. The owner of huge bookstore near where the HNS conference will be told me he cannot be bothered to stock books from small independents, Yet, the majors do publish many wallbangers, At one B&N, not the stone headed manager, but the PR lady ordered several copies of Rocamora twice, they sold out even though placed at the bottom of a shelf, and still he did not promote me as a local author or order more. You will do better searching here, on goodreads, or at the HNS conference.

[Divia]

JaneConsumer, I did read that and I thought it was good as well!

[quote=""Mythica""]I've been keeping a Downton-like reading list on Amazon, maybe there's something on there you haven't read yet which will interest you: http://www.amazon.com/lm/R1UJ14CDGJJAML ... lm_title_2 [/quote]

Rockin! This helps. Thanks.

[quote=""Misfit""]There's also a Dowton Abbey like books list at Goodreads. Linky.[/quote]

Ah, this is also helpful.

[quote=""MLE""]Divia, it isn't your era, and it's Italy, but I think you might enjoy Elizabeth Loupas' Second Duchess. For one thing, it's pretty fast-moving, almost YA in places. Also, it involves the regrets of a teenager (POV as a ghost) and the mystery of how she died. Quite a different experience, but if you look at the reviews, you'll see I'm not the only one who liked it.[/quote]

Actually, that does sound good. I do like myself a ghost book!

[quote=""donroc""]Divia,

B&N and the other 1 or 2 surviving chains make it near impossible to shelve good HF from the independent small publishers. The owner of huge bookstore near where the HNS conference will be told me he cannot be bothered to stock books from small independents, Yet, the majors do publish many wallbangers, At one B&N, not the stone headed manager, but the PR lady ordered several copies of Rocamora twice, they sold out even though placed at the bottom of a shelf, and still he did not promote me as a local author or order more. You will do better searching here, on goodreads, or at the HNS conference.[/quote]

hmm, good point! I never thought about that. And to be fair B&N didn't have any HF novels except Gregory and a few others. Blah.

Thanks everyone. You have been super helpful!

[Veronica]

How about Shadowbrook by Beverly Swerling?

[Ariadne]

If you like good historical ghost stories, I finished one recently that was excellent and very spooky - Simone St. James's An Inquiry Into Love and Death. It was published last week. I was at home by myself reading it one afternoon when the screen door flew open in the wind and then banged shut. I about jumped out of my skin It's set in 1920s England.

[Elizabeth]

Another possibility for fast-moving, somewhat shorter HF is historical mystery. There's a huge list here, sorted out by place and time:

Crime Thru Time's Timeline

Emily, thank you so much for mentioning Duchess.

[Mythica]

[quote=""Elizabeth""]Another possibility for fast-moving, somewhat shorter HF is historical mystery. There's a huge list here, sorted out by place and time:

Crime Thru Time's Timeline

Emily, thank you so much for mentioning Duchess. [/quote]

Holy historical mystery overload, Batman!

[ekswanson]

Hello Divia- sorry to find you in this reading slump. I myself am often disappointed with adult oriented historical fiction, but as of late have stumbled into some authors whom I found to be quite entertaining. Dan Simmons, who wrote fantasy/sci fi for many years (to critical acclaim) has recently blazed a new trail in the realm of historical fiction. His books "The Terror" and "Drood" are what has been dubbed historical horror, blending rich historical detail with masterfully crafted themes of horror. "The Terror" focuses on the doomed 1845 Franklin Expedition, which tried to in vain to find the Northwest Passage. The two ships sent on that expedition became stuck in ice, and the precise fate of the crew, although widely speculated on, has never been determined. He does a capital job of incorporating Inuit mythology into the book, and the nightmare realm of ice and snow he paints drew me in like no other work of horror. "Drood" is a book I am finishing up now, one that speculates on the occult affiliations and rising madness of Charles Dickens. While painting a vivid portrait of life in Victorian England, Simmons succeeds in drawing readers into a headlong dash into a nightmare realm. The dankest reaches of the London Underworld feature prominently in this book, and the narrator, Dicken's close friend Wilkie Collins, is a gout-ridden opium addict whose increasingly warped narration lends to the steadily darkening mood of the book. I would heartily suggest either book (or both for that matter) if you are looking for some refreshing historical fiction.

Cheers,

Ed