List your favorite Top 10 Historical Fiction Reads

donroc · Post by **donroc** » Fri November 14th, 2008, 12:23 pm

[quote=""Anna Jacobs""]Interesting to see everyone's Ten Top Reads. As my first post to this group, here are mine:

1. Friday's Child - Georgette Heyer
2. Brother Cadfael - how can you choose just one?
3. World From Rough Stones - Malcolm Macdonald
4. Jack Mercybright - Mary E. Pearce
5. Morning Glory - LaVyrle Spencer
6. A Parcel of Land - Mary Ann Gibbs
7. A Civil Contract - Georgette Heyer
8. Village School - Miss Read
9. A Horseman Riding By - R F Delderfield
10. Poldark - Winston Graham - whole series, really[/quote]

Welcome, Anna, and enjoy.

nona · Post by **nona** » Fri November 14th, 2008, 3:45 pm

Georgette Heyer, is she historcal fiction or historical romance? I know it sounds horrible but I bought two of her books last month but haven't read or much less had a chance to glance between the covers at them.

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Fri November 14th, 2008, 3:56 pm

I would class them as historical romance really, regency romances. They are a little like less wordy Jane Austen's! Quite amusing and fun.

diamondlil · Post by **diamondlil** » Fri November 14th, 2008, 7:33 pm

[quote=""nona""]Georgette Heyer, is she historcal fiction or historical romance? I know it sounds horrible but I bought two of her books last month but haven't read or much less had a chance to glance between the covers at them.[/quote]

Some are more historical focussed than others - An Infamous Army is very historically focussed, but then there are others that are pure romance.

Aneca · Post by **Aneca** » Sat November 15th, 2008, 9:53 am

This is a hard question to choose just 10 and more so because I've just read all your favourites and that made me remind more books and add quite a few to my wish list. Anyway here's my list in no particular order:

Outlander series - Diana Gabaldon
Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley (do these count?)
The Angelique series - Anne and Serge Golon
The Sunne In Splendor - Sharon Kay Penman
Lords of The White Castle - Elizabeth Chadwick
Shadows and Strongholds - Elizabeth Chadwick
Katherine - Anya Seton
The Roselynde Chronicles - Roberta Gellis
Mistress of The Revolution - Catherine Delors
The Red Tent -Anita Diamant

AuntiePam · Post by **AuntiePam** » Sun December 7th, 2008, 4:11 am

Wow. Katherine is on a lot of lists. It's a favorite of mine too.

Also:

The Crimson Petal and the White - Michel Faber
Fingersmith - Sarah Waters
An Instance of the Fingerpost - Ian Pears
Heart of the Country - Greg Matthews (misanthropic hunchbacked buffalo hunter -- check it out)
Lonesome Dove - McMurtry
Alias Grace - Atwood
Slammerkin - Donoghue
Voyage of the Narwahl - Andrea Barrett
The Forsyte Saga - Galsworthy (probably not HF)
The Last Plantaganets - Costain (or The Tontine)
The Foxes of Harrow - Frank Yerby (anything by Yerby)

Leyland · Post by **Leyland** » Sun December 7th, 2008, 12:33 pm

Katherine by Anya Seton
The Turquoise by Anya Seton
Green Darkness by Anya Seton
Great Maria by Cecelia Holland
Celia Garth by Gwen Bristow
The Marsh Kings Daughter by Elizabeth Chadwick
A Catch of Consequence by Diana Norman
Gap Creek by Robert Morgan
Speaks the Nightbird by Robert McCammon
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Honorable Mention:
The Secret Lion by CW Gortner
The Serpent Garden by Judith Merkle Riley (most all her books, really)

Helen_Davis · Post by **Helen_Davis** » Sun December 7th, 2008, 10:50 pm

In no real order

Forever Amber
Matilda Bone
GWTW
So Far From Home
The Lady in the Tower
The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn]
I, Elizabeth
Daughter of the Nile
Frida
Santa Evita

Leo62 · Post by **Leo62** » Sun December 7th, 2008, 11:09 pm

Ooh so hard...my current (rather than *nostalgic*) choice would be -

In no particular order:

The Crimson Petal and the White - Michel Faber
Gates of Fire - Steven Pressfield
Ulverton - Adam Thorpe
Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
The Star of the Sea - Joseph O'Connor
Possession - AS Byatt
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell (not sure if this counts...)
Red Shift - Alan Garner
A Place of Greater Safety - Hilary Mantel
Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier

I would put Mists of Avalon, but that seems more like myth/fantasy rather than HF to me...

ETA: I just realised that hardly any of these are set in my favourite periods. Go figure...

Margaret · Post by **Margaret** » Tue December 9th, 2008, 8:36 pm

There are soooo many really good historical novels. I am just going to list my top ten favorites of the historical novels I read (or reread) in 2008:

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann
Conceit by Mary Novik
A Tabernacle for the Sun by Linda Proud
Great Maria by Cecelia Holland
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman
The Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin

I posted a little more about each of these and why they made my "2008 top ten" at HistoricalNovels.info.