List your favorite Top 10 Historical Fiction Reads

[Francini]

1. Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
2. Sweet Savage Love - Rosemary Rogers (plus the other 3 in this series)
3. Taboo - Susan Johnson*
4. Prisoner of Desire - Jennifer Blake (and others set in New Orleans
5. One Wore Blue - Heather Graham
6. Devil's Bride - Stephany Laurens (and her other Cynster series)
7. Gypsy Lady - Shirlee Busbee
8. An Arranged Marriage - Jo Beverly (and her Malloren series)
9. Dust Devil - Rebecca Brandewyne
10. Oak Hill - Jane Cox

Other favorite authors are Suzanne Enoch, Sabrina Jeffries, Brenda Joyce, Nicole Jordan Lisa Kleypas, Laura Kinsale, Julia London, Candace Camp, Marsha Canham, Catherine Coulter, Judy Devereaux, Christina Dodd.

*Her earlier novels are historical and some even have footnotes, but her latest books are pure sex and get rather boring.

[boswellbaxter]

Welcome, Francini! Glad to have you here.

[diamondlil]

Welcome to the boards Francini. Good to see another historical romance fan!

[zsigandr]

My list would have to go as follows, although it is tough to list just 10! The more I read, the more difficult it becomes to narrow it down, but here we go:

1. The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman
2. The Josephine B Trilogy by Sandra Gulland
3. Fatal Majesty by Reay Tannahill
4. The Wales Trilogy (Here be Dragons, Falls the Shadow and the Reckoning)
by Sharon Kay Penman
5. Labryinth by Kate Mosse
6. The Virgin's Lover by Phillippa Gregory
7. Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir
8. Green Darkness by Anya Seton
9. Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier
10. Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette by Sena Naslund

[SarahWoodbury]

Here's my list, in no particular order:

Brother Cadfael by Ellis Peters
1632 by Eric Flint
Sherwood by Parke Godwin
The Welsh Trilogy by Sharon Kay Penman
Shogun by James Michener
God is an Englishman by Delderfield
Rise to Rebellion (and others) by Jeff Shaara
Masters of Rome by Colleen McCullough
The Archer's Tale by Bernard Cornwell
The Heaven Tree Trilogy by Edith Pargeter

I also plowed through The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova which I found strangely compelling. I loved Outlander the first time I read it. My daughter votes for The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

[Mattigan]

Wales Trilogy- S.K. Penman
The Heaven Tree Trilogy- Edith Pargeter
Outlander series- Diana Gabaldon
Katherine- Anya Seton
Merlin/Arthur series- Mary Stewart
London- Edward Rutherford
Sarum- Edward Rutherford
Legacy- Susan Kay
Sunne in Splendour- Sharon K. Penman (well, all of her books,actuallly)
City of Dreams/Glory/-Shadowbrook - Beverly Swerling
The Emancipator's Wife- Barbara Hambly

That's the list today and as you can tell- I don't do math!

[Ash]

I read Emancipator's Wife last summer and loved it. I remember learning about Mary Todd Lincoln as a kid, how she was insane. This book brought forth such a compelling (if sometimes irriating) person. Have you read other Hambly books? I was a fan of her fantasy books in college, esp the Darth Trilogy.

[Leyland]

I think I need order Pargeter's Heaven Tree Trilogy. I keep seeing it favored so much here.

[Julianne Douglas]

Here are my top 10 favorite reads:

1. Kristin Lavransdattir trilogy by Sigrid Undset
2. Pawn in Frankincense by Dorothy Dunnett
3. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
4. Forever by Pete Hamill
5. Music and Silence by Rose Tremain
6. Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
7. The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan
8. Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill
9. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
10. Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles

It's been fun reading everyone's lists and remembering books I'd read long ago!

[Nefret]

[quote=""Leyland""]I think I need order Pargeter's Heaven Tree Trilogy. I keep seeing it favored so much here.[/quote]

Is that still in print? I can't seem to find it.