This week’s Book Blogger Hop asks if we read historical fiction. Well... yeah. Not even “do you read historical fiction because...”
It’s too long to go into all the areas of historical fiction I’ve read over the years, since I discovered it at about eleven or twelve, so ...just a few memories. And that includes historical fantasy.
For some time I was bingeing on Richard III fiction. My very first, which I still reread occasionally, is We Speak No Treason by Rosemary Hawley Jarman. That one was beautiful! It’s seen from the viewpoint of three characters, the Maiden, the Fool and the Man Of Keen Sight. The Maiden becomes the mother of Katherine Plantagenet, Richard’s illegitimate daughter, who married the Earl of Huntingdon. We don’t know who her mother was, so she is invented. The Fool is Patch, Edward IV’s Court fool. He turns up in a sequel, The Courts Of Illusion, which was about the Perkin Warbeck business, and also featured the family of the Man Of Keen Sight. There was also an Elizabeth Woodville novel, The King’s Grey Mare, not as good as We Speak No Treason, but good. I believe the author eventually moved into fantasy.
If you enjoy Richard III fiction, there’s plenty to choose from, including murder mysteries and fantasy fiction, and I’ve read a whole lot of it. Here is a list on Goodreads. There are 43 there and that’s nowhere near all of them.
When I was younger, I enjoyed stuff set in the ancient world, such as Mary Renault’s The King Must Die(Theseus) and Howard Fast’s Spartacus. I actually have several copies of that one, found in secondhand shops, one of them hardcover. Another Spartacus novel I discovered back in secondary school was Arthur Koestler’s The Gladiators. However, I binged on Fast as well, all through those years - Moses Prince Of Egypt, Agrippa’s Daughter, My Glorious Brothers(which I found on the book rack in my local milk bar while buying bread and milk), his American history novels...It wasn’t until years later that I found out he was also a science fiction writer from the golden age of SF, plus writing crime fiction under a pen name.
I confess to having discovered Rosemary Sutcliff as an adult! By then, I was already a fan of Arthurian fiction, and was thrilled to discover her classic Arthurian novel The Sword At Sunset. It was, of course, only one of many about a family living through British history, beginning with Eagle Of The Ninth and ending some time in the Middle Ages. You knew the characters were descended from Marcus Flavius Aquila because of a family heirloom, a dolphin ring with a flawed emerald. That might be the only connection, but I’d read the line where whoever was the hero got it out and say, “Ohhh...” in delight.
I do have Arthurian favourites, of course, and that was my other binge reading. Apart from the Sutcliff novels, I love Mary Stewart’s Merlin novels, which had just a touch of fantasy and were based on Geoffrey of Monmouth. The first is The Crystal Cave, the only one to be dramatised. That’s worth finding if you can.
Bernard Cornwell’s Arthurian fiction is great too. His Warlord Chronicles have a touch of fantasy, but only a touch, and I have to say, any author who doesn’t like Lancelot is okay with me!
Another historical Arthur - with the tiniest bit of fantasy - is the one in Parke Godwin’s Firelord. This American author did a good job with British heroes. I just adored his Romano-British Arthur, whose mother was a sort of changeling, a daughter of a poverty stricken indigenous tribe swapped for the stillborn child of a Roman woman, to give her a chance at life. The natives are not really Faerie, but everyone is superstitious about them. It’s the only book where the Holy Grail quest begins with Arthur saying, “Oh, go look for your silly cup!”
The same author did the best Robin Hood fiction I ever read, Sherwood and Robin And The King, which we’re set, not in Richard the Lionheart’s era, but just after the conquest of William. This Robin is presented as a rebel, though he does eventually realise it’s going to cause a civil war and offers his allegiance to William. The Sheriff of Nottingham is a decent man in this duology and they become friends. The Sheriff marries Robin’s cousin.
In more recent years my historical fiction reading has been mixed with crime fiction, such as the Phryne Fisher novels and some set in Henry VIII’s England. It’s very easy to find those in your local library, and mine is particularly good.
So, do you have any historical favourites?
It’s too long to go into all the areas of historical fiction I’ve read over the years, since I discovered it at about eleven or twelve, so ...just a few memories. And that includes historical fantasy.
For some time I was bingeing on Richard III fiction. My very first, which I still reread occasionally, is We Speak No Treason by Rosemary Hawley Jarman. That one was beautiful! It’s seen from the viewpoint of three characters, the Maiden, the Fool and the Man Of Keen Sight. The Maiden becomes the mother of Katherine Plantagenet, Richard’s illegitimate daughter, who married the Earl of Huntingdon. We don’t know who her mother was, so she is invented. The Fool is Patch, Edward IV’s Court fool. He turns up in a sequel, The Courts Of Illusion, which was about the Perkin Warbeck business, and also featured the family of the Man Of Keen Sight. There was also an Elizabeth Woodville novel, The King’s Grey Mare, not as good as We Speak No Treason, but good. I believe the author eventually moved into fantasy.
If you enjoy Richard III fiction, there’s plenty to choose from, including murder mysteries and fantasy fiction, and I’ve read a whole lot of it. Here is a list on Goodreads. There are 43 there and that’s nowhere near all of them.
When I was younger, I enjoyed stuff set in the ancient world, such as Mary Renault’s The King Must Die(Theseus) and Howard Fast’s Spartacus. I actually have several copies of that one, found in secondhand shops, one of them hardcover. Another Spartacus novel I discovered back in secondary school was Arthur Koestler’s The Gladiators. However, I binged on Fast as well, all through those years - Moses Prince Of Egypt, Agrippa’s Daughter, My Glorious Brothers(which I found on the book rack in my local milk bar while buying bread and milk), his American history novels...It wasn’t until years later that I found out he was also a science fiction writer from the golden age of SF, plus writing crime fiction under a pen name.
I confess to having discovered Rosemary Sutcliff as an adult! By then, I was already a fan of Arthurian fiction, and was thrilled to discover her classic Arthurian novel The Sword At Sunset. It was, of course, only one of many about a family living through British history, beginning with Eagle Of The Ninth and ending some time in the Middle Ages. You knew the characters were descended from Marcus Flavius Aquila because of a family heirloom, a dolphin ring with a flawed emerald. That might be the only connection, but I’d read the line where whoever was the hero got it out and say, “Ohhh...” in delight.
Bernard Cornwell’s Arthurian fiction is great too. His Warlord Chronicles have a touch of fantasy, but only a touch, and I have to say, any author who doesn’t like Lancelot is okay with me!
Another historical Arthur - with the tiniest bit of fantasy - is the one in Parke Godwin’s Firelord. This American author did a good job with British heroes. I just adored his Romano-British Arthur, whose mother was a sort of changeling, a daughter of a poverty stricken indigenous tribe swapped for the stillborn child of a Roman woman, to give her a chance at life. The natives are not really Faerie, but everyone is superstitious about them. It’s the only book where the Holy Grail quest begins with Arthur saying, “Oh, go look for your silly cup!”
The same author did the best Robin Hood fiction I ever read, Sherwood and Robin And The King, which we’re set, not in Richard the Lionheart’s era, but just after the conquest of William. This Robin is presented as a rebel, though he does eventually realise it’s going to cause a civil war and offers his allegiance to William. The Sheriff of Nottingham is a decent man in this duology and they become friends. The Sheriff marries Robin’s cousin.
In more recent years my historical fiction reading has been mixed with crime fiction, such as the Phryne Fisher novels and some set in Henry VIII’s England. It’s very easy to find those in your local library, and mine is particularly good.
So, do you have any historical favourites?
10 comments:
There have been some great historical fiction books. With that, I am sometimes a little nervous about mixing history with fiction. If a book that I happen to want to read happens to be historical fiction, then I read it.
That’s interesting, Brian! What makes you nervous?
My Mum has a lot of concerns about historic fiction. She refuses to read it as she doesn't like the idea of presenting entirely fictional events as historic fact. Or putting words in people's mouths who may never have said or even thought them.
I don't share that worry if I feel that the author has done their research and hasn't added things for spectacle's sake. Perhaps my favourite is the Thomas Crowell books by Hilary Mantel. She's clearly done her research and does a great deal of respect to her characters and their real-life counterparts.
Robin Hood and King Arthur must be fair game though, even we're not entirely sure they were real people anyway!
I’m guessing your Mum reads historical non-fiction? Well, so do I, and love it. And I’ve written some for kids, but when you write it for kids, they prefer it to be true, but read like a story. So my children’s history books are all written for entertainment.
True, we don’t know about Robin Hood or King Arthur, but Parke Godwin’s Robin was just a character in a book about William’s rule, and he did it very well. Arthur was written, both by him and Rosemary Sutcliff, as what Arthur might have been if he was a Romano-Briton, and I found him convincing in both writers’ work. Both were well researched.
I’m somewhere in the middle of Wolf Hall, which I have in ebook, must finish it. Unfortunately I’ve discovered the TV series about Shakespeare, Upstart Crow, in the meantime, and Mark Rylance is sent up hilariously by a character called Wolf Hall, an actor who is brought in to play Shylock in The Merchant Of Venice, who does the full Mark Rylance overacting thing. That might make it hard to focus on the book...
Hi Sue - the Cadfael series came out in the 1970s ... but I gather are pretty realistic ... and I loved the reads - I'm sure there's a lot of reality in it ... I love Patrick Leigh Fermor's books - well researched, probably as memoir with truth - this is the sort of books I prefer reading.
The Once and Future King about King Arthur ...
It depends where one looks at it ... ie when I was a youngster I'd happily read fiction historical ... some truth - but as I've aged I've learnt more and developed my reading ... and now I can't easily read fiction ... so I need to concentrate when I read - makes reading a whole book quite difficult.
Hope this makes sense - cheers Hilary
Hi Hilary! Yes, I love the Brother Cadfael series too, I reread them as comfort reading. I first read The Once And Future King in my teens, and loved it. I have it in ebook now.
I enjoy both fiction and non fiction, but as a teacher librarian I have t need to read far more fiction.
I've read historical fiction all my life, ever since I read G A Henty's books set at various periods. So, many of the books and authors mentioned are among those I've read. I love historical mysteries like Cadfael, and recently read A Murder by Any Name by Suzanne Adair set in Elizabeth I's court - great read.
Although, I have a number of novels set in pre-Conquest England and Wales on my Kindle, my current favourite historical fiction authors are Elizabeth Wein (Code Name Verity) and Kate Quinn (The Huntress).
Yes, a novel doesn’t HAVE to be set hundreds of years ago to be historical fiction. It’s wonderful genre, isn’t it?
I've just written a MG short set in 1944 - awaiting critiques.
Yep, that’s historical fiction!
Post a Comment