We read historical fiction to travel through time and space. Generally speaking, historical fiction is any story that is set in a time period in the past. It is no longer considered as bodice-rippers rife with anachronisms or depressingly dull textbooks dressed up in barely discernible plots. Historical fiction is now gaining the respect of readers and critics alike, regularly appearing on bestseller lists and on shortlists for major literary awards around the world.
But this only works to demonstrate how high the quality of historical books has gotten. Whether or not you consider yourself a fan of historical fiction, you’ve heard the names Hilary Mantel , Eleanor Catton, Anthony Doerr and Kristin Hannah repeatedly over recent years.
What is Historical Fiction?
“HISTORICAL FICTION IS A LITERARY GENRE IN WHICH THE PLOT TAKES PLACE IN A SETTING LOCATED IN THE PAST.”
A historical fiction definition seems simple enough: it’s fiction that takes place in the past. Typically, historical fiction books are written about 30–50 years after the event has taken place. The read historical events and the time period of the book play as crucial of a role in the story as any character or plot twist. In addition, historical fiction is usually considered more realistic in nature. Though some of the Genre-bending books have added a bit of fantasy or magical realism flavour to enhance our understanding of the past.
Adding all historical fiction books into one manageable list is quite impossible, truly. This list, I believe, will give you the broadest view of our world’s shared past. Let us know in the comments below if we missed your favorite historical fiction book.
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Time Period and Setting: 1920s, Russia
Publication Year: 2019
Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov is sentenced to house arrest, except his ‘house’ arrest is confinement to the luxurious hotel Metropol. Should he leave the Metropol, he will be shot immediately. You get a view of his life by looking from the outside in. You see him living, working, entertaining, and growing over many years of his life in the hotel. His friendships with the staff at the hotel, his interactions with Anna, Nina, Sophia, and others are just wonderful. You hear of the many changes that occur in Russia over a long period of time. And you come to see that Count Rostov, is the luckiest man in all of Russia.
Count Rostov is a true gentleman. He has exquisite taste, loves literature, and has the most excellent manners. And he expects the same from others (well, manners at least). Having read Towles first book, I felt that he was really striving for this sense of elegance. But he just did not achieve it. Perhaps it was due to his character. In this book, he found that particular character and did achieve an elegant novel.
As in his first book as well, you can see his love of literature that is often discussed in this book. You get detailed descriptions of not only classic literature, but history, food, politics, and more. Oh the wonderful descriptions of the food will leave you salivating.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Time Period and Setting: 1800s, Nigeria
First Publication: 1958
Things Fall Apart is a fascinating historical fiction book that describes an African society both before and after the coming of Western European Imperialism. The first part of the book describes daily life in an area of Nigeria during the 19th Century. During this part, the novel focuses on Okonkwo, an ambitious and driven man who hopes to become a powerful person in his clan. Okonkwo is outwardly strong, but inwardly he is consumed by fear. The fear that he will become like his father: lazy, weak, and unable to support his wives and children. This fear causes him to consciously become everything his father is not. He is an angry and violent man, whose actions are often self destructive.
The characterization of Okonkwo and the overall characterization of the African society is one of the books strong points. Too often, these type of books portray their native characters as noble and their societies as idyllic Edens ultimately destroyed by western Imperialism.
Achebe chooses to portray Okonkwo as all too human and flawed and the Nigerian society he describes is far from idyllic. The clans war on each other and many of their customs are cruel by contemporary standards (twins are considered evil and are abandoned in the forest to die). Still, it is a vibrant culture rich in heritage and beliefs and Achebe does a good job of describing it and making it come alive. In the 2nd half of the book, white missionaries arrive and the society begins to change as their customs are deemed evil and many of their people embrace the new religion.
Written in the 1950’s in the years immediately preceding Nigeria’s independence when the British were losing their hold on Africa, Achebe reasserts the position of African identity in his poignant and seminal novel, Things Fall Apart. In context of when Achebe was writing, pervading dehumanizing stereotypes of Africans were commonplace (in part, a vestige of Conrad’s, Heart of Darkness) and deeply ingrained. When one reads the book in this light, it becomes clear how Achebe redresses the balance and beautifully rewrites the narrative of his ancestors to offer a truer reflection of reality.
Doc by Mary Doria Russel
Time Period and Setting: Late 1800s, U.S.
Publication Year: 2011
Doc by Mary Doria Russel is a historical fiction novel focused on the life story of Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp. Holliday is a fascinating character. Plagued by tuberculosis, he moves West for the climate. He is very well educated and longs for worldly companionship which he ultimately finds in unusual places.
A precursor to Epitaph, Doc chronicles the early days of Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp’s partnership in Dodge City. Even more than the later novel, Russell eschews most Western cliches, with only a few bursts of quick, sudden violence rather than elaborate action scenes. Instead, she treats us to a moody character piece, from Doc’s divided identities (as a genteel dentist and short-tempered gunfighter, a Southern Democrat who pals around with Midwestern Republicans, a tubercular tough guy) to the fission among the Earp brothers (the politically ambitious Wyatt resents James’ meddling in prostitution) and the curious camaraderie that develops among them (especially Morgan learning to appreciate Dickens and Dostoevsky from Doc).
The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
Time Period and Setting: Ancient Israel
Publication Year: 2011
The Dovekeepers is a historical fiction story of four women living in 75 C.E. C.E. means Common Era a measurement of time that is gaining popularity in literature. The Roman Empire is set about to dominate and these four women are trapped in King Herod’s former compound with about 1000 others who have fled their homeland. They work in a dovecote-a place that houses thousands of doves. They gather their eggs and more importantly, their excrement which is used as fertilizer for their fragile orchards.
Alice Hoffman did an incredible job of historically researching this novel. The daily lives, passions, family and diet are all well documented. Hoffman recreates a fictional account of the historical events leading up to the final zealous act, told through four distinct voices, the women who kept the doves at Masada. Even though in their culture they were little more than possessions, these four managed to hold onto their individuality by weaving new patterns, fitting feathers to arrows, baking bread for the enemy, and passing on healing knowledge.
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Time Period and Setting: 1800s, England
Publication Year: 2002
Fingersmith is a fast paced historical fiction novel, chock full of twists and turns and with a cast of colourful characters including some excellent Dickensian villains. The novel is a three part tale, written as a postmodern feminist rendition of a Victorian melodrama in its Gothic, Dickensian (Oliver Twist) splendor, with ample touches of the decadent extravagance of the Greek gods Priapus and Venus, as well as the somewhat toned-down values of Brontë and Poe. Greed, treachery, love, and moral ambiguities splashes the otherwise all too familiar theme of Gothic terror, intrigue and madness with some unique plot points and introduces an alternative version of love to this historical fictional saga.
Parts one and three are told from the viewpoint of Sue, a young woman who has been brought up among petty thieves and crooks and is part of a plan to defraud Miss Maud Lilley, a rich young lady, of her fortune. Part two is told from the viewpoint of Maud. It is difficult to write too much about the plot without giving away spoilers so I will just say that all is not what it seems, and leave it at that!
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Time Period and Setting: 1960s, India
Publication Year: 1997
India’s insane caste system. Forbidden love. Consequences of small actions, guilt, duplicity, anger and ultimately tragedy this story weaves a gripping tale. The twins Estha and Rahel are forever scarred by a tragedy when their young English cousin comes for a visit.
Growing up in Kerala by a river where there mother Ammu is trying to live with her family that tolerates her but worships her brother Chacko who is an overgrown spoilt child in an adults body. Chacko goes to Oxford where he meets an English woman and marries her. They have a baby girl and then divorce with the mother keeping the daughter. He goes back to India to manage the families pickle factory. It is a time in India of political upheavals and he faces unrest from a communist union organizer. In this atmosphere his ex wife Margaret arrives with his daughter Sophie for a holiday after her second husband dies suddenly. Consequently, events happen that will influence their lives forever more.
The description of the countryside, heat evokes images in the mind. This historical fiction book also captures tenderness, compassion and brutality. This at times funny, tragic and poignant novel is a worthy Man Booker prize winner. I also found out a sequel has been written called the Ministry of Happiness.
Time Period and Setting: 960s in Jackson, Mississippi
First Publication: 2009
This is a historical fiction book about what it is like being a black woman in the South in the 1960’s. The Help is a wholesome attempt to throw light on the plight of the black maids working for the white ladies of Jackson, Mississippi. The year was 1962. The year after which Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous speech at Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. He declared that the time had come to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. It was a hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Yet, justice was a dream standing yonder. It was in such a climate that Kathryn Stockett chose to gently lay the foundation of the story on.
The Help, at its core divulges the alienation and the segregation suffered by the black maids, who were trusted enough to play a pivotal role, or sometimes the only role, in raising the white babies. The irony be in the fact that they were considered good enough for shaping the morals of the toddlers but not enough to leave them alone with the silverware. And while the white ladies were playing bridge and laying gossip on the vine, the maids were taking care of the house, their men, their babies.
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Time Period and Setting: Nazi occupied France during the second world war.
First Publication: 2015
‘The Nightingale’ is a historical fiction, set in German-occupied France during WWII. Spanning the years of the war, this riveting story follows two sisters as they struggle to survive and persevere through the Nazi invasion. As the reader, you get to see the war that was taking place on the home front from each sister’s unique vantage point. It is a heart wrenching, beautiful and tragic story.
As the older sister, Vianne feels responsible for keeping her younger sister, Isabelle, safe. When the occupation begins, Isabelle is sent to stay with Vianne in the country, being cast out of Paris by her father. Vianne’s husband, Antoine, has been called to report to the Army, leaving Vianne and their young daughter, Sophie, behind. As the Germans invade Paris, Isabelle begins the trek to her sister’s home, witnessing the atrocities committed by the invading troops firsthand.
By the time that Isabelle arrives on Vianne’s doorstep, she is determined to join the resistance and make a difference. Young and impulsive, Vianne is certain that her younger sister will get herself, if not all of them, killed. Their relationship is tenuous, at best, and Vianne struggles to get through to her strong-minded sibling. Vianne is naive, having not witnessed the actions of the invading Nazis, as her sister had. She believes that if they keep their heads down and don’t draw attention to themselves, they’ll be okay. She follows the rules and tries to reign in Isabelle’s defiant behaviors before it is too late.
However, as time passes and the occupation grows increasingly difficult, the sisters go their separate ways. Each of them sets out on a different course, trying to survive the best way they know how. Despite the distance between them, each sister ends up fighting the Nazi invasion in different ways. The bold and daring Isabelle actively assists allied airmen in their escapes, while the mild-mannered Vianne begins helping hide away Jewish children.