re: Historical Fiction Suggestions?

I’ll add in the Lonesome Dove saga

The Accursed Kings series- covers the reign of Philip the Fair and his children, and inspired George RR Martin to write Game of Thrones. The first 6 books are absolutely amazing (7 was written a lot later, in a different style- a skip for me).

Harlot's Ghost by Norman Mailer tells the story of a 2nd generation CIA agent from the early days of the Cold War to the '80s. Mailer promised a sequel to the semi-cliffhanger ending but never got around to it.

Just Takin' Orders by Clyde Vidrine is an insider's look at Fast Eddie Edwards in the roaring '70s. The author was shot dead on the steps of the Caddo Parish courthouse in 1986.

Master's of Rome by Colleen McCullough is a 7 book series detailing the fall of the Republic from the murders of the Gracchai brothers to the defeat of Mark Antony. The similarities to our modern politics are horrifying. (Paid rioters played a huge role in the fall.) Julius Caesar's childhood and his relationships with Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla make for fascinating reading. (Marius and Sulla both simply jump off the page, two all-time historical badasses who utterly loathed one another.) McCullough cites her source material meticulously but it's a fairly easy read. (Obviously easier than Plutarch or Seutonius.)

quote:

---

The Bernie Gunther series.

---

Agreed. Really liking it. On second to last one now. I'll add Aztec by Gregg Jennings. It is a fantastic story.

A Gentleman in Moscow. Great book.

quote:

---

Lincoln by Gore Vidal is my favourite book of all time

---

Burr by Vidal is also an excellent read

Campaigns of Napoleon - historical nonfiction but quite good and really reads almost like fiction

That would be a good thread.

quote:

---

I hope you enjoy it! Please post and let me know :)

---

So far so good. I’m about 3/4 through the first book.

I was just coming on to recommend Sharon Penman, whose Medieval Mysteries I just discovered. The four Justin de Quincy novels have me addicted.

Take an author who is comfortable writing about 1193. Who paints a vivid word picture. Who doesn't just write about the upper class, but about the whole of British society and the differences between the Welsh and the English. About what bastards could look to in life. About some really bad people. And a few good people. And a lot in between.

Add a murder. (But then it gets more interesting, because it was, after all 1193 and there was no forensic science. Not even a magnifying glass. Just what you can see. Add a bit of instinct based on what 'lawmen' have learned to look for in their personal decades of exposure to crime and criminals.

Enjoy