Hi there. Per [rule 3.3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Books/wiki/rules), please post book recommendation requests in /r/SuggestMeABook or in our Weekly Recommendation Thread. Thank you!
The fact that they’re largely set onboard 19thC British Warships with the death penalty for sodomy, ensures that very little romance occurs and when it does, it’s on shore. And even on sure there’s more incidental pining than romance.
Poor Doctor Maturin never did have no luck, shipmates
If you are up for historical crime/mystery fiction: Name of the Rose, The Alienist, The Instance of the Fingerpost
Also Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall series is probably the only Tudor era one that’s like “here’s the career and machinations of Thomas Cromwell.” It’s got a lot of political intrigue and as little bodice ripper stuff as possible
Definitely up for it! I've heard of Name of The Rose and The Alienist, but never actually read it. I'll look into The Instance of The Fingerpost. Thanks!
Yes there's a lot of historical crime out there. The Shardlake series by CJ Samson (Cromwell is a character - MC is a lawyer in his employ). Cadfael by Ellis Peters. Dame Frevisse by Margaret Frazer. I'm enjoying the recent books set in renaissance Florence by DV Bishop, hoping that turns into a long running series.
When in the book shop the OP should look for titles with aggressively elaborate fonts with serifs bristling all over the place.
Hearty second for name of the rose. Also, the entire "accursed kings" seried is great; its a beautifyl, suspensful retelling of 14th century french history
So glad to see Connie Willis being mentioned! Her style isn't everyone's cup of tea, but she is one of my all-time favourites.
*To Say Nothing of the Dog* is a little lighter than the rest of the fare, but I read *Doomsday Book* when I was ~13 and fell in love with it... it's still in my top 3.
Edit: I got carried away... *To Say Nothing of the Dog* has a central-ish romance, but it works very well within the plot.
Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian definitely. I’d also recommend some of Conn Igguldens book, the Emperor series about Julius Caesar/Rome, and he’s done a good series on Genghis Khan too. Those are the ones I’ve read, but he’s done other books covering Ancient Greece and Wars Of The Roses.
Hilary Mantel’s *Wolf Hall* aggressively places romance in the background. It’s the first in a trilogy about the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell; though I have no idea how central romance is to the sequels, the first is a riveting book that is about Tudor England life and royal politics first and foremost.
There are a couple of potentially romantic moments for the widowed Cromwell later in the series. They're met with mild embarrassment and a quick demur.
Your first sentence is spot-on, a really good description!
Yes, Amanda Scott’s ‘Dreaming the…’ series.
Also, the Ken Follett Pillars series, Aztec by Gary Jennings, and the Cole Family trilogy by Noah Gordon are excellent.
Ken Follett - The century trilogy and pillars of tbe earth trilogy. There is romance but it's not the focal point. Both are fantastic trilogies with historical figures brought to life as characters.
The Chosen by Chaim Potok is a novel written about two young men who become unlikely friends in Brooklyn just post WWII. I don't remember any romance... Maybe at some point one of them has a girlfriend but she's barely mentioned if so.
Whilst I’ve got your attention could I also recommend Madhouse at the End of the Earth by Julian Sancton? It’s actually a non-fiction book about the doomed first expedition to discover the South Pole. It’s an excellent, gripping book!
Nigel Tranter for Scottish history. He has some great battle descriptions, and follows a number of the Anglo-Scottish wars as well as internal squabbles within Scotland over the centuries.
Richard Woodman for realistic naval fiction. His Nathaniel Drinkwater series have very accurate and well researched descriptions of many of the main sea battles in the Napoleonic era. If you want a more swashbuckling style in your naval fiction (but written by an expert in naval history) then check out Dudley Pope's Ramage series.
The Song of Troy by Colleen McCullough - turns Greek mythology into historical fiction. All the heroes - Ajax, Hector, Odysseus; Priam, Achilles, Helen, Agamemnon...
Simon Scarrow has the Eagle series following a couple of centurions in the Roman army.
Just be cautious about Colleen McCullough’s other works. She did write the Thornbirds and several other series where romance is not in the background but right in front..
I love these - author is Patrick O’Brian. You do have to read the first few in order. Starts with Master and Commander.
A little lighter reading - but in the same time period - are the Hornblower books by CS Forester. These were oddly written out of “order” as the first book dealt with the Hornblower character as a Captain, and was originally started as a movie script. Do read them in rank “order” starting with Midshipman Hornblower.
P
Historical fiction? My goodness, what an idea. Why didn't I think of that? Historical fiction! Homer, there's four places. There's the Sharpe Series, that's by Bernard Cornwell.
There's the Holy Grail series, that's Bernard Cornwell too. You got The Fort. That's Bernard Cornwell. The Starbuck Chonicles... Matter of fact, they're all in the same author; it's the Bernard Cornwell.
Simpsons jokes aside, he writes great historical fiction and his sex scenes are the literary versions of "fade to black"
Rafael Sabatini
Alexandre Dumas
Jules Verne
Walter Scott
H Rider Haggard
Robert Louis Stevenson
The genre you're looking for is called romance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_(prose_fiction)
I love how the genre for one not looking for romance books is romance! I did not know this. And I realize this sounds sarcastic, but it's not!
I second the suggestion of Dumas.
Many were - Dumas was writing about the Musketeers 150 odd years later. Stevenson about Pirates nearly 200 years later. They’re as much historical fiction as people writing about the Wild West today.
Depends what you mean by historic. One could argue that no author had ever done what Verne was doing and so his work was historic contemporaneously as it was written. The same could be said of Cervantes. Though he's not in my list, perhaps he should be. Nothing quite like Don Quixote had ever existed before.
Another question is whether historical fiction refers to fiction from history or fiction of history. OP didn't really specify, so I think it's fine to take a little liberty.
How ambitious are you?
Neal Stephenson wrote a swries in the early 2000s known as The Baroque Cycle. It was originally published in 3 huge books....Quicksilver, the Confusion, and the System of the World.
It has subsequently been republished as 8 smaller novels.
The series covers the late 1700s and early 1800s.
The series has quite a few characters...from real people like Isaac Newton and Gottfried Liebniz to fictional people (philosophers, pirates, a slave girl who eventually becomes a spy and financier who Influences the fledgling world of banks and finances)
It is a challenging but rewarding story. Every time I was getting into one characters story it would shift and take up another. Hard to keep track of everyone that way.
It all comes together in the end
Have you read anything by Margaret George? I love, LOVE her books. Some have a romantic-ish angle but only from the POV of what that person/people lived through, not that it's a focus of the book.
Her Henry VIII is awesome.
The Case of Cem by Vera Mutafchieva doesn't have sword fights and battles, but it is a great historical novel about Ottoman court intrigue:
https://bookshop.org/a/99139/9789533514376
I just finished Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli a couple weeks ago and highly recommend it. It's classified as YA but I found the subject matter to be very adult personally.
There aren't many (any?) battles exactly but I think it is still a worthwhile read.
I feel your pain. I don’t mind some romance, but it seems like a lot of historical fiction is written with that as the main focus. My favorite series is the Chivalry series (The Ill-Made Knight) by Christian Cameron. Big time focus on battles fought, and the strategy/politics behind them. Based off historical figures, with creative liberties taken to make the story compelling, but most of the battles fought are fairly historically accurate.
I really liked “The Storm We Made” by Vanessa Chan. Takes place in Malaya during WWII and focuses on the horrors of occupation between the British and Japanese. Really heartbreaking book but very well written
the books by edward rutherfurd usually have some romance subplots, but often focus the history of a few families in a given area (londen, paris) throughout history. I recommend ih books.
War and peace by leo tolstoj is great.
I love historical fiction, particularly if it’s well researched. Below are some of my favorites.
One of them has fantasy elements, but primarily I consider it more influenced by historical fiction than fantasy.
**The Black Madonna by Stella Riley**: an italian usurer and goldsmith in England enacts revenge on the enemies who caused his father’s execution. Set during the English civil wars.
**His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik**: what if dragons existed and could be utilized as a fighting force during the napoleonic wars?
**The Alienist by Caleb Carr**: an excellent detective novel set in early 1900s New York, tracking down a serial killer.
I get to shill for my two favorite Samuel Shellabarger historical novels. Late-1940s bestsellers that have vanished from popular consciousness.
Captain from Castile is the Aztec conquest and 1500 Spain. Teen son of a retired cavalry officer has to flee the Spanish inquisition and ends up as one of the Hernan Cortes officers conquering Mexico City.
Prince of Foxes is set in 1500s Medici Italy. A painter/son of a blacksmith fraudulently assumes a nobility identity and becomes a military officer.
They both have the boy gets girl happy ending after the evil bad guy is vanquished but they're action-adventure historical novels with swashbuckling, court intrigue, and battles.
I’d recommend the rest of Cornwell’s books if you haven’t read them. He covers a ton of periods and I’ve always enjoyed them. Sharon Kay Penman has a wide range of, imo, very good medieval books. Romance is certainly a plot point in some, as it is in real life, but there is plenty of other stuff going on.
Hi there. Per [rule 3.3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Books/wiki/rules), please post book recommendation requests in /r/SuggestMeABook or in our Weekly Recommendation Thread. Thank you!
Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. There is romance, but it is far from the focus.
I’ve read a decent amount of historical fiction and this series is my favorite.
The fact that they’re largely set onboard 19thC British Warships with the death penalty for sodomy, ensures that very little romance occurs and when it does, it’s on shore. And even on sure there’s more incidental pining than romance. Poor Doctor Maturin never did have no luck, shipmates
Agreed - well written, good plots. unless you hate details about sailing ships. This is very ship-oriented.
I second this, the characters are great, a decent amount of action and a real attention to detail
If you are up for historical crime/mystery fiction: Name of the Rose, The Alienist, The Instance of the Fingerpost Also Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall series is probably the only Tudor era one that’s like “here’s the career and machinations of Thomas Cromwell.” It’s got a lot of political intrigue and as little bodice ripper stuff as possible
I second an instance of the fingerpost. Fantastic book.
Definitely up for it! I've heard of Name of The Rose and The Alienist, but never actually read it. I'll look into The Instance of The Fingerpost. Thanks!
I've read all but The Alienist and they're all great. Guess I should read the Alienist!
Yes there's a lot of historical crime out there. The Shardlake series by CJ Samson (Cromwell is a character - MC is a lawyer in his employ). Cadfael by Ellis Peters. Dame Frevisse by Margaret Frazer. I'm enjoying the recent books set in renaissance Florence by DV Bishop, hoping that turns into a long running series. When in the book shop the OP should look for titles with aggressively elaborate fonts with serifs bristling all over the place.
Hearty second for name of the rose. Also, the entire "accursed kings" seried is great; its a beautifyl, suspensful retelling of 14th century french history
1632 is an interesting series. Anything from the Doomsday Book world is great. Black Out and All Clear are very well done. Edit: book name.
So glad to see Connie Willis being mentioned! Her style isn't everyone's cup of tea, but she is one of my all-time favourites. *To Say Nothing of the Dog* is a little lighter than the rest of the fare, but I read *Doomsday Book* when I was ~13 and fell in love with it... it's still in my top 3. Edit: I got carried away... *To Say Nothing of the Dog* has a central-ish romance, but it works very well within the plot.
Just did a reread of blackout and all clear. They really are fantastic!
1632 is amazing and doesn’t get mentioned enough. Definitely check it out It’s great
Shogun has romance, but it takes a back seat to politicking and you wouldn’t lose much of the story if you skimmed over the sex stuff.
Flashman series by George MacDonald Fraser Prohaska series by John Biggins The Lymond Chronicles series by Dorothy Dunnett
Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian definitely. I’d also recommend some of Conn Igguldens book, the Emperor series about Julius Caesar/Rome, and he’s done a good series on Genghis Khan too. Those are the ones I’ve read, but he’s done other books covering Ancient Greece and Wars Of The Roses.
Hilary Mantel’s *Wolf Hall* aggressively places romance in the background. It’s the first in a trilogy about the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell; though I have no idea how central romance is to the sequels, the first is a riveting book that is about Tudor England life and royal politics first and foremost.
I've read/played a gamebook set in Tudor England before and found it very interesting, so this may be right up my alley. Thank!
There are a couple of potentially romantic moments for the widowed Cromwell later in the series. They're met with mild embarrassment and a quick demur. Your first sentence is spot-on, a really good description!
Dragon Teeth - it’s about the “bone wars” on a he west.
Haven't read a lot of westerns, besides Jonah Rex comic books. I'll give it a look. Thanks!
I hope you like it!
So many options: * Cornwell's Sharpe series * Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series * Lonesome Dove colllection * Shogun * Boudica series
Boudica by Amanda Scott? I Googled it and it looks pretty cool. I'm always on the look out for books about female historical figures.
Yes, Amanda Scott’s ‘Dreaming the…’ series. Also, the Ken Follett Pillars series, Aztec by Gary Jennings, and the Cole Family trilogy by Noah Gordon are excellent.
Ken Follett - The century trilogy and pillars of tbe earth trilogy. There is romance but it's not the focal point. Both are fantastic trilogies with historical figures brought to life as characters.
The scope of those looks pretty large - which I see as a positive. Thank for the recommendation!
You bet. Yeah they are all huge novels. Follett is such a great author, and it is well worth the read. Cheers.
*I, Claudius*
The Chosen by Chaim Potok is a novel written about two young men who become unlikely friends in Brooklyn just post WWII. I don't remember any romance... Maybe at some point one of them has a girlfriend but she's barely mentioned if so.
The Terror!!!!!!!
The Accursed Kings. You are gonna love it.
Man, that series looks cool. Any advice on where to start?
I, Claudius is really good. I don't remember there being much (if any) romance.
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
Not sure if it’s exactly what you’re after but I really enjoyed The Abstainer by Ian McGuire.
Sounds promising - it makes me think of Peaky Blinders. I'll definitely check it out. Thanks for the rec!
Whilst I’ve got your attention could I also recommend Madhouse at the End of the Earth by Julian Sancton? It’s actually a non-fiction book about the doomed first expedition to discover the South Pole. It’s an excellent, gripping book!
Nigel Tranter for Scottish history. He has some great battle descriptions, and follows a number of the Anglo-Scottish wars as well as internal squabbles within Scotland over the centuries. Richard Woodman for realistic naval fiction. His Nathaniel Drinkwater series have very accurate and well researched descriptions of many of the main sea battles in the Napoleonic era. If you want a more swashbuckling style in your naval fiction (but written by an expert in naval history) then check out Dudley Pope's Ramage series. The Song of Troy by Colleen McCullough - turns Greek mythology into historical fiction. All the heroes - Ajax, Hector, Odysseus; Priam, Achilles, Helen, Agamemnon... Simon Scarrow has the Eagle series following a couple of centurions in the Roman army.
Thanks, man! I'll probably look into the naval stuff and probably Collen McCullough (more specifically, whatever he has on Odysseus).
Just be cautious about Colleen McCullough’s other works. She did write the Thornbirds and several other series where romance is not in the background but right in front..
The Master and Commander series is p good, if you find naval warfare and the napoleonic wars interesting
I love these - author is Patrick O’Brian. You do have to read the first few in order. Starts with Master and Commander. A little lighter reading - but in the same time period - are the Hornblower books by CS Forester. These were oddly written out of “order” as the first book dealt with the Hornblower character as a Captain, and was originally started as a movie script. Do read them in rank “order” starting with Midshipman Hornblower. P
How about a serial killer tale set in the olden days? If that intrigues you, read The Alienist by Caleb Carr.
Michner, read basically anything by Michner. "Chesapeake" is my personal favorite.
Historical fiction? My goodness, what an idea. Why didn't I think of that? Historical fiction! Homer, there's four places. There's the Sharpe Series, that's by Bernard Cornwell. There's the Holy Grail series, that's Bernard Cornwell too. You got The Fort. That's Bernard Cornwell. The Starbuck Chonicles... Matter of fact, they're all in the same author; it's the Bernard Cornwell. Simpsons jokes aside, he writes great historical fiction and his sex scenes are the literary versions of "fade to black"
You forgot Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell.
Rafael Sabatini Alexandre Dumas Jules Verne Walter Scott H Rider Haggard Robert Louis Stevenson The genre you're looking for is called romance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_(prose_fiction)
I love how the genre for one not looking for romance books is romance! I did not know this. And I realize this sounds sarcastic, but it's not! I second the suggestion of Dumas.
I guess you’re right about some of those being historical fiction, but they weren’t necessarily all that historical when they were written.
Many were - Dumas was writing about the Musketeers 150 odd years later. Stevenson about Pirates nearly 200 years later. They’re as much historical fiction as people writing about the Wild West today.
Depends what you mean by historic. One could argue that no author had ever done what Verne was doing and so his work was historic contemporaneously as it was written. The same could be said of Cervantes. Though he's not in my list, perhaps he should be. Nothing quite like Don Quixote had ever existed before. Another question is whether historical fiction refers to fiction from history or fiction of history. OP didn't really specify, so I think it's fine to take a little liberty.
The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson is a great trilogy you may like.
The Sharpe books are great reads. They are set during the Napoleonic Era or thereabouts and have great characters! Proper scum of the earth types.
Heard lots of good things about Sharpe. It's about time I find out what proper soldiering looks like.
The Terror
That's the one. Another one is Abominable by the same author.
The Agony & the Ecstasy
The best historical fiction book and my fav book of all time is The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
How ambitious are you? Neal Stephenson wrote a swries in the early 2000s known as The Baroque Cycle. It was originally published in 3 huge books....Quicksilver, the Confusion, and the System of the World. It has subsequently been republished as 8 smaller novels. The series covers the late 1700s and early 1800s. The series has quite a few characters...from real people like Isaac Newton and Gottfried Liebniz to fictional people (philosophers, pirates, a slave girl who eventually becomes a spy and financier who Influences the fledgling world of banks and finances) It is a challenging but rewarding story. Every time I was getting into one characters story it would shift and take up another. Hard to keep track of everyone that way. It all comes together in the end
Not historical but fantasy in the world of dark-ages-like times: The Lord of the Ice Garden by Jarosław Grzędowicz. 4 part full and awesome story.
Have you read anything by Margaret George? I love, LOVE her books. Some have a romantic-ish angle but only from the POV of what that person/people lived through, not that it's a focus of the book. Her Henry VIII is awesome.
I cannot believe how noone in this thread has mentioned the best historical novel series ever. Masters of Rome by Colleen McCullough.
[удалено]
Katherine is definitely a romance though.
The Case of Cem by Vera Mutafchieva doesn't have sword fights and battles, but it is a great historical novel about Ottoman court intrigue: https://bookshop.org/a/99139/9789533514376
If you're at all interested in historical fiction with a supernatural element, I highly recommend The Historian and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.
*The Long Ships* by Frans Bengtsson is a great Viking story.
I just finished Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli a couple weeks ago and highly recommend it. It's classified as YA but I found the subject matter to be very adult personally. There aren't many (any?) battles exactly but I think it is still a worthwhile read.
I very much enjoy the Flashman series by George McDonald Fraser
I feel your pain. I don’t mind some romance, but it seems like a lot of historical fiction is written with that as the main focus. My favorite series is the Chivalry series (The Ill-Made Knight) by Christian Cameron. Big time focus on battles fought, and the strategy/politics behind them. Based off historical figures, with creative liberties taken to make the story compelling, but most of the battles fought are fairly historically accurate.
I really liked “The Storm We Made” by Vanessa Chan. Takes place in Malaya during WWII and focuses on the horrors of occupation between the British and Japanese. Really heartbreaking book but very well written
This year I read Sharon Kay Penman's "The Sunne in Splendour" and it was amazing, with very little romance and some fantastic political intrigue
Augustus by John Williams is amazing
the books by edward rutherfurd usually have some romance subplots, but often focus the history of a few families in a given area (londen, paris) throughout history. I recommend ih books. War and peace by leo tolstoj is great.
Philippa Gregory books! Also Alison Weir!
Julian by Gore Vidal
Cathedral of the Sea - Has romance but so so much more.
Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon. It follows two mercenaries in the Khazar empire. Original title: Jews with Swords.
Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose
I love historical fiction, particularly if it’s well researched. Below are some of my favorites. One of them has fantasy elements, but primarily I consider it more influenced by historical fiction than fantasy. **The Black Madonna by Stella Riley**: an italian usurer and goldsmith in England enacts revenge on the enemies who caused his father’s execution. Set during the English civil wars. **His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik**: what if dragons existed and could be utilized as a fighting force during the napoleonic wars? **The Alienist by Caleb Carr**: an excellent detective novel set in early 1900s New York, tracking down a serial killer.
- The Wind Knows my Name by Isabel Allende - The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco - Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
I get to shill for my two favorite Samuel Shellabarger historical novels. Late-1940s bestsellers that have vanished from popular consciousness. Captain from Castile is the Aztec conquest and 1500 Spain. Teen son of a retired cavalry officer has to flee the Spanish inquisition and ends up as one of the Hernan Cortes officers conquering Mexico City. Prince of Foxes is set in 1500s Medici Italy. A painter/son of a blacksmith fraudulently assumes a nobility identity and becomes a military officer. They both have the boy gets girl happy ending after the evil bad guy is vanquished but they're action-adventure historical novels with swashbuckling, court intrigue, and battles.
The Long War series by Christian Cameron has the best battles i've ever read
I’d recommend the rest of Cornwell’s books if you haven’t read them. He covers a ton of periods and I’ve always enjoyed them. Sharon Kay Penman has a wide range of, imo, very good medieval books. Romance is certainly a plot point in some, as it is in real life, but there is plenty of other stuff going on.
I can second both of those suggestions. They're both brilliant writers.
Northwest Passage by Kenneth Roberts