i’ve been craving a very niche type of book recently. something that incorporates:
– europe in 400-1600s
– focuses on the culture, ritual, or religion in the time
– plot that is action or mystery driven
– good setting description
(fantasy is okay, just not solely focused on the fantasy aspect. some books i have read and really enjoyed are: handmaids tale, piranesi, pride and prejudice)
thank you all!
by Effective-Wasabi2429
11 Comments
Gutenberg’s Apprentice by Alix Christie seems like it would fit the bill! I really enjoyed it.
Instance of the Fingerpost
Peaches and Honey by R Raeta
*Name of the Rose* by Umberto Eco
Seek the Fair Land by Walter Macken (mid 1600s Ireland, Cromwellian invasions)
As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann (similar time period England, Cromwell again – the civil wars, also the Diggers)
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. It is a meticulously researched historical fiction novel that takes place in the 1300s and is “a record of life in the middle ages” with a twist.
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. The story of an English village in the 1600s that succumbs to the Black Death.
It takes place a little later than requested, but it’s definitely worth a read: Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue. Fantastic story that’s based off of the existing facts of a young woman’s life in the 1700s.
Phillipa Gregory writes beautiful historical fiction. The White Queen, The Red Queen and if I remember correctly she wrote The other Boleyn Sister. She has so many more. Margaret George has several historical tomes, The Autobiography of Henry the Eighth, The Memiors of Cleopatra, Mary Queen of the Scots. Rosalind Miles has a bunch also
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Baroque Cycle series by Neal Stephenson
Have you come across Tim Leach before? His latest trilogy slaps.
The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett.