Hi! Please recommend me historical fiction books that don’t revolve around war or tragedy. I like books set in the 1920s, and in the 70s-80s, or in Victorian England, but any time period is good for me. I really don’t want anything super sad. I’ve read a lot of tragic historical fiction that was really great but at the end I just felt drained- Hamnet, for example. Obviously I want some conflict, but I just don’t have the emotional energy for that kind of book right now. I also like books set in big cities (like the great gatsby glitzy vibes) as opposed to rural farm life. TYIA!!
by FlightTraditional717
15 Comments
The Book Club for Troublesome Women is set in the 60s. You may enjoy this one!
Look up Christian Jacq’s work for some Ancient Egypt setting.
Quo Vadis for Ancient Rome.
In Desert and Wilderness by Sienkiewicz for some colonial settings Victorian period.
If you like Victorian England you should check out Dickens. A lot of big city vibes in his books, although pretty much the complete opposite of the Great Gatsby glitz lol
Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon – America in 1700s
Call Me Ishmaelle by Xiaolu Guo – a retelling of Moby Dick
The Murder at Worlds End by Ross Montgomery – a mystery that takes place in 1910
Circle of Days by Ken Follett – about building a stonehenge-like monument
Ambientado sobre 1910__ The Whistling Season de Iván Doig
Sobre 1930 / 40 __Hons and Rebels de Jessica Mitford
Sobre 1870 __ The Crimson Petal and the White de Michel Faber
Sobre 1785 / 90 __ El diccionario de Lempriere de Lawrence Norfolk
Shrines of Gaities by Kate Atkinson
is excellent london historical fiction
about a woman gangster/nightclub owner in the 1920s….
Trust by Hernan Diaz
Isola
*Oliver Twist* by Charles Dickens. It’s set in Victorian London.
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. NYC in the 1930’s.
The roaring Days of Zora Lily by Noel Salazar set in the 1920s. It’s very good.
Also the thornbirds by Colleen McCullough
PG Wodehouse set a lot of comedy in the twenties
Admittedly it wasn’t historical fiction at the time, but the passage of time makes history of us all
You might like *Main Street* by Sinclair Lewis. WWI enters but in a tangential way. Some of the events in it are quite funny, and the twist in the end between the main character and her husband I think is pretty forward thinking. While the novel is set in the 20th century teens and early twenties I think there’s a lot that’s familiar today.
Have you read the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series by Anne Perry. Mysteries set in Victorian England. Feminist perspective. There are a lot of books, but none too long, but should be read in order. Pretty sure the series has reached its conclusion although she still writes other novels set in the same universe. The first book in the series was her first novel. It’s good, but they get better.
Ragtime