Hello all,
Looking for a suggestion as the title states. I love reading historical fiction, however there are so many about WWII set in various regions and timeframes. I am looking for some recommendations based basically in any other part of history. I would love something revolving around the Salem witch trials/that time in women’s history! I love Kristen Hannah and have read most of her books.
Thank you!
by Ladaniel6
14 Comments
The Agony and the Ecstasy about Michelangelo.
Quo Vadis about Rome.
Christian Jacq’s work for Ancient Egypt.
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
The Asian saga by James Clavell, beginning with Shogun
Anything by Edward Rutherfurd, I’m presently reading China and like it a lot
It’s not Salem witch trial era, I’ll be watching this thread for those refs too, but I love historical fictions myself.
Gone with the Wind and Lonesome Dove are a must. I do audiobooks, so give Lonesome Dove 100 pages (or so I’ve heard) to really set the scene and introduce you to the characters.
I think I remember having to start Gone with the Wind over a couple times, but that was probably on me being distracted.
They are my top 2 favorite books, I can’t decide which one I like more.
Memoirs of A Geisha is good, better than the movie
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan was okay to give a go
Before we Were Yours I liked a lot
I did NOT like Sold on a Monday
I liked The Kitchen House and The Help enough to give them 5 stars
Ken Follett’s Kingsbridge series.
Disclaimer: these aren’t about the Salem witch trials, but all excellent historical fiction not set during WWII for a change.
The Whiskey Rebels by David Kiss
La Belle Famille by A.M. Vergara
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
*The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo* by Taylor Jenkins Reid
*Slammerkin* by Emma Donoghue
The Lady Astronaut series by Mary Robinette Kowal (starts with *The Calculating Stars*)
*Tipping the Velvet* by Sarah Waters
*Doomsday Book* by Connie Willis
*Year of Wonders* by Geraldine Brooks
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. 1850s midwife questioning the deaths of women in her village. Not directly Salem-related, but mentions those events as the townsmen grow more suspicious of her.
The Lymond Chronicles and The House of Niccolo by Dorothy Dunnett are awesome, but do not have anything to do with the Salem witch trials 🙂
Elizabeth Gaskell’s Lois the Witch is about the Salem witch trials and well worth a read imo.
*Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae* by Steven Pressfield.
*The Once and Future King* [5th-century Britain] by T.H. White.
*Firelord* [5th-century Britain] by Parke Godwin.
*Beloved Exile* [5th-century Britain] by Parke Godwin.
*Sherwood* [11th-century Britain] by Parke Godwin.
*Ivanhoe* [12th-century Britain] by Walter Scott.
*The Walking Drum* [12th-century Europe] by Louis L’Amour.
*The Name of the Rose* [1327 Italy] by Umberto Eco.
*Aztec* [16th century] by Gary Jennings.
*The Tale of Genji* by Murasaki Shikibu.
*Japanese Inn* by Oliver Statler. The narrative is about a Japanese inn that is established on the eve of the Tokugawa shogunate [1603] and follows the career of the inn as a backdrop to the pageantry of Japanese history through to 1957.
*The Frontiersmen* by Allan Eckert – largely about the life and exploits of Simon Kenton and his contemporaries.
*Wilderness Empire* by Allan Eckert – about the French and Indian War: 1754 to 1763.
*The Conquerors* by Allan Eckert – about Pontiac’s Rebellion: 1763.
*The Wilderness War* by Allan Eckert – through the American Revolution: 1763 to 1780.
*Gateway to Empire* by Allan Eckert – settlement of the Chicago portage (“The Gateway”) towards the War of 1812.
*Twilight of Empire* by Allan Eckert – through Black Hawk’s War: 1830s.
*The Court-martial of Daniel Boone* by Allan Eckert.
*A Sorrow in Our Heart: The Life of Tecumseh* by Allan Eckert.
*Billy Budd, Sailor* by Herman Melville.
*A Tale of Two Cities* by Charles Dickens.
*Sharpe’s Tiger* by Bernard Cornwall – Sharpe is a private in the 33rd Regiment of Foot, serving in southern India when the British invade Mysore and lay siege to Tippoo Sultan’s capital city of Seringapatam in 1799.
*Sharpe’s Triumph* by Bernard Cornwall – Sharpe is a sergeant in the army who attracts the attention of General Arthur Wellesley (AKA the Duke of Wellington) at Ahmednagar, India.
*Sharpe’s Rifles* by Bernard Cornwall – the French invasion of Galicia, Spain in January 1809.
*Sharpe’s Eagle* by Bernard Cornwall – set in July 1809, in the midst of the Talavera Campaign during the Peninsular War.
*Sharpe’s Battle: Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro, May 1811* by Bernard Cornwell.
*Sharpe’s Sword* by Bernard Cornwall – the Battle of Salamanca on 22 July 1812.
*Sharpe’s Honour* by Bernard Cornwall – the Vitoria Campaign of the Peninsula War in 1813.
*Beloved* by Toni Morrison.
*The Killer Angels* by Michael Shaara.
*Hard Times* by Charles Dickens.
*Oliver Twist* by Charles Dickens.
*Little Big Man* by Thomas Berger.
*The Light That Failed* by Rudyard Kipling.
*Heart of Darkness* by Joseph Conrad.
*The Jungle* by Upton Sinclair.
*The Good Earth* by Pearl S. Buck. Buck was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1932, and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938. The book is about a Chinese farming family in the 1930s and is based on her personal experiences in China.
*The Grapes of Wrath* by John Steinbeck.
*All the King’s Men* by Robert Penn Warren.
*Invisible Man* by Ralph Ellison.
*Fields of Fire* by James Webb.
*The Short-Timers* by Gustav Hasford.
*Better Times Than These* by Winston Groom.
*Vampire Nation* by Thomas M. Sipos.
I haven’t read it yet but The First Witch of Boston by Andrea Catalano looks good!
The Bombshell is set in Corsica in 1993
In the Time of the Butterflies bye Julia Alvarez