I’m looking for books set in the past WITHOUT supernatural stuff or magic, I want misery, human made misery and problems.. I’m a big fan of domestic horror but horror in general, the horror of the world war trenches, the horror of how cruel life could be back then in general, etc, preferably with fictional protagonist or a full fictional cast but I’ll give anything a fair shake
by TroubledRooster
4 Comments
*All Quiet on the Western Front* by Erich Maria Remarque
Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis is a surprisingly hopeful, meticulously researched sci-fi/speculative fiction duology that specifically focuses on WWII. The premise is that time travel exists and historians use it to study the past first-hand. Willis interviewed all sorts of folks on the civilian front lines in London, and England as a whole, like ambulance drivers and fire watchers and WAACs and Wrens, adding a level of authenticity that’s not often found. It’s a great story.
Upton Sinclair will probably work for you.
Rilla of Ingleside by LM Montgomery.
Tells the story of WWI from the perspective of a young woman who is at her first grown-up party when war is declared. Through letters from her siblings and friends and partner and newspaper articles she confronts the horrors of war while she learns to ration, start a junior red cross, fundraise for the war effort, raise a war baby, and mourn the loved ones who come home disfigured or don’t come home.