I would like some suggestions for authors who write on the same level as:
- Ken Follet. Bernard Cornwell. Kirstin Hannah. Chimimanda Ngozi Adiche etc etc.
First-person and third-person limited is strongly preferred.
I recently finished Actress by Anne Enright and it was astonishing and would highly recommend that historical fiction book just as a random point.
IIt can be speculative in addition to historical as i have no specific cravings beyond that in terms of which country or time-period. I just want it to be historical and so emotionally driven and leaves me a WRECK afterwards.
I'm not a fan of sporadic third-person ominscient where we jump around POVS in the same page as i find that style too disorientating. It's why i didn't like Sharon Pennman even though her prose was gorgeous. She jumps around too much in the same page and with soooooo many characters that i had to put the book down.
Thanks in advance!
by Small-Guarantee6972
5 Comments
Okay I know you listed Kristin Hannah so I’m really just here to say that Winter Garden WRECKED me for days on end. If you haven’t read it, only do so if you really really want to experience emotional turmoil. I’ve read about 12 of her books I’d say and that was hands down the hardest read. Still couldn’t put it down.
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See
Butcher by Joyce Carol Oates
Some of these I would say that they are emotional in that you will feel anger or disgust. But in a powerful, meaningful way.
I’ve never found anyone as good as Kristin Hannah for historical fiction. But The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes is very good. Also really like all of Phillipa Gregory’s books if you enjoy the stories from the Tudor period in England.
Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue. Fantastic story that’s based off of the existing facts of a young woman’s life in the 1700s.
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters. Set in the 19th century, it follows an oyster girl’s adventures when she leaves home. It’s a great story that was also made into a quirky BBC mini series.
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.
Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis. Another meticulously researched book that specifically focuses on WWII. 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.
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. The story of an English village in the 1600s that succumbs to the Black Death.
I just finished **Finding Margaret Fuller** by Allison Pataki
I think you will really like it.