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    I love historical fiction, mainly ancient history and witch trials, and it's hard to find good books that I haven't already read. Any suggestions?

    by Shoddy-Boot574

    13 Comments

    1. Regular_Page8599 on

      Try reading the Egyptian saga by Wilbur Smith. There are four or five books that he wrote before dying. Start with the first book “River God” if you like it try the rest of the series. 

    2. clumsystarfish_ on

      Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. It is a meticulously researched historical fiction novel, the premise of which is that time travel exists and historians use it to study the past first-hand. This particular story (one of several in the Oxford Time Travel series) takes place in the 1300s and is “a record of life in the middle ages” ‐- with a twist.

    3. MorganAndMerlin on

      Ok here’s my list, and by the nature of witches, some of these include magic/fantasy elements, but not all of them these are also only the actual historical settings, not full/high fantasy

      Slewfoot by Brom

      The Devils Glove by Lucretia Grindle

      Tidelands by Philippa Gregory (plus her Plantagenet series has an entire plot line of magic/witches, beginning with The Lady of the River)

      The Great Witch of Brittany by Louisa Morgan (and The Age of Witches)

      Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian

      The Witchfinder’s Sister by Beth Underdown

      The Witches of New York by Ami McKay

      Bitter greens by Kate Forsyth

      The Winter Witch by Paula Brackston

      And honorable mentions: Circe by Madeline Miller and The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec, both very fantasy rather than historical in setting, but both ancient world and a lot of focus on witches and the craft.

    4. *A Tale of Two Cities*, by Charles Dickens.

      *Lonesome Dove*, by Larry McMurtry.

      *True Grit*, by Charles Portis.

      *The Three Musketeers* and *The Count of Monte Cristo*, by Alexandre Dumas.

      *I, Claudius* and *Claudius the God and His Wife Messalina*, by Robert Graves.

      *The Saxon Stories*, a/k/a *The Last Kingdom Series, The Warlord Chronicles,* and *Sharpe Series*, by Bernard Cornwell.

      *The Aubrey/Maturin Series*, by Patrick O’Brian.

      *Gates of Fire*, by Steven Pressfield.

      *The Lymond Chronicles*, by Dorothy Dunnett.

      *The Conqueror Series*, by Conn Iggulden.

      *The Flashman Papers*, by George McDonald Fraser.

      *The Persian Boy*, *The King Must Die*, and *The Bull from the Sea*, by Mary Renault.

      *War and Peace*, by Leo Tolstoy.

      *The Merlin Trilogy*, by Mary Stewart.

      *Les Miserables* and *The Hunchback of Notre Dame*, by Victor Hugo.

      *Musashi*, by Eiji Yoshikawa.

      *The Iliad*, by Homer.

      *The Horatio Hornblower Series*, by C.S. Forester.

      *The Winds of War* and *War and Remembrance*, by Herman Wouk.

      *Captain Blood*, *Scaramouche*, and *The Sea-Hawk*, by Rafael Sabatini.

      *Hawaii*, *The Source*, and *Centennial*, by James Michener.

      *Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Chris*t, by Lew Wallace.

      *Maus Series*, by Art Spiegelman

    5. Carpet_Connors on

      It’s more fantasy, but a book series I picked up on a whim and enjoyed waaaay more than I expected to was Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne. It’s Norse inspired, but with an original Mythos. So it’s Fantasy rather than Historical Fiction, but eh. I really enjoyed it.

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