Name Up to Three Historical Novels You Like a Lot

I Claudius by Robert Graves
Johny Got his Gun by Dalton Trumbo
Three Solders by Robert Dos Passos
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
All Quiet on the Water Front by Eric Marie Remarque
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Craine
Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott
War and Peace by Lord Tolstoy
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
 
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paranoid marvin said:
Did you know there was a tv series based on Eagle of the Ninth? Some time since I watched it, but I remember it being very good (albeit done on a budget for tv). Think it's available on YouTube. Much better than some of the terrible movies that have been made on the subject.
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It was the [BBC?] series that got me to read the book. I remember it being grim and dark and very exciting, at least to a child. Good to know they are still around.
I wonder if the Eagle got made because they had all the props leftover from I Claudius. ;)
 
CupofJoe said:
It was the [BBC?] series that got me to read the book. I remember it being grim and dark and very exciting, at least to a child. Good to know they are still around.
I wonder if the Eagle got made because they had all the props leftover from I Claudius. ;)
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It was made shortly afterward, so it wouldn't surprise me. The props department at the Beeb were very clued up.
 
Christine mentioned Moonfleet, which I recall enjoying very much. And it reminds me that I have a weakness for historical swashbucklers: for instance, Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson, and a number of books by Rafael Sabatini, particularly Scarmouche and Venetian Masque.
 
So many of the above are marvelous. Pyan's Falco has even been mentioned a couple of times.
If I were to pick something out, it would probably be the Claudius duology or perhaps Wolf Hall & sequels. Another fond memory is of Gore Vidal's Julian.
Did you know that they are filming a Wolf Hall sequel titling it The Mirror and the Light? Again with Mark Rylance

A recent find was Killer Of Men by Christian Cameron. It (and six sequels) is placed at the start of the Persian/greece wars.
Vol. one is during the Ionian Revolt of the Greek cities in Asia Minor. Gritty story placed in an almost forgotten period.
 
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pogopossum said:
So many of the above are marvelous. Pyan's Falco has even been mentioned a couple of times.
If I were to pick something out, it would probably be the Claudius duology or perhaps Wolf Hall & sequels. Another fond memory is of Gore Vidal's Julian.
Did you know that they are filming a Wolf Hall sequel titling it The Mirror and the Light? Again with Mark Rylance

A recent find was Killer Of Men by Christian Cameron. It (and six sequels) is placed at the start of the Persian/greece wars.
Vol. one is during the Ionian Revolt of the Greek cities in Asia Minor. Gritty story placed in an almost forgotten period.
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Wolf Hall was great, and Rylance brilliant (as ever). But the version of Cromwell portrayed is far too 'nice' for historical accuracy. I look forward to watching the sequel.
 
I enjoy Tracy Chevalier’s historical novels. She mostly writes women engaged in arts or crafts in historical setting. Some relate to known individuals, others purely imagined. my three favorites that are at least a hundred years back are:

Remarkable Creatures about fossil hunter Mary Anning in early nineteenth century Britain
The Last Runaway about an English Quaker who immigrates to Ohio in the mid-nineteenth century and joins the “underground railroad” helped enslaved people escape.
The Lady and the Unicorn about a young weaver in late medieval France working on a tapestry for a renowned artist.
 
Historical novels? How much fiction should I include? Or should I only name histories and biographies?

Biographies/Memoirs:
The Black Count by Tom Reiss. The story of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, the father of Alexandre Dumas pere. He is the inspiration for both Edmond Dantes and d'Artagnan.
Earthly Fathers by Scott Sawyer. The memoir of a 6'4" red headed basketball playing Texan (the spitting image of his father who died of polio months before Scott was born} and raised by his much shorter dark haired step father.
The Commentaries by Julius Caesar. Fascinating reading. Truth, lies, embellishment? Either way it's all propaganda.

Historie.... (not novels, though they do include great narratives)s:
Rubicon by Tom Holland. A great book on the end of the Roman Republic.
Eternity in their Hearts by Don Richardson. Nineteenth and twentieth centuries' accounts of anthropology, cultures, and the gospel.
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century by Barbara Tuchman. The Hundred Years' War, the Black Death, the Jaquerie, the Little Ice Age, the Ottoman Empire, and the Papal Schism all told through the life of Enguerand, the Sire de Coucy. He was the son in-law to the King of England, Ambassador of the King of France, and personal witness to many significant events... like Forrest Gump.


Historical Fiction:
Shogun by James Clavell. Think of Game of Thrones without dragons in Medieval Japan... great story telling.
The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth. His best! You know the Jackal is the antagonist... but he's written as the protagonist. Lebel the protagonist is written as the antagonist. I love it. Also, The Dogs of War, The Devil's Alternative, and The Fourth Protocol are all excellent books.
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. Completely engrossing. It may be my favorite candidate for The Great American Novel.
 
I'd mention The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat, an excellent account of a small warship hunting Nazi submarines. It's well-written, full of good characters and at points very suspenseful and, I gather, pretty realistic.
 
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