Like the title says, I'm looking for some good historical fiction (book) recommendations. I've read the Outlander series, Ken Follet's century trilogy, and several by Margaret George. I've also read Phillipa Gregory but hers tend to be too depressing for me. Anyone know of some other good ones? And it doesn't absolutely have to be fiction. Good historical non-fiction, or better yet biographies (of historical figures, don't care at all about anyone current) can be very enjoyable as well. Bonus points if it's something I can get on my kindle or nook (yes, I have both, long story) before we leave for Florida tomorrow.
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Love. Her.
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The Sevenwaters books by Juliet Marillier. The first one is my favorite book ever. I've read it like 100 times.
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I like Kate Morton and second @loveisstrange: Sevenwaters recommendation (although that leans towards fantasy IMO)
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Jubilee by Margaret Walker
Summary:
Jubilee is a semi-fictional account of "Vyry Brown," based on the life of author Margaret Walker's grandmother, Margaret Duggans Ware Brown. Vyry Brown is a mixed-race slave—the unacknowledged daughter of her master—who is born onto the Dutton plantation in Georgia. The novel follows her experiences from early childhood to adult life.I just started this one on Audible (22 hours total):
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of the Great Migration by Isabel WilkersonSummary:
It is about the The Great Migration and the Second Great Migration, the movement of blacks out of the Southern United States to the Midwest, Northeast and West between 1915 and 1970.[1][2] The book intertwines a general history and statistical analysis of the entire period, and the biographies of three persons: a sharecropper's wife who left Mississippi in the 1930s for Chicago, named Ida Mae Brandon Gladney; an agricultural worker, George Swanson Starling, who left Florida for New York City in the 1940s; and Robert Joseph Pershing Foster, a doctor who left Louisiana in the early 1950s, for Los Angeles. -
@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: The Warmth of Other Suns is SO good. Strongly recommended!
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Devil in the White City - http://www.amazon.com/The-Devil-White-City-Madness/dp/0375725601
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Oh I'm going to look these up now! I love historical fiction.
Highly highly recommend:
These is my wordsI loved the book so much and can't say enough good things about it. It has a female protagonist but even my husband read and loved it.
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- The Distant Land of My Father, by Bo Caldwell
- Seabiscuit, by Laura Hillenbrand
- (This one is a memoir) Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression, by Mildred Armstrong Kalish -
Katherine by Anya Seton - highly, highly recommend! It's along the same lines as Margaret George and Philippa Gregory (not as depressing as PG though).
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This may be a little out there, but I looooved the Discovery of Witches/All Souls Trilogy.
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I don't know if time travel science fiction is your cup of tea, but Connie Willis is an amazing author. I've actually been re-reading some of her novels lately because I love them so much!
I love her 2 book series Blackout and All Clear, it mostly tales place in WWII London.
To Say Nothing of the Dog is hilarious and is set in Victorian England.
The Doomsday Book is heartbreaking and beautiful, set in England during the Black Death.
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@meredithNYC: yes, I'm loving it so far- about 3 hours in! I have already learned so much about Florida history, which is my adopted "home" state. Both sets of my grandparent's were part of the Great Migration in the 1940s.
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@Torchwood:
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (non-fiction) is amazing!
These others are on my to-read list:
Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott (non-fiction)
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (fiction)
I've heard good things about All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (fiction)@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: @meredithNYC: I haven't read the book yet (also on my list) but my maternal family makes a small appearance in it. My great aunt and her sister are mentioned because they moved from North Carolina to Brooklyn.
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@tinyperson: Yeah, its definitely more historical fantasy.
Its set in Ireland, pre-christianity, and based off of the fairy tale "The Six Swans".
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@mrsjazz: whoa - that's awesome! I really learned so much from that book. It's a shame schools teach so little about the great migration.
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@simplyfelicity: Those sound good. I'm going on a trip in January and was looking for something new. My local "book exchange" (like a library, but you can keep them if you want, and "purchase" on credit) has the following. Any recommendations to start with (maybe 2?)
DAUGHTER OF FORTUNE ALLENDE
EL REINO DEL DRAGON DE ORO ALLENDE
HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS ALLENDE
INES OF MY SOUL ALLENDE
KINGDOM OF THE GOLDEN DRAGON ALLENDE
MY INVENTED COUNTRY ALLENDE
PAULA ALLENDE
PORTRAIT IN SEPIA -
Book of negroes
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@Bluebonnet: seconded. I really enjoyed devil in the white city. Wife is a Chicagoan and bibliophile so she recommended this one.
Read the given day by dennis lehane (author of shutter island, mystic river)
Also recommend cane river by lalita tademy. -
@Jess1483: Daughter of Fortune and Portrait in Sepia...you should read it in a certain order...let me look into that.
Eta: Read Daughter of Fortune first and then Portrait in Sepia.
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Not sure exactly what you're looking for, but since you're headed to florida you should look into A Land Remembered. I really enjoyed it, especially since I had family members who lived it.
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@sera_87: Not too long ago I saw a commercial for the TV adaptation of that book. @mrsjazz: ha! literary celebrities!!
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Another recommend for Devil in a White City. So so good.
I just read the Art Forger and that was entertaining, a fast read too.
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Thanks so much for all the great suggestions! Now to figure out where to start! But I just discovered Kindle Unlimited (basically like Prime for books), and it does a free 30 day trial, so I can try out a few of them!
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Ragtime, City of Dreams, Time and Again, the Alienist and Lovers at the Chameleon Club are some good ones that come to mind.
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@simplyfelicity: Thanks!
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All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. Or The Big House by George Colt Howe about a summer home and those who livedin it and the history of where it was built. It's non-fiction but reads a lot like fiction.
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Devil in the White City always gets my vote!
I just finished One Summer, America 1927 by Bill Bryson and really liked that, too
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@keepcalmcarrie: Read Katherine, and now have several others of hers on hold at the library! I really liked it.
@Ms.Pumpkin: Read Blackout and loved it, and was too impatient to wait for the second one from the library so I just bought it for my kindle!
@Bluebonnet: @Fronkinzankinsbride: @hellobeeboston: Read Devil in the White City, it was also great! Hard to believe it was all nonfiction.
And thanks again for all the other recommendations! I have several more of them on hold at the library. I should have thought to ask here sooner!
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@Torchwood: oh good!! So glad you liked it!
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It sounds like we have really similar taste in books! The ones you listed are all my favorites. Devil in the White City is definitely on my "to read" list. Going to have to check out Katherine and Blackout as well. I"ll try and remember my other favorites but preggo brain is really kicking my butt these days.
Haven't read them yet but have been recommended to me:
All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr
I Am Forbidden - Anouk Markovitz
The Rosie Project
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