For Lovers of Historical Fiction

Sat, 01/23/2010 - 10:59am by ballybeg

If you are a lover of historical fiction, as I am, and need ideas for great reading, there are three excellent resources readily available.

Behind our Fiction/Media desk, on the first floor of the downtown library, on the wooden reference stand, is the primo reference, Historical Fiction: A Guide to the Genre. This has excellent reviews, some of them starred, in many sub-genres of the historical novel, including literary, romance, Christian, fantasy and mystery. At 800 pages, there are many years worth of reading here!

In our Research database is an excellent fiction resource called Novelist. This site is worth exploring for the many ways it assists readers in choosing their next great novel. In the historical fiction category, there are 32 bibliographies of suggested reading on such subjects as: Artful Reads, Dear Diary, The Great Depression, Royal Reads, Troubled Times and World War I.

And, finally, check out the website of the Historical Novel Society, which specializes in celebrating everything about historical literature. You can find information on their two magazines, the next historical fiction conference, soon-to-be-published historical novels and, for great annotated lists of preferred reading, look at the editor’s choice reviews here.

Some of my enduring favorites are: Poison by Kathryn Harrison; The Last Jew by Noah Gordon; Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks; and The Alchemist's Daughter by Katharine McMahon.