June 2003
Booklists · World Historical Fiction
The past several years have seen a renaissance of the historical novel! These and many other recent novels will take you across the centuries and around the world.
The Ancient World
Gods and Legions: A Novel of the Roman Empire
4th-century Roman Empire
Nefer the Silent
ancient Egypt
The Last of the Amazons
ancient Greece
Europe: The Middle Ages and the Renaissance
Baudolino
12th-century Europe
The Shadow of God: A Novel of War and Faith
16th-century Istanbul and Rhodes
Saint Julian
13th-century France
A Journey to the End of the Millenium
10th-century Europe
Europe: 17th and 18th Centuries
Girl with a Pearl Earring
17th-century Netherlands
The Royal Physician’s Visit
18th-century Denmark
The Blue Flower
18th-century Germany
Balthasar’s Odyssey
17th-century Europe and the Levant
As Meat Loves Salt
English Civil War
Martha Peake: A Novel of the Revolution
England and the American Revolution
The Book of Splendor
17th-century Prague
Europe: 19th and Early 20th Centuries
The Phoenix: A Novel about the Hindenburg
Germany and the Hindenburg crash
Jack Maggs
Victorian England
Falling Angels
early 20th-century England
Gallows Thief
Regency England
A Star Called Henry
20th-century Ireland
The Commissariat of Enlightenment
revolutionary Russia
At Swim, Two Boys
early 20th-century Ireland
Your Mouth is Lovely
revolutionary Russia
Africa
The Book of the Heathen
19th-century Congo
Manly Pursuits
19th-century South Africa
The Magician’s Wife
19th-century Algeria
Morenga
early 20th-century southwest Africa
Asia
The Wedding
India and South Africa, turn of the last century
The Company: The Story of a Murderer
17th-century Dutch East Indies
The Mulberry Empire
19th-century Afghanistan
The Piano Tuner
17th-century Burma
The Tapestries
early 20th-century Vietnam
The Americas: Outside the U.S.
The Puma’s Shadow
16th-century Incan Empire
The Pleasure of Eliza Lynch
19th-century Paraguay
Feathered Serpent: A Novel of the Mexican Conquest
16th-century Mexico
Picture Maker
15th-century Canada
Don Carlos
19th-century Argentina
Australia, Antarctica, the Arctic, and the Seven Seas
Confessing a Murder
19th-century England, Australia, and the South Seas
The Broken Lands: A Novel of Arctic Disaster
19th-century Arctic exploration
The Monsters of St. Helena
16th–19th century island of St. Helena
The Navigator of New York
early 20th-century Antarctic exploration
A Fine Boy for Killing
18th-century British Royal Navy
Kydd
18th-century British Royal Navy
World War I and Its Aftermath
The Stone Carvers
Canada and the European front
The Right Hand of Sleep
Austria and the Russian front
World War II and Its Aftermath
The Siege
siege of Leningrad
Human Voices
London
Blood of Victory
occupied Paris
When the Elephants Dance
Philippines
The End of the War
fall of Berlin
The Song and the Truth
Java and Holland
Biographical
The Other Boleyn Girl
Mary Boleyn and her sister, Queen Anne
The Dance of Geometry
Johannes Vermeer
The Book of Eleanor
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Grimm’s Last Fairytale
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
The Winter Queen
Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia
Music & Silence
King Christian IV of Denmark
Women
The Crimson Petal and the White
Victorian England
The Binding Chair, or, A Visit from the Foot Emancipation Society
Shanghai and elsewhere, turn of the last century
Beyond the Limit: The Dream of Sofya Kovalevskaya
19th-century Russia
Fingersmith
Victorian England
Clara Callan
Canada, 1930s
Romance
The Rose Grower
revolutionary France
The Adventures of Miles and Isabel
19th-century Australia
Legacy of Love
Afghanistan and England, 19th and 20th centuries
The Angel and the Sword
9th-century France
The Angel with One Hundred Wings: A Tale from the Arabian Nights
9th-century Baghdad
Isolde: Queen of the Western Isle
medieval Ireland
Alice in Exile
England and Russia, early 20th century
Suspense
Walking the Lions
Spain, 1938
A Conspiracy of Paper
18th-century London
The Unburied
19th-century England
The Jester
12th-century France
The Fencing Master
19th-century Spain
December 6
Tokyo on the eve of World War II
The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon
16th-century Lisbon
Fantasy
The Merlin of St. Gilles’ Well
fantasy series about Joan of Arc
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
Cinderella story set in 17th-century Netherlands
Dark Passage
time travel adventure in the time of Christ
The Years of Rice and Salt
alternate world history after Europe is ravaged by the Black Plague
The Innamorati
alternate Renaissance Italy
Historical Novels Framed within 20th-Century Stories
To the Hermitage
18th-century Russia
Death of a River Guide
19th-century Tasmania
Everything is Illuminated
18th- to 20th-century Ukraine
Headlong
16th-century Flanders
Zeeland, or, Elective Concurrences
19th-century France
The Dream of Scipio
5th- and 14th-century France
Girl in Hyancinth Blue
Vermeer painting traced over the centuries
Henderson’s Spear
19th-century Tahiti
Locating additional library materials in the Library Catalog:
Not all fiction records in the Library Catalog include subject or setting information, but you can find some additional historical novels with a keyword subject search. Type the place name you are looking for and add the words “history” and “fiction” to the search request. Staff can help you find more using other print and online sources.
Need more suggestions? Email the Popular Library or contact your local branch and our staff will be happy to assist you.