Fictional history is best. And that’s the truth

[Carrie Bailey]

I will never stop being a fan of the Brother Cadfael series. It's almost difficult to doubt medieval Shrewsbury existed the way "Ellis Peters" portrayed it. Last night, my boyfriend asked me, "Do you really think it was like that?"

For me, great historical fiction is a sensible story about believable characters within an environment that fades into the background as it should. I want to read and then be there without thinking about it. I've watched the tv series, read the books, listened to them on tape and even with my normally analytical mind, I almost never questioned the setting.

[I, Brian]

Originally Posted by Connavar

C.S Forester is THE HF writer for me, the straightforward writing style with great characters,more historical realism,knowledge than you can find in 10 books.

He did win the biggest prize in the english language.

His novels A Ship of the Line and Flying Colours were jointly awarded the 1938 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction.

That's so strange - I swear I have a memory of getting one of this books, probably an omnibus, and starting the first few pages - but I'm buggered if I can find it.

[Gramm838]

My all time favoutrite historical novel is 'Unto This Hour' by Tom Wicker; even as a Brit I really bought into the novel which tells the story of the battle of Manassas/Bull Run in the ACW.

The descriptions on the opening few pages simply draw you into a stiflingly hot and dusty day in Virginia in 1862, and just kept me captivated the whole way through.

[Snowdog]

These days I'll read non-fiction history over historical fiction, but it was historical fiction that got me interested in history. The problem is that the few good authors around at the moment seem to cover the same ground and also concentrate on the most well-known periods and people. I've never read Conn Iggulden, for instance, only because he writes about things I know reasonably well and I'm more interested in finding something new.

With non-fiction you can usually find something written about almost anything you're interested in.