Best Historical Fiction

aulsmith : Not historical by my definition.

RuMuse: England, the 1520s. Henry VIII is on the throne, but lacks an heir, which creates ongoing crises. Told from POV of Thomas Cromwell.

aulsmith : Doesn't meet my definition of historical fiction.

sturlington : Took place during the author's lifetime and based partly on his experiences.

elkiedee: Historical fiction is set in the past but it can be a period within the author's lifetime - the past can look very different from 25 or 40 years later. I hope no one who argues this isn't a historical novel believes that either Possession or The Daughter of Time, both above this in the list, are historical fiction. They are brilliant novels which I would recommend to fans of historical fiction but they are both contemporary novels with significant interest for historical fiction readers.

leslie.98 : Not historical fiction

RuMuse: Very engaging young adult novel set in Puritan New England. Depicts the social constrictions on girls and women.

aulsmith : Not historical fiction by my definition.

elkiedee: It was written several decades after it was set, perhaps more than 50 years later, and while it was somewhat autobiographical it was also fictionalised and presented as a novel. Although it's loosely based on the author's life and that of her family, lots of details have been changed, added, left out and this is historical fiction.

smcwl : Not written as historical fiction.

elkiedee: I think historical fiction can be set in the relatively recent past. 10 years after the war writers in countries on all sides might well have had a very different perspective on those events. I would have no problem regarding a novel written this year but about the Iraq war that started in 2003 and ending before this, as historical fiction. Or a book set in Britain under the last Labour government, or the US just after Obama was elected or reelected, as historical fiction. I think it might be a bit soon to consider a pandemic novel historical fiction, but maybe within 5 years it will be part of our history.

Matteocalosi : Partly autobiographical and written only 10 years after the end of the war, not historical fiction

leslie.98 : Not historical fiction

RuMuse: Set in southern England from 1880 to post-WWI, it's a vivid account of 3 families and their friends, most of them liberal, artistic and unconventional, and how their world changed forever during the Great War.

aulsmith : Does not meet my definition of historical fiction. Author lived during the time period written about.

leslie.98 : Not historical fiction

aulsmith : Not historical fiction by my definition.

elkiedee : Set around the time it was written, not historical fiction.

elkiedee : I love this novel - but it's not historical fiction - it's a mostly contemporary novel with historical appeal. The main character is a 20th century police detective convalescing in bed and "investigating" the case of Richard III and the Princes in the Tower, but it's set in the author's present day.

elkiedee : I absolutely loved this when I read it but it was over 30 years ago now. I should reread, and would recommend to people who love historical fiction. I am thumbing it down because it's not a historical novel, it is a dual narrative story with a large part set in the past, but also a novel largely set in the author's present at the time of writing (late 1980s, published 1990).