With A Bit Of History

I had a friend ask me a few days back for recommendations of works of historical fiction by more-or-less modern authors. I happen to be quite ready for this question, since I enjoy knowing things, and I find well-written historical fiction one of the easiest ways to absorb the details of history. Fiction, by definition, is made up, but fiction that is explicitly set in a historical milieu, and/or deals with the ramifications of historical events can still impart all kinds of information to the reader. And more than that, it can provide the impetus to make you want to find out more.

The tricky bit for the reader is understanding which bits are made up–but that usually falls out of the process for me. A common pattern when I read historical fiction is that I end up doing all kinds of research and secondary non-fiction reading to follow up on things I found interesting in the story, and this usually helps clear up any confusion about what the author did versus what our best idea is of what actually happened and whyYeah, it’s not that simple, but you know what I mean..

Anyway, the first three recommendations just come out without thinking:

1. Patrick O’Brian – I got turned on to these books many years ago in the wake of Steve Brust‘s fascination with them (as did many other people–Steve’s kind of like that), buying and reading the twenty books in the Aubrey/Maturin series in a matter of weeks (and reading a lot of supplementary materials). Boys own stories for adults. How can you go wrong?
2. The Flashman Papers – I am oddly ashamed to admit why I first read these: I was sitting in a sauna at the gym, bored, as I usually am in the sauna, and someone had left a celebrity magazine of some kind in there. I picked it up, just to have something to read, and found an interview with Liz Hurley where she was asked about her favourite books. She mentioned Flashman, and whatever she said about it was enough to pique my interest, and I picked up the first book later that day. Then I read them all in quick succession. Historical fiction with footnotes, no less! Then everything else of Fraser‘s I could find (almost all of which counts as historical fiction, and which is excellent, although I also dig most of his non-fiction that I’ve read). Certainly the best result I’ve ever had from reading a celebrity magazine.
3. Donald Jack‘s Bartholomew Bandy books – I usually describe these as “sort of a Canadian Flashman”, and they are highly recommended by P. G. Wodehouse, which is probably all that needs to be said. (I’m told Edwin Thomas also took a crack at a “sort of Flashman” character in his Martin Jerrold books, but I haven’t got to them yet. I have, though, read his first Byzantium/crusader book, Mosaic Of Shadows, under the Tom Harper pseudonym, and intend to read the rest of them.)

I suspect I will shortly be adding Harold Lamb to that list–I’ve got the four volumes of Cossack stories coming to me on a friend’s recommendation, and I’m reasonably certain I’ll be looking into more of his stuff after that.

After those ones that pop immediately to mind, I have to actually start thinking. I’m sure I’ll miss some obvious ones, since I’m winging it here, but you can remind me in the comments. (And if that leads to me finding some new good stuff… well, that would hardly be a bad thing.)

Some other series come to mind: WWII with Michael Dobbs‘ Churchill books and Clavell‘s Asian saga as two that pop up immediately. And books that come in large groups aren’t the only things that leap to mind: revolutionary Russian in The People’s Act of Love, post WWII Hungary in Under The Frog, Leon Uris telling the story of Ireland as it turned the last century in Trinity, Alan Moore spanning thousands of years of Northampton history, etc.

Before I had a chance to rattle all of this off, though, the question of “straight historical” versus “historical with genre elements” was raised. This does make things a little less simple.

For instance there’s a definite spectrum of “historical + mystery” books, ranging from excellently well-written books like Umberto Eco‘s Name Of The Rose or Ross King‘s Ex Libris (Domino is also worth reading) through to the almost Hollywood thrillers like Kerr‘s Dark MatterDon’t get me wrong, I totally enjoyed reading this, and learned a bit about things such subjects as counterfeiting, but it completely lacks gravitas. Kerr’s Philosophical Investigation also has the properties of teaching you stuff along the way on a thrill ride, and is worth a read..There’s the faux Sherlockian like Will Thomas’ books, which have a soft focus period England behind them, albeit a slightly more realistic one than, say, the one in Pullman‘s Sally Lockhart books. And, of course, there are much more serious works, like the novels of David Liss, which both entertain and educate. (I added The Whiskey Rebels to my “to read” pile earlier this week, actually.)

We could go deeper into history, for mysteries set in ancient Rome, like Steven Saylor‘s Gordianus novels, or the somewhat lighter SPQR series by John Maddox Roberts. (There’s also that Falco series, but honestly I couldn’t get past the first few of them).

Or, if you mix history and espionage, there’s a whole other world that opens up, although the history is mostly restricted to the last century: Tom Bradby, Henry Porter, Robert Littell, Alan Furst, Martin Cruz Smith, Le Carré, Olen Steinhauer… well, the list goes on.

Then if you mix history and fantasy, you can have lots of fun across all kinds of historical periods. In medieval Europe you’ve got things from almost pure history, like Parke Godwin through to Stephen Lawhead. Mixing in more fantasy, Anderson‘s King of Ys series, and Judith Tarr‘s Hound & Falcon series.

While we’re mixing fantasy tropes with history, I’d be remiss if I failed to mention the superlative Gene Wolfe‘s Soldier series, set in the Classical world, and Norman Spinrad‘s two explicitly historical works, Druid King about Vercingetorix, and his conquistador/Aztec novel, Mexica.

Thinking fantasy plus secret history, I really should throw in a vote for Powers as well: he’s got history of famous poets, history of piracy and the Caribbean, history of Las Vegas, history of modern era British double agents, etc.

Mixing science fiction and history is a trickier game–they are kind of diametrically opposed in their intentions, but there is at least one example of historical fiction that’s best read by people familiar with science fiction tropes: Neal Stephenson‘s Baroque Cycle (and their predecessor). Of course you kind of need to clear the schedule to attack that one.

So, if you made it this far, what am I missing? What are some examples of well-written characters in well-told stories, that rely on historical settings, elements, or issues? And what other examples are there if you mix in a bit (or more) of genre with your history?

UPDATE: OK, I guess I can believe that I forgot Emma Bull‘s wonderful Territory on the list, since in my mind it’s western+fantasy, not history+fantasy, but there’s no excuse for forgetting Bull and Brust’s Freedom and Necessity. I’m dreading finding out what else might pop to mind now that will embarrass me with it’s obviousness.