I enjoy historical fiction and decided to start reading historical fiction from 1066 to the present. Sometimes, the stories are so intriguing that I turned to non-fiction for better appreciation. Both are listed.
1

by
4.35 avg rating — 827,942 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
4.08 avg rating — 46,277 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
4.29 avg rating — 24,992 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
3.91 avg rating — 232,663 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
4.21 avg rating — 35,721 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
4.26 avg rating — 17,414 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
4.41 avg rating — 22,685 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
4.40 avg rating — 10,642 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
4.11 avg rating — 19,128 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
4.06 avg rating — 61,410 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
4.11 avg rating — 7,829 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
4.45 avg rating — 9,737 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
4.30 avg rating — 9,410 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
4.09 avg rating — 512,667 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
4.39 avg rating — 8,178 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
3.96 avg rating — 182,440 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
4.26 avg rating — 28,844 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
4.02 avg rating — 26,439 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
3.89 avg rating — 38,542 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
3.91 avg rating — 95,206 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
4.05 avg rating — 92,989 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 9,319 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
4.19 avg rating — 808,565 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
4.01 avg rating — 15,739 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
4.14 avg rating — 9,815 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
3.87 avg rating — 7,732 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
4.33 avg rating — 6,504 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
4.03 avg rating — 32,784 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
3.83 avg rating — 77,987 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
3.93 avg rating — 166,983 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.87 avg rating — 8,037 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
4.32 avg rating — 275,177 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
3.87 avg rating — 16,654 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
4.26 avg rating — 32,761 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
3.96 avg rating — 44,382 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
4.07 avg rating — 17,877 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
4.15 avg rating — 1,019 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
4.15 avg rating — 1,300 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
4.11 avg rating — 1,172 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
3.81 avg rating — 2,315 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
3.94 avg rating — 3,796 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
3.81 avg rating — 4,836 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
4.05 avg rating — 6,590 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
4.37 avg rating — 27,289 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
4.10 avg rating — 1,428 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.30 avg rating — 32,491 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
4.36 avg rating — 22,804 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
3.92 avg rating — 1,427 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
4.12 avg rating — 72,851 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
3.91 avg rating — 3,494 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
3.93 avg rating — 751 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
4.05 avg rating — 3,192 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
3.83 avg rating — 79,994 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
3.82 avg rating — 99 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
3.90 avg rating — 3,106 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
4.26 avg rating — 1,269 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
3.77 avg rating — 351 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
3.97 avg rating — 1,038 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
4.04 avg rating — 783 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
3.79 avg rating — 10,220 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
3.84 avg rating — 4,423 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 19,615 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
4.17 avg rating — 4,658 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
3.78 avg rating — 20,247 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
4.18 avg rating — 4,562 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
4.30 avg rating — 104,690 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
4.08 avg rating — 2,668 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
3.98 avg rating — 326,286 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
4.11 avg rating — 1,528 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
3.77 avg rating — 3,737 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
3.84 avg rating — 4,390 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
4.03 avg rating — 5,249 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
3.85 avg rating — 1,722 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
4.48 avg rating — 200 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
4.31 avg rating — 123 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
4.18 avg rating — 17 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
4.26 avg rating — 304 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
78

by
4.35 avg rating — 23 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
4.37 avg rating — 162 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
80

by
4.19 avg rating — 968 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
81

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 50,331 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
81

by
3.98 avg rating — 34,962 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
4.09 avg rating — 5,820 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.99 avg rating — 28,581 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
4.25 avg rating — 752 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
86

by
4.16 avg rating — 7,496 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
87

by
3.46 avg rating — 3,332 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
4.09 avg rating — 34,213 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
4.14 avg rating — 1,864 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
90

by
4.10 avg rating — 734 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
4.01 avg rating — 15,466 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
3.89 avg rating — 11,747 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
93

by
4.11 avg rating — 464 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
4.03 avg rating — 1,441 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
95

by
3.87 avg rating — 5,869 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
3.77 avg rating — 7,904 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
4.07 avg rating — 141,477 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
3.94 avg rating — 48,805 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
99

by
3.70 avg rating — 1,862 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

by
4.02 avg rating — 13,564 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
517 books · 130 voters · list created August 3rd, 2012 by Lezley (votes) .
49 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Lezley 1004 books
6 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3386 books
851 friends
Carolyn 1041 books
296 friends
Molly 621 books
57 friends
Libby 10282 books
63 friends
Diana 128983 books
1204 friends
Bill 370 books
41 friends
Vizara 3974 books
136 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-8 of 8 (8 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Is this list for history, or historical fiction? I see both on it.


message 2: by Lezley (last edited Aug 17, 2012 04:54PM) (new)

Lezley Susanna wrote: "Is this list for history, or historical fiction? I see both on it."

I started with Historical Fiction, but when I was unable to find a fiction book eg Henry I, I then turned to non-fiction. Also sometimes I really enjoyed an author and read several of his/her books be it fiction or non-fiction. Some non-fiction books eg Castle and The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer provide excellent background material which have given me an appreciation for the culture and customs of the times.
Often a character was so interesting, I couldn't limit myself to fiction, I needed to learn more.Lezley


message 3: by Richard (new)

Richard Alison Weir's book The Princes in the Tower occurs twice in the list.

As good as it is, I wonder why The Diary of Anne Frank has been included? Is there some connection to British history that I'm missing?


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads I checked for duplicates, which should have gotten the double The Princes in the Tower.

Yeah, I'll delete the Diary of Anne Frank.


message 6: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Oct 17, 2014 10:42AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) The prime of Miss Jean Brodie historical fiction??


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Well, it was written in the 60s but is set in the 30s.


message 8: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Oct 18, 2014 03:15AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "Well, it was written in the 60s but is set in the 30s."

Agreed :-) I've always taken 50 years for a novel to be labelled 'historical' but Wikipedia mentions only 25 years, I noticed. Interesting difference though. Being Dutch, I would never have considered The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie historical fiction. It's just too recent for my liking. I have no doubt, for instance, labelling some of Hella S. Haasse's books historical fiction, like The Tea Lords, The Scarlet City, Threshold of Fire: a novel of fifth century Rome or In a Dark Wood Wandering: A Novel of the Middle Ages (I voted for this last one) but just not The prime of Miss Jean Brodie. The same goes for a book like Vets might fly by James Herriot, by the way, which here in the Netherlands would have an additional 'problem', as it is autobiographical, if I remember correctly, and as such would not be considered historical fiction.


back to top



Related News

Now here’s an interesting stack of books…   To honor the conclusion of the first quarter of the new century, we’ve ventured deep into the...

Anyone can add books to this list.