Historical Fictionistas discussion

i know we have done it before but I would like to do historical mysteries again. I loved the Josephine Tey about the princes in the tower. I would like more like that.

HF about sports (or sports people)?

Edited: I fixed my suggestions by deleting any that were done already. Sorry!

Theme suggestions:

- Illegitimate children
- Paranormal
- Vampires
- Haunting
- LGBT
- unrequited love
- women warriors
- Soviet Occupation of the mid-20th century
- Galapagos islands
- Titanic
- interwar period (between WWI and WWII)
- Salem witch trials
- Old Hollywood
- anthropology
- Hindenburg disaster
- magical realism
- fashion
- Hawaii
- fairytale
- Jazz Age
- New Orleans
- pilots/flight
- British Empire/Imperialism
- Jack the Ripper
- Hitler or people near him
- time-jumping/multiple timelines
- inspired by H.P. Lovecraft
- egypt
- arctic circle
- Italy

How about history of Hollywood

Alice wrote: "How about history of Hollywood"

That actually could be really fun.

I suggest the theme shouldn’t be too USA relevant as there is a big wide world out there!!

Oh I would enjoy that. I love reading the stories which feature movie stars. But I do understand what Margret is saying. This is an international group.

How about adoption and List family as a theme.

Margaret wrote: "I suggest the theme shouldn’t be too USA relevant as there is a big wide world out there!!"

While I understand that argument, Grace Kelly was a Hollywood star who went on to have a rather international live. That's the example that comes to me off the top of my head.

I'm sure if you were to do a little more digging you would find plenty of stories of historical Hollywood figures who had international lives or impacts. Elvis (kind of sort of) was involved in WWII. Christopher Lee was considered one of the best of his age, he wasn't American.

This was more to do with such themes as Wild West and American history, although interesting is perhaps a bit parochial. Hope I’m not treading on toes!

Lost family, adoption, separated twins..
There are very interesting books out there on these themes

More theme ideas:

- museum
- Chile
- France
- Romanovs
- the Rosenbergs
- Cuba
- ancient Greece
- ancient Rome
- Anglo-Zulu War
- New Jersey/Pine Barrens/Jersey Devil
- cryptozoology
- Biblical tales
- women's suffrage
- The Gilded Age (1870s to 1900)
- epidemics
- Eleanor of Aquitaine
- women disguised as men
- The Great Depression
- Brooklyn/NYC
- Portugal
- marriage/divorce

-war
-two (or more) historical periods
-World War I
-sports
-music
-dance

- sports
- natural disasters
- religious conflict
- science/medical

More suggestions:

- The Crusades
- Voodoo/Santeria
- cults
- servants/servitude
- archaeology
- art/artists
- Judaism
- Arthurian
- curses
- 19th century China
- cooking/baking/food
- South Africa
- Hawaii

More suggestions:

- The 'Stans (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan)
- Austria
- The Caucasus region (Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan)
- Belgium
- Ottoman Empire

I would add:

- All Dynasties in Imperial China

Female main character.

What about like a Queen Victoria or just generally Victorian Women theme? or the crossing of Victorian to Edwardian culture.

I'm interested in the late Victorian period and how things were changing for women. It seemed like quite a revolutionary time, at that time. Read George Gissing, especially "The Odd Women" to get a sense of this. Gissing tells good stories and he was writing them in the 1890s as popular novels.

I love the period between the World Wars.... or just before World War I.

Has this group read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark? It's about magicians in Regency England. Also a BBC series. It's long and I've read 150 pages already. Would love to discuss it with a group when I'm done....It has some AMAZING characters. Really colorful and surprising. Written by a woman but mainly about men (moral and otherwise.) Laura, Ohio

Celtic HF or Druid in particular

Women’s suffrage, First Wave- 1848-1900; Second Wave-1901-1920, Third Wave - 1955-1975.

Books set during the Great Depression, which are oddly few and far between. How about Rae Meadows' I WILL SEND RAIN, for example, or GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck?

Grapes of Wrath isn't historical fiction. It came out in 1939.

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "Grapes of Wrath isn't historical fiction. It came out in 1939."

Generally HF is considered a book set 50 years in the past. Grapes of Wrath is set in 1930's so it probably qualifies now but when written was contemporary. Hmm interesting question if it qualifies.

In this group, historical fiction is defined as being written 50 years after the events happen. So if someone is writing about WWII as it is happening, it doesn’t count. Jane Austen? Doesn’t count.

I'm kind of in the mood for a villain. Can we do a tyrant or traitor theme? Or even just someone history classifies as a villain like Ivan the Terrible.

That could be fun. Caligula. Nero. Ivan the Terrible. Benedict Arnold. Lots of options.

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "That could be fun. Caligula. Nero. Ivan the Terrible. Benedict Arnold. Lots of options."

Exactly what I was thinking. For some reason I want to read a book on Ivan the Terrible.

The Conn Iggulden books about Gengis Kahn are not what you'd expect at all. He has such a terrible early life and then as he becomes successful his hoards sweep over Europe, India and China. It's quite a tale over 5 books.

After Jasmine's comment, I'm wondering if anyone's written anything about Attila the Hun?

S wrote: "The Conn Iggulden books about Gengis Kahn are not what you'd expect at all. He has such a terrible early life and then as he becomes successful his hoards sweep over Europe, India and China. It's q..."

I agree. Great stories.

Hi can we still add suggested themes? If so could I please suggest herbal medicine as a theme? Hope I have done this right. 😊

Bianca wrote: "Hi can we still add suggested themes? If so could I please suggest herbal medicine as a theme? Hope I have done this right. 😊"

Yes, you can still suggest a theme! We have all the themes in a spreadsheet and are slowly making our way through the different suggestions.

Jasmine wrote: "I'm kind of in the mood for a villain. Can we do a tyrant or traitor theme? Or even just someone history classifies as a villain like Ivan the Terrible."
Like the idea of villains theme

Historical Fiction taking place during a pandemic. What could be more topical? Stories set during the Spanish Influenza or other pandemics would be something I'd be interested in reading, maybe others would too.

Chippers wrote: "Historical Fiction taking place during a pandemic. What could be more topical? Stories set during the Spanish Influenza or other pandemics would be something I'd be interested in reading, maybe oth..."

I like this suggestion!

I've heard that Moloka'i by Alan Brennet is an interesting and touching novel. It deals with the isolation of lepers in the Hawaiian Islands

I love Moloka;i I am waiting for libraries t pen to read the sequel

Renee wrote: "I love Moloka;i I am waiting for libraries t pen to read the sequel"

I want to read the sequel as well. The scene in the first book where Moloka;i was sent away on the ferry was heartbreaking.

Our book club read Moloka'i and everyone found it an absorbing and touching read.

Becky wrote: "This folder is where we will post threads for the chosen group read. Please do not post threads here unless pertaining to the group read, as they will be deleted or moved as appropriate.

Thank yo..."
How about Pacific Northwest History? I have 4 books for this category: Deep River, Mink River, Martin Marten, The Overstory.

set in partition time period India.

Hispanic / Latinx Literature

Loving some of the theme suggestions here! Voodoo/santeria; the Gilded Age (an agent I heard speak earlier in the year said publishers are actively looking for Gilded Age, 1950s, and own-stories), etc.

Maybe the suffrage movement? And historical fiction by nineteenth-century authors?

Historical fiction involving medical science, mental health, psychology.

Historical fiction involving real-life women who made history themselves (other than the wives of famous men).

Michelle wrote: "I think some Asian history needs to be added to the theme list. I loved Memoirs of a Geisha and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan."

I agree! I love Asian history. Lisa See's Shanghai Girls is excellent and I believe it's a three book series.

I'd second Renaissance, and in another category, French Renaissance.
Early Modern
Enlightenment
Colonial America

Books by Japanese authors
Books by authors born in the month
Books set in musical background (i.e. Daisy Jone and the Six)