My Best Historical Fiction post is one of my most popular posts of all time. It has done well since I first published it last summer, but with most of us in lockdown, more and more people have been turning to my blog for book recommendations. And I’m more than happy to share my experience and expertise. I wanted to give you another list of my top 5 historical fiction books, to give you more reading recommendations to keep you going! So grab your book, your ereader, or your audiobook app, and get ready to get lost in historical fiction again…
The Other Windsor Girl, George Blalock
Diana, Catherine, Meghan…glamorous Princess Margaret outdid them all. Springing into post-World War II society, and quite naughty and haughty, she lived in a whirlwind of fame and notoriety. Georgie Blalock captures the fascinating, fast-living princess and her “set” as seen through the eyes of one of her ladies-in-waiting.
In dreary, post-war Britain, Princess Margaret captivates everyone with her cutting edge fashion sense and biting quips. The royal socialite, cigarette holder in one hand, cocktail in the other, sparkles in the company of her glittering entourage of wealthy young aristocrats known as the Margaret Set, but her outrageous lifestyle conflicts with her place as Queen Elizabeth’s younger sister. Can she be a dutiful princess while still dazzling the world on her own terms?
Post-war Britain isn’t glamorous for The Honorable Vera Strathmore. While writing scandalous novels, she dreams of living and working in New York, and regaining the happiness she enjoyed before her fiancé was killed in the war. A chance meeting with the Princess changes her life forever. Vera amuses the princess, and what—or who—Margaret wants, Margaret gets. Soon, Vera gains Margaret’s confidence and the privileged position of second lady-in-waiting to the Princess. Thrust into the center of Margaret’s social and royal life, Vera watches the princess’s love affair with dashing Captain Peter Townsend unfurl.
But while Margaret, as a member of the Royal Family, is not free to act on her desires, Vera soon wants the freedom to pursue her own dreams. As time and Princess Margaret’s scandalous behavior progress, both women will be forced to choose between status, duty, and love…
I’ve been quite clear on my thoughts on royal-ish fiction. I don’t think that a royal’s name/image should be used to market a book if they don’t play a substantial role in it. While the books in this genre are often well-written and interesting, it often feels like you are being tricked into reading it. However, that is absolutely NOT the case with The Other Windsor Girl. Vera Strathmore is a strong and fascinating leading character, but Princess Margaret is very present throughout the entire book. Princess Margaret is sadly largely remembered for her more outrageous moments in later life and her difficult marriage, but she was so much more than that. Through Vera, we see Margaret’s difficult and trying moments, but also her thoughtful and kind moments.
If you love The Crown, I would recommend spending a weekend with The Other Windsor Girl for a different perspective on Princess Margaret. Because it is framed through the lens of one of her ladies, it isn’t the same glaring spotlight. And Vera’s story on it own will keep you reading- she isn’t a real person from history, but she certainly feels like a real person!
Marilla of Green Gables, Sarah McCoy
Plucky and ambitious, Marilla Cuthbert is thirteen years old when her world is turned upside down. Her beloved mother has dies in childbirth, and Marilla suddenly must bear the responsibilities of a farm wife: cooking, sewing, keeping house, and overseeing the day-to-day life of Green Gables with her brother, Matthew and father, Hugh.
In Avonlea—a small, tight-knit farming town on a remote island—life holds few options for farm girls. Her one connection to the wider world is Aunt Elizabeth “Izzy” Johnson, her mother’s sister, who managed to escape from Avonlea to the bustling city of St. Catharines. An opinionated spinster, Aunt Izzy’s talent as a seamstress has allowed her to build a thriving business and make her own way in the world.
Emboldened by her aunt, Marilla dares to venture beyond the safety of Green Gables and discovers new friends and new opportunities. Joining the Ladies Aid Society, she raises funds for an orphanage run by the Sisters of Charity in nearby Nova Scotia that secretly serves as a way station for runaway slaves from America. Her budding romance with John Blythe, the charming son of a neighbor, offers her a possibility of future happiness—Marilla is in no rush to trade one farm life for another. She soon finds herself caught up in the dangerous work of politics, and abolition—jeopardizing all she cherishes, including her bond with her dearest John Blythe. Now Marilla must face a reckoning between her dreams of making a difference in the wider world and the small-town reality of life at Green Gables.
I had to include this book for all of my Anne of Green Gables fans (I know there are a lot of you!). If you don’t know, Marilla was the woman who took Anne Shirley in when she came to Avonlea as an orphan. She plays a massive role in Anne’s life, and I think a lot of us have wondered about who she was before she was the Marilla we all know. McCoy handles a difficult situation strongly- this is an established character and an established world. And she makes it her own without it leaving all of LM Montgomery’s work behind. I also appreciated getting lost in a quieter world while I was reading this. That in no way means that it is a boring world, but it is a cozy, and lovely world that makes for a wonderful escape.
Fun fact: I actually was reading this during the intervals at the Royal Opera House when I went to see the Royal Ballet perform Don Quixote!
Bringing Down the Duke, Evie Dunmore
England, 1879. Annabelle Archer, the brilliant but destitute daughter of a country vicar, has earned herself a place among the first cohort of female students at the renowned University of Oxford. In return for her scholarship, she must support the rising women’s suffrage movement. Her charge: recruit men of influence to champion their cause. Her target: Sebastian Devereux, the cold and calculating Duke of Montgomery who steers Britain’s politics at the Queen’s command. Her challenge: not to give in to the powerful attraction she can’t deny for the man who opposes everything she stands for.
Sebastian is appalled to find a suffragist squad has infiltrated his ducal home, but the real threat is his impossible feelings for green-eyed beauty Annabelle. He is looking for a wife of equal standing to secure the legacy he has worked so hard to rebuild, not an outspoken commoner who could never be his duchess. But he wouldn’t be the greatest strategist of the Kingdom if he couldn’t claim this alluring bluestocking without the promise of a ring…or could he?
Locked in a battle with rising passion and a will matching her own, Annabelle will learn just what it takes to topple a duke….
This is one of my favourite reads of 2020. Although it was published in 2019, it took a rew months for me to read it, and now I only regret waiting. Like To Have and To Hoax, there is an element of rom-com in it. And like To Have and To Hoax, it works well. Annabelle and Sebastian are both interesting and complex characters with complicated motives for why they do the things that they do. They will also frustrate you to no end and leave you cursing them. To me, that is the mark of an amazing book.
I particularly enjoyed the time period as a setting. You see a lot of books set in the Regency (we all love our Austen, right?), and many set in the late Edwardian (we also love Downton!). However the late nineteenth century doesn’t seem to be as popular, even though it was a time of massive change in society. It is a thoughtful and clever look at women’s rights and place in society, while still being a fascinating story that you can’t put down! (The second book in this series is being released in the fall, and I’ve already got a countdown going…)
A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder, Dianne Freeman
In this exciting historical mystery debut set in Victorian England, a wealthy young widow encounters the pleasures—and scandalous pitfalls—of a London social season . . .
Frances Wynn, the American-born Countess of Harleigh, enjoys more freedom as a widow than she did as a wife. After an obligatory year spent mourning her philandering husband, Reggie, she puts aside her drab black gowns, leaving the countryside and her money-grubbing in-laws behind. With her young daughter in tow, Frances rents a home in Belgravia and prepares to welcome her sister, Lily, arriving from New York—for her first London season.
No sooner has Frances begun her new life than the ghosts of her old one make an unwelcome appearance. The Metropolitan police receive an anonymous letter implicating Frances in her husband’s death. Frances assures Inspector Delaney of her innocence, but she’s also keen to keep him from learning the scandalous circumstances of Reggie’s demise. As fate would have it, her dashing new neighbor, George Hazelton, is one of only two other people aware of the full story.
While busy with social engagements on Lily’s behalf, and worrying if Reggie really was murdered, Frances learns of mysterious burglaries plaguing London’s elite. The investigation brings death to her doorstep, and Frances rallies her wits, a circle of gossips, and the ever-chivalrous Mr. Hazelton to uncover the truth. A killer is in their midst, perhaps even among her sister’s suitors. And Frances must unmask the villain before Lily’s season—and their lives—come to a most unseemly end . . .
This isn’t pure historical fiction but is also a mystery. I do find that historical fiction can feel incredibly heavy sometimes; I don’t always want a light read, but when I do, a historical cozy mystery is a great compromise. This is the perfect read for someone who loves Downton Abbey– Frances Wynn could have been Cora, another dollar duchess. (Well, dollar countess…) I know that many Downton fans have been clamouring for a prequel, and A Lady’s Guide does that with different characters. I also appreciated that the secondary characters were all well-developed. Her sister Lily isn’t just tossed in and left, but you get to know her as a character as well. And of course, the murder itself will keep you reading. Sometimes you just want a murder mystery to solve, and Freeman delivers that. You will quickly be lost in A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder!
The Romanov Empress, C.W. Gortner
Narrated by the mother of Russia’s last tsar, this vivid, historically authentic novel brings to life the courageous story of Maria Feodorovna, one of Imperial Russia’s most compelling women who witnessed the splendor and tragic downfall of the Romanovs as she fought to save her dynasty in the final years of its long reign.
Barely nineteen, Minnie knows that her station in life as a Danish princess is to leave her family and enter into a royal marriage–as her older sister Alix has done, moving to England to wed Queen Victoria’s eldest son. The winds of fortune bring Minnie to Russia, where she marries the Romanov heir and becomes empress once he ascends the throne. When resistance to his reign strikes at the heart of her family and the tsar sets out to crush all who oppose him, Minnie–now called Maria–must tread a perilous path of compromise in a country she has come to love.
Her husband’s death leaves their son Nicholas as the inexperienced ruler of a deeply divided and crumbling empire. Determined to guide him to reforms that will bring Russia into the modern age, Maria faces implacable opposition from Nicholas’s strong-willed wife, Alexandra, whose fervor has lead her into a disturbing relationship with a mystic named Rasputin. As the unstoppable wave of revolution rises anew to engulf Russia, Maria will face her most dangerous challenge and her greatest heartache.
From the opulent palaces of St. Petersburg and the intrigue-laced salons of the aristocracy to the World War I battlefields and the bloodied countryside occupied by the Bolsheviks, C. W. Gortner sweeps us into the anarchic fall of an empire and the complex, bold heart of the woman who tried to save it.
Ahhhh, my interest in the Romanov family is well documented on the blog. You can find the real Romanovs from my visit to the Russia, Royalty, and the Romanovs exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery, and the fictional Romanovs from my trip to see Anastasia on stage! However, the final Romanovs tend to take centre stage in a lot of productions and exhibitions. In the last few years, I’ve become more interested in the previous Romanov generations, including Dagmar. Largely known as the mother of the last Tsar, she was also a Danish princess and Tsarina herself. This novel focuses on Dagmar, also known as Minnie to her family, and her adolescence to adulthood. As you might imagine, it is a fairly heavy and dark period in Russian history, and she was at the heart of it. Although it is a fictional telling, I appreciated having a new lens to view this crucial time in history. And Gortner is a skilled writer who brings the other Romanov figures to life, as well. They read like the most extreme characters in a Shakespearean play, but they were very real people with and fascinating and often bizarre lives. This is one of the few books that I have read in one day, that I couldn’t put down for anything.
What books would you include in your top 5 historical fiction books?
Cheers,
The Historian
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