Hey! I just finished "Salt to the Sea" by Ruta Sepetys. I am creating a Historical Fiction shelf on Goodreads and I am very curious what would be your favorite Historical Fiction books.

Here's a list of HF books I've read so far:

Salt to the Sea
A Gentleman in Moscow
The Underground Railroad
All the Light We Cannot See (my favorite)
Lincoln in the Bardo (this one's terrible)
The Handmaid's Tale
Lovecraft Country
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue

What book would you like to add on this list?

Horatio Hornblower novels by C. S. Forester. Its been a few years (pre-ebook era) and I collected and read every book in the series.

Ooh, another Horatio Hornblower fan, I just wanted to suggest exactly the same. Another Napoleonic War themed series that is quite good is the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, and if it may be more historical naval fiction of that era try the Alan Lewrie novels by Dewey Lambdin.

Horatio Hornblower novels by C. S. Forester. Its been a few years (pre-ebook era) and I collected and read every book in the series.

I'll definitely check these out. Thank you

For me it would be:
Silence by Shūsaku Endō
Henryk Sienkiewicz's Trilogy - With Fire and Sword, The Deluge, and Sir Michael
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins

[eohippus]

My favorite HF books are by Lucia St Clair Robson:

The Tokaido Road
Ride The Wind
Walk In My Soul
Light A Distant Fire

She has other books also but these are the ones I've read.

[OneTiger64]

I guess I'll be the typical and say the ones everyone always says I guess, Dragonfly in Amber and following volumes by Diana Gabaldon (My favorite is Voyager) and The Clan of the Cave Bear series by Jean Auel. Through A Glass Darkly series by Karleen Koen. I know there are more but I'm pre-coffee right now and that's all that comes to mind. Good luck in your list

Okay, I kind of was thinking of this today and decided to add to the list.........(not in small part so I could reread a few good books myself)

Little Women
Follow the River
The Jaguar Princess
Lonesome Dove
The First Man in Rome and following volumes
Gone With the Wind
The Vatican Princess
Memoirs of a Geisha
A Day of Fire: A Novel of Pompeii
King of the Wind
Mistress of Rome
The Red Tent
Anne of Green Gables
Robinson Crusoe
Into the Wilderness and following volumes
Christ the Lord Out of Egypt
Here Be Dragons
Becoming Marie Antoinette
Fire from Heaven and following volumes
Shanghai Girls
Dances with Wolves
Cry to Heaven, & The Feast of All Saints by Anne Rice
Earthly Joys and following volumes
The Winter Palace
The Rebel Queen
The Last Kingdom
The Dragon Queen by Alice Borchardt
Little House series
Wideacre

J Robert Kennedy series esp James Acton series

I really enjoyed Tess Gerritsen's The Bone Garden. It starts in present day, but takes you back to the time of Oliver Wendell Holmes. It's a mystery/thriller book, and I found it completely fascinating (I don't usually read historical).

The Walking Drum by Louie L'Amour
The Chivalry Series by Christian Cameron (first book is The Ill-Made Knight

Alamut by Vladimir Bartol

The Red and the black -- Stendahl
Sorrows of young Werther -- Goethe

I, Claudius, Claudius the God, and The Golden Fleece by R Graves
The Aubrey-Maturin series by O'Brian


Without exaggeration, I can say those are some of the finest books ever written.

You might not be able to find retail O'Brian's books. Iirc, the family had no interest in ebooks and never authorized a legit copy. There are ones out there, but they sometimes have problems. Actually, I have no idea if Graves books are in ebook format either, for that matter.

The Count Of Monte Cristo. I love that book

[Foamy66]

"City of Dreams" by Beverly Swerling. Set in the late 17th century, it's a fantastic novel that takes place in the early roots of New York City. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't know if it's my all-time favorite but it's the one I'm still thinking about as top-list when I last read it a decade ago.

The Handmaid's Tale is historical? I thought it was a dystopic theme book