Favourite Historical Novels

When one of my students is “stuck” for something to write, I have them do a “top ten” list—they pick the topic. The rules are, you select the ten items on your list, with a reason why it’s loved.

For example, one of my students wrote a “top ten favourite breakup songs” list that was fabulous—and included the poignant reasons why each of the songs had, in some way, been part of her own breakups.

Having said that, I wanted to take a crack at this with my ten favourite historical fiction novels. BUT, I refuse to rank them, because at the time, each of them were important to me.

So in no particular order:
Ahab’s Wife  Sena Jeter Naslund I was hooked by the first sentence: “Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last.” The book is entirely built around the brief mention of Ahab’s wife in Moby Dick and Naslund takes that little-know character and makes her into something interesting. Naslund also wrote the stunning Four Spirits about the Birmingham Church bombings, and I just picked up her novel about Marie Antoinette (having just seen the Sofia Coppola movie last weekend.)

The Night Inspector Frederick Busch I had the tremendous good fortune to get to hear Fred read one night, a new short story that was about to be published. I was entranced by his language, his command over character and setting. So this was the first of his books that I was to read. The story of Herman Melville, who works a job while he writes, and a young sniper, horribly disfigured by a shot to the face at a Civil War battle, the book is a meditation on war, and writing, and what happens to those who kill.

The Name of the RoseUmberto Eco Long before crappy writers took Foucault’s Pendulum and made billions off of it, Eco wrote this book about a monk and his novitiate disciple, who travel to a monastery where monks keep turning up dead. But why are they being murdered? Well, add in Bernardo Gui, the search for heretics, Aristotle, and illicit sex, and you wind up with one hell of a tale.

Here Be Dragons Sharon Kay Penman  First marketed as a “historical romance”, this novel, which chronicles the relationship between John’s daughter Joanna and Llewellyn, King of Wales, is a detailed look at the Marcher wars that eventually led to the conquest of Wales by the English. I took this book on my honeymoon, specifically to be able to find the ruins of the Welsh castles. They were gorgeous, and I even got to see Bedgellert, the village where Llewellyn’s faithful hound, Gellert, is buried. Penman is an amazing historical writer, and her novel about Richard III, The Sunne in Splendor is the antidote to Shakespeare’s image of a cruel tyrant.

The Book of Saladin Tariq Ali The 12th century and the court of Salah-al-Din, the  sultan, are brought to glorious life in Ali’s novel. Tariq Ali is also an incredible poltical writer, and last week, he gave a talk at my university that knocked my socks off. I knew Ali from his fiction writing first, and it was his portrayal of Christian-Islamic relations in the 12th century that really brought home what has been lost.

I wanted to hate The Historian  by Elizabeth Kostova but, the writing was too engaging, the subject—an exploration of the legend of Vlad the Impaler that also takes in the history of the Ottoman Empire in eastern Europe, won me over. The book has suspense, lyrical descriptions of Istanbul and various eastern European locales. At times, it gave me the creeps—I could not put it down.

In the Time of the Butterflies Julia Alvarez The fictional account of the true story of the three Mirabal sisters who were murdered by the Dominican dictator, Trujillo’s, men when it was discovered that they were plotting against the government. Told in the voice of the surviving sister, the novel is a damning look at how American policy in Latin America has affected everyday life for those living there.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Michael Chabon  Another book that once I picked it up, I could not stop reading. Chabon tells the POW! BAM! story of two cousins, both Jewish, who, in the 1930s begin writing comic books that feature superheroes whose arch-enemy is Hitler and the Nazis. Ripping-good yarn. Great, fun read.

March Geraldine Brooks Another book based on the mention of a peripheral character in a novel, this time “Mr. March” from Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, Brooks' book is a hellish chronicle of the Civil War as seen through the eyes the father of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. This book won the National Book Award this year. Brooks’ first novel, A Year of Wonders was a plague chronicle set in a 17th century English village. It also rocked my world.

The Time of Our Singing Richard Powers Powers has written a magisterial, musical novel about a German Jewish exile physicist who meets an African-American aspiring opera singer on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on the day of Marian Anderson’s public concert there. The novel follows their lives and the lives of their children. An amazing meditation on race, social change, and what it means to be an American.

SHIT!

Okay. One more because I can’t leave this off the list.

This may, in fact, be my #1 choice:

A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali  Gil Courtemanche A stunning book about the Rwanda genocide, as narrated by a journalist stuck inside the Hotel des Milles Collines in Kigali, the book veers between the character’s self-pity, and his astute observations of human nature that is playing out in front of him.