Does anyone know of any historical fiction books based in Europe?
I can’t seem to find a fiction book about European History. It is required that we read one over the summer for AP Euro.
- waseuphem
Tags: Ap Euro, Europe, European History, Fiction Book, Historical Fiction Books
May 25th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
read 1776 by david mccullough. i have to read it for AP history. it also has europe history. Like about George III.
May 27th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova has a lot of European History in it. It’s also a really great read!
May 29th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
I’ve read quite a number of historical books and amazingly a number of them are set in Europe. One of the authors that I found quite interesting Norah Lofts. She has written over 50 historical books and one of my favorites is The Lost Ones based in the 18 Century in Denmark. Its an amazing read. Another book that I was interesting was The Adventruer by Mika Waltari with its plot set in the 16 Century in Finland. Mika Waltari is a most talanted author and you will find that her style of writing is amazing.
Other books I would like to recommend you:
Perfume (Das Parfum) by Patrick Süskind, set in the 18th Century in Germany. The Jew Swiss by Lion Feuchtwanger is quite similiar in style set in the 18 Century Germany too.
Other books you may be interested in:
The Virtues of War by Steven Pressfield (based on the life of Alexander the Great)
Lion Of Macedon by David Gemmell(Based on Alexander’s general Parmenion)
The Laughter of Aphrodite: A Novel About Sappho of Lesbos by Peter Green (based on Greek historical traditions)
The Fall of Light by Niall Williams (based on the19th century) is a good read and Williams has done an amazing job with his book.
Anne of Geierstein by Sir Walter Scott (set in the 15th Century Switzerland)
As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann (set during the hard times of the English Civil War)
The Flashman Papers by George MacDonald Fraser (set during the Victorian era)
I can recommend these books and beleive me you will find them interesting. You can also find their reviews or short summaries by making a simple Google search.
Let me how you got on with them and best of luck!
Hoffie
June 1st, 2009 at 4:16 pm
You might try Bernard Cornwell and his Sharpe’s series.
Phillippa Gregory writes books about the Tudors. And yes, it is said that many facts are not simply truth but she writes fiction books after all.
War and Peace by Tolstoy (very long however),
Scaramouche by Sabatini (the French revolution)
The Scarlet Pimpernel by the Baroness Orczy (the French Revolution),
Books by Alexandre Dumas (Queen Margot, the Queen’s Necklace and others),
Several books by Hemingway (Farewell to Arms, To Whom the Bell Tolls).
A Girl with the Pearl Earing by Tracy Chevalier
Ivanhoe by Walter Scott
Anyway, B&N has a long list of historical fiction for YA’s:
I hope it will help.
June 1st, 2009 at 8:24 pm
The Name of the Rose and others by Umberto Eco
Horatio Hornblower series by CS Forester
Aubrey/Maturin series (Master & Commander) by Patrick O’Brian
Shardlake series by CJ Sansom
Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell
The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir
Napoleon’s Pyramids and others by William Dietrich
See below for links to series order for the books listed above. There are also links on these pages to similar style authors
June 2nd, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Umberto Eco and Elizabeth Kostova would be both great choices. I’d recommend the latter – while being an extremely exiting novel, you also absorb tons of European history reading it.