How did you get into Historical Fiction?

[J.]

HF has always been a draw for me since I was in fourth grade reading (mostly fictional) biographies of American heroes. But, I wasn't hooked until I read James Clavell's Tai Pan. I was swept away. Long live Dirk Straun!

[CandyBeans]

Initially I thought that my story was similar to the OP's; I went to England, and got a souvenir book on Henry VIII's wives. I became really interested in the history of the English monarchy, which naturally lead me to France and Germany and so on.

I read a lot of Tudor HF and have read quite a bit ever since.

But in reading this thread, I realize that it was thanks to my 5th grade teacher that I can really appreciate HF. He had me read Johnny Tremain, and My Brother Sam is Dead, and a whole lot of Steinbeck. Books like that helped me enjoy any (well-written) fictional book that was a window into life in the past.

Incidentally, he had us read The Hobbit as well, which led to my general love of fantasy, but also to Arthurian tales. I owe a lot of my loves to that teacher!

[Regina]

Also, my folks took me around to a lot of historical sites and museums at a very early age, and the depth of time has always been something I loved, probably for this reason.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads]

When I was ten, my mother gave me both The King Must Die and I, Claudius. Yeah, that'll do it.

ETA: She gave me the wonderful Williamsburg novels when I was 12. I still love Elswyth Thane.

[CandyBeans]

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "When I was ten, my mother gave me both The King Must Die and I, Claudius. Yeah, that'll do it.

ETA: She gave me the wonderful Williamsburg novels when I was 12. I still..."

I love stories of books given as gifts that open the receiver to something entirely new.

Incidentally, I have read neither of those books yet, so I've added them to my Want To Read shelf.

[Kathryn]

I got started in historical fiction in high school in the 1970s, when a classmate recommended Anya Seton to me. Katherine is still one of my favorite books!

[Mary Beth]

I would have to say my love of historical fiction started when I was a little girl and fell in love with The Little House series then as a teenager I fell in love with Gone with the Wind.

[Maggie]

Mary Beth wrote: "I would have to say my love of historical fiction started when I was a little girl and fell in love with The Little House series then as a teenager I fell in love with Gone with the Wind."

I was, and still am, a huge fan of Little House on the Prairie. It was one of the earliest non-picture books I read as a child, and I was so happy to find that it was part of a series. I actually still own all the volumes.

Maggie Anton

[Peggyzbooksnmusic]

As you can see by my picture, I'm also a fan of The Little House Collection! Even our 2 grown sons liked some of the books when they were young.

[Rosalind]

I'm grateful for a very long illness aged 10. I remember it almost with pleasure, as it meant isolation in bed with only books for company. Previously I had been fed a diet of Blyton type books and now I was given something called Castle Rhanby. That, and another donation, the Scarlet Pimpernel novels, gave me an interest in events past. I've just finished writing a historical novel set in WW2. Research is a great pleasure for me, especially of tiny details such as oaths used or hair ornaments worn at a given time.

[Jeanette]

I started reading historical fiction at senior school over 45 yrs ago, when I decided to join the school library. Jean Plaidy was very popular at the time so thought I would give one of her books a try. I was soon hooked!

[Ericka]

i started reading historical fiction with the Dear America series when I was about 7 or 8. The series was published by Scholastic starting in 1996. They are fictional diaries written by girls in different periods of history. They sucked me in with the cover art and the "fancy" ribbon bookmark attached. I quickly discovered historical fiction was my genre.

[Abigail]

I grew up in a family of brothers—I was the only girl—and so we had a lot of the historical adventure tales published by people like Robert Louis Stevenson in the nineteenth century. My favorite at the time (maybe because of the Wyeth illustrations?) was The Black Arrow. I reread it a few years ago and found it terribly bloodthirsty and sexist! But as a kid I ate it up.

[Jessica]

I really got hooked on reading historical fiction books as a young teenager in the late 1980's when I borrowed them from our church library. Some of my first favorite authors were Janette Oke and Brock and Bodie Theone. Love Comes Softly & Love's Enduring Promise (Love Comes Softly #1-2)Vienna Prelude I still love to re-read them! I was reminded though, after viewing some of the other posts above, that really it was Little House on the Prairie that started things when I was a little girl. I would get them during library at school and my mom would read them to me when I got home. What a good memory!

[Rick]

Historical fiction is a fun way of learning about the details of people's lives in a historically accurate setting. I went from reading it to writing it with a historical fiction novel called "The Gomorrah Principle." Using personal experience and lots of research I kept this story about a soldier in Vietnam and his involvement with the CIA's Phoenix Program historically accurate.

[Julia]

I think for me it was through mystery series, Brother Cadfael, Dame Frevisse, novels by Josephine Tey and others. I still like historical mystery very much.

[Helen]

For me it was reading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I was on grade school and could not get enough of times gone by. It still remains my favorite read.

[[deleted user]]

For me it was seeing my grandmother's collection of John Jakes' Bicentennial series on her shelf for all the years I was growing up. They were such thick books, I used to think, but they had such colorful covers and so there was some kind of mystery about what lay inside. I finally pulled the first one down when I was in high school. I was hooked and read one right after the other. It really brought history alive for me and since then I have gone on to many other historical novels.

[Rebecca L]

For me it was reading R.M. Ballantyne books and historical fiction in general as I grew up.

[Kevin]

I like history but found most historical fiction dull until I stumbled upon Gore Vidal's "Creation." I'd always been taught the Ancient Greeks were unusually intelligent. But the narrator of this novel is a Persian, who finds these same Greeks anything but. Such a point of view was a pleasant shock. I loved it.

[Kevin]

Kerri wrote: "For me it was seeing my grandmother's collection of John Jakes' Bicentennial series on her shelf for all the years I was growing up. They were such thick books, I used to think, but they had such ..."

John Jakes! I remember those old paperbacks. But were they actually any good?

[Katharine]

I can't remember NOT reading historical fiction - I must have started with the Little House books, I think, like so many people, and also Louisa May Alcott. The first historical fiction that really grabbed me was A Traveller In Time by Alison Uttley, where a girl goes back to the reign of Elizabeth I and gets involved in a plan to help Mary, Queen of Scots escape. The first adult histfic author I read was Norah Lofts, which I was advised to read aged 13 as background to some historical re-enactment I was doing, because her research and the level of everyday domestic detail is so good.

[Myta]

I grew up interacting with an aunt of mine who is a pseudo-historian. She writes books about her family, particularly her father, who was a politician (but not really remembered in our history). So I'd frequent her library and read history books. I'm a big fan of folklore as well, so I read a lot about legends, myths, and epics, and how they place themselves in the world. A big influence as well is José Rizal. However I was not aware that I was reading HF until I was in college, when I first that such genre exists. There's not enough historical fiction in the Philippines--about the Philippines--that is available to us Filipinos. I plan to write some HF based on Manila, and probably some of my favorite provinces around here.

[Sheila]

I somehow just happened upon Jean Plaidy when I was in my very early teens. I just loved her books. Then when I was an adult, I found Memoirs of a Geisha,then Sarah Waters. Realizing I loved historical fiction, I looked or other authors, and found Sarah Dunant, and Lisa See. Now I know I love the genre, and just keep my ear to the ground for new hf. My favourites are books set in Japan or China.

[Barbara]

I Assume you've read Sho Gun by James Clavell, The good Earth (pearl Buck's books). My favorites are Britsh--
Have you tried Karen Kay Penman, Allison Weir, Antonia Fraser? They read like well written novels and are true, as opposed to the best sellers that have so much pure fiction. My favorites are: The Sunne in Splendor by Penman, The Autobiography of Henry the Eighth by Margaret George, Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles, also by Margaret George, Katherine,by Anya Seton, The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa (a gem!) and the Josephine Triolgy by Sandra Gullard.
Well, you can see how obsessed I get. Hope you find some things you enjoy. Let me know.

Hope I didn't overwhelm you.

Barbara

[Barbara]

It was Katherine by Anya Seton that got me started. Before that I read about ten fictional biographies of the Impressionists (Lust for Life, The Moon and Sixpence, etc,)but I never considered them HF until right now. Also Michner, especially The Source and Hawaii.

[Melissa]

My favourite books as a kid were A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and the 'Little House' books. Fell in love with the past very early.

[Maggie]

On my recent book tour in Florida, I spent the night in my host's daughter's bedroom [she has long since left the nest]. I saw Little House on the Prairie on her bookshelf, picked it up, and ended up re-reading it. It was one of my childhood favorites and reading it as an adult was so intriguing that I have now re-read the entire "Little House" series. Amazingly, I think they stand up pretty well 50 years later.

[Katharine]

I agree, the Little House books stand up brilliantly.
It's funny how some books do and others don't. I think the plain, direct nature of the style helps, and the fact that the characters are based on real people which helps them be plausible people rather than archetypes.

[Kat]

Rhys Bowen's series Her Royal Spyness is what got me into Historical Fiction!

[Judith]

Kat, I enjoy Rhys Bowen. Her other series with Molly Murphy is a little less light and humorous, but equally entertaining and a lot of fun. Here's my review of Naughty in Nice, one of the Royal Spyness series: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[D.J.]

Although a fan of Jean Plaidy et al whilst at school, my real interest has always been in researching the stories of ordinary people who find themselves caught up in extraordinary circumstances. Given most of our parents' and grandparents' involvement in two world wars, there are certainly wonderful untold stories hanging upon our own family trees. I set about researching and writing the adventures of my own ancestors. They were involved in shipwreck, mutiny and murder and one of them even built Titanic. How could one not get involved in Historical Fiction with that sort of pedigree? What fun!

[Sheila]

D.J. wrote: "Although a fan of Jean Plaidy et al whilst at school, my real interest has always been in researching the stories of ordinary people who find themselves caught up in extraordinary circumstances. Gi..."

I certainly share your taste for 'ordinary people' hf, D.J. One of my favourite blogs is called Royalty-Free Fiction, and it's not talking about royalties - just hf that hasn't got a monarch in sight!

[Sheila]

Barbara wrote: "I Assume you've read Sho Gun by James Clavell, The good Earth (pearl Buck's books). My favorites are Britsh--
Have you tried Karen Kay Penman, Allison Weir, Antonia Fraser? They read like well writ..."

No overwhelm here! Just gratitude for the list. Yes, I read Shogun, and loved it, and Pearl Buck years ago. Not wild about Antonia Fraser, not sure why; but I'm going to look up some of the others you mention.

[Portia]

My mother belonged to The Literary Guild, a book-of-the-month sort of group. I still have her Literary Guild copy of Gone with the Wind. She had a number of books by Samuel Shellabarger, including Captain From Castile, which was made into a movie starring Tyrone Power. She had the Guild's copy of Jassy. But the book that sealed my interest was one about Charles II of England and his mistress called With All My Heart. (I'm not seeing it on GR. Perhaps someone is familiar with it?)

In any case, historical fiction, as well as historical mysteries, are favorites of mine.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads]

That title gets several hits here; who's the author, Portia?

[Portia]

I wish I knew. I posted this hoping someone else would know :-)

[Jane]

What fired my love of historical fiction, especially the post-Nero Roman era, were Gaius Petreius Ruso and Tilla of the Ruth Downie historical mysteries. Medicus is the first in the series.

[Portia]

I found it With All My Heart. The book is actually about Catherine of Braganza, C II's wife, not his mistress. My Mom had the one published in 1951.

[D.J.]

Portia wrote: "I found it With All My Heart. The book is actually about Catherine of Braganza, C II's wife, not his mistress. My Mom had the one published in 1951."

Catherine of Braganza is famous for many things, including bringing a huge amount of tea with her from her native Portugal. Conversely, when I went to live and work in Portugal I took with me a huge amount of my favourite tea - Sainsbury's Earl Grey. No Sainsbury's in Lisbon. I called it my Braganza extravaganza!

[D.J.]

Sheila wrote: "D.J. wrote: "Although a fan of Jean Plaidy et al whilst at school, my real interest has always been in researching the stories of ordinary people who find themselves caught up in extraordinary circ..."

I must check out that blog, Sheila.

[Portia]

D.J. wrote: "Portia wrote: "I found it With All My Heart. The book is actually about Catherine of Braganza, C II's wife, not his mistress. My Mom had the one published in 1951."

Catherine of B..."

A portrait of Catherine hangs in the Ballroom of the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg, Virginia. A portrait of Charles hangs on the other side of the door. They are impressive portraits.

[[deleted user]]

Portia wrote: "My mother belonged to The Literary Guild, a book-of-the-month sort of group. I still have her Literary Guild copy of Gone with the Wind. She had a number of books by Samuel S..."</i>

I was a member of the Literary Guild and that was how I got started into Historical Fiction by the book [book:To Dance with Kings by Rosalind Laker

[Portia]

I was, too, Tammy, following in my Mom's footsteps. We also belonged to The Book of The Month Club back in the day. I was what was called in those day "a sickly kid", so I had a lot of reading time. (This is good.) When I learned to read, my Mom's bookshelves were treasures to me. She had Two Years Before the Mast with color plate illustrations, River Road, and Rizpah, which was published in 1961 and therefore, the illustrator gave Rizpah eye makeup very similar to that worn by Elizabeth Taylor in "Cleopatra": Egyptian cat's eye liner and bright aqua/turquoise eyeshadow that reached to her brows :-) In a poll asking if a book's cover influences my decision to read it, I would have to say yes for this book.

[gathering feather]

I think I got into historical fiction by reading stories to my children. One book in particular was about some children who went back in time during the plague in London. It was a fascinating story! Later a friend introduced me to Dorothy Dunnett. It just developed for me from those sort of roots. At school I hated history because it was all about remembering dates, names & places but later I learned that history is learned best in atory form. When I home schooled my children I gave them lots a historical fiction to read- they loved it!

[[deleted user]]

Originally reading books by Bernard Cornwell which have inspired me to turn to writing myself

[Barbara]

As a pre-teen I read a historical fiction novel about the middle ages and let myself dissolve into that world that was lost in regular history classes. Then years later I read Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett and my interest was rekindled. Finally, I found Bernard Cornwall, Phillipa Gregory, and Anne Perry, now I have to force myself to read other genre.

[Libbie Hawker]

I can't believe I've never asked myself this question before, but I assume the Little House books first got me interested in stories about "life a long time ago." I always recall preferring HF to any other genre, other than "talking animals" (which really should be a genre unto itself. Let's just declare it Officially A Genre and have done with it.) But I assume Little House was my entry point into HF.

L.M. Montgomery's awesome books surely continued the trend. I guess they're technically not HF since they were contemporary, or only a couple of decades in the past, when she wrote them. But they certain function as HF to a modern reader, providing just the right "fix" we crave. :)

[Pam]

I got hooked on James Michener novels in high school.

[Lindsey]

For me, it was finding the shelf at the library with Jean Plaidy's books. I went through every single one and am now trying to find them for my own library.