6. A novel based on a real person

[Crumb]

Would it be OK to use the book The Magdalen Girls by V.S. Alexander? The author doesn't use real names of girls that were there, but she does base the novel on historical facts. I could really use some advice on this.

[Marianne]

Killing Jesus: A History was the book I used for this prompt. During Lent is the perfect time to read this book.

[Juli]

Pope Joan .... I really enjoyed that book! I suggest it to everyone who likes historical fiction.

[Cyndy]

I read The Saboteur by Andrew Gross for this prompt. I thought The One Man (Mr. Gross' previous novel) was great. This was better! WWII novel based on real Norwegian resistance fighters. This is a must read.

[Tamara]

The Radium Girls. Y’all. I sobbed so many times. Totally stinking amazing.

[Leanne]

I'm reading Spartacus: The Gladiator and it's pretty good so far. I picked it randomly in the library then realised it would fit in with this prompt

[Tytti]

Juli wrote: "Pope Joan .... I really enjoyed that book! I suggest it to everyone who likes historical fiction."

But most likely there has never been Pope Joan, so she is actually a fictional character.

[Candice]

The Einstein Prophecy. It was good.

[Carolina]

I'm going to do Lincoln in the Bardo for this one: looks promising :)

[Kim]

Has anyone read Wolfhall?

[Crumb]

I just finished In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. It was a good book about the Mirabal sisters during the Trujillo dictatorship.

[Jess]

Carolina wrote: "I'm going to do Lincoln in the Bardo for this one: looks promising :)"

I have I highly recommend it. I was starting to get bored of Tudor stories after seeing so many books/films/TV shows on that period of history but I found this book (and the sequel) to be a fresh look on the topic.

[Milena]

Carolina wrote: "I'm going to do Lincoln in the Bardo for this one: looks promising :)"

If you're into audiobooks, the audio for this one is fantastic.

[Lindsay]

I will be reading The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson. It's a novelization of murder H.H. Holmes and Daniel Burnham, Director of the World's Fair at the time of the murders.

Also double counting it for bestseller the year I graduated high school...2003! I suspect you could count this as well for true crime too.

[Rebecca]

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women and The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America are both great books, but neither are novels - they are nonfiction.

[Megan]

Jess wrote: "Carolina wrote: "I'm going to do Lincoln in the Bardo for this one: looks promising :)"

I have I highly recommend it. I was starting to get bored of Tudor stories after seeing so m..."

Wait, what? The Tudors was England 1500s and this is about Abraham Lincoln in 1862?

[Cara]

I'm going with The Terror by Dan Simmons, a fictionalized account of Sir John Franklin's lost expedition to the Arctic. It's a loooong novel, but a good one if you like creeping horror, survival in extreme situations, or ye olde adventuring.

[Kim]

Any fiction books on artists such as Mary Cassatt?

[Kim]

Is anyone else reading White Houses for this prompt?

[Crumb]

I was going to read white houses.. but decided on another book at the last moment.

[Serendipity]

The library hold didn't arrive in time to read it before Christmas but the delay let me count Mr. Dickens and His Carol
for this prompt.

[Patricia]

A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline is about Andrew Wyeth and his relationship with Christina Olsen, and the painting Christina's World.

[Christina]

This may be a bit of a stretch, but wondering what your thoughts are on using UNSUB for this? The description states the book is inspired by The Zodiac Killer and many of the reviews reference this as well.

[Casey]

I'm going for I, Claudius. It's about the Roman emperor and well his family through his life. (Also I loved the BBC drama from the 70's)



With Sir Patrick Stewart being naughty...

[Edie]

Carolina wrote: "I'm going to do Lincoln in the Bardo for this one: looks promising :)"

Read this last year ... and absolutely loved it. It took me a little while to get used to the writing style. It's a book I would reread (and I rarely reread books).

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

I used Elizabeth Street for this as it's based on great-grandparents of the author. I actually listened to it on audio, and I think it was the narrator that made me really love it. It could work for those who want something different than the 'deep' history or royalty books, because it's about Italian immigrants in the early 1900s.

I also think maybe David Copperfield would work for this, as I've heard speculation that Charles Dickens based the main character on himself. (And even if it's very loosely based, I think that still satisfies the prompt.)

And, of course, if you need something for younger readers G.A. Henty has a ton of historical fiction that would work.

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

Oh, and this one is on my TBR: Warrior Queen: The Story of Boudica: Celtic Queen

[Sierra]

The Librarian of Auschwitz
Based on the life of Dita Kraus, Auschwitz survivor.

[Jen from Quebec :0)]

I'll probably also use The Terror by Dan Simmons , as it is a fictional account of the REAL Franklin Expedition to find the Arctic Northwest Passage to China in the 1800's, ending in every single crew member going missing and nobody knowing what the hell happened to the voyagers! I recently read this for a goodreads horror book club that I belong to, and despite it being REALLY long (like 800 pages or so) AND only having an Audible copy (like 25 hours long- I can read it so much faster myself!) I did not find that the book 'felt' long if you know what I mean....Plus, Simmons' has some CRAZY AWESOME ideas about what fate might have befallen these sailors. If you like HISTORY and/or HORROR then this book is absolutely one that you should read. Despite being fictional, the amount of detail, research and historical accuracy is fantastic. ---Jen from Quebec :0)

[Carolina]

I read “Bitter greens” a while ago and its perfect for this prompt and also really good!

[Kristin]

Unintentionally, I ended up reading The Inquisitor's Key for this prompt. It's part of Jefferson Bass' 'Body Farm' series, except his protagonist Bill Brockton is in Avignon, France trying to figure out if the skeleton that was found belongs to Jesus Christ or Johannes Eckhart, a 14th century theologian who went to Avignon but was accused of heresy by Pope John XXII and disappeared before he could be publicly tried.
To be honest, this wasn't my favorite 'Body Farm' book because I really have no interest in 14th century religion, the Shroud of Turin, etc. However, I did learn about the Avignon papacy, which they didn't teach in school and Bass' creative theories are probably as good as anyone else's.

[Elizabeth]

loved The Alice Network! highly recommend. would fit this prompt, celebrity book club, and recommended by fellow challenger (among other potentially)

[Dedra ~ A Book Wanderer]

I just finished Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys, and one of the characters was based on a real person. I really enjoyed it!

[Kim]

Angela wrote: "I love historical fiction and learning about First Ladies. Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule"

Have you read White Houses?

[SadieReadsAgain]

I went for See What I Have Done. I didn't know anything about the Borden murders (still don't, beyond what I read in this book), so I came to this fresh. I thought it was such an intriguing story, and I liked how the finger never settled exactly on one person and left it open to interpretation as to the range of motives. It shows that even if there is an accepted version, there are always multiple possibilities. Sometimes the writing style jarred me, just a few sentences which needed a bit of polishing, but overall I enjoyed it.

[Monica]

[Sylvia]

Sad to say I don’t care for this prompt so far. I will save it for the end because a couple I want to read are chunkers and if I can’t finish the challenge this won’t hurt my feels.

[Pie]

Would Kaiulani: The People's Princess, Hawaii, 1889 work? It's in diary form, so I'm not sure if that counts as novel?

[willaful]

For those wanting a more modern, accessible, ordinary people novel , We Are All Welcome Here by Elizabeth Berg is lovely. It was written at the request of a woman who wanted a story about her mother, who spent her life in an iron lung because of polio. Might be a bit of a stretch, since it's completely fictionalized.

[Jackie]

Pie wrote: "Would Kaiulani: The People's Princess, Hawaii, 1889 work? It's in diary form, so I'm not sure if that counts as novel?"

I read that book when I was younger, and it's a novel (in diary form). I read a bunch from that series (in fact, I still have them).

[Pie]

Jackie wrote: "Pie wrote: "Would Kaiulani: The People's Princess, Hawaii, 1889 work? It's in diary form, so I'm not sure if that counts as novel?"

I read that book when I was younger, and it's a n..."

Thank you! Yeah I read two when I was younger and wanted to read more of them.

[Tytti]

Monica wrote: ""

But that's not a novel, that's nonfiction.

[Natasha]

I'm reading We Were the Lucky Ones based on the author's Jewish family living in Poland in the late 1930s. It's great.

[Kim]

Anna wrote: "Actually, I've been meaning to read The Agony and the Ecstasy forever, and this looks like a good reason to do it!

I had to read that in high school. It is AMAZING! I hope you do read it!

[Allison]

Sara wrote: "Philippa Gregory and Alison Weir both have great fictional stories about real people (mostly royals) from the past. Alison Weir also has some non-fiction so check carefu..."

I enjoyed The Royal We by Heather Cocks so was wanting to do something "royal" again for this prompt. Thanks for this suggestion.

[Darja]

Hi.
Do you think I can use Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters for this prompt? It´s about real person, definitelly. But it´s not novel (according to wikipedia novel is a fiction)...

[Tytti]

Darja wrote: "Do you think I can use Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters for this prompt? It´s about real person, definitelly. But it´s not novel (according to wikipe..."

If you want to follow the prompt and its spirit, then no. As you say, it says "a novel", not "a book" like in most challenges.

[Sneha]

I was too angry at some point, so picked up reading and finished Fire and Fury, will that count towards this category?

If not, I am also reading What happened by Hilary Clinton right now.

[Darja]

Thank you, Tytti.

[Tytti]

Sneha wrote: "Fire and Fury, will that count towards this category?
If not, I am also reading What happened by Hilary Clinton right now."

Well, again, neither of them are novels and the prompt specifically says a novel, not a book, so no, I wouldn't count them.