My Favourite Historical Fiction
There's something adventurous about traveling to another time and place through the pages of a book. That's why historical fiction is my favourite genre. I've read many historical fiction novels in my lifetime, and there are many more to come. In fact, I have about 10 sitting in my "book box" right beside my bed, where I keep all of the books I have yet to read.
In this post, I am going to share my top 5 historical fiction novels that I have read so far. I chose these books because of the way they embody the time periods they are set in through fascinating tales of fiction. Each book was so magical in it’s own way, so I wanted to write about them.
Let's begin with Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekbäck. Set in a small village in the Swedish Lapland's in 1717, under a brooding mountain called Blackåsen, this story follows a family of four that has just arrived from Finland. Shortly after their arrival, the family's daughter finds a mutilated body in a glade. While the townspeople dismiss the death as a bear or wolf attack, the new family isn't convinced. During a cruel winter, the family goes about trying to discover what truly happened to this man, and as the cold continues, some really twisted secrets of the townspeople and mythological stories of the mountain are revealed.
This novel was dark and magical. The setting and the time period are usually the two elements that draw me towards a specific book, and sitting all cozied up in my bed with a blanket and a tea while a winter storm brewed outside was the perfect way to read this book. The detailed and illustrative narration fully immersed me in the kinda creepy, disturbing events that took place underneath that mountain.
Another thing worth mentioning is the combination of genres that fit so perfectly together. Of course there was historical fiction, but also goth and supernatural fiction.
I loved every single part of this book, and I couldn't put it down.
The second book I'll mention is called Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. This novel takes place in 18th-century Ghana and begins with the two daughters of an Asante woman, Effia and Esi, who were separated at birth. Effia marries the British Governor in charge of Cape Coast Castle, while Esi is held captive as a slave below. Each subsequent chapter follows another descendent of the family; Effia and Esi's children, and generations after that. The novel touched on many historical themes, such as slavery, the Anglo-Asante wars, and racism and segregation in America.
The reason I loved this book was because it was devastating and sorrowful, but so joyful at the same time, and the strength of each character was inspiring. It was also interesting because you almost feel like each chapter was a completely different story, even though every chapter is beautifully intertwined with the next. In this book, family is emphasized. The author also did a fantastic job of describing the setting, which is an important aspect of historical fiction novels for me.
This book gets an A+!
Moving on, I'm going to talk about Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden. This novel takes place in the wilderness of Canada in 1919, on a canoe journey home from World War I, which has just ended. There are three characters: Xavier and Elijah, two Cree men who volunteered for the war and became snipers, and Niska, an Oji-Cree medicine woman, who travels by canoe to meet Elijah, her closest living relative, in town when he returns from the war. However, when she arrives in town, she finds that Elijah did not make it home from the war, and instead, it is Xavier, her nephew’s friend, that did.
The whole story follows the three-day canoe journey that Xavier and Niska take home as Niska attempts to heal Xavier, who became addicted to morphine during the war, through both traditional medicine and stories of her past. As the story unfolds, Xavier begins to open up about the war and his friendship with Elijah, stories that are both haunting and full of love.
This book was one of the most beautiful that I have ever read. It tugged, hard, at my heartstrings and I shed many tears while reading it. Just like Homegoing, this book was so many things all at once. There were times I was smiling so wide my jaw hurt, and times I had to really stop and think about what I had just read.
That being said, one of my favourite aspects about this book was the imagery. Northern Canada had never seemed so beautiful than it did when I was reading this book. The trees, the rocks, the soft ripples of the canoe paddles in the water. Everything was described in such detail that I felt like I was right there by the fire listening to Niska and Xavier's stories, which is something so important for a historical fiction novel. I want to feel like I've travelled back in time through my own personal time machine - my book, and this novel did that for me.
The fourth book on my list is called Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. This book is a classic, and I walked by it so many times at the book store and for some reason, I only recently decided to get my hands on it - and I'm so happy I did. This story takes place in Kyoto, Japan before and after World War II and follows a nine year old girl, named Chiyo Sakamoto, who is sold to a geisha boarding house to begin her training. In her boarding house lives another geisha in training, nicknamed Pumpkin, the household Mother, Auntie, who was a geisha who never really became a geisha, and the world famous Hatsumono, who takes a strong disliking to Chiyo.
The novel follows Chiyo as she goes through years of geisha training, where she learns how to entertain men for money, but the plot of the novel goes much deeper than that. Friendships, lust and love, sly schemes, lavish parties, and heartbreaking hardships are all intertwined in this historical novel.
I loved this story because it plummeted me into a world I knew nothing about.. It was interesting to follow the growth of Chiyo through the years, as she developed from a shy young girl to a self-determined, strong woman. Similar to Three Day Road, the imagery in this novel was amazing. And, although at times the plot was quite complicated, that's what made the novel so dynamic.
The fifth and final book that I'm going to mention here is The Wonder by Emma Donoghue. This book takes us to 19th-century Ireland to a small little village where the O'Donnells claim their daughter, Anna, has survived for months without food. A nurse, named Lib, who trained under Florence Nightingale, is sent to investigate and monitor this miracle-child. While tourists flock to the O'Donnell's home to get a glimpse of Anna, Lib develops an interesting relationship with her and begins to discover that the O'Donnells might be hiding some sinister secrets.
The book is, of course, historical fiction - in the author's note, Donoghue explains that her story is based off true cases of "fasting girls" between the 16th and 20th centuries - but there are elements of a psychological thriller as well, as it reveals the true nature of what can happen when religious beliefs take a dark turn.
The reason I picked this novel off the shelf was because of the cover. Of course, covers are the first thing we see, and they're usually the deciding factor in whether or not we want to find out more. The cover of this book fascinated me because of it's fairy-tale like allure, and the storyline did the same. This novel was one of the most unique novels I have ever read, and the dramatic story line captivated me.
If I could make one critique of this book, it would be that the descriptive imagery wasn't at the level that I would have hoped for, and like I've said, imagery is so important in a historical fiction novel. With that being said, I still loved every page in this book.
““History is Storytelling””
