Here is an archive of my historical fiction book reviews. Although I read broadly, I primarily enjoy reading historical fiction that is set in a period over 50-100 years ago. The traditional “cut off” point for historical fiction is 50 years or more, but to me, “historical” fiction should be older than I am.
In The Heretic Wind, author Judith Arnopp introduces us to Mary Tudor, the daughter of Henry the VIII of England and Catherine of Aragon, and the first English Queen in her own right. The book is a fictionalized biography of Mary I (Mary Tudor, whom John Foxe dubs “Bloody” Mary). The historical character is easy to hate… which is why this book is so wonderful—as Arnopp puts us into Mary’s head, we discover…
The historical fiction novel Sic Parvis Magna introduces us to a very young Francis Drake—long before his pirate raids in the Caribbean, his circumnavigation of the world, Cadiz, the Spanish Armada, and the fame (or perhaps infamy) that those actions brought him. This character sketch is part of the research for the book. While I base it on history, this is not a historical retelling. I attempt to imagine Drake’s early formative experiences to understand what he may think and do, as well as why. I then incorporated this research to carry forward the story, both in the novel Sic Parvis Magna and the rest of the naval historical fiction series Adventures of Francis Drake.
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