@Smudger @Hairyfrog @EB Hornet @Robert Peel Lets continue the thread here. The Matthew Shardlake books are a good yarn The Giodorno Bruno books were good too.
Poor old Giordano. Burnt for his religious heresy. Rationality versus mindless intolerance. Suffice to say there are some classic historic fiction works. War & Peace of course. Romola by George Elliot. This is set in Florence at the time of the French Wars with Lorenzo de Medici having vacated the seat of power in Florence. Savonarola who was invited by him becomes an early Puritan alarmed by what he sees moral decay and topics not fit for the artists of the Renaissance. Organizes the Bonfire of the Vanities where numerous books, paintings and sculptures are burnt. Sound familiar ? In the midst of this is the eponymous heroine Romola and her love with the devious Tito. Savonarola eventually made sufficient enemies he was burnt at the stake. Hilary Mantel's trilogy on the rise of the butcher boy Thomas Cromwell. Ends with The Mirror & The Light a term referring to Henry 8 when he was perceived by the Pope as the Defender of the Faith. Goes through Cromwells elevation to the Order of the Garter and becoming a Baron, becoming in effect the uncle of the King via the marriage of his son to Liz Seymour, his enemies at court and his fall after his disastrous effort to match make the King to Anne of Cleves. Ian McDiarmid's biography of Cromwell needs to be read as well. Most of TC's papers were destroyed by his family after his attainder so a lot of detective work is involved in building up a picture of this powerful, clever and ruthless politician. You have I,Claudius by Robert Graves with it's wonderful television adaptation a masterpiece. Graves recounts using Suetonius, Cassius Dio to guide him to recreate the rise of the stammering, timid, bookish Claudius as his brother Germanicus is poisoned, sister who hates him is exiled and killed and all the intrigues from both the male and female members of the then ruling Julian dynasty from the end of the reign of Augutus to the madness of Caligula. Series of works set in the past involving detectives are Pargeters Cadfael and Lindsey Davis's Mark Falco working as an investigator in the early years of the province of Brittania.
Not sure if you've seen the series on Netflix about the rise of the Medici's? Savonarola appears at the end. Of course it's not entirely accurate but I guess this thread is titled 'Historical Fiction'! It's a decent watch. In terms of books @wfcmoog I am currently reading Julian by Gore Vidal which is a decent read. A novel about the short lived Emperor Julian who tried to turn the tide on the rise of Christianity in the 360's AD. It's written from his point of view and his contemporaries.
Rosemary Sutcliffe’s stuff is generally very good, if aimed at the teenage age group; Eagle of the Ninth cycle, Shield Ring come to mind. She also wrote Sword At Sunset for an adult audience, which is a reimagining of the Arthur legend.
