If you are anything like me, then you can’t get enough of historical novels. Some of my all-time favorite novels fall under this category. That is why we will be looking at The Guardian’s ten best historical novels of all time and see which books made their list!
The Guardian is a respected news organization that has been surpassed over the decades. But even then, it is still a trusted news source and they also curate book lists here and there. This list is from 2012 and lists the ten historical novels that The Guardian believes rank above all else. You can see the full list below.
The Guardian’s Ten Best Historical Novels of All Time
- War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
- Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
- Romola by George Eliot
- The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
- Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
- Pure by Andrew Miller
- The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
- I, Claudius by Robert Graves
- Property by Valerie Martin
- The Regeneration Trilogy by Pat Barker
Lesser-Known Books
As expected from the Guardian, their list is interesting. Besides War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy and Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, none of these books are familiar to me. And that is fine. Lists such as these are refined for specific audiences.
While these may be unfamiliar to me, I imagine the saying that “this is your favorite author’s favorite author” may apply here. They are famous and critically acclaimed works of fiction after all.
Conclusion
What did you think of The Guardian’s ten best historical novels of all-time list? What books should they have included on their list? Let us know in the comments below!
Dorothy Dunnett’s 2 series, one set in 1409s Europe (mostly) and the Lymond Chronicles set in the known world of the 1500s are amazing works, both tour de force as well as really great stories each book in either series.
What about Mika Waltari’s “The Egyptian” or “The Etruscan”?
I would include Zoe Oldenbourg’s historical fiction novels set in the middle ages.like The World is Not Enough.
The best ever!
Lymond series for sure!
I was about to mention DD – for me the superlative historical novelist
C S Forrester
The Charterhouse of Parma – Stendhal
Really?
Mary Renaults Alexander trilogy
1984
Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond series and Niccolo series.
Absolutely!
Sharon Kay Penman’s masterpieces.
No Walter Scott??!!!!
“The Leopard” is a pleasant surprise to such a prestigious list. Its evocative depictions of the people, places, culture, and point in time of Sicily provide a glimpse of what the ancestors of many Italian-Americans experienced just before the great wave of immigration.
The Town House by Norah Lofts. The best book you’ve never heard of. Ignore the cover!
Described by Alison Wier as “book of a lifetime: An outstanding historical novel”
I think it’s a bit arch. Why Romola instead of Middlemarch, by Eliot? Why Brooklyn instead of The Master, by Toibin?
“The Guardian has been surpassed”?! Come off it – by which newspaper?
Wolf Hall is shit
OK… what about the great C J Samson’s Shardlake series? Phillipa Gregory is often overlooked on these lists through snobbery but has made Tudor history far more palatable and accessible than the highly stylised Wolf Hall. Similarly, Georgette Heyer for the Regency period. Am certainly going to look up a few of the others on the list I’ve not heard of. Thanks to reader’s suggestions too. I Claudius is a brilliant inclusion. Prefer Anna Karenina to War and Peace, a slog…and did enjoy Middlemarch but have not read Romola.
Yes for Georgette Heyer!
Golden Hill by Francis Spufford. A very special, unforgettablel novel
You can’t be serious about Brooklyn. A fluffy chicklit mixed with The Sopranos. Where is Bring Up The Bodies?
No Dorothy Dunnett?! Her ‘Lymond’ and ‘House Of Niccolo’ Chronicles both contain novels which should have been included. Also ‘King Hereafter’ her novel about the ‘real’ Macbeth.
Any book by Marguerite Yourcenar or Mary Renault. I write this as an unwoke cis-everything liberal of a certain age – 76.
We could now use AI to cross reference all the parameters we need to use to see sociological, psychological, historical, and the big question of “why we think to how we think?”.
Where are The Flashman books by George Macdonald Fraser?
Some of the best and most entertaining historical books ever!
What about Barbara Tuchman’s Call to Arms? Churchill, David McCullough and Doris Kearny Goodwin should be on there too.
“The Luminaries”. By Eleanor Catton. The gold rush in New Zealand in 1899.
I like to add Gary Jennings ”Aztec” in a list of best historical romans.