Historical fiction novels have the magical ability to transport you to another time and place. That is why we will be discussing the three historical fiction books that you must read once in your life. Keep reading to find out which books made our list!
This genre is filled with old classics and modern novels that readers can’t put down. Our list is going to highlight some of the best works in the field. And we know that three books are not enough but it should be a starting point for our readers. You can see the full list below!
Three Historical Fiction Books That You Must Read
War and Peace
War and Peace is considered Leo Tolstoy’s magnum opus and a classic. The novel takes place during the Napoleonic era in Russia and focuses on the French invasion of Russia and the aftermath. The story is told through the perspectives of five different Russian aristocratic families and discusses history as well as philosophy.
Gone with the Wind
A popular historical novel that Americans love is Gone with the Wind. The novel focuses on protagonist Scarlett O’Hara and takes place during and after the Civil War. Scarlet falls in love with Rhett Butler as the world around them changes. Margaret Mitchell tells the story of the changes in the South from a changing economy, politics, and ethics.
Beloved
A powerful novel that everyone should read is Beloved. It is a story of a former Kentucky slave that is haunted by her past life. The novel went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It is considered one of the best works of fiction and there is no other novel like it.
Conclusion
That is all for this list of the three historical fiction books that you must read once in your life. Have you read any of these books? What other books should have made the list? Let us know in the comments below!
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Not sure why Beloved makes so many lists. It was a horrible book. Badly written and too meta to make real sense. People just want to be thought of as intellectual so they pretend it was good and that they liked it. If they really did, I think they might need psychiatric assistance.
How can this list exclude Winds of War and War and Remembrance? Unquestionably 2 of the finest history novels ever written. Should be required reading for ALL high school students.
I agree. Obscure and confusing. Did not like it. It was not enjoyable. The other two were good, gone with the wind easy to read, she didn’t even write most of it…Tolstoy was a genius. Read anna karenina…now there’s a great novel.
War and Peace is a remarkable novel. Panoramic, frantic, I have read it twice. Gone With the Wind is also absolutely wonderful but perhaps not fashionable now.
I don’t know Beloved but would substitute Katherine, passionate and historically accurate story of the mistress of an English powerful Duke. By Anya Seton.
Morrison’s writing is as spectacular as James Joyce’s Ulysses, et.al; but I’ve had difficulty with both. That doesn’t make me crazy; it simply reflects my tastes. However, have you ever read any of Morrison’s other books such as Sula, Bluest Eye or Song of Solomon? I think some of her previous books might lead to your appreciation of her writing more than you seem to do right now. No one is blaming you for not liking that one book; I’ve taught Morrison’s books to my college students, yet I admitted unashamedly, that I could not actually read Beloved. When we tackled the end term project of choosing one Morrison book to dissect & explain; one of the students came up to me to say that SHE had chosen Beloved in order to help ME appreciate it. This happened decades ago. Yet, I still have NOT read Beloved although I have read everything pertaining to the true story of Margaret Garner, the slave woman who believed that by murdering her own child would rescue that child from the slavery she herself had known. There’s much more to Garner’s story, of course.
Certainly, these are greaz wirks. However, I bslieve Crime and Punishment should also make the list. It is one of the greatest, if not the greatest book ever written.
-Brian Felder
War and Peace without a doubt, but Gone with the Wind? Is that a joke? Regarding the Civil War why not Michael Shaara’s Killer Angels! And Beloved is not in the same league either, although I didn’t think it was as bad as the previous post. Certainly Crime and Punishment or The Brothers Karamazov, and what about les Français??
Germinal by Zola, Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, and The Red and the Black by Stendhal.
I adore GWTW. I have not read the other books mentioned. I am certainly aware of War and Peace. Somerset Maugham says it is the greatest novel ever written. I will not dispute this claim. Unfortunately I have no opinion on the Morrison novel. A fantastic and unusual read for me was Irwin Shaw’s The Young Lions. Wonderfully written,
literate AND entertaining. – DD
I have read two of the books on this list and I enjoyed Gone with the Wind the most. Beloved was too strange to me even though I have read it twice.
War and Peace is the next one on my list along with Anna Kareina.
I would recommend reading “Jubilee” by Margaret Walker immediately after reading “Gone With The Wind” for a different perspective on the same historical period.
So happy to find this website and be able to go forward with my reading
Gone wind the wind is one of the most racist piece trash that exist. Shame on you for promoting this garbage
Gone with the Wind romanticizes the ‘lost cause’ which was billed as glorious undertaking to preserve a way of life. That way of life depended on the enslavement of black people..nothing less. The book is an awful piece of propaganda.
“Whispers in the Cosmic Silence” and “The Gossips of Endless Love” should make the list I believe.
Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah and Pachinko by Min Jin Lee.
The best historical fiction is the Napoleonic War nautical series by Patrick O’Brian. It is rightly recognised globally as a masterpiece.
The writer of this blog is just showing how young he is, how little he has yet read and how many books he has yet to read.
I didn’t like Beloved. It was confusing and it failed to move me as a result. I think everyone should read Monsieur Long and His Child by Philippe Claudel. A novella. Nobody could read it and be the same afterwards . You will emerge deeper, sadder, more compassionate and wise. Other books ? Well there are so many but here are a few suggestions: Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin, Victory City by Salman Rushdie, The Idiot by Dostoevsky, David Copperfield by Dickens, Ten Minutes Thirty-Eight Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak, The People of the Abyss by Jack London, Hunger by Knut Hansen, The Mayor of Casterbridge by Hardy, King Lear by Shakespeare, The First Circle by Solzhenitsyn, The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini, The Little Prince by Oscar Wilde, The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall.
Monsieur LINH and His Child, I mean!!
I read Beloved many years ago, and I still think about some scenes from it now and then. It is an amazing book with a powerful message about how the after effects of horrific events continue to ripple through time and generations.