Historical fiction reviews

A while ago I got big in to historical fiction, initially through Outlaw by Angus Donald and Sharpe by Bernard Cornwall, but it’s ballooned since then and now it’s quite rare for me to step beyond the genre with the notable exception of James Bond.

It quickly occurred to me that most of them are linked either to a particular monarch or to the events pertinent to the era, which in turn end up revolving around the monarch. Part of the appeal with historical fiction is the ability to learn something of the era. Even if the novels themes selves only cling loosely to the truth I’ve often ended up researching the facts behind the stories as I’ve read the novels.

So… It occurs to me that an informal challenge exists here and that is to try and read a Historical fiction Novel for each and every English Monarch. Im thinking specifically about English History, and from an English perspective, hence why I didn’t state British Monarchs.  This may get a little interesting around the act of union but we’ll see. 

Hopefully, I’ll review these on this blog starting from the most recent, but some self-imposed rules to start.  

• The novels must be written in a historical context. E.g not a contemporary book written a long time ago. But an old book written about an even older period does count.
• They must be about significant events of the time happening within England, or involving English foreign policy.  So Sharpe novels count as they relate to a significant milestone in English military history, but novels of Ancient Rome, or the American Civil war don’t.
• I’m trying to link novels to monarchs so I’d like the books to either include the monarch as a character, explicitly reference the monarchs activities, or be set in the contact of  the monarchs achievements or failures.