Historical Fiction

Titles marked with an asterisk * are available in the Main Library

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*Auel, Jean M., 1991, The Clan of the Cave Bear.

Neanderthals raise a Cro Magnon woman in prehistoric Europe. Once she is grown, she sets off to find her own people.

*Bainbridge, Beryl, 1996, Every Man for Himself.

The story of the sinking of the Titanic.

*Bosse, Malcolm, The Examination.

This story focuses on the functioning of the exam system in a way that is suspenseful, 
 and historically accurate. It reads like an adventure story as it follows the lives of two  
 brothers in 15th C. China.

* Bronte, Charlotte, Jane Eyre.

An orphan named Jane Eyre goes as governess to a house shrouded in mystery and haunted by wild cries.

*Buck, Pearl, Dragon Seed.

The story of a farm family living near Nanking just before the infamous Japanese assault on the city. The author makes a powerful statement that is not so much anti-Japanese as anti-dictatorship.

*Buck, Pearl, East Wind, West Wind.

A novel showing conflict between Chinese traditions and Western ways. A daughter of a noble family is trained for marriage in the old customs, but weds a Chinese of the new era who admires the West. This book tells of her struggles.

*Buck, Pearl, The Good Earth.

A Chinese peasant and his wife endure famine, drought, and revolution in pursuit of his driving passion to accumulate land.

*Buck, Pearl, Imperial Woman.

A biographical novel about Tzu-Hsi, the last Empress of China. Among other things, she spent money that was meant for the navy to build herself the fabulous Summer Palace.

*Chen, Yuan-tsung, The Dragon's Village.

An autobiographical novel of revolutionary China of the 1950's and after.

*Clavell, James, Taipan.

With 590 pages, this is for those who enjoy reading. A novel of Hong Kong during the time of the Opium Wars. Full of action, the story focuses on Dirk Struan, the Tai Pan (supreme ruler) of Noble House, the most powerful trading company in the Orient.

*Cronin, Archibald, The Keys of the Kingdom.

An adventure and travel story based on the life of a Catholic priest, who spent thirty years in China. Long, but keeps moving. (This same book is also included in a collection of works by Cronin called THE CITADEL.)

Cushman, Karen, 1995, Catherine, Called Birdy.

Fighting fleas, unsuitable suitors, and her mother's attempts to make a lady of her, Catherine writes in her diary about her frustrations with her life as a young noblewoman in medieval times.

Cushman, Karen, 1996, The Midwife's Apprentice.

Beetle, a homeless girl, is found in a dung heap and apprenticed to the village midwife in this sensitive 14th-century tale set in England.

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*Dai, Hou-ying, Stones of the Wall.

Set in Shanghai in the late 70's, university professors try to rebuild their lives after the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution. Bitter enemies must now work together as colleagues.

*Dickens, Charles, Hard Times.

Story of life during the Industrial Revolution.

*Dickens Oliver Twist.

A boy from an English workhouse falls in with a group of pickpockets.

*Dickinson, Peter, Tulku.

A fast paced story about an American boy's escape from China in the late 19th C. The story starts quickly and never lets up. Wonderful characters, wonderful story.

*Dumas, Alexandre, The Count of Monte Cristo.

An adventure story of one man's unjust imprisonment, escape and return to a new life.

*Elegant, Robert, Dynasty.
Though 625 pages, this novel is full of action and hard to put down. Excellent picture of Hong Kong and of its relationship to the rest of China.

*Falconer, Colin, 2000, When We Were Gods: a Novel of Cleopatra.

*Fast, Howard, 1961, April Morning.

Fifteen-year-old Adam Cooper witnesses the Battle of Lexington in the Revolutionary War.

Fleischman, Paul, 1994, Bull Run.

Stories of sixteen people who took part in the events surrounding the Civil War.

Flint, Eric, 1632.

An entire West Virginia community is thrown back in time and space to 17th-century Thuringia, during the Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648.

*Furutani, Dale, 2000, Kill the Shogun : A Samurai Mystery.

Masterless warrior Matsuyama Kaze travels to Edo, Japan's new capital, to rescue a lord's kidnapped daughter from prostitution. However, he finds he also needs to clear his name after a failed assasination attempt on the Shogun's life.

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*Gaines, Ernest J., 1972, The autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.

An elderly African-American woman remembers her days as a slave.

*Ghosh, Amitav, 2000, The Glass Palace.

A poor boy finds adventure and fame as he grows up to estable an empire in the teak forests of Burma.

Harr, John Ensor, 1999, Dark Eagle: a Novel of Benedict Arnold and the American Revolution.

*Haugaard, Eric, 1984, The Samurai's Tale.

A young samurai is forced to work as a servant in the household of a lord.

*Hodge, Joan Aiken, 1966, Watch the Wall, My Darling.

During the Napoleonic wars, a young girl fulfills her dying father's wish by visiting her English grandfather, and becomes immersed in intrigue and suspicion.

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*King, Laurie R., 1994, The Beekeeper's Apprentice, Or, On the Segregation of the Queen.

A young woman becomes Sherlock Holmes' apprentice.

*Kneale, Matthew, 2000, English passengers.

While two Englishmen head for Tasmania on a confiscated pirate ship in search of the Garden of Eden, the British continue their violent "civilization" of the natives in this "paradise."

*Lide, Mary, 1993, Fortune's Knave: the Making of William the Conqueror.

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Magorian, Michelle, 1982, Good Night, Mr. Tom

A boy is evacuated from London during the Blitz of World War II and is sent to live with a lonely old man.

*Morrison, Toni, 1987, Beloved: a novel.

The story of an escaped slave living in Ohio after the Civil War.

* Morrison, Toni, 1992, Jazz.

A murder mystery set in Harlem in the jazz - filled 1920's.

*Myers, Walter Dean, 1988, Fallen Angels.

Seventeen-year-old Richie Perry's stint in Vietnam brings home to him the agony and futility of war as he learns to kill and watches his comrades die.

Naslund, Sena Jeter. Ahab's wife, or, The star-gazer.

Story of the much younger wife of Captain Ahab from Moby Dick.

Nevin, David,  1812.

A novel focusing on the War of 1812.

*O'Brien, Tim, 1991, Things They Carried.

In these candid short stories based on O'Brien's Vietnam experiences, pictures, heartaches, dreams and terror are the things soldiers in Vietnam carry.

*O'Dell, Scott, The Captive.

As part of a Spanish expedition to the New World, a Jesuit seminarian witnesses the enslavement and exploitation of the Mayas and his own seduction by greed and ambition.

*Ondaatje, Michael, 1992, The English Patient.

A story of doomed love set in North Africa during WWII.

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*Pasternak, Boris Leonidovich, 1958, Doctor Zhivago.

An idealistic doctor is drafted into the army during the Russian Revolution.

Paterson, Katherine, 1980, Jacob Have I Loved.

While growing up among the "water people" on an island off the coast of eastern Maryland during the 1940s, Louise searches for her identity and fights the jealousy she feels toward her talented, fragile, and beautiful twin sister.

Paterson, Katherine, 1992, Lyddie.

Unable to pay off the debt on the family farm, feisty, single-minded Lyddie survives the dangers of the textile mills in 1840s Massachusetts, determined not to forfeit her dreams.

*Patterson, Katherine, 1983, Rebels of the Heavenly Kingdom.

Kidnapped on the first pages of this exciting book, Wang Lee was rescued by members of a secret group. They were a Christian band dedicated to overturning the hated Manchu emperor. Here is a gripping story of the Taiping Rebellion in 19th C. China. Not difficult.

Paulsen, Gary, 1999, Soldier's Heart.

After facing the reality of fighting in the Civil War, Charlie realizes that war is hell on earth--both mentally and physically.

*Perry, Anne, 2001, The Whitechapel Conspiracy.

A mystery set in Victorian England. In the wake of a successful but unlikely sentencing of a distinguished soldier and murder suspect, Bow Street Station Superintendent Thomas Pitt is removed from office and forced to work undercover in the dangerous East End Special Branch.

Pesci, David, 1997, Amistad.

A fictionalized account of an incident in 1839 when

the Spanish slave ship, Amistad, was captured off the coast of New England. The slaves on board argued that they should be freed and took their case to U.S. Supreme Court.

*Pullman, Philip, 1987, The Ruby in the Smoke.

Sally, 16 and an orphan, must find her way through a maze of 19th-century villains to claim her inheritance and her independence.

* Remarque, Erich Maria, All Quiet on the Western Front.

The story of four German youths who are snatched from school and sent to the front during WWI. This is often considered the epitome of the anti-war novel.

* Roberts, Kenneth, Northwest Passage.

Major Robert Roger's tough expedition in 1759 searches for an overland passage to the Pacific.

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*Scott, Walter, Ivanhoe.

The days of Robin Hood and feuds come alive in this story of medieval England.

*Sharra, Michael, 1974, The killer Angels.
Portraits of Lee, Longstreet, and other Civil war leaders are interwoven with historical detail to provide a fictional recreation of the bloody battle at Gettysburg in this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

* Sholokhov, Mikhail, And Quiet Flows the Don.

The story of a group of Cossacks living on the Don River. The story tells about their brutal lives, and about the Russian Revolution from a Bolshevik point of view. A compelling novel.

*Stevenson, Robert Louis, The Black Arrow.

During the War of Roses, Richard Shelton's cross-bow and stout heart are pitted against the ambitious and wily Sir Daniel.

*Stevenson, Robert Louis, Kidnapped .

An adventure story taking place in Scotland at the time of Prince Charlie.

*Stone, Irving, 1961, The Agony and the Ecstasy.

The story of Michelangelo's life.

Smiley, Jane. 1999. The all-true travels and adventures of Lidie Newton.

A young girl works with abolitionists during the Civil War.

*Spiegelman, Art, 1986, Maus: A Survivor's Tale I.

*Spiegelman, Art, 1992, Maus: A Survivor's Tale II: And Here My Troubles Began.

These novels describe Vladek and Anja's agonizing struggles to survive in the concentration camp.

*Stewart, Mary, 1970, The Crystal Cave.

Merlin, the base-born son of royalty in 5th-century Britain, uses magic to outwit his enemies until he sets the stage for the birth of Arthur, the future king.

*Tan, Amy, 2001, The Bonesetter's Daughter.

LuLing Young searches for her mother's mysterious past in China.

*Tobin, Betsy, 2000, Bone House.

A chambermaid in rural seventeenth century England sets out to solve a mystery.

*Trevino, Elizabeth, 1965, I, Juan de Pareja.

A slave in Renaissance Germany learns from a great artist.

Trollope, Joanna, 1997, The Brass Dolphin / Joanna Trollope writing as Caroline Harvey.

A young girl and her father living in Malta during WWII endure German bombing raids.

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*Yep, Laurence, The Serpent's Children.

In 19th C. China, a girl struggles to protect her family from the threat of bandits, famine, and an ideological conflict between her father and brother.

Yerby, Frank, 1967. Goat Song - a Novel of Ancient Greece.

During the Peloponnesian War, a young Spartan is taken to Athens, becomes a slave-prostitute, and eventually a powerful man in his adopted city.

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