It’s been a few months since my last Historical Musings post, so I thought I’d start by taking a look at what’s going on in the world of historical fiction and then give an update on my own current reading.
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First, like many readers, I was very sorry to hear the news of CJ Sansom’s death at the end of April. Sansom’s Shardlake series set in Tudor England is one of my favourite historical mystery series and I would highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t yet discovered it (try to start with the first book, Dissolution, if you can). Sansom recreates the feel and atmosphere of the period better than almost any author I can think of. It’s particularly sad that his death came just days before the new TV adaptation of Shardlake was shown on Disney+. I still haven’t got round to reading Tombland, the final book in the series, but I’m pleased that I still have it to look forward to now that I know there won’t be another one.
FictionFan has posted a lovely tribute to Sansom on her blog here.
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You may have already seen my post on the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction shortlist, which was announced on 1st May, but if you missed it here are the six shortlisted titles:
The New Life by Tom Crewe
Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein
My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor
In the Upper Country by Kai Thomas
Absolutely and Forever by Rose Tremain
The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng
I’ve now read three of these books, My Father’s House, Hungry Ghosts and The House of Doors, although I haven’t had time to review the last two yet. So far my favourite is My Father’s House but I’m hoping to read at least one more before the prize is announced in June.
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Apart from my Walter Scott Prize reading, my most recent historical fiction reads include The Household by Stacey Halls, a book about Urania Cottage, a home for fallen women founded by Charles Dickens and Angela Burdett-Coutts, and A Court of Betrayal by Anne O’Brien, the story of Johane de Geneville, the wife of Roger Mortimer. I’ve also just finished a fascinating work of historical non-fiction – The Black Count by Tom Reiss, a biography of the father of one of my favourite classic authors, Alexandre Dumas. Again, I’m behind with my reviews but will be posting my thoughts on all of these as soon as I can!
I haven’t forgotten that one of my reading resolutions for 2024 was to read more historical fiction in translation. I got off to a good start, reading Shūsaku Endō’s Silence (translated from Japanese by William Johnston) in January and then Angharad Price’s The Life of Rebecca Jones (translated from Welsh by Lloyd Jones) in March, but sadly I haven’t read any more since then and I’m in need of inspiration! Book Riot’s new list of 8 of the Best Translated Historical Fiction Novels looks worth exploring, but I would love to hear your recommendations as well.
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Have you read any good historical fiction recently?
She Reads Novels 
I shall be interested to read your review of Stacey Halls’ latest. I’ve just got round to reading The Women of Troy by Pat Barker and The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell. I particularly enjoyed the latter more even than Hamnet and am looking forward to working my way through her back catalogue.
I’ll be posting my review of The Household in the next day or two. It’s not one of my favourites by Stacey Halls, but her books are always interesting. I’m glad you enjoyed The Marriage Portrait – I didn’t love Hamnet as much as most people do, but I’m still looking forward to reading that one.
Most recently I reviewed The Bookbinder, Pip Williams’s sequel to The Dictionary of Lost Words. I also read but have not yet reviewed The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson, which I thought was excellent.
I loved The Square of Sevens. I’ll look forward to your review.
Thanks!
I enjoyed A Court of Betrayal. The Stacey Halls book is waiting to be read!
I hope you like the Stacey Halls book. It’s not one of my favourites of hers, but it’s a fascinating topic!
My only recent Historical read (for a change as usually a goodly chunk of my reading is historical) was ‘Play the Red Queen’ by Juris Jurjevics based in Saigon in 1963. It’s *very* good. Review in about a week…
That does sound interesting!
Thanks for recommending Dissolution – your Shardlake reviews always tempted me to at least consider Samson and, especially now, to give at least one in the series a go.
Glad you enjoyed the Angharad Price nonfiction novel, I thought it outstanding. As for my own historical fiction reading last month, I can claim both Eva Ibbotson’s Magic Flutes and Frances Hardinge’s The Lie Tree (this last only reviewed in May) as effectively in this genre, even if there are fantasy aspects to each.
I would definitely recommend considering Dissolution, or any of the Shardlake books. They’re extremely well written and researched, as well as being entertaining stories.
Magic Flutes is on the TBR and I’m hoping to get to it before the end of the year.
I’m quite envious of you that you still have Tombland to read – it’s a wonderful end to the series, even if it wasn’t intended to be. Thanks for the link, Helen – he will indeed be greatly missed.
I’m pleased to hear Tombland is a good ending to the series. I hope to get to it soon, as well as Winter in Madrid which I still haven’t read yet either.
I was always sad to learn of Sansom’s dad and like you I still need to read Tombland, although I will be sad because it’s the last Shardlake.
I’m looking forward to Tombland, but yes, it will be sad when we reach the end and there are no more to read.