20 historical novels from which it is impossible to tear yourself away

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The book that saved Notre Dame from demolition, the chronicles of St. Bartholomew's night, the youth of Peter I and the life of an English sailor in Japanese captivity.

The historical novel places characters in the context of important events. Against their background, the plot develops and the fate of the characters intertwines. In this genre, facts and fictional fiction coexist, and heroes can be both real historical figures and a figment of the author's imagination. Thanks to such novels, one can see another era through the eyes of eyewitnesses and feel the atmosphere of that time.

Historical novels about the 4th century BC NS. - 1st century AD NS

1. "Tais of Athens", Ivan Efremov

The amazing hetaira Thais had a sharp mind, like no one else knew how to convince her interlocutors that she was right, had very progressive views and a subtle instinct. The queen of the Amazons immediately saw in the young Alexander the Great as a future great conqueror and ruler. Their fates were tightly intertwined, and wherever life threw the commander and Thais, they still ended up together.

Efremov talks about one of the most influential women, and through her reveals an unprecedented side of Macedonian.

2. "I, Claudius" by Robert Graves

The sick, ugly youth Claudius was prophesied to become the most important person in the Roman Empire. Only no one believed this prediction and did not pay attention to the short, twisted by ailments Claudius, who himself preferred to remain in the shadows.

Robert Graves showed the life of his hero against the background of the reign of three emperors and his ascension to the throne despite poor health and ridicule.

3. "Kamo Gryadeshi", Henrik Sienkiewicz

The eccentric, cruel and capricious Roman emperor Nero sets a fire in his capital for fun, and blames the followers of the nascent Christian faith for this and punishes them. Among his victims are the apostles Peter and Paul. Against the background of the massacres, the thin love line of Lygia and Marcus Vinicius stretches, which does not see any obstacles, be it cultural, social or religious.

Historical novels about the XII-XVI centuries

1. "Ivanhoe", Walter Scott

It is believed that the genre of the historical novel originates from the works of Walter Scott.

Ivanhoe is a book about a brave young knight who happened to live in one of the most difficult periods in the history of England. The Third Crusade is over, King Richard the Lionheart is in captivity, and the country has to repel the attacks of Normandy. In addition, Ivanhoe's beloved is about to be given in marriage to an impostor claiming the throne.

2. "Notre Dame Cathedral", Victor Hugo

Hugo did not hide that he made the main character exactly the temple in the heart of Paris. The author wanted to interfere with the authorities' plan to demolish or remake the cathedral and was right. After the release of the story about the deaf hunchback Quasimodo, the beautiful Esmeralda and the priest Frollo, a public movement began to preserve the original appearance of the building.

The novel about unrequited love, hope, devotion, which go hand in hand with betrayal and meanness, could not leave readers indifferent. He played a crucial role in the history of one of the most important architectural monuments.

3. "Chronicle of the reign of Charles IX", Prosper Merimee

The young Huguenot Bernard de Mergy is in love with the first beauty of the French royal court and is ready to go to any feat for her sake. But lofty feelings will have to be postponed, because the question of life and death arises before him.

It was during the reign of Charles IX that one of the bloodiest religious confrontations in the history of France happened - St. Bartholomew's Night. On August 23, 1572, the Catholics staged a mass murder of the Huguenots. Using the example of one family in which the brothers are divided by religious beliefs, Mérimée shows the prerequisites for the bloody massacre, the provocations that led to it, and the customs of the French nobility of the 16th century.

4. "Maria Stuart", Stefan Zweig

The Scottish Queen Mary Stuart claimed the English throne, considering herself the true heiress. But Elizabeth I stood in her way, who firmly took the position of the ruler and was not going to retreat. Two powerful women and their retinues waged a cunning undercover fight, and in public spoke of each other warmly and affectionately.

Zweig contrasts the two queens, emphasizing their dissimilarity and mutual envy. Elizabeth had power and the boundless support of the people, and Mary was a beloved wife and mother.

5. The Iron King by Maurice Druon

This novel is the beginning of the Cursed Kings cycle about the history of France at the beginning of the 14th century. The Iron King was nicknamed Philip IV, who weakened the power of the feudal lords and strengthened the monarchy. Many were dissatisfied with his reforms, but most of all - the Order of the Templars, which lost its power precisely because of the harsh ruler.

Before his execution, the Grand Master of the Order curses both Philip IV and his associate, the Pope. From that moment on, both of them, as well as the heirs of the king, began to be haunted by a series of terrible failures.

Historical novels about the 17th-18th centuries

1. "Three Musketeers", Alexandre Dumas - father

Thanks to this novel, Alexandre Dumas went down in history for a long time and became known all over the world. The adventures of the young adventurer D'Artagnan begin with a trip to Paris. There he is going to serve in the personal armies of the King of France, but he is not accepted as a musketeer.

A hot young man insults three experienced musketeers, and they challenge him to a duel, which did not take place. But on the other hand, chance united the heroes with d'Artagnan, and here their joint adventures begin, which have become classics of world literature.

2. "Peter the First", Alexey Tolstoy

Tolstoy did not manage to complete the book, having died suddenly in 1945. The novel begins with the death of the predecessor of Peter I, Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, and follows the life of the great emperor until 1704. Based on historical sources, the author shows the Streletsky revolt, the Azov campaigns, reforms and Peter's travels to Europe, which greatly influenced the development of the country.

The writer reveals the characters and secrets of famous historical figures - Alexander Menshikov, Sofia Alekseevna and Lev Naryshkin. Despite its value, the novel received mixed reviews due to the fact that Tolstoy partially justifies the cruelty of the ruler.

3. "Shogun" by James Clavell

A Dutch ship wrecked off the coast of Japan at the beginning of the 17th century. Many crew members died, and those who survived will face captivity in a country isolated from the rest of the world. The Englishman John Blackthorn is saved from imminent execution by one of the rulers, believing that he will help him in the struggle for power with his knowledge of military affairs and shipbuilding. Although the hero is grateful to the deliverer, he cannot get used to the new country and foreign culture.

Blackthorn had a prototype - Will Adams, who came to Japan in the early 17th century and gained respect for his unique skills. But unlike the hero of the novel, the real sailor took root in a new place, started a family and stayed there until the end of his days.

4. "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens

The first phrase of Dickens's novel became so popular that even those who have never read "A Tale of Two Cities" know it: "It was the best of all time, it was the worst of all time." It was good for aristocrats and kings, and bad for ordinary people.

But that all changed when the Parisians broke into the Bastille. This was the beginning of the French Revolution. Dickens shows the two capitals - London and Paris - shortly before the events that ended the absolute monarchy in France.

5. "Favorite", Valentin Pikul

The novel describes the childhood, youth and reign of Catherine II, as well as life at court in Russia in the mid-18th century. The empress's policy was strongly influenced by the environment, especially the favorites. Pikul observes them with particular interest, writing out the characters of the heroes and their relationship with each other.

The main feature of the novel is the lack of sympathy on the part of the author. With living language and humor, the writer showed the most influential people of that time - Potemkin, Orlov, Lomonosov and Suvorov - with all their advantages and disadvantages.

Historical novels about the 19th century

1. "War and Peace", Leo Tolstoy

Napoleon is already at the border, and a clash with the French cannot be avoided. Someone sees confrontation as an opportunity to show heroism and earn a reward, for others, war is terrible and unacceptable. Among the characters, there are both one and the second. And there are those for whom something else is important - love, friendship, growing up. And their heroism is everyday, not the same as on the battlefield.

Together with the heroes, the reader experiences the events of the Patriotic War of 1812, as well as mental anguish, which we understand even after centuries.

2. "Leopard", Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

Until 1861, Italy consisted of several states, and part of its modern territory was part of neighboring countries. At the end of the 19th century, the commander Garibaldi set himself the goal of uniting disparate political units into one strong Italy.

The Leopard novel shows a military campaign in Sicily and the annexation of the kingdom. Through the prism of the experiences of an aging aristocrat, Lampedusa describes the state of those who did not want to unite at all. The hero sees how everything that is familiar, familiar and dear to him collapses. Much in the work is taken from the biography of the writer's great-grandfather.

3. "Les Miserables", Victor Hugo

At the beginning of the 19th century, France was restless. The monarchs cut off from reality with their way of life aroused the discontent of the inhabitants. The situation escalated, and the result was clashes on the barricades between police and citizens. They were attended by the main character of Les Miserables, Jean Valjean, who was once sentenced to 19 years in hard labor for stealing bread.

Hugo was extremely outraged by the growing chasm between rich and poor, erratic leaders and the injustice prevailing in the country. He expressed his vision of France at that time in an epic novel, which is considered the peak of his literary career and one of the most important works of the 19th century.

Historical novels about the XX century

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

Nineteen-year-old German Paul volunteers to go to the front to fight in the First World War against the enemies of Germany. His patriotic mood quickly evaporates when he sees yesterday's schoolchildren in the trenches next to him. Young fighters are scared, physically and psychologically crippled, and just want to go home.

But even after the end of the war, the former soldiers could not live the same way. Remarque called this generation lost. What they saw on the battlefield changed them until the end of their days and made them strangers in society.

2. "Zuleikha opens her eyes", Guzel Yakhina

Zuleikha's village life ends instantly when soldiers burst into her house. Her husband, a wealthy Tatar kulak, is killed in front of her eyes, the house is robbed, and the woman herself is sent to Siberia as a forced migrant. The horrors of an inhuman attitude, the constant frightening closeness of death, betrayal and changes of people endowed with power, amaze a woman to the core. But the experience did not break her and did not make her indifferent or cruel.

The novel is based on the memories of dispossessed and resettled people.

3. "All the light we cannot see," Anthony Dorr

Two teenagers meet the beginning of World War II on opposite sides of the front. A blind girl from France is forced to leave her home when the Nazis occupy Paris. An orphan from a German orphanage accidentally ends up in an elite school where future officers of the Reich are trained, and soon finds himself in the war.

A boy and a girl who are completely different from each other do not accept the prevailing injustice and want to survive at all costs. And they are also united by an unusual stone that a Nazi collector hunts for.

4. "The Tattoo Artist of Auschwitz," Heather Morris

The novel is based on the life of Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov, a Slovak Jew who survived the Holocaust and returned alive from Auschwitz. In the camp, he received the position of an assistant tattooist and, together with his mentors, applied serial numbers to the hands of prisoners.

It was at this moment that people lost their names and became only a number in the records of the overseers. But for Lale, not all the arrivals merged into one stream. Among them, he meets Gita and falls in love with her. Trying to make the girl's existence easier, Lale risks her life and shares with her an already meager ration. Together, they never stop dreaming about the future after the war.