The best is history

As promised, here are some recommendations for historical fiction.

Historical fiction has always been one of my favourite genres. I've never been one for contemporary fiction; I much prefer to read about something removed from everyday life, so I usually stick to historical, fantasy, and a bit of science fiction. Sometimes, as you'll see in the list below, the lines between these genres blur. I started out liking fiction about ancient Greece and Rome and anything British. Since I've fallen in with a U.S. historian and started visiting lots of historical sites in the States, I've added North American historical fiction. Let's start with that.

One of the best books I've read in recent years is Voyageurs by Margaret Elphinstone. Set in 1811, it's the story of Mark Greenhow, a Scottish Quaker who goes to Upper Canada to find his missionary sister, who is missing. Along the way he falls in with Scots fur traders, French voyageurs and Native people; and visits York and travels north on Yonge Street to a Quaker meeting house. It's very well-written and explores the way the different cultures interact, and Mark's reaction to them.

If you want something a little earlier, try Eliot Pattison's American Colonial mysteries, starting with Bone Rattler. Duncan McCallum, one of the last of his clan, has been transported to America with a boatload of other prisoners following the defeat of the Highland clans by the British. Although it's a mystery series, it reads more like an historical novel than a formulaic mystery. Again, we get a picture of the relationship between the various cultures in Colonial America: British, indentured Scots, Native people of various Nations, French, Moravian, etc.

Another series that starts with Scots and ends up in Colonial America is Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. Starting this series is quite an investment: it's seven very thick books so far, with a large cast of characters. But if you are interested in the history of the persecuted Highland Scots and enjoy romance, good characters, complicated plot-lines, and time travel, I highly recommend it. Claire is a WWII nurse who finds herself in the post-Culloden Highlands, forced to marry Jamie Fraser. Through the course of the books she travels back and forth several times, has a family, becomes a doctor, etc. Obviously you have to get out the "willing suspension of disbelief" on a few levels, but the characters and historical detail are well worth it, and Gabaldon is a good writer.

Let's move up to the Civil War and environs. I mentioned Robert Hicks' The Widow of the South in the history blog, and although it wasn't the greatest book I've ever read, it certainly gave a feel for what it must have been like for those who were in the middle of the war. March, by Geraldine Brooks, tells the story of the absent father of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women - his experience in the war. Richard Peck's The River Between Us is aimed at young adults and tells the story of an Illinois family that takes in a young woman from New Orleans and her maid.

Also set in the 19th century, The Good Thief, by Hannah Tinti, is Dickens meets Twain. It's the story of a young New England orphan with only one hand, Ren, and his adventures when a mysterious stranger adopts him.

47, by Walter Mosley, another young adult book, is an unexpected blend of historical and science fiction, but don't let that put you off. 47 is a young slave on a plantation who is befriended by a runaway slave, Tall John.

Darryl Brock's If I Never Get Back and Two in the Field are not exceptionally well-written, but as time travel books, they really give a feel for what life was like in post-Civil War America. Sam Fowler wakes up in Cincinnati in 1869 and ends up joining the Cincinnati Red Stockings, baseball's first professional team. In the second book, Sam becomes friends with Samuel Clemens. Another time travel pair are Time and Again and From Time to Time by Jack Finney. Simon Morley travels from 1960s New York to 1880s New York; if I recall correctly, he's present at the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. What I like about time travel historical fiction is that since the main character is from the present, he is usually telling us about what we'd find odd or interesting about the past in which he has ended up.

City of Light, by Lauren Belfer, is set in Buffalo in 1901, the year Buffalo hosted the Pan-American Exhibition and President McKinley was assassinated there. It's got something for everyone: it delves into women's rights, workers' rights, civil rights, environmental concerns about who owned the water of Niagara Falls, and it has a mystery, too. After I read this, I tried The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan, set in 1915 Buffalo, but I gave up on it because it was in the present tense. For some reason, I cannot abide books written in the present tense. Perhaps this will pass; it used to be that I couldn't stand books written in the first person, but I've mostly gotten over that.

Finally, a quirky recommendation: Orson Scott Card's alternative history fantasy series, Tales of Alvin Maker, set in an early 19th century America where some people, including seventh son of seventh son Alvin, can do magic. There are lots of historical details here, including slavery, westward expansion, specific events like the Battle of Tippecanoe, etc. Because it's fantasy, it also has a strong "good vs evil" vibe, which I always enjoy in a book.

Looks as if I'll have to save my non-U.S. recommendations for another blog. In closing, let me suggest that you take a look at goodreads.com; it's sort of like facebook for readers, complete with friends and time-wasting games. The best part is you get to list (!!!) and sort (!!!!!) all the books you've read, rate them, and write reviews if you like.

Until next time...