Another of my reading interests is historic novels. I’m not a complete lightweight but nothing too heavy either! I’m happy to be educated but as part of a good story rather than a history lesson! Philippa Gregory is great if you like the Plantagenet and Tudor period of history. ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ (2001) is probably the most well known but she has written a whole series of books relating mainly to the women of the royal families. Similarly Alison Weir writes about English royal women and families of the same period. Her debut novel ‘Innocent Traitor’ (2007) is biographical and written in part diary form telling the tale of Lady Jane Grey, known as the ‘Nine Day Queen’. It is an incredibly sad and emotional account of one of history’s most tragic heroines. The author has been described by critics as “one of our greatest popular historians.”
On a topic of more recent history and set in 20th century China, ‘Wild Swans’ by Jung Cheng is a memoir of three generations of women. Starting with the author’s grandmother who was taken as a concubine to a high-ranking warlord, her mother who, at the age of fifteen, began working for the Communist Party and Mao Zefong’s Red Army and finally the author’s story. The Cultural Revolution started when she was a teenager and she writes of the suffering of the Chinese people and her parents’ struggles as well as her own experiences as a young woman during that time. It is by no means a light read but it is a stunning account of three women trying to navigate and survive pre-communist and communist China.
Overlapping the genres of fantasy fiction and history Matt Haig’s ‘How To Stop Time’ is an original novel about time travel. The main character was born in 15th Century France and suffers from a rare condition where he lives for hundreds and hundreds of years. “The first rule is that you don’t fall in love”, he said. There are other rules too, but that is the main one. No falling in love. No staying in love. No daydreaming of love.” Those who have the condition are watched over by a group called the Albatros Society which protects them and makes sure they keep their longevity a secret from the general public. I won’t spoil it but I love the parts where he finds himself in the company of great characters of history. This is a fascinating, beautiful, moving book about love, loss, loneliness, and adventure.
“What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.” – Carl Sagan (American author, astronomer and science communicator).
‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’ by Audrey Niffenegger follows a similar theme but I have to say I found it a bit of a struggle. I felt it was a bit too long and parts of it were quite tedious. The premise of the book is interesting but I got confused way too often! I thought I would give the film a go but that didn’t float my boat either! I watched it with my husband and he didn’t have a clue what was going on. I remember thinking if I can’t follow it having read the book it’s no wonder he was also baffled by it! In a final attempt to ‘get it’ I watched a TV dramatisation which had mixed reviews. I gave up after a couple of episodes! Don’t take my word for it though, this book has been positively reviewed and highly recommended by many so maybe it just wasn’t for me….
Sometimes I read a book that turns out to be about an historic event that I previously knew nothing about. One such book is ‘The Four Winds’ (2021) by Kristin Hannah. The story is set in the period of the ‘Great Depression’ and the ‘Dust Bowl’ in America, severe droughts that caused devastation to the agriculture and forced communities out of their homes and destroyed their livelihoods. “On April 14, 1935, known as “Black Sunday” 20 of the worst “black blizzards” occurred across the entire sweep of the Great Plains, from Canada south to Texas. The storms caused extensive damage and appeared to turn day to night; witnesses reported that they could not see five feet (1.5 m) in front of them at certain points.” (Ref: Wikipedia). The book focuses on the struggles of a mother and daughter whose strength and resilience is put to the test whichever way they turn after making the impossible decision to leave their home. It’s a wonderful book which frequently led me to look up more facts about this significant and tragic time in American and Canadian history. The classic novel ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ by John Steinbeck is also based on this subject, set in Oklahoma and published in 1939, very soon after the actual events too place.
‘The Island’ (2005) by Victoria Hislop is an historical novel based in Spinalonga, an island which is located in North Eastern Crete. From 1903 to 1957 the island was used as a leper colony. Although the characters are fictitious, the story is based on true events. It’s a fascinating insight into a significant part of Crete’s history, much of it during times of conflict, including two world wars. The sequel ‘One Night in August’ was published in 2020 and it was a nice enough book but it didn’t really compare to the first book.
“For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.” – Anne Lamott (American novelist and non-fiction writer).
Hoping for a Happy Ever After 