This week's theme is BOOKS SET IN ANOTHER TIME.
And I had a lot of fun coming up with ten of my favorite historical fiction reads...all set in very different times and places.
King and Goddess by Judith Tarr
(Egypt, 15th century B.C.)
Jerusalem by Cecelia Holland
(Holy Land, 1187 AD)
Picture Maker by Penina Keen Spinka
(North America & Greenland, 14th century)
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
(Italy, 1327)
The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier
(Paris, 1490)
Tokkaido Road by Lucia St. Clair Robson
(Feudal Japan, 17th century)
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
(Istanbul, 16th century)
The Canterbury Papers by Judith Koll Healey
(England, 12th century during reign of King John)
The Queen's Vow by C.W. Gortner
(A novel of Queen Isabella of Castile, 1451-1504)
Queen's Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle
(A novel of Katherine Parr, 1512-1548)
Happy Reading!
That's a great variety of countries and time periods! I loved The Name of the Rose and Queen's Gambit. They are the only books I've read from your list, but I would like to read Jerusalem and The Lady and the Unicorn as I enjoyed other books by those authors.
ReplyDeleteI loved both Jerusalem and The Lady and the Unicorn! I can happily recommend both. :D
DeleteDid you write a review of Picture Maker? I tried to read that one once, and didn't get very far. I'm curious to read what you thought of it. (I really liked the show Queen's Gambit, have been meaning to read that one too someday).
ReplyDeleteI read Picture Maker before I started blogging, so I never wrote a review of it. And it's not a book I would normally read, but I did get caught up in the main character's journey from her home to Greenland, and all that happened to her. It was interesting, and I did end up liking it, though I never read the sequel.
DeleteWow, you found some books set far in the past. That’s cool.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by earlier.
It was fun seeing how many different time periods I could find for this list from books I've read. :D
DeleteI’d like to read The Canterbury Papers.
ReplyDeleteHere is our post: https://www.longandshortreviews.com/miscellaneous-musings/top-ten-tuesday-books-set-in-another-time/
It's a good mystery, and very interesting because of the time period it's set in!
DeleteThe Name of the Rose was a great book! I enjoyed your recommendations, thanks!!
ReplyDeleteI really loved The Name of the Rose, too. Thanks for commenting on my blog. :D
DeleteI haven't read any of these yet, but they sound very interesting. Happy Tuesday!
ReplyDelete:D Thanks for your comments.
DeleteI haven't heard of many of these. Love C.W. Gortner's work. Would like to read The Canterbury Papers again. I think I was in high school last time I did. Thanks for sharing, Lark.
ReplyDeletehttps://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2025/02/top-ten-tuesday-top-ten-books-set-in.html
The Canterbury Papers was a good one; I always meant to read her other books, but never did. And I really enjoyed the Gortner.
DeleteWow, you did great! I don't read a lot of historical that is set before the 1800s, but maybe I need to broaden my perspective.
ReplyDeleteI used to read more widely than I do now. My reading horizons have narrowed in recent years. ;D
DeleteI don't think I've heard of any of these books, but I tend not to read books set before the mid-1800s.
ReplyDeletePam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/favorite-historical-fiction-reads-from-2024/
I get that. I have to be really interested in a time period, or a character, for me to read any historical fiction novel. :D
DeleteThe only one of these that I have read (so far) is "The Name of the Rose" and it was indeed a mesmerizing read.
ReplyDeleteMesmerizing is the perfect word to describe that one!
DeleteThis is such a great topic. I'm adding lots of new books to my wish list. :-) I haven't read any of these. My husband thinks I would like The Name of the Rose and, one of these days, I'll tackle that one.
ReplyDeleteI loved The Name of the Rose. It made he a huge Umberto Eco fan. :D
DeleteThanks Lark there are so many historical novels out there and so I am glad to have this list. I read The Lady and the Unicorn and liked it. And one of my favorite historical novels is Saints by Orson Scott Card. It's excellent.
ReplyDeleteOoh...that's one I still need to read. Thanks for the reminder!
DeleteI've read three of your books. The Name of the Rose, The Lady and the Unicorn, My Name is Red, all great. But my list was totally different. Thanks for visiting my post:
ReplyDeletehttps://momobookblog.blogspot.com/2025/02/top-ten-tuesday-another-time.html
Can't wait to check out your list!
DeleteLooking forward to your comment.
DeleteNice variety of times and places! I love historical fiction, but I tend to stick with post-1800 settings. I need to branch out in both time and place. Thanks for the inspo :)
ReplyDeleteHappy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
There's so many good historical fiction books out there, it's easy to just stay forever in one favorite time period. Which isn't a bad way to read. :D
DeleteThis is such a fun topic! I haven't read much historical fiction set before the 1700s, so it's neat to see these books! It looks like I need to expand the time periods I read in! :D
ReplyDeleteI love reading about ancient Egypt. And I went through a crusaders phase awhile back and read a few books set during that time period which I found really interesting.
DeleteSo many wonderful books that fit this category! I loved The Lady and the Unicorn--definitely due for a reread. I have been meaning to read The Name of the Rose for decades now. And, I am particularly interested in Isabella of Castile so I may need to look into The Queen's Vow.
ReplyDeleteDoing this post made me want to revisit The Lady and the Unicorn, too. Especially since I've now seen those tapestries in Paris.
DeleteI love historical fiction! I've been meaning to read The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier. Nice list.
ReplyDeleteIt's so good!
DeleteI haven't read any of these. I'll have to take a closer look seeing that you loved them!
ReplyDeleteI did love all of them.
DeleteThis is a great list, I have The Queen's Vow on my TBR.
ReplyDeleteIt's such an interesting read. Katherine Parr did not have a very happy life.
DeleteI'm just reading a book about her by Alison Weir. Totally right.
DeleteI haven't read any of these but I have read a book by C.W. Gortimer that I really enjoyed! Definitely want to add The Queen's Gambit to my TBR. I'm fascinated by Katherine Parr. Great list!
ReplyDelete