Signposts: Historical Novels

By Juliet Gardiner | Published in History Today Volume: 59 Issue 10 2009

Historiography

Juliet Gardiner analyses the recent explosion in interest in historical novels

History Today has not by tradition reviewed historical novels, but it’s a position that has seemed increasingly purblind as more such novels are published. Several respected historians are turning to fictionalise their subjects and major novelists are delving into the past to great effect. In future occasional reviews of historical novels will appear and this month a series of articles and reviews discuss the genre: why it has come to recent prominence, what insights it might bring, what historical fiction might add to the record, or whether it constitutes a different beast altogether to be evaluated and appreciated by very different rules.

This article is available to History Today online subscribers only. If you are a subscriber, please log in.

Please choose one of these options to access this article:

Purchase an online subscription

Purchase a print and online subscription

If you are already a print subscriber, purchase the online archive upgrade

Call our Subscriptions department on +44 (0)20 3219 7813 for more information.

If you are logged in but still cannot access the article, please contact us

Signposts: Historical Novels

If you enjoyed this article, you might like these:

This Month's Magazine

From The Current Issue

Find A UK Stockist

Most Popular Stories