The best historical fiction recreates a vanished world with enough texture that you inhabit it, while illuminating something that speaks to the present.
2 expert-reviewed books
by James Clavell
An English navigator is shipwrecked in feudal Japan in 1600 and drawn into the deadly rivalry between samurai lords competing for supreme power. One of the great historical novels of the twentieth century.
Check Price on Amazon (paid link)
by Robert Harris
When the Pope dies suddenly, the College of Cardinals gathers in the Sistine Chapel to elect his successor. Behind the locked doors of the Vatican, Dean of the College Cardinal Lomeli presides over a conclave of intrigue, ambition, and hidden sin — where faith and politics are indistinguishable.
Check Price on Amazon (paid link)Disclosure: Amazon links on this page are affiliate links. If you purchase through them we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.