Historical Fictionistas discussion

Level 1: Countries
England Venetia by Georgette Heyer (set in 1818) 1/7/2020
United States Work Song by Ivan Doig (set in 1919) 1/17/2020
Spain The Queen's Vow: A Novel of Isabella of Castile by C.W. Gortner (1450-1500) 3/21/2020
France Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks (WWI) 1/4/2020
Portugal The Two Hotel Francforts by David Leavitt (WWII) 1/10/2020
Iran Song of a Captive Bird by Jasmin Darznik (1934-67) 1/18/2020
India The Satapur Moonstone by Sujata Massey (1922) 1/21/2020
Cambodia In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner (1975-79) 2/14/2020

Level 2: Time Periods
England The Victory Garden by Rhys Bowen (WWI) 5/3/2020
United States The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye (1845) 3/29/2020
Spain The Spanish Bride by Georgette Heyer (Peninsular War | Regency era 1808-14) 5/5/2020
France Ribbons of Scarlet: A Novel of the French Revolution's Women by Kate Quinn (French Revolution 1789-1790's) 04/30/2020
Portugal The Elephant's Journey by José Saramago [1551] 5/9/2020
Iran Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji (Iran revolution 1973) 4/26/2020
India Raiders from the North by Alex Rutherford (1494) 05/02/2020
Cambodia A Woman of Angkor by John Burgess (12 Century) 5/19/2020

Level 3: Authors
England The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters: From Bake Off winner to bestselling novelist by Nadiya Hussain 5/29/2020
United States The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway 6/4/2020
Spain The Price of Paradise by Susana López Rubio 5/27/2020
France Entry Island by Peter May (lives in France) 5/23/2020
Portugal The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa 6/1/2020
Iran The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer 6/4/2020
India The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan 5/21/2020
Cambodia Music of the Ghosts by Vaddey Ratner 6/7/2020

Level 4: Non-Fiction
England Citizens of London: The Americans who Stood with Britain in its Darkest, Finest Hour by Lynne Olson 6/8/2020
United States Spying on the South: Travels with Frederick Law Olmsted in a Fractured Land by Tony Horwitz 6/10/2020
Spain Hotel Florida: Truth, Love, and Death in the Spanish Civil War by Amanda Vaill 8/3/2020
France My Twenty-Five Years in Provence: Reflections on Then and Now by Peter Mayle 6/24/2020
Portugal Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire by Roger Crowley 6/12/2020
Iran Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi 7/5/2020
India Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan by Ruby Lal 7/8/2020
Cambodia First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung 6/16/2020

Level 1 Completed! I'm in the midst of level 2 - and finding some challenges in getting books from the library. The library is my primary source of reading materials.

Congrats on finishing level 1. I also had to change some of the books I had originally intended to read since I use the library as much as possible.

Some really interesting books on here, thanks for sharing with us 😊

Level 2 Completed!

Diane wrote: "Level 3: Authors
England
United States
Spain
France
Portugal
Iran
India The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan 5/21/2020
Cambodia"

I have The Twentieth Wife on my India reading list as well, but as my Level 1 historical fiction book. I have three options for the non-fiction: White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India - William Dalrymple (1700s) or Maharanis: The Extraordinary Tale of Four Indian Queens and Their Journey from Purdah to Parliament - Lucy Moore or Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan - Ruby Lal (1600 CE). That last one is actually about the same person as in The Twentieth Wife, but from what I was reading, The Twentieth Wife really stops before she takes over completely and grows into her own role.

Anna wrote: "Diane wrote: "Level 3: Authors
England
United States
Spain
France
Portugal
Iran
India The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan 5/21/2020
Cambodia"

I have The Twentie..."

Anna, you are right about The Twentieth Wife. It does end at her marriage to the King. I guess I'll have to read the next two in the trilogy to find out more. Many thanks for the non-fiction suggestions. Hopefully my library has at least one of them.

Level 3 completed!

Congratulations on finishing level 3!

Done!
But now that I'm done, I think I'll add a country, read all 4 levels. Then a new country and all levels.

Congratulations on finishing all 4 levels!

Israel
Level 1 - Historical Fiction in the Country
The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd 05/10/2020
Level 2 - Time Frame
Children of the Lion by Peter Danielson 08/18/2020
Level 3 Authors
Murder on a Kibbutz by Batya Gur 9/7/2020
Level 4 Non-fiction
The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan 9/19/2020

New Country
Japan
Level 1 - Historical Fiction in the county
The Shogun's Daughter by Laura Joh Rowland
Level 2 - Time Frame
The Makioka Sisters by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki
Level 3 - Authors
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yōko Ogawa
Level 4 - Non-fiction
Geisha, a Life by Mineko Iwasaki

Amazing Diane. Congratulations on finishing all four levels. I've been sidetracked by another challenge but you've inspired me to go back to mine soon.

Italy
Completed.
Level 1 - Historical Fiction in the county
Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant
Level 2 - Time Frame
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
Level 3 - Author
The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
Level 4 - Non-fiction
The Land Where Lemons Grow: The Story of Italy and its Citrus Fruit by Helena Attlee

Hope you enjoy Sacred Hearts as much as I did!

Fiona wrote: "Hope you enjoy Sacred Hearts as much as I did!" I enjoyed it a lot.

Turkey
Last country this year. This was a great challenge and a good way to learn more about different countries. As you can see, I added four additional countries after the initial challenge was completed. I plan to continue in 2021 and add additional countries.
Level 1 Historical Fiction in the country
The Secret History: A Novel of Empress Theodora by Stephanie Thornton
Level 2 - Time Frame
Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières
Level 3 - Author
The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak
Level 4 - Non-fiction
Sailing from Byzantium: How a Lost Empire Shaped the World by Colin Wells

Amazing! Did you enjoy Elif Shafak? Keeps coming up at the moment. Really interesting to keep adding countries I might also carry on and try and add in some more unusual ones, mine were very straightforward

Carol wrote: "Amazing! Did you enjoy Elif Shafak? Keeps coming up at the moment. Really interesting to keep adding countries I might also carry on and try and add in some more unusual ones, mine..."
I did enjoy the book, but without revealing too much, the secret which is revealed is certainly startling.
What I really like about reading the 4 different Levels in a row is how that cultural history builds and helps inform comments and themes in the next books.

2021 Around the World
This year I plan to add countries, reading all four levels for each country before beginning the next country. Last year I found that reading the books in this way added to learning about them as well as building knowledge.
Russia
Level 1 Historical Fiction in the country
Russka: The Novel of Russia by Edward Rutherfurd
This book spans 1800 years
Level 2 - Time Frame
World War II
City of Thieves by David Benioff
Level 3 - Author
The Time of Women by Elena Chizhova
Level 4 - Non-fiction
A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka: A Memoir by Lev Golinkin

South Africa
Level 1 - Historical Fiction in the country
The Servants' Quarters by Lynn Freed - WWII
Level 2 - Time Frame
19th Century
King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard
Level 3 - Author
Thirteen Hours by Deon Meyer
Level 4 - Non-fiction
Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation by John Carlin

Australia
Level 1 - Historical Fiction in the country
Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
Set in 1900
Level 2 - Time Frame
The Secret River by Kate Grenville
Set in 1806
Level 3 - Author
The Golden Age by Joan London
Level 4 - Non-fiction
Australia: A Biography of a Nation by Phillip Knightley

China
Level 1 - Historical Fiction in the country
China: The Novel by Edward Rutherfurd
Level 2 - Time Frame
Paper Wife by Laila Ibrahim
Level 3 - Author
The Noodle Maker by Ma Jian
Level 4 - Non-fiction
Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution by Helen Zia