I’ve mentioned before that historical fiction is my favorite genre, which makes sense - I was a history major. I’ve been reading historical fiction since elementary school, starting with the American Girl, Dear America and Royal Diary series.
Since last year, I’ve been especially curious about the Plantagenets and the Tudors. Tudor history is not new to me, but I wanted to dive deeper. Last year in quarantine, I watched a ton of documentaries on the Tudors, focusing mainly on Henry VIII and his six wives. I also read Katherine by, Anya Seton, which covers the Plantagenets - a prequel to the Tudors.
Then, I proceeded to buy the Wolf Hall Trilogy and Alison Weir’s novels on each of Henry’s wives. At the beginning of the year, I read Weir’s non-fiction book, The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Clearly that wasn’t enough, because over the past few weeks I went a little crazy and added a few more books to my Tudor fiction collection.
Philipa Gregory - I haven’t read any of Gregory’s novels and I didn’t purchase them for historical accuracy. I’ve been in the mood to dive into some more lush historical fiction, because sometimes you need to give your brain a break. I’m also curious to see how she fictionalizes things versus how Weir fictionalizes some aspects.
Legacy by, Susan Kay is a novel on Elizabeth I that I’ve never heard of. I stumbled upon it online and was intrigued. I have not seen anyone on Bookstagram review this novel about Elizabeth I and the 3 men she was involved with. This book is chunky - 600 pages of small text.
Another Anne Boylen novel I haven’t seen anyone discuss is Brief Gaudy Hour by, Margaret Campbell, which was originally published in 1949.
This is a long reading list that will take me years to get through, but I couldn’t resist. I have no idea when I’ll get to some of these, but my priorities at the moment are Wolf Hall, which I’ll read this fall, Legacy, Weir’s novel on Katherine of Aragorn, and Gregory’s novel on Katherine of Aragorn.
Have you read any of these novels and are some of these new to you? What’s your favorite Tudor novel and do you have any recommendations for me?
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