Category Archives: historical fiction

The Last Kingdom

Posted on November 21, 2010 by smellincoffee

The Last Kingdom© 2005 Bernard Cornwell333 pages My name is Uhtred. I am the son of Uhtred, who was the son of Uhtred and his father was also called Uhtred.[…]   I look at those parchments, which are deeds saying … Continue reading →

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Heretic

Posted on November 10, 2010 by smellincoffee

Heretic© 2003 Bernard Cornwell355 pages The year is 1347, and the English armies of Edward III are prevailing in France, having invaded to protect old Norman lands and capture new ones like the new port-city of Calais. The Hundred Years’ … Continue reading →

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True Grit

Posted on October 21, 2010 by smellincoffee

True Grit © 1968 Charles Portis 215 pages People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood but it did not seem so strange then, … Continue reading →

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Innocent Traitor

Posted on September 13, 2010 by smellincoffee

Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey© 2006 Alison Weir402 pages I just found Alison Weir this year and have thus far enjoyed her work in history and historical fiction. Innocent Traitor marked her introduction to historical fiction, and since … Continue reading →

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Empire

Posted on September 4, 2010 by smellincoffee

Empire: the Novel of Imperial Rome© 2010 Steven Saylor589 pages Last summer — strangely enough about a year ago last week —  I had the pleasure of reading Roma: the Novel of Ancient Rome. The novel was a thousand-year epic, … Continue reading →

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The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower

Posted on August 31, 2010 by smellincoffee

The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower© 1970 C. Northcote Parkinson304 pages Last week I finished C.S. Forester’s series of sea stories following the adventures of Horatio Hornblower, a navy man who rose to prominence during the Napoleonic Wars. I … Continue reading →

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Sharpe’s Eagle

Posted on August 21, 2010 by smellincoffee

Sharpe’s Eagle© 1981 Bernard Cornwell270 pages The year is 1809, and much of western Europe has been subdued by the First French Empire. Napoleon Bonaparte rules as Europe’s greatest emperor, but there are those who resist. England stands apart from … Continue reading →

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Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies

Posted on August 20, 2010 by smellincoffee

Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies© 1957 C.S. Forester250 pages Although not the last Hornblower book published — Hornblower during the Crisis was a work-in-progress when Forester died — it is the novel set latest in Hornblower’s life. The Napoleonic wars … Continue reading →

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Give Me Back My Legions!

Posted on August 9, 2010 by smellincoffee

Give Me Back my Legions!© 2009 Harry Turtledove320 pages Give Me Back My Legions! is a piece of historical fiction by Harry Turtledove, detailing the why and how of Rome’s savage defeat at the hands of German tribesmen in the … Continue reading →

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Captive Queen

Posted on July 31, 2010 by smellincoffee

Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine © 2010 Alison Weir 478 pages My life, when it is written, will read better than it lived. Henry Fitz-Empress, first Plantagenet, a king at twenty-one, the ablest soldier of an able … Continue reading →

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