14. Historical Fiction

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Discussed as naval historical fiction that Tom couldn't get through - gave up after 30 pages due to too much rope/nautical detail

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Mentioned as naval fiction Emma Darwin grew up on, and Tom says he wasn't interested in either

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Referenced in a tweet comparing giving up on O'Brian to giving up on Proust after three pages because it's just about cake

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Mentioned as a classic way people come to Roman Britain through fiction, described as having enduring influence

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Described as a fabulous novel for adults about a historical Arthur in the 5th century after the Romans left

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Tom mentions these comics/graphic novels as what got him particularly interested in the Romans

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Discussed as the most successful/prestigious historical novels of the last ten years, with Thomas Cromwell as protagonist

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Mentioned as presenting opposite view to Hilary Mantel - Thomas More as hero rather than villain

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Discussed as fantasy novels that take elements from Wars of the Roses but with unpredictable outcomes

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French series set in Hundred Years' War that partly inspired Game of Thrones

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Mentioned as set in Hundred Years' War from English side, featuring Sir John Chandos and the Black Prince

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Mentioned alongside The White Company as Hundred Years' War fiction

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Nominated as the single best historical novel Tom has read - offers multiple perspectives on Restoration England

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Mentioned as very gripping novels, though criticized for having liberal humanist sceptic protagonist

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Set in Anglo-Saxon period, criticized for protagonist Uhtred being a 21st century liberal trapped in historical setting

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Called a brilliant book about Italian unification, conservative in nature about anxiety of change

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Described as probably the most famous historical novel, noted for being about history itself and how history works

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Tom mentions being commissioned by The Economist to write about it, visiting St. Petersburg in Raskolnikov's footsteps

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Praised as the most successful attempt to ventriloquise someone from before the invention of the novel

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Mentioned as incredibly boring because it reads like a Byzantine account of a campaign

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Mentioned as an attempt to mimic Hadrian's voice, described as boring due to being so accurate

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Mentioned as detective novels set in ancient Rome that revel in anachronism

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Extensively discussed as having excellent narrative voice capturing Victorian cad, praised for ambiguous treatment of empire

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Argued to be the single most influential novel on how English-speaking world understands the French Revolution

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Described as influential for establishing idea of medieval England as Saxons vs Normans

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Mentioned as having seismic influence on how people saw the antebellum South, though influence now dissolved

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Mentioned as the first Wild West novel establishing template for Hollywood westerns

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Discussed as the first novel in modern West, about tension between past and present

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Mentioned as recent novel weaving fantastical into story of slavery to brilliant effect

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Mentioned as a more creative response to early medieval history than rigorous historical fiction

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Described as counterfactual novel where Philip II marries Elizabeth Tudor and Don Quixote is a character

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Alternate history where England never went Protestant, about a boy about to be castrated to preserve singing voice

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Mentioned as fantastic alternate history book, remembered reading on a bus desperate to finish

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Alternate history where Black Death wipes out Europeans and Muslims colonize Europe

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Mentioned as example of alternate history that integrates critique of the genre

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Mentioned as example of high-status novel set around time of author's birth that counts as historical

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Mentioned as great historical novel set around time of author's birth

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Mentioned as 19th century writer writing about events 20-30 years previous

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Mentioned as Zola writing about Franco-Prussian War, events 20-30 years before

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Described as classically the first historical novel, set in Jacobite period, chosen as book to survive apocalypse

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Mentioned as example of people writing historical novels set in 70s and 80s

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Mentioned alongside Rotter's Club as historical novel set in recent past

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Mentioned as possibly the very first historical novel, written 70 years after Great Plague of London

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Discussed as middle book in Alexander trilogy, narrated by eunuch Bagoas, with vivid castration description

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Mentioned as first in Alexander trilogy about Alexander's childhood and youth

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Described as powerful favourite book set in 1850s US-Mexico borderlands about scalp hunters

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Mentioned in comparison to Blood Meridian's apocalyptic style

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Mentioned as very difficult book looking back to Civil War and slavery in American South

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Mentioned by Dominic as the first historical novel he remembers reading as a child