Chapter 43 - Don't Know Much About History - Part II

It occurred to me, after writing the first historical fiction blog a few weeks ago, that there are quite a lot of historical fiction books I've read with authors I've enjoyed. As I described a few weeks ago, the author has to be a good researcher with facts to back up the book. There are authors who use letters, battle logs, and diaries to create their stories and whose authenticity springs from their pages.

Here are a few of my favorites.

Fiona Davis - Fiona Davis's books take place mostly in New York City and the places she writes about are truly characters in their own right. Books by Davis include The Address, about the building of The Dakota, The Chelsea Girls about women at the Chelsea Hotel, The Masterpiece which focuses on Grand Central Station, and The Dollhouse centered around The Barbizon Hotel. Not a bad one in the bunch.

Jeff Shaara - If you are looking for character studies among battle scenes, Shaara is the writer for you. His most recent book is The Frozen Hours about the Choisin Reservoir Campaign during the Korean War. Other books include four books about the Civil War starting with A Blaze of Glory, four books about World War II starting with The Rising Tide, To the Last Man about World War I, Rise to Rebellion about the American Revolution along with a few others.

Pam Jenoff - Always a favorite Pam Jenoff's novels center around World War II. The two I like the best are The Orphan's Tale and The Lost Girls of Paris. The Orphan's Tale is about a Dutch girl working in Germany who steals a Jewish baby. The Lost Girls of Paris tells about women who went undercover in France as part of England's Special Operations Executive group. She has written quite a few more that I have not read.

John Jakes - Jakes was probably one of the first historical fiction writers I ever read. His books center on American history and include The Kent Family Chronicles which start before the American Revolution, The North and South Series, Homeland, The Gods of Newport and many more. His history is vivid and accurate and his stories rich and appealing.

Have you read any of these authors? If so, what did you think? Let me know.