Medieval Fiction

Modern fiction set in the medieval period. Our recommendations for "...novels where historical details are correct enough (that) the inaccuracies don't grate."

• Buckley, Fiona - Ursula Blanchard series
• Davis, Lindsey - The Silver Pigs, first book in Marcus Didius Falco series (Roman)
• Clavell, James - Shogun (set in the 1600s Japan)
• Cornwell, Bernard - The Grailquest novels: The Archer's Tale, Vagabond, and Heretic ("The author of the Sharpe's series does the battles of Crécy, Neville’s Cross, La Roche-Derrien, and the Seige of Calais. Action oriented.")
• Cornwell, Bernard - The Warlord Chronicles: The Winter King, Enemy of God, and Excalibur: A Novel of Arthur ("Arthurian tales, written as if it took place in Dark Age Britain as described in the original Welsh legends.")
• Cornwell, Bernard - The Saxon Stories: The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman, and The Lords of the North ("The story takes place during the Viking invasion in Britain in the 9th Century.")
• Dunnett, Dorothy - Game of Kings (first book in Lymond series, 16th C Scotland/England)
• Dunnett, Dorothy - Niccolo Rising: The First Book of The House of Niccolo (15th C. Low Countries, series)
• Eco, Umberto - The Name of the Rose
• Emerson, Kathy Lynn - Susanna, Lady Appleton series
• Follet, Ken - The Pillars of the Earth
• Frazer, Margaret - The Novice's Tale
• Gregory, Philippa - The Other Boleyn Girl (Tudor, a retelling of the story of Anne Boleyn)
• Holland, Cecelia - Firedrake, An Irish mercenary who passes through the Norman conquest. Until the Sun Falls, the Mongols on their way to Vienna. Great Maria. Franco-Norman adventurers.
• Jecks, Michael - The Last Templar (first of series)
• Knight, Bernard - The Sanctuary Knight (first of series)
• Lofts, Nora - The Concubine (Tudor, Anne Boleyn)
• Lofts, Nora - The Lute Player
• Newman, Sharan - Death Comes as Epiphany (first in series)
• Oldenbourg, Zoe - Cities of Flesh (Toulouse during the Inquisition against the Cathars, with a Courtly love thread interwoven. "Yummy, though wrenching.")
• Pargeter, Edith - trilogy The Heaven Tree, The Green Branch, and The Scarlet Seed ("exquisite and moving - full of wonderful detail and characters.")
• Penfield, Sharon Kaye - The Sunne in Splendor
• Penman, Sharon Kay - The Queen's Man : A Medieval Mystery (first in series)
• Peters, Ellis - A Morbid Taste for Bones (1130's England, the first book in the "Brother Cadfael" series)
  {Note: a listing of the entire series, the books as they have been reprinted in omnibus form and all the requires ISBN's for ordering can be found here: http://www.steveconrad.co.uk/cadfael/booklist.html. The series may be fiction, but they have a wonderful 'feel' to them.}
• Pouillon, Fernand - The Stones of the Abbey ("Hard to find, but a great read about the building of an abbey by monks in 12th century France.")
• Riley, Judith Merkle - A Vision of Light, and the sequel, In Pursuit of the Green Lion.
• Robb, Candace - Margaret Kerr series
• Scott, Sir Walter - most of his works
• Seton, Anya - Katherine ("...a lovely retelling of the relationship between John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford")
• Tremayne, Peter - Sister Fidelma series (Ireland, mid 600's. Mystery solving Irish nun who is also a lawyer under "old" Irish law.)
• Whyte, Jack - "A Dream of Eagles" series (5th century Arthurian Britain)

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When in doubt also go back to the source. There are some great short story versions of French Romance/Love tales that are easy to read and are period. Rabelias book "Gargantua and Pantagruel" is good. Boccaccio's bawdy tales collected in "The Decameron". If you take some time, you can find some good translations of period books that are easy to read for a modern person. --Rick LeFaivre