The nights are getting longer, it’s getting colder so what better to do than curl up on the sofa/in bed with a delightful book. “BUT WHAT BOOK?!” I hear you cry. Don’t worry guys, we got you.
We’re going to look at some of our favourite historical fiction. We’ve got something for everyone! Crime! Romance! Fancy Dandies with tight tights! All the literary food groups.
Regency Buck
The author Georgette Heyer is my home girl. For reals. I love her with a passion that will never be quenched, even when the earth is swallowed up by the sun. My love for Heyer novels will still burn bright.
Sorry, that was a bit much… but if you’ve not read any of her books I thoroughly recommend them as well researched and witty as hell.
Heyer was well known for writing Regency period love stories and 1920’s set detective novels. We’re focusing on the Regency Romance side of things so prepare yourself for some fine and fancy Dandies and heavy swooning.
- Phwoor look at those calves!
In most of Heyer’s books the female lead is always utterly kickass, charming and quick witted, but none more so than Judith Taverner, the main bitch from Regency Buck. Judith travels to London with her useless and troublesome brother Peregrine so she can be introduced to high society.
She goes to stay with their guardian The Earl of Worth, turns out this Earl is a bit younger than she was expecting as the previous Earl popped his clogs some months before. So he’s stuck with the much younger Julian as her ward, and she takes an IMMEDIATE disliking to him.
- Giving you HEAVY Regency side eye
You can see where this is going. Judith makes a real splash in high society and scandalises Regency London by driving her own carriage of horses! This was shocking for the time, but our gal Judith spends the book bucking traditions and earning the respect and admiration of her peers. Including Julian.
It’s an utterly charming book, full of misunderstandings and mishaps that will make you chuckle out loud. And BOY is it a brilliant look at Regency high society, everything is described in such a way that you can really visualise it, Heyer takes delight in describing the dress of all the dandy gentlemen and muslin covered ladies.
Yes it’s fluff, but it’s well researched and BRILLIANTLY executed fluff.
Regency Buck is available at Waterstones for £8.99
Kitty Peck and the Music Hall Murders
I picked up this book for the title ALONE! The Kitty Peck series from Kate Griffin is a real treat for history and crime series lovers! The books are set in Victorian London and here at F Yeah we’re big fans of Victorian crime.
- The gorgeous book cover. Via Waterstones
The first novel Kitty Peck and the Music Hall Murders takes place in 1880 and the city is in the grip of hysteria after a series of mysterious disappearances. There’s a connection between the victims. They’re all Music Hall Girls! One venue in particular has been hit hard, The Paradise operated by nefarious crime boss Lady Ginger.
The story follows our heroine Kitty Peck who works backstage at The Paradise. Suddenly she’s dragged into London’s criminal underworld when Lady Ginger blackmails Kitty into becoming the latest music hall starlet, so she can lure the culprit out from the shadows.
She’s gotta learn to sing AND do it while perched on a trapeze. We’re not going into that further… READ THE BOOK! There’s also a missing brother, she must contend with, while she figures out how to keep all her friends safe and not get herself killed in the process!
- GASP!
The book really showcases the seedier side of Victorian London, the Music Halls, factories and rough side streets of the East End and the stark contrast with the affluent upper classes. It’s brilliantly researched and is an absolute page turner. Kate is one of our favourite authors working today.
It’s available as an ebook as is for sale at all good bookshops. It retails for £7.99 at Waterstones.
The Paying Guests
We couldn’t do a Historical Fiction list without putting Sarah Waters on it somewhere! But instead of going for Tipping The Velvet or Fingersmith we’re raving about her early 20’s set novel The Paying Guests.
- Book Cover via Waterstones
It’s 1922 and Frances lives with her mother in their family home in Camberwell, London. It’s considerably more empty with her brothers all being killed during The Great War and her father having passed on recently. He left them both with heavy debts so they make the decision to take on lodgers.
Enter Leonard and Lillian Barber, a working class couple who shake things up for their new tenants in SO MANY WAYS!
The book looks at interwar domestic life through the eyes of women and the tension in the book comes from changing societal attitudes towards class and gender constraints. Frances isn’t content with her lot in life, she wants more so she’s intrigued by Lillian.
- ‘Intrigued’… we know what you mean
The setting, while wonderfully mundane, really does frame the entire story perfectly. The Camberwell villa that was once full of life is a sad spectre of what it once was, and it becomes divided with the new tenants. The tension in this book is utterly thrilling. You can feel Frances’ story building as she gets accustomed to her new lodgers, and as her fascination grows with them.
At its heart this is a crime novel, though it takes a while to get to the actual crime bit, the payoff is huge! And the final third of the book deals with repercussions and the fracturing of relationships between the characters.
If you like a slow build of tension and a great payoff then this book is for you!
Available from Waterstones and all good bookshops! Retails at £8.99
All The Perverse Angels
A first release from author Sarah K Marr All The Perverse Angels is a beautiful look at love and relationships between present day and Victorian women.
The story opens on Anna, an art curator who has just left a psychiatric hospital after a breakdown. She and her partner, Emily, have rented a cottage in a quaint little English village to ease her back into reality.
Anna finds a painting of two Victorian ladies in the attic of the cottage and she becomes obsessed with finding out the story of these two women. Then the story shifts between Anna and Emily to Penelope and Diana, two students who have started attending a ladies College in Oxford during the 1880’s.
The mystery of what happened to these two women consumes Anna and as she finds out more about them and the nature of their relationship, we also learn more about Anna and what happened in her past to make her get to this point.
- This was my position once I finished reading this
The book gives a fascinating insight into the Victorian University life, specifically the problems women have in striving for further education. There’s also an amazing art angle here, Anna keeps herself grounded by her love for classical artworks and there’s so much detail about these paintings that we spent a lot of time googling the artwork referenced in the book, because the descriptions are so compelling!
I’d describe this book as if Jane Austen and Sarah Waters had a book baby, this would be that book baby. It’s heartfelt, BEAUTIFULLY evocative and a really fascinating read. The central mystery is really gipping and Sarah winds all the loose threads together in the finale in a way that feels satisfying, but so melancholy. You might need a box of tissues at the end.
If you’re in London then you can pick up a copy from legendary LGBT+ bookshop Gays The Word, or it’s available from Waterstones for £16.99 and all good bookshops (is there such a thing as a bad bookshop?!)
That’s the end of our list, so have you read any of them? What’s your favourite historical fiction? Sound off in the comments section below or let us know on our Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Happy reading!
Sara Westrop is passionate about making history accessible (and fun!) for everyone. A disabled, queer writer from just outside London, who loves writing about the unsung chapters of history.
F Yeah History 