Does anyone else get mad with historical novels that bend the facts?

[heatemyfather]

I find the same thing with films that feature computers or similar techy stuff - the things they can do with them and the way they work is often pure fantasy and nothing like the real thing, yet we are led to believe it's just a typical computer.

[SalusLibrorum]

I rarely read historical fiction anymore, I used to spend too much time double checking to see how accurate it was.

The exception being Dennis Wheatley.

I read as many Dennis Wheatley as I could get my hands on when I was a teenager, well the Occult and the Roger Brooke ones anyway, I never tried the Gregory Sallust or wartime looking books. He has a knack of making the reader not want to put the book down until it's been finished.

I had a set of 40 or so Heron books of his titles that I ended up Freecycling, I still think that perhaps I should have stuck them on the shelves and read them again.

[sapientpearwood]

What really annoyed me was the use of forged documents by Martin Allen in his books - see article from The Times

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle3867853.ece

The National Archives went to great lengths to limit the damage done to their reputation caused as a result of those "historical" papers.

What a shame the CPS decided not to prosecute.

I love reading historical books - both fiction and non-fiction, but I am now far more selective in my choice of author.

Sapientpearwood

[leadhillsonline]

I read as many Dennis Wheatley as I could get my hands on when I was a teenager, well the Occult and the Roger Brooke ones anyway, I never tried the Gregory Sallust or wartime looking books. He has a knack of making the reader not want to put the book down until it's been finished.

I had a set of 40 or so Heron books of his titles that I ended up Freecycling, I still think that perhaps I should have stuck them on the shelves and read them again.

I would have had them off of you. Gothicina has the same set which we have both read but I would love my own set as it is quite a few years since I've read them. I have managed to pick up a few and also one of his books that never was published by Heron.

[SalusLibrorum]

Bother....although in my defence, I'd only just started out and was having trouble keeping up with the quantities arriving. Freecycle was a godsend before I discovered auction sites.

If I get any more I'll remember to contact you, they do turn up occasionally - although normally not so many all at once.

[leadhillsonline]

Bother....although in my defence, I'd only just started out and was having trouble keeping up with the quantities arriving. Freecycle was a godsend before I discovered auction sites.

If I get any more I'll remember to contact you, they do turn up occasionally - although normally not so many all at once.

Thanks.

[Gothicina]

I read as many Dennis Wheatley as I could get my hands on when I was a teenager, well the Occult and the Roger Brooke ones anyway, I never tried the Gregory Sallust or wartime looking books. He has a knack of making the reader not want to put the book down until it's been finished.

I had a set of 40 or so Heron books of his titles that I ended up Freecycling, I still think that perhaps I should have stuck them on the shelves and read them again.

I read "The Devil Rides Out" when I was at school.
I bought the Heron Hardbacks when the original offer was running, apart from the one the dog chewed the back cover of, I have my full original set, I bought a replacement for the mangled one a year or so ago.
As well as the Dennis Wheatley I have, at least another 8 Heron hardback sets.
There are a couple more of their sets I'd like to own when finances allow, & one of the Henry James ones needs replacing.

[madelaine]

I also hate bending the facts but also the totally bad historical atmosphere in some books. They are just modern novels with corsets!

A friend of mine had two ECW novels published and readers picked up every point.. she had letters and she really knows her era.

Georgette Heyer, whose historical novels are pure escapism, caught the atmosphere of the age beautifully and her Waterloo novel, an Infamous Army, has only the tiniest bits made up - the central characters and almost nothing else. It's the only one of her novels that men read

[cruellady]

Yes, I suppose this is the problem for historical fiction writers - they're bound to get the obsessive scholars chasing 'em! I met Lindsey Davis (forgot to mention her - a good 'un!) when she did a reading for us at Thins, and she said that although she'd read nearly everything available on Vespasian's Rome, she still got letters saying she'd described a shield boss incorrectly or a particular fish wasn't available at that time blah di blah. I'm all for good background and veracity, but some of those people really need to get out more ...

Cru x

[klj]

This is making me wonder if it would be worthwhile to start a list of the GOOD historical fiction authors - for those of us not familiar with them all, and those of us not sure of who is who? A lot of you seem to do more historical fiction reading and might be able to help the rest of us out.