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[quote=Anonymous]OP, if you like historical fiction, you *have* to read Hilary Mantel's books. She's gotten a lot of attention, and deservedly so, for Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies (both are about Thomas Cromwell; eventually there will be a third), but my favorite of hers is A Place of Greater Safety (about Robespierre, Danton, and Desmoulins's roles in the French Revolution).

All three of those books are amazing.

PP recommended The Other Boleyn Girl (it's by Philippa Gregory, BTW). It's inaccurate, admittedly, but SO enjoyable. Other good ones by that author: The Queen's Fool, The Boleyn Inheritance, The Kingmaker's Daughter. I also really liked Queen's Gambit, by Elizabeth Fremantle, which is about Katherine Parr.

I'm also a big fan of Sandra Gulland's series about Josephine Bonaparte and her book about Louise de la Valliere. Her new one, The Shahdow Queen, isn't as good, though.

If you like Restoration-era fiction, try Duchess (or anything) by Susan Holloway Scott.

John Jakes has two good series -- North and South and The Kent Chronicles -- if you're in the mood for something more lowbrow but still compelling. If you can suffer through The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett, World Without End is better. And the Fall of Giants series isn't bad, either.

A bit more sophisticated: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke and Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver series.

Andersonville, by MacKinley Kantor, deserved its Pulitzer.

More contemporary but still historical: The Inn at Lake Devine, by Elinor Lipman; Sena Jeter Naslund's Four Spirits; Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried. I also loved The Help.

Kiss of the Spider Woman, by Manuel Puig. Anything by Isabelle Allende and Tatiana de Rosnay.

If you're up for alternate reality, I loved Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.

Edith Wharton is always a good bet for the summer. You might also like The Basil and Josephine Stories, which is an F. Scott Fitzergerald anthology.

The Killer Angels is one of my all-time favorite Civil War books.[/quote]

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