Learn something NEW about the PAST! Travel back in time…10 years…50 years, another century or millennium. The choice is all yours. Cozy up to the past with a historical fiction novel today.
The Circulation Department Display for the month of October is Historical Fiction at the Waltham Public Library. Check out a book or two from the historical fiction display located in the foyer at the main entrance of the library on Main Street.
“A historical novel is a novel in which the story is set among historical events, or more generally, where the time the action takes place in predates the time of the first publication — distinguish and contrast the genre of alternate history. Artists classified as Romantics popularized the genre of the historical novel in the 19th century. Many regard Sir Walter Scott as the first to have used this technique, in his novels of Scottish history such as his novels Waverley (1814) and Rob Roy (1818). His Ivanhoe (1820) gains credit for renewing interest in the middle ages. Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) furnishes another early example of the historical novel.” (from www.wordiq.com. retrieved September 29, 2010)
More recent historical fiction titles include: The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee, Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe, Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent, Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Queen’s Fool by Philippa Gregory, Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. This is to only name a few of the many books available to check out.

Lists and Sites of Historical Fiction

• Bookbrowse.com lists critics’ opinions and readers’ ratings of recent historical fiction novels.
• Listopia offers voters favorites lists. View “Best Historical Fiction” at:
  http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/15.Best_Historical_Fiction
• “100 All-Time Best Historical Fiction Books” link from Online Classics is organized by time periods.

Above mentioned lists can also be found at the display site.
posted by Doreen