In praise of historical fiction

Great Britain’s Booker Prize for the best novel has been awarded to Hilary Mantel for Wolf Hall: A Novel, a historical novel about Thomas Cromwell, the religious reformer and occasionally ruthless advisor to King Henry VIII. From everything I’ve heard and considering that I have been reading other things about the Tudors, I can’t wait to read that book!

Anyway, that a representative of the sometimes looked-down-upon genre of historical fiction to take the Booker Prize has encouraged British columnist Antonia Senior to come out of the closet as a fan of that genre. Read her column

, which offers suggestions of some of the best in the genre. I’ve actually read most of the ones she has mentioned, including my favorites and hers, C. S. Forrester’s Hornblower series and Patrick O’Brian’s maritime saga of Jack Aubrey.

Do you have other suggestions of books like these?