The seven best historical novels so far this century (according to us)

The historical novel is one of the best-selling genres in the world. However, it may sound like a toston at first. If that’s the case, it’s probably due to bias or not reading the right books to date. Because the truth is that there are many ways to tell a period story and not all of them are billets on Bible paper. In fact, the 21st century is leaving us with very good examples of those that engage as much (or more) than a good soap opera. These are our seven favorite books to travel, not only to the heart of another life, but also in time.

brooklynColm Tóibín

Eilis Lacey is a girl from a humble family who, like so many others, cannot find a job in the small town in the southeast of Ireland where she lives. Therefore, when she is offered a position in North America, she does not hesitate to accept it. Slowly, he makes his way through the Brooklyn of the fifties and ends up even finding a first love and that promise of a new life.

Unexpectedly, however, tragic news from Ireland forces him to return and face everything he has fled from. With the temperance, virtuosity and psychological acumen of the contemporary master that is Colm Tóibín, one of today’s greatest Irish writers, he builds a story about destiny, fatality, exile, love or family.

The time between seamsMaria Duenas

The young dressmaker Sira Quiroga leaves Madrid in the months before the Civil War, drawn by love towards a man. Together they settle in Tangier, a worldly, exotic and vibrant city where the unthinkable can come true. Even betrayal and abandonment.

Alone and harassed by other people’s debts, Sira moves to Tetouan, the capital of the Spanish Protectorate in Morocco. With unspeakable tricks and aided by friends of dubious reputation, forges a new identity and manages to start up a select atelier in which he attends to clients of remote origins and unsuspected present.

AtonementIan McEwan

It is the hottest day of the summer of 1935 and the lives of the inhabitants of the Tallis family mansion seem to be peaceful but, in reality, there is a curious tension between Cecilia and Robbie. And another potentially dangerous situation: the lady’s sister has abandoned her husband, she has gone to Paris with another man, and has sent her fifteen-year-old daughter, Lola, to her aunt and uncle’s house. her.

Also, the fiercely imaginative Briony sees Cecilia coming out soaking wet from a fountain, wearing only her underwear, while Robbie watches her… There is an intense, ecstatically romantic impossible love story, a harsh war noveland also the novel of a novel, the narrative of this Atonement, of which Briony Tallis wrote different versions throughout her life.

Saga Julia Domina, Santiago Posteguillo

AD 192 Several men fight for an empire, but Julia, daughter of kings, mother of caesars and wife of emperor, thinks of something more ambitious: a dynasty. Rome is under the control of Commodus, a mad emperor. The Senate conspires to put an end to the tyrant and the most powerful military governors could carry out a coup: Albino in Britannia, Severo in the Danube or Nigro in Syria. Commodus retains his wives to prevent his rebellion and Julia, Severo’s wife, thus becomes a hostage.

Suddenly, Rome burns. A fire devastates the city. Is it a disaster or an opportunity? Five men prepare to fight to the death for power. They think the game is about to start. But for Julia the game has already begun. He knows that only a woman can forge a dynasty.

the wonderful friendElena Ferrante

With the wonderful friendElena Ferrante inaugurates a dazzling saga that has as its backdrop the city of Naples in the middle of the last century and as protagonists Lenù and Lila, two young people who are learning to govern their lives in an environment where cunning, before intelligence, is the ingredient of all sauces.

Their tempestuous relationship shows us the reality of a neighborhood inhabited by humble people who abide by the law of the strongest without question. those who lfill these pages with their laughter, their gestures and their words they are men and women of flesh and blood, who shake us by the force and urgency of their emotions.

The book ThiefMarkus Zusak

Once upon a time there was a town where the nights were long and death told its own story. In the village lived a girl who wanted to read, a man who played the accordion and a young Jew who wrote beautiful stories to escape the horror of war. After a while, the girl became a thief who stole books and gave away words.

With these words a beautiful and cruel story was written that is now an unforgettable novel. A beautiful, tremendously human and moving novel that describes the adventures of a nine-year-old German girl since she is given up for adoption by her mother until the end of World War II.

Soldiers of SalamisJavier Fences

at the end of January 1939, two months before the end of the civil war, a group of Francoist prisoners is shot near the French border by Republican soldiers fleeing into exile. Among those prisoners is Rafael Sánchez Mazas, founder and ideologue of the Falange, poet and future minister of Franco, who miraculously manages to escape and hide in the woods while the Republicans pursue him; until a soldier discovers him, points him at gunpoint and, looking him in the eye, spares his life.

Sixty years later, a failed novelist accidentally discovers this buried episode of war and, fascinated by it, undertakes an investigation to clarify its circumstances and unravel its meaning. Who was the real Rafael Sánchez Mazas? What was his true war incident? Who was the soldier who let him escape? And why did he do it? What secret did his gaze hide?

Note: some of the links in this article are affiliated and can bring a benefit to Trendencias

Cover photo | Brooklyn (Wildgaze Films)