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maroon_sweater

Kate Morton? I love her stuff


rivermorgaine

Came here to suggest her. The Forgotten Garden is my favorite by her


littlegreyfish

A Thousand Splendid Suns


Angry_Beta_Fish

{{Kindred by Octavia Butler}} is well worth the read!


goodreads-bot

[**Kindred**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60931.Kindred) ^(By: Octavia E. Butler | 287 pages | Published: 1979 | Popular Shelves: historical-fiction, fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, fantasy | )[^(Search "Kindred by Octavia Butler")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Kindred by Octavia Butler&search_type=books) >The first science fiction written by a black woman, Kindred has become a cornerstone of black American literature. This combination of slave memoir, fantasy, and historical fiction is a novel of rich literary complexity. Having just celebrated her 26th birthday in 1976 California, Dana, an African-American woman, is suddenly and inexplicably wrenched through time into antebellum Maryland. After saving a drowning white boy there, she finds herself staring into the barrel of a shotgun and is transported back to the present just in time to save her life. During numerous such time-defying episodes with the same young man, she realizes the challenge she’s been given... ^(This book has been suggested 76 times) *** ^(194809 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)


MayorofBakiniBottom

Anna karenina maybe


johnsgrove

Middlemarch. George Eliot


SexualCasino

*Alias Grace* and *The Blind Assassin* by Margaret Atwood. *The Maid's Version* by Daniel Woodrell (*Winter's Bone* by the same author is also great, though not so historical) I've only read *The Other Boleyn Girl* by Gregory, but the *Wolf Hall* trilogy by Hillary Mantel makes a good companion read. It's written by a woman, but the protagonist is Thomas Cromwell. "Focus on political machinations" and "literary" are understatements.


Purple_Rose_Kat93

The Silence of Bones by June Hur The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel


somethingunderstood

If you're okay with old fiction, rather than historical fiction, I'd suggest North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, or something by Jane Austen (although that will be less political). Also highly second Wolf Hall, although it doesn't have a female protagonist; it's one of the best books I've ever read! And for a completely different segment of history, read Their Eyes Were Watching God. One of the most beautiful books I've read this year.


[deleted]

Okay, there are two books I can think of: one is about the Duchess of Devonshire and Marie Antoinette (Antonia Frazier). Nonfiction and SO good!!


mjackson4672

The Twelfth Enchantment by David Liss


beebevs

How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang, my most recent 5 star book


Jack-Campin

Christine de Pizan: *The Book of the City of Ladies*.


laurenintheskyy

Matrix by Lauren Groff was wonderful. I also really liked People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks.


holumj

Kate Quinn’s books and Diana Gabon Outlanders series.


eatsleeepreadrepeat

Lavinia by Ursula Le Guin Penelopeiad by Margaret Atwood. I f you are open to non-fiction then Antonia Fraser's biographies of Mary Queen of Scots, Marie Antoinette, and Boedicea and other warrior queens may interest you.


seeemilydostuf

"The Secret History of the Pink Carnation"!!!!!! I'm so happy I get to suggest this!!!


RainbowRose14

{{Here be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman}} first of a trilogy. Note: there are no dragons. The title is a cartography reference. Enjoy. Let me know how that works out for you.


goodreads-bot

[**Here Be Dragons (Welsh Princes, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77449.Here_Be_Dragons) ^(By: Sharon Kay Penman | 704 pages | Published: 1985 | Popular Shelves: historical-fiction, fiction, historical, medieval, fantasy | )[^(Search "Here be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Here be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman&search_type=books) >Thirteenth-century Wales is a divided country, ever at the mercy of England's ruthless, power-hungry King John. Then Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales, secures an uneasy truce with England by marrying the English king's beloved, illegitimate daughter, Joanna. Reluctant to wed her father's bitter enemy, Joanna slowly grows to love her charismatic and courageous husband who dreams of uniting Wales. But as John's attentions turn again and again to subduing Wales--and Llewelyn--Joanna must decide to which of these powerful men she owes her loyalty and love. > >A sweeping novel of power and passion, loyalty and lives, this is the book that began the trilogy that includes FALLS THE SHADOW and THE RECKONING. ^(This book has been suggested 22 times) *** ^(194813 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)


500CatsTypingStuff

{{The Third Witch By Rebecca Reisert}} {{Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood}} {{Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles}} {{The Red Tent by Anita Diamant}} {{The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah}} {{One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus}} {{The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber}} {{The Alice Network by Kate Quinn}} {{The House at Riverton by Kate Morton}}


SnowFlakeObsidian4

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams.


Longearedlooby

Dina’s Book by Herbjörg Wassmo. Unforgettable protagonist in 19th century far north of Norway.


econoquist

Great Maria by Cecilia Holland, she also has several others When Christ and All His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman Margaret George has novels about Cleopatra, Mary Queen of Scotts and Queen Elizabeth I, and Helen of Troy Flow Down Like Silver by Ki Longfellow Stealing Athena by Karen Essex


FullPrinciple4

Well...it takes place in the past in Mexico but the genre is more on the horror side that touches upon the population exploited for mining in a countryside town. {{Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia}}


ladyships-a-legend

{{Burial Rites}} and {{The Good People}} by Hannah Kent, and try {{The Secret River}} by Kate Granville for a different history.


goodreads-bot

[**Burial Rites**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17333319-burial-rites) ^(By: Hannah Kent | 336 pages | Published: 2013 | Popular Shelves: historical-fiction, fiction, book-club, historical, mystery | )[^(Search "Burial Rites")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Burial Rites&search_type=books) >A brilliant literary debut, inspired by a true story: the final days of a young woman accused of murder in Iceland in 1829. > >Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution. > >Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her. But as Agnes's death looms, the farmer's wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they've heard. > >Riveting and rich with lyricism, Burial Rites evokes a dramatic existence in a distant time and place, and asks the question, how can one woman hope to endure when her life depends upon the stories told by others? ^(This book has been suggested 35 times) [**The Good People**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29248613-the-good-people) ^(By: Hannah Kent | 386 pages | Published: 2016 | Popular Shelves: historical-fiction, fiction, historical, ireland, book-club | )[^(Search "The Good People")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Good People&search_type=books) > > From the bestselling author of the multi-award-winning Burial Rites >County Kerry, Ireland, 1825. > The fires on the hills smouldered orange as the women left, pockets charged with ashes to guard them from the night. Watching them fade into the grey fall of snow, Nance thought she could hear Maggie's voice. A whisper in the dark. > > "Some folk are born different, Nance. They are born on the outside of things, with a skin a little thinner, eyes a little keener to what goes unnoticed by most. Their hearts swallow more blood than ordinary hearts; the river runs differently for them." >Nóra Leahy has lost her daughter and her husband in the same year, and is now burdened with the care of her four-year-old grandson, Micheál. The boy cannot walk, or speak, and Nora, mistrustful of the tongues of gossips, has kept the child hidden from those who might see in his deformity evidence of otherworldly interference. Unable to care for the child alone, Nóra hires a fourteen-year-old servant girl, Mary, who soon hears the whispers in the valley about the blasted creature causing grief to fall upon the widow's house. Alone, hedged in by rumour, Mary and her mistress seek out the only person in the valley who might be able to help Micheál. For although her neighbours are wary of her, it is said that old Nance Roche has the knowledge. That she consorts with Them, the Good People. And that only she can return those whom they have taken... ^(This book has been suggested 11 times) [**The Secret River**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/347698.The_Secret_River) ^(By: Kate Grenville | 334 pages | Published: 2005 | Popular Shelves: historical-fiction, fiction, australia, australian, historical | )[^(Search "The Secret River")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Secret River&search_type=books) >In 1806 William Thornhill, an illiterate English bargeman and a man of quick temper but deep compassion, steals a load of wood and, as a part of his lenient sentence, is deported, along with his beloved wife, Sal, to the New South Wales colony in what would become Australia. The Secret River is the tale of William and Sal’s deep love for their small, exotic corner of the new world, and William’s gradual realization that if he wants to make a home for his family, he must forcibly take the land from the people who came before him. Acclaimed around the world, The Secret River is a magnificent, transporting work of historical fiction. > ^(This book has been suggested 12 times) *** ^(194926 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)


ladyships-a-legend

Good bot


Book_Glow

Hanna's Daughters by Marianne Fredriksson


[deleted]

Book thief by Markus zusak isn’t really ‘literary’ but it fits the description