Two superb historical novels!

[moderntimes]

I review books for a mystery website and so I get my share of historical mysteries. I've got two to recommend:

"Death Ex Machina" by Gary Corby, set in ancient classical Athens. And I'd also recommend the "Aurora" novels by Albert Bell, set in imperial Rome.

Here's what I wrote about historical novels:

"Writing a period or historical novel is difficult. If you’re writing, say, a modern American
police procedural, you simply start the story. You don’t have to tell the readers how cars
function, what a cellphone is for, or how police do their job. But if your novel is set in
ancient Rome or Greece, you must also describe the culture and surroundings and not
bore the readers with endless detail while you set the scene."

This is essential for historical novels -- they must describe the environment and culture so that the reader is educated, but also not spend too much time with laborsome lecturing.

[maroki13]

Thanks for the recommendation! I love historical fiction and especially anything set in Ancient Rome or Greece, so I'll definitely have to check those out.

[moderntimes]

If you're also interested in genuine histories and biographies, I'd highly recommend the British historian Adrian Goldsworthy. He also writes military novels of the Napoleonic era, but his biography of Julius Caesar "Caesar: Life of a Colossus" is amazing. It reads like a novel but is filled with history. And his "Antony and Cleopatra" is also excellent.

[maroki13]

Thanks so much! I'll add his name to my list for the next time I head to the library.

[moderntimes]

I hate Adrian Goldsworthy intensely! (kidding) He's an incredibly talented man, very young and yet esteemed already in academia. His nonfiction books read like novels -- for example his bio of Caesar -- but they're packed with detail, a rare feat. I've never read a book of his that I didn't appreciate. I'm a modest student of Imperial Roman history and have read numerous books about that era (Rise and Fall the most well known, by Gibbon) and his books stand above anything else I've read. I'll chat a minute about this...

Goldsworthy is one of the writers who belong to the "new scholarship" group of historians. This is a fairly recent trend and is prevalent among British, American, German, French, and other historians, most generally those in fairly modern western society. Let's focus on Imperial Rome for example.

Before, historians let current events color their impressions of how Rome acted. During the British expansion in the 18th century, Rome was a "shining example" of how imperialism should be performed, and they used Rome's rule as justification for enforcing British authority in India and many African countries. Therefore Rome was shown mostly as benevolent.

Later, during the redaction of British rule, in the early 19th century, with the earlier loss of America and then the decline of dominating India, revisionary politics flavored historical accounts, and Rome was shown as evil and oppressive. It was during this reversal that Edward Gibbon wrote his "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" and you can see the reversal in this book.

These days, we see "politically correct" feelings slip into history as well. NOT a racist example, please, but if any account of the old slave trade is made, it's often conveniently "forgotten" that most black African slaves were taken by other black tribes and sold to white traders. So, although yes, slavery is always wrong and evil, regardless of that, blacks preyed upon other blacks in Africa. This of course doesn't justify whites encouraging this action nor does it even slightly begin to justify slavery per se. But for politically correct reasons, the truth in history is often muddied over.

Same for Imperial Rome. So.... the "new scholarship" is essentially neutral, and takes great care to not allow current social thought to intrude on the facts. Was Rome brutal? Yes, but ALL governments at that ancient time were brutal, and in cold fact, Rome was far less brutal than other ruling groups. So Imperial Rome was neither benevolent nor evil but a mixture.

This trend for impartiality is somewhat recent and so you've got to look for fairly new historical accounts, usually from the 1970s onward. Goldsworthy is a perfect example of this, which makes his bio "Caesar: Live of a Colossus" such an amazing book -- it's neutral and tells the good and bad about Caesar without prejudice either way.

[Daret Koudenkova]

That is so interesting ! Historical fiction is my favourite but I am mainly reading about the middle ages and the Tudor period. I haven't even considered Ancient Greece so thanks for that!

[moderntimes]

Just by coincidence, I recently reviewed another Gary Corby mystery novel set in ancient Greece, in the series he's writing, "Athenian Mystery" and it was also a fun and great read.

The history is also beautifully depicted and never boring or intrusive, but expertly woven into the story.

Check out "Gary Corby" on Amazon or wherever and see about his series. I think you're in for a fun ride.