This list of historical fiction is designed to provide examples of notable works of historical fiction (in literature, film, comics, etc.) organized by time period.
For a more exhaustive list of historical novels by period, see :Category:Historical novels by setting, which lists relevant Wikipedia categories; see also the larger List of historical novels, which is organized by country, as well as the more general :Category:Historical novels and :Category:Historical fiction.
Novels Set in Prehistory (c. 30,000 BC – 3000 BC)
Before Adam by Jack London Earth's Children series by Jean Auel Stonehenge by Bernard Cornwell Pillar of the Sky by Cecelia Holland Mammoth Trilogy by Stephen Baxter The Gathering Night by Margaret Elphinstone Chronicles of Ancient Darkness by Michelle Paver First North Americans by W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear The King Must Die and The Bull from the Sea by Mary Renault The Inheritors by William Golding The Quest for Fire by J.-H. Rosny
Set in Classical Antiquity (c. 3000 BC – 500 AD)
Pharaoh by Bolesław Prus The Egyptian and The Secret of the Kingdom by Mika Waltari River God by Wilbur Smith Child of the Morning by Pauline Gedge Ancient Evenings by Norman Mailer Men of Bronze by Scott Oden Death Comes as the End by Agatha Christie The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller Troy series by David Gemmell Homer's Daughter by Robert Graves Creation by Gore Vidal Gates of Fire, Last of the Amazons, The Virtues of War, The Afghan Campaign and Tides of War by Steven Pressfield Hannibal by Ross Leckie Salammbô by Gustave Flaubert Fire from Heaven, The Persian Boy, and Funeral Games by Mary Renault Child of a Dream, The Sands of Ammon, and The Ends of the Earth (Alexander Trilogy) by Valerio Massimo Manfredi Memnon by Scott Oden The Source by James A. Michener The Red Tent by Anita Diamant The Madonna Secret by Sophie Strand Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin Masters of Rome series by Colleen McCullough Roma Sub Rosa series by Steven Saylor Imperium, Lustrum, and Dictator (Cicero Trilogy) by Robert Harris Emperor series by Conn Iggulden Kleopatra Pharaoh by Karen Essex The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George The Ides of March by Thornton Wilder Augustus by John Williams Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace King Jesus by Robert Graves The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt and Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana by Anne Rice The Gospel According to the Son by Norman Mailer The Gospel According to Lazarus by Richard Zimler The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas The Silver Chalice by Thomas B. Costain I, Claudius and Claudius the God by Robert Graves Eagles of the Empire series and Gladiator series by Simon Scarrow Insaan Aur Devta by Nasim Hijazi Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero by Henryk Sienkiewicz The Last Days of Pompeii by Edward Bulwer-Lytton Pompeii by Robert Harris Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff Helena by Evelyn Waugh Judge Dee by Robert Van Gulik Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong and retold by Eiji Yoshikawa Julian by Gore Vidal Raptor by Gary Jennings A Struggle for Rome by Felix Dahn
Set in the Middle Ages (c. AD 500 – 1500)
A Dream of Eagles (aka Camulod Chronicles) by Jack Whyte (4th–6th) The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell (6th) Count Belisarius by Robert Graves (6th) Tom a Lincoln by Richard Johnson The King's Sons by George Manville Fenn (9th) Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross (9th) The Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell (9th–10th) Corban Loosestrife series by Cecelia Holland (10th) The Whale Road, The Wolf Sea and others (Oathsworn series) by Robert Low (late 10th) The Long Ships (Röde Orm) by Frans G. Bengtsson (late 10th) The Evening and the Morning (Kingsbridge series) by Ken Follett (late 10th) Lion of Ireland and Pride of Lions by Morgan Llywelyn (late 10th–early 11th) Vinland by George Mackay Brown (early 11th) The Physician by Noah Gordon (11th) Samarkand by Amin Maalouf (11th) The Jester by James Patterson and Andrew Gross (11th) The Last English King by Julian Rathbone (mid-11th) The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth (late 11th) King Raven series (Hood, Scarlet, and Tuck) by Stephen R. Lawhead (late 11th) The Jester by James Patterson and Andrew Gross (late 11th) The Badger of Ghissi by (12th) When Christ and His Saints Slept, Time and Chance, and Devil's Brood (Plantagenet series) by Sharon Kay Penman (12th) The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge series) by Ken Follett (12th) The Walking Drum by Louis L'Amour (12th) The Cadfael Chronicles by Ellis Peters (mid-12th) The Ruby in Her Navel by Barry Unsworth (12th) Kay the Left-Handed by Leslie Barringer (12th) Anna of Byzantium by Tracy Barrett (12th) Gertrude and Claudius by John Updike (12th) The Sign of the Chrysanthemum by Katherine Paterson (12th) Witiko by Adalbert Stifter New Tale of the Heike by Eiji Yoshikawa (late 12th) Ivanhoe, The Talisman and others (Waverley Novels) by Sir Walter Scott (late 12th) Insurrection by Robyn Young (13th) Wolf of the Plains, Lords of the Bow and others (Conqueror series) by Conn Iggulden (13th) Here Be Dragons, Falls the Shadow, and The Reckoning (Welsh Princes series) by Sharon Kay Penman (13th) Brethren, Crusade, and Requiem (Brethren Trilogy) by Robyn Young (13th) The Black Rose by Thomas B. Costain (13th) Poland by James A. Michener (mid-13th–early 15th) The Journeyer by Gary Jennings (late 13th–early 14th) The Lion of Flanders by Hendrik Conscience (late 13th–early 14th) The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (early 14th) Valperga by Mary Shelley (early 14th) Harlequin, Vagabond, Heretic and 1356 (The Grail Quest series) by Bernard Cornwell (14th) The Accursed Kings (Les Rois maudits) by Maurice Druon (14th) Katherine by Anya Seton (14th) World Without End (Kingsbridge series) by Ken Follett (14th) Kristin Lavransdatter series and The Master of Hestviken series by Sigrid Undset (14th) The Knights of the Cross (Krzyżacy) by Henryk Sienkiewicz (14th–early 15th) Cathedral of the Sea (La catedral del mar) by Ildefonso Falcones (late 14th) Morality Play by Barry Unsworth (late 14th) L'Anneau du pêcheur by Jean Raspail (late 14th–early 15th) Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell (early 15th) The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman (15th) The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo The House of Niccolò series by Dorothy Dunnett (mid-15th) Quentin Durward by Walter Scott (15th) The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant (late 15th) The Family by Mario Puzo (late 15th) Romola by George Eliot (late 15th) I, Mona Lisa by Jeanne Kalogridis (late 15th)
Set in the Early Modern Period (c. 1500 – 1760)
The King's Cavalier by Samuel Shellabarger (late 15th–early 16th) Prince of Foxes by Samuel Shellabarger (early 16th) Leonardo's Swans by Karen Essex (early 16th) Then and Now by W. Somerset Maugham Q by Luther Blissett As minas de prata by José de Alencar Three Sisters, Three Queens by Philippa Gregory The Heart of Jade (El corazón de piedra verde) by Salvador de Madariaga (early 16th) The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon by Richard Zimler (early 16th) Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (16th) Aztec by Gary Jennings (16th) The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andrić (16th–20th) The Tournament by Matthew Reilly (mid-16th) Matthew Shardlake series by C. J. Sansom (mid-16th) Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett (mid-16th) Brazil Red by Jean-Christophe Rufin (mid-16th) The Siege of Malta by Walter Scott (mid-16th) My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk (late 16th) La Reine Margot by Alexandre Dumas (late 16th) Shōgun by James Clavell (late 16th) A Dead Man in Deptford by Anthony Burgess (late 16th) Kenilworth by Walter Scott (late 16th) The Orenda by Joseph Boyden (early 17th) The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (early 17th) Black Robe by Brian Moore The White Castle by Orhan Pamuk (17th) Hunger's Brides by W. Paul Anderson (17th) Silence by Shūsaku Endō (17th) With Fire and Sword, The Deluge and Fire in the Steppe by Henryk Sienkiewicz (17th) Waverley, Rob Roy and others (Waverley Novels) by Walter Scott (17th) I promessi sposi (The Betrothed) by Alessandro Manzoni (mid-17th) Memoirs of a Cavalier by Daniel Defoe (mid-17th) The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (mid-17th) Captain Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte (mid-17th) Royal Escape by Georgette Heyer (mid-17th) An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears (mid-17th) Seek the Fair Land by Walter Macken (mid-17th) Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (mid-17th) The Deer and the Cauldron by Jin Yong (late 17th) Shinjū, The Snow Empress and others (Sano Ichiro series) by Laura Joh Rowland (late 17th) Imprimatur by Rita Monaldi and Francesco Sorti (late 17th) Leo Africanus and Balthasar's Odyssey by Amin Maalouf (16th / 17th) Hawaii, Chesapeake and Caribbean by James A. Michener Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton (17th) Rachel Dyer by John Neal (late 17th) The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder (early 18th) Leatherstocking Tales by James Fenimore Cooper (18th)
Set during the Industrial Revolution and Napoleonic era (c. 1760 – 1850)
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind A Place Called Freedom by Ken Follett Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon The Bastard, The Rebels and others (The Kent Family Chronicles) by John Jakes Logan by John Neal Drums Along the Mohawk by Walter D. Edmonds Seventy-Six by John Neal Brother Jonathan by John Neal Sergeant Lamb of the Ninth and Proceed, Sergeant Lamb by Robert Graves The Revolution at Sea saga by James L. Nelson The Fort by Bernard Cornwell Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini Les Misérables by Victor Hugo La Sanfelice by Alexandre Dumas The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss The Red City by Silas Weir Mitchell Aubrey–Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian Hornblower series by C. S. Forester Lord Ramage by Dudley Pope The Bolitho novels by Alexander Kent The Secret River by Kate Grenville The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas Stealing Athena by Karen Essex Wellington and Napoleon Quartet by Simon Scarrow National Episodes by Benito Pérez Galdós Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann (early 19th) War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy The Berrybender Narratives by Larry McMurtry The Revenant by Michael Punke The Awakening Land trilogy by Conrad Richter Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes Burr by Gore Vidal Poldark series by Winston Graham Alaska by James A. Michener The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley Tai-Pan by James Clavell April Morning by Howard Fast The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill Montevideo, or the new Troy by Alexandre Dumas The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally Isles of Despair by Ion Idriess The Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye (19th)
Set during recent history (c. 1850 – 1950)
The Flashman Papers by George MacDonald Fraser (1830s–1890s) The Starbuck Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton Peony by Pearl S. Buck (1850s) The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez Cézanne’s Quarry by Barbara Corrado Pope The Blood of Lorraine by Barbara Corrado Pope The Missing Italian Girl by Barbara Corrado Pope The Lambing Flat by Nerida Newton The Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhaeghe Imperial Woman by Pearl S. Buck (1860s–1900s) North and South trilogy by John Jakes Shiloh by Shelby Foote (1862) The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (1863) The James Reasoner Civil War Series by James Reasoner Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder Silk by Alessandro Baricco (1860s) The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (1860s) The Judges of the Secret Court by David Stacton (1865) Lonesome Dove series by Larry McMurtry (1870s) The Sackett series by Louis L'Amour Under the North Star trilogy by Väinö Linna (1880s–1950s)