The best dark historical fiction

By Michael Stewart

Who am I?

I’ve been fascinated by dark fiction since I discovered Edgar Allan Poe at the age of ten. I don’t know why I like to immerse myself in such troubling worlds, perhaps, by experiencing the worst of human nature vicariously, these texts give us the opportunity to really get to grips with who we are as people and what we are capable of. I’ve written eight works of fiction. Wuthering Heights has captivated me, and I've always been fascinated by the two mysterious holes in the narrative: where is Heathcliff from? And where does he go when he is missing for three years? I wrote a book, Ill Will, that attempts to answer these questions.

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The books I picked & why

Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West

By Cormac McCarthy,

Why did I love this book?

This book is only loosely based on the events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s, but through the Miltonic grandeur of the language, and the deeply unsettling violence of the world McCarthy builds, this vision of Hell on Earth has rarely been matched. Despite the blood and guts, the prose is starkly beautiful.

Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West

By Cormac McCarthy,

Why should I read it?

10 authors picked Blood Meridian as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy is an epic novel of the violence and depravity that attended America's westward expansion, brilliantly subverting the conventions of the Western novel and the mythology of the Wild West. Based on historical events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s, it traces the fortunes of the Kid, a fourteen-year-old Tennessean who stumbles into a nightmarish world where Indians are being murdered and the market for their scalps is thriving.

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Witchfinder General

By Ronald Bassett,

Why did I love this book?

Matthew Hopkins, the self-appointed Witchfinder General, was one of the most venal and vicious Englishmen to ever live. This is a brutal novel, a veritable catalogue of horror, but a necessary lesson in man’s inhumanity and corruption. There is an authenticity here that will but ice in your marrow.

Witchfinder General

By Ronald Bassett,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Witchfinder General as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

1643. England is at war with itself.

While bitter battles rage between King and Parliament, local magistrates have more power, and less accountability, than ever before.

Taking advantage of the tense atmosphere and lax prosecution procedures, Matthew Hopkins, an insignificant lawyer and self-appointed Witchfinder General, travels across East Anglia accusing the aged, the confused and the poor of satanic crimes against their neighbours.

With every innocent death, his purse grows heavier, as he satisfies his lust for power.

But his dealings with one particular young woman make him a powerful enemy in the form of Ralph Margery – a captain…

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Coming soon!

The Underground Railroad

By Colson Whitehead,

Why did I love this book?

This novel is fully deserving of its Pulitzer Prize. It is about a runaway slave called Cora, and it takes us from plantation bondage, on an odyssey through the dark corners of American life in the 19th century. It does this through the magical realist device of an underground railroad. The characters jump off the page and the tense and gripping plotting will have your glands sweating and your blood pumping.

The Underground Railroad

By Colson Whitehead,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked The Underground Railroad as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES BY BARRY JENKINS (COMING MAY 2021)

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION 2017
WINNER OF THE ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARD 2017
LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2017
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER 2016

'Whitehead is on a roll: the reviews have been sublime' Guardian

'Luminous, furious, wildly inventive' Observer

'Hands down one of the best, if not the best, book I've read this year' Stylist

'Dazzling' New York Review of Books

Praised by Barack Obama and an Oprah Book Club Pick, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead won the National Book Award 2016 and the…

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Sugar Money

By Jane Harris,

Why did I love this book?

Another slavery narrative that doesn’t pull any punches. Set in Martinique 1765, it tells the tale of brothers Emile and Lucien, who are charged by their French master, Father Cleophas, with a mission. They must return to Grenada, the island they once called home, and smuggle back 42 slaves claimed by English invaders. A gruesomely compelling story.

Sugar Money

By Jane Harris,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sugar Money as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The stunning return from the Orange Prize shortlisted author of The Observations and Gillespie and I

'Pitches you headfirst into this outstanding, heartbreaking story of siblings, slavery and the savagery of the colonial past.' SUNDAY EXPRESS

'Harris builds a lush sense of place, and the pace and tension of a rip-roaring adventure here, with derring-do and double-crossing.' THE TIMES

'Through masterful detail, Harris shows the dehumanisation of the brothers and their fellow slaves . . . Beautifully cadenced.' IRISH TIMES

Martinique, 1765, and brothers Emile and Lucien are charged by their French master, Father Cleophas, with a mission. They must…

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The North Water

By Ian McGuire,

Why did I love this book?

A 19th-century whaling ship sets sail for the Arctic with a killer aboard in this dark, sharp, and highly original novel. In Henry Drax, we have one of the most twisted antagonists in historical fiction. First-class writing and exemplary research, this is an authentic trip into the heart of darkness. A novel free of sentimentality.

The North Water

By Ian McGuire,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The North Water as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2016
A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN NOTABLE BOOK 2016

A ship sets sail with a killer on board . . .
1859. A man joins a whaling ship bound for the Arctic Circle. Having left the British Army with his reputation in tatters, Patrick Sumner has little option but to accept the position of ship's surgeon on this ill-fated voyage. But when, deep into the journey, a cabin boy is discovered brutally killed, Sumner finds himself forced to act. Soon he will face an evil even greater than he had encountered at the…

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5 book lists we think you will like!

The best historical fiction books for making you think you’re really there

The best books that bring history to life

The best books for a melancholy day

The best books of back country crime fiction

The best alternative histories that you really wish had happened

Interested in the USA Mexico border, brothers, and the arctic?

9,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about the USA Mexico border, brothers, and the arctic.

The USA Mexico Border Explore 23 books about the USA Mexico border

Brothers Explore 82 books about brothers

The Arctic Explore 49 books about the arctic

And, 3 books we think you will enjoy!

We think you will like Hamnet, The Painted Veil, and Naked Lunch if you like this list.

Hamnet

By Maggie O'Farrell,

From the list on (re)immersing you in the magic of books.

By Erica Bauermeister Author

Why did Erica love this book?

Reading Hamnet is like walking into an oil painting.

Maggie O’Farrell’s lyricism and attention to detail create a lush, fully imagined world as she tells the story of William Shakespeare’s wife, Anne, and the loss of their eleven-year-old son to the plague in 1596. It is a deep dive into grief, made beautiful by O’Farrell’s attention.

While technically not a book about books, it makes us consider the emotional undercurrent of writing, and it is one of the most radiant books I have ever read, so here it is.

Hamnet

By Maggie O'Farrell,

Why should I read it?

20 authors picked Hamnet as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

WINNER OF THE 2020 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION - THE NO. 1 BESTSELLER 2021
'Richly sensuous... something special' The Sunday Times
'A thing of shimmering wonder' David Mitchell

TWO EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE. A LOVE THAT DRAWS THEM TOGETHER. A LOSS THAT THREATENS TO TEAR THEM APART.

On a summer's day in 1596, a young girl in Stratford-upon-Avon takes to her bed with a sudden fever. Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches everywhere for help. Why is nobody at home?

Their mother, Agnes, is over a mile away, in the garden where she grows medicinal herbs. Their father is working in London.

Neither…

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The Painted Veil

By W. Somerset Maugham,

From the list on adventure capturing the challenges of the unknown.

By Nanine Case Author

Why did Nanine love this book?

I love adventure stories that offer unexpected challenges in foreign lands.

This story, set in upper-class England and rural China in the 1920s, is about Kitty, a selfish, beautiful, and attention-seeking woman, and the shy and unattractive English bacteriologist, Walter, who falls hopelessly in love and asks for Kitty’s hand in marriage. Kitty consents, but Walter’s discovery of her lover and the resulting social pressure, force the couple to enter into a marriage doomed for failure.

Even though bitterness prevails, the couple set off for Walter’s assignment in the cholera-infected area of China. It is an act of suicide, fraught with peril.

During their dangerous sojourn in this strange and foreign land, the couple’s discoveries are many. In the end, they realize that the greatest discovery is their mutual love.

The Painted Veil

By W. Somerset Maugham,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Painted Veil as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'She did not know what to say. She was undecided whether indignantly to assert her innocence or to break out into angry reproaches. He seemed to read her thoughts. "I've got all the proof necessary" '

Kitty Fane is the beautiful but shallow wife of Walter, a bacteriologist stationed in Hong Kong. Unsatisfied by her marriage, she starts an affair with Charles Townsend, a man whom she finds charming, attractive and exciting. But when Walter discovers her deception, he exacts a strange but terrible vengeance: Kitty must accompany him to his new posting in remote mainland China, where a cholera…

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Naked Lunch

By William S. Burroughs Jr., James Grauerholz, Barry Miles

From the list on shattering the conventions of what a novel can be.

By David David Katzman Author

Why did David love this book?

First published in 1959, Naked Lunch was shocking then, and it still retains its power today. Both in content and structure, Naked Lunch is powerful and wholly original. In effect, it becomes more than a work of fiction, it becomes an experience. Burroughs invented a technique called the “cut-up method,” where he cut up his coherent storyline into paragraphs, scenes, and even sentences, then reordered them both randomly and editorially. The disorder thematically represents the chaos of existence and the universe, and it also disrupts the reader. Like the book or not, it shakes you into realizing that there are possibilities beyond the conventional.

Burrough’s language is honed to a razor’s edge, and I find that many of the sentences in Naked Lunch burn like fire. The meaning of the title as Burroughs explains it is to bare the naked truth of reality on the end of a fork. From the content to the form and style, he lives up to that intention. Historically, it’s also worth admiring his complete disregard for mainstream sensibility. Burroughs doesn’t bend to censorship to make the book more palatable for sales or for critical reviews. Naked Lunch is a groundbreaking achievement.

Naked Lunch

By William S. Burroughs Jr., James Grauerholz, Barry Miles

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Naked Lunch as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Since its original publication in Paris in 1959, Naked Lunch has become one of the most important novels of the twentieth century.

Exerting its influence on the relationship of art and obscenity, it is one of the books that redefined not just literature but American culture. For the Burroughs enthusiast and the neophyte, this volume—that contains final-draft typescripts, numerous unpublished contemporaneous writings by Burroughs, his own later introductions to the book, and his essay on psychoactive drugs—is a valuable and fresh experience of a novel that has lost none of its relevance or satirical bite.

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The best dark historical fiction

Who am I?

I wrote...

What is my book about?

The books I picked & why

Why did I love this book?

Why did I love this book?

Why did I love this book?

Why did I love this book?

Why did I love this book?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in the USA Mexico border, brothers, and the arctic?

And, 3 books we think you will enjoy!

Who am I?

Erica's book list on (re)immersing you in the magic of books

Why did Erica love this book?

Who am I?

Nanine's book list on adventure capturing the challenges of the unknown

Why did Nanine love this book?

Who am I?

David's book list on shattering the conventions of what a novel can be

Why did David love this book?