“As a historian, I quickly abandon historical novels if I realise that whoever wrote them hasn’t done very much homework.”Īnd by ‘sets a benchmark,’ you mean she really did the research, so it’s accurate as well as gripping? In 2003 the BBC did a poll, ‘The Big Read’, of all-time favourite books, and Katherine came in the top 100. Given the sources available to her at the time, it’s brilliant. Anya Seton was an American author and she spent four years in Britain researching this novel. But it’s written with such integrity, and I see it as a benchmark for historical novels. It was written in 1954 and is, of course, of its time – bodice rippers came later. This is one of my all-time favourite historical novels it’s absolutely inspirational. What about Katherine by Anya Seton, which is based on the life of Katherine Swynford? I’ve been instrumental in getting it republished, and all three books are now available. Sometimes there is a little gap between the stories where the reader is wondering what’s happened in between, and there are dark hints… The whole thing is a joy.

There are wonderful vivid characters, sinister undercurrents, and so many different story lines and themes. So you learn the history of England without having to read a dull history? It is effectively the history of England, seen through the eyes of each generation of the owners of a medieval house, from 1380 through to the 1950s. But if you read them all as one book-and you can-it is the most outstanding historical novel that I have ever read. It’s a bit cheeky to choose a trilogy, I know. Our topic is the best historical novels and your first choice is Norah Lofts’s House Trilogy- The Town House, The House at Old Vine and The House at Sunset-which dates back to the late 1950s/early 1960s. Foreign Policy & International Relations.

Jane seymour alison weir