16th Century
The Merry Devils
Legend has it that once, during a performance of Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, a real devil appeared onstage, to the terror…
Spy for the Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots has sometimes been criticised as vain and foolish, but this fascinating account of her reign does…
The Sumerton Women
When her parents die of the sweating sickness, eight-year-old Cecily becomes the ward of the family living at Sumerton Castle,…
Bring Up the Bodies
Editors' choice
It is 1535, and Henry VIII has become bored with Anne Boleyn. After upheaving the country and the Church in…
Mistress of Mourning
It’s a daunting challenge: how to create a historical novel that accurately depicts a distant era without letting facts and…
Highland Lover
In 1503, Alyson MacGillivray, recently married to her childhood friend, Niall, embarks on a sea voyage aboard the Maryenknyght. Alyson,…
The Queen’s Pleasure
This is the tale of the classic, often-imagined love triangle between Robert and Amy Dudley and Elizabeth Tudor. The story…
The Elizabethans
Readers seeking political intrigue, court skullduggery, ceremonial pomp, amorous relationships, or even literary, economic, and philosophical history of the 16th…
A Dangerous Inheritance
Being born with royal blood running through the veins can be a most significant disadvantage. Alison Weir, getting into stride…
Advent
James Treadwell tells two linked stories in Advent, his first (and stunningly ambitious) novel. Fifteen-year-old Gavin’s family long ago lost…
About our Reviews
Over the last 15 years The Historical Novels Review (the society’s print magazine for our members) has published reviews of some 12,000 historical fiction books. We plan to upload them all and make them searchable here.
