Are you intending to extend your reading habits? If yes, the historical fiction genre is the perfect starting point.
When considering some of the best historical fiction books of all time, a few of them would be regarded as 'alternate history'. In essence, alternate history entails tales where the writer alters the course of past history. It is a type of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have happened but are resolved differently than in actual reality. These styles of publications pose the timeless 'what if' question and have audiences questioning major philosophical queries, which makes them an incredibly thought-provoking and impactful read, as the CEO of the private equity firm that partially-owns World of Books would undoubtedly confirm.
Within literary works, there are a variety of different types of historical fiction books that are expanding in popularity, as the head of the hedge fund which owns Waterstones would likely understand. In regards to global sales, the top historical fiction best sellers commonly tend to be historical romance. Like the name indicates, historic romance books consist of a love story between 2 characters living in a particular historical era. Love and romance has actually been around ever since the beginning of civilisation and is universal across the entire world, which means that there are historical romance novels set in a wide variety of historical contexts, whether it be the Victorian age, the Middle Ages, or Ancient Greece. Nevertheless, the absolute most successful and sought-after era for historical romance is the English Regency period from 1811 to 1830. With common motifs such as forbidden love and arranged marriage, the sensational love declarations, poetic language and whimsical imagery offers hopeless romantics of the 21st century an effective source of escapism.
When people imagine literature genres, romance or thrillers are the 1st to come to mind. As a genre, historical fiction is one that has previously been somewhat underestimated, however, market research displays that its interest is on the rise. Before jumping right into the ins and outs of the genre itself, it is important to understand the historical novel definition and examples. So, what is historical fiction? Ultimately, historical fiction means that a tale's context or period will be historically accurate with some imaginary aspects infused in. Commonly, the core of the story is historical, but the events and characters included are fabricated for entertainment reasons. Although the historic elements of the story can teach the reader information about the societal regulations, conventions and expectations of the period, the fundamental goal of a historical fiction story is the very same as any other fiction novel; to keep readers immersed. Within historical fiction in literature, there are numerous different subgenres, tropes and motifs that come-up time and time again. A lot of the subgenres are era-specific, which allows readers to pick a period that they are most fascinated by. For instance, one of the popular subgenres is western historical fiction, which is set in the Wild West in the USA during the 19th century. Additionally, another one of the most prominent subgenres is WWII historical fiction, which sometimes involves writers taking inspiration from real-life accounts, memoirs, journal entries and news articles from the war, and then transforming them into the foundations of a fictitious narrative. The versatility of historical fiction indicates that readers can be transferred to just about any time in past history, as the co-founder of the fund which partially owns WHSmith would definitely verify.