Top Ten Books That Would be on My Syllabus if I Taught Historical Fiction 101

Top Ten Tuesday is an awesome weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's theme is Top Ten Books That Would Be On Your Syllabus If You Taught X 101 (examples: YA fantasy 101, feminist literature 101, magic in YA 101, classic YA lit 101, world-building 101).

1.

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

I reviewed this the other week and gave it a pretty high rating, so it has to make the list!

2.

 

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

More mythology than historical fiction, but it's still all shades of awesome. I reviewed this one too.

3.

The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman

There might not be much to teach, but it's still excellent. The students would probably end up finishing the series without me needing to say so.

4.

The Watch That Ends the Night by Allan Wolf

Everything they need to know about Titanic they would learn from this book. I reviewed this last year.

5.

The Sultan's Eyes Kelly Gardiner

This is a sequel to a book I can't even remember reading, but this is great for learning about Italy and Turkey and the Inquisition in the 17th Century. 

6.

Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore by Stella Duffy

Really good for learning about the Roman Empire in the 6th Century CE. Interesting information about religion and society as well as Theodora's life.

7.

The Girl in the Mask by Marie-Louise Jensen

I read this aaaages ago and there's probably not a lot in it, but I loved the romance and the setting (I think it was 1715, an era I'm not familiar with, so it was vaguely educational).

8.

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

I used to love the movie, until I read the book. Then I found the movie incredibly lacking. There is much more in the book so I would make students read this instead. That doesn't mean the songs from the musical aren't fantastic though.

9.

The Silver Blade by Sally Gardner

One of my favourite books ever, there's no way I would miss the opportunity to teach this book. French Revolution, romance, magic (so that's more fantasy than historical, but I wouldn't label this novel as fantasy)... I love it.

10.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith, Jane Austen, Philip Smiley (Illustrator)

I don't know why Pride and Prejudice is still taught in schools, because it's not serious literature - it's good, but Jane Austen herself said that she couldn't write a serious novel to save her life. This book is definitely not serious literature, so what's the harm in levelling up a bit? At least the humour is more suited to 21st Century readers.