Research Guides: Historical Fiction: 17th & 18th Centuries

17th Century

Cup of Gold by John Steinbeck
Call Number: St34cu

Tells the story of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635-1688, a Buccaneer in the Caribbean.
The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas
Call Number: Du891b

Cornelius von Baerle lives only to cultivate the elusive black tulip and win a prize for its creation. But when his powerful godfather is assassinated, the unwitting Cornelius becomes caught up in a deadly political intrigue. See also by Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers
Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore
Call Number: BL566L

A love story set during the Monmouth's Rebellion, 1685.
Poison by Kathryn Harrison
Call Number: Ha2464p

The story of Marie Louise of Orléans, consort of Charles II, King of Spain, 1662-1689, set during the Inquisition.
Calligraphy of the Witch by Alicia Gaspar de Alba
Call Number: Ga2135c

Combines the horror of the Salem witch trials with the philosophy and poetry of the nun and writer known as the first feminist of the Americas, Sor Juana Iňs de la Cruz.
Gentleman Captain by J. D. Davies
Call Number: Da287g

Having sunk the first man-of-war under his command within weeks, Matthew Quinton is determined to complete his second mission without loss of life or honor. His suspicion grows that the previous captain of the "Jupiter" was murdered and many among his crew have something to hide. Set during Restoration England.
Wife to Mr. Milton by Robert Graves
Call Number: Gr787w

The story of the tragic life of Marie Powell, who, at the age of sixteen, was pushed into marrying the man who was England's greatest epic poet.
The Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton
Call Number: Se77w

In 1631 Elizabeth Winthrop set sail for the New World. Against a background of rigidity and conformity she dared to befriend Anne Hutchinson at the moment of her banishment; dared to challenge the massacre of her friends the Siwanoy Indians. Governor John Winthrop referred to this woman in the historical records as his “unregenerate niece.” New copy ordered.
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
When an infected bolt of cloth carries plague from London to an isolated village, a housemaid emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer. (To be added.)

18th Century

An Appetite for Violets by Martine Bailey
Call Number: Ba153a

Inspired by eighteenth-century recipes and set at the time of the invention of the first restaurants.
All Souls' Rising by Madison Smartt Bell
Call Number: Be413a

The story of a Haitian slave insurrection.
The Lanterns of the King of Galilee by Ibrahim Nasrallah
Call Number: Na186L

In eighteenth-century Palestine, on the shores of Galilee's Lake Tiberias, visionary political and military leader Daher al-Umar al-Zaydani undertakes a journey toward the greatest aim anyone could hope to achieve in his day: the establishment of an autonomous Arab state.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Call Number: Di555tk

Depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralized by the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the French Revolution.
Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
Call Number: De362m

Born and abandoned in Newgate Prison, Moll Flanders is forced to make her own way in life. She duly embarks on a career that includes husband-hunting, incest, bigamy, prostitution and pick-pocketing, until her crimes eventually catch up with her.
Bounty Trilogy by Charles Nordhoff; James Norman Hall
Call Number: No757bo

The story of Captain Bligh and mutiny on the ship, Bounty, 1754-1817.
The Master of Ballantrae and Weir of Hermiston by Robert Louis Stevenson
Call Number: St48mw

The story of the Jacobite rebellion in Scotland, 1745.
Rogue Herries by Hugh Walpole
Call Number: Wa165r

Tells the story of the larger than life Francis Herries who uproots his family from Yorkshire and brings them to live in Borrowdale where their life is as dramatic as the landscape surrounding them.
The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
Call Number: Wi645b

"On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below." Brother Juniper, has witnessed the collapse and embarks on a quest to prove a higher order is at work. His search leads readers on a timeless investigation into the nature of love and the meaning of the human condition.
The General in His Labyrinth by Gabriel García Márquez
Call Number: Ga1655g

General Simon Bolivar, “the Liberator” of five South American countries, takes a last melancholy journey down the Magdalena River, revisiting cities along its shores, and reliving the triumphs, passions, and betrayals of his life.
Roots by Alex Haley
Call Number: 929.2 Ha137ri

Brings to life the monumental two-century drama of Kunta Kinte and the six generations who came after him: slaves and freedmen, farmers and blacksmiths, lumber mill workmen and Pullman porters, lawyers and architects, and one author.
The Lost Queen by Lofts, Nora
Call Number: Lo827l

A lonely princess falls in love with Danish King Christian the VII's personal physician and political reformer, Johann Struensee.
Burr by Gore Vidal
Call Number: Vi667b

A portrait of perhaps the most complex and misunderstood of the Founding Fathers, Aaron Burr, who fought a duel with his political nemesis, Alexander Hamilton, and killed him.See also Vidal's novels, 1876 and Empire.
Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C. S. Forester
Call Number: Fo761m

The year is 1793, the eve of the Napoleonic Wars, and Horatio Hornblower, a seventeen-year-old boy unschooled in seafaring and the ways of seamen, is ordered to board a French merchant ship and take command of crew and cargo for the glory of England.
Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill
Call Number: Hi553b

Aminata Diallo is enslaved in South Carolina but escapes during the chaos of the Revolutionary War to become a scribe for the British.
Jacques the Fatalist and His Master by Denis Diderot
Call Number: Di5614j

Two centuries or so before "modern" writers began writing experimental novels, Denis Diderot, the force behind the Encyclopaedia effort, wrote this strange and indeed very "modern" novel in which the author leads a conversation with the reader, asking him where he (or she, of course) would want to go and what to do with the characters and the story.
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg
Call Number: Ho679p

The story of Robert Colwan, a young man convinced that he is pre-determined to enjoy heavenly salvation. As Robert’s descent into evil, despair, and madness ultimately leads him to murder his own brother, Hogg’s novel questions the nature of Calvinist fanaticism and its excesses.
City of Darkness, City of Light by Piercy, Marge
Depicting the experiences of three women, Piercy explores the human reality of the French Revolution, bringing to life the role women played in bringing down the monarchy. (To be added).
The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk; Jennifer Croft (Translator)
Publication Date: 2022

In the mid-eighteenth century, a young Jew of mysterious origins arrives in a village in Poland. Before long, he has changed not only his name but his persona; visited by what seem to be ecstatic experiences, Jacob Frank casts a charismatic spell that attracts an increasingly fervent following.