Tudor Fiction

Any Tudor fiction suggestions? I'm already completely wrapped up in Philippa Gregory's books about the women of Henry VIII's court: The Constant Princess, The Other Boleyn Girl, and The Boleyn Inheritance. What others do people recommend??

I'd like to know what Tudor/Elizabethan fiction by other authors people are reading. I'm sure Philippa Gregory is a good writer, but her books are practically inescapable when one mentions the word "fiction" in proximity to the words "Tudor" or "Elizabethan."

Philippa Gregory is a great place to start...The Other Boleyn Girl is what got me so interested in historical fiction. Some good "next steps" are The Last Boleyn and The Last Wife of Henry VIII...let me know if you find any good ones!!

You'd probably like the books by Jean Plaidy. For example Mary, Queen of France, and The Thistle and the rose among others.

I'm loving The Autobiography of Henry VIII (fiction) by Margaret George. I'd never read anything from Henry's pov and it is very well-written and page-turny, even though it is very long.

Try Alison Weir...she has a couple about elizabeth 1 and Lady Jane Grey.
There are several leading up to the Tudor period...the best is Sunne in Splendor by Sharon Kay Penman (an excellent story of Richard III)
Legacy is another good read...as is The Queens Grace by Jan Westcott.
Enjoy

I'm just getting through the books by CJ Sansom, which I would recommend to all - set in Henrician England, telling the story of a lawyer on the edge of major political events.

I've never been able to get into Jean Plaidy's books, and I've tried several.

An author who seems little-known these days (but whose name crops up on other lists periodically), is Margaret Campbell Barnes. Her Brief, Gaudy Hour, about Anne Boleyn, and My Lady of Cleves, about Anne of Cleves, are two of my favorites. Norah Lofts has also written some excellent fiction about this era. I particularly liked her King's Pleasure, about Katherine of Aragon.

I think The Cathedral Trilogy by Elizabeth Goudge is the correct era. Funny how the touchstone isn't working for that title...the books individually are The City of Bells, Towers in the Mist, and Dean's Watch.

If you enjoy incredible descriptive writing, you will probably like Elizabeth Goudge. She is one of my favorite authors.

Funny how the touchstone isn't working for that title

In LT, Three Cities of Bells is the "winning" title of the trilogy omnibus volume. It seems to have two titles (my old hardcover edition is Three Cities of Bells; my sister's newer paperback edition is The Cathedral Trilogy).

Towers in the Mist is Elizabethan in era, but Goudge doesn't date her works. Literally. There are NO dates in them, or almost none. Apparently, this collection, about cathedral cities in various eras is considered a YA or children's level. I certainly didn't sense that when I read Towers in the Mist.

A friend tells me that Dean's Watch is Victorian, and the City of Bells is possibly Edwardian...but they got lumped together by the publisher because they're all cathedral stories.

City of Bells is just post-WWI - one of the main characters was injured in the war and comes to Torminster to try to put his life back together.

A highly recommended book - one of my (several) favorite books by Elizabeth Goudge.