Thanks to social media, there has actually been a boost online in the interest for historical fiction.
When people imagine literature genres, romance or thrillers are the 1st to spring to mind. As a genre, historical fiction is one that has previously been rather underestimated, however, marketing research suggests that its popularity is on the increase. Before delving right into the ins and outs of the genre itself, it is essential to grasp the historical novel definition and examples. So, what is historical fiction? In a nutshell, historical fiction means that a tale's setting or age will be historically accurate with a few fictional aspects infused in. Generally, the foundation of the story is historic, but the events and characters involved are fictionalized for entertainment reasons. Although the historical factors of the tale can teach the reader information about the societal regulations, conventions and expectations of the time period, the primary function of a historical fiction novel is the same as any other fiction book; to keep audiences engaged. Within historical fiction in literature, there are several 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 out an era that they are most curious about. For example, one of the big subgenres is western historical fiction, which is set in the Wild West in the USA during the 19th century. Conversely, another one of the most well-known subgenres is World War Two historical fiction, which often entails authors taking inspiration from real-life accounts, memoirs, diary entries and news articles from the war, and then transforming them into the foundations of a fictional story. The versatility of historical fiction means that readers can be transferred to any time in past history, as the co-founder of the fund which partially owns WHSmith would affirm.
In literary works, there are multitude of different types of historical fiction books that are rising in appeal, as the head of the hedge fund which owns Waterstones would likely recognise. In regards to international sales, the top historical fiction best sellers often tend to be historical romance. Like the name suggests, historic romance novels include a love story between 2 characters living in a certain historical period. Love and romance has actually been around since the very beginning of time and is universal across the whole world, which means that there are historical romance stories set in a wide array of historical contexts, whether it be the Victorian period, Ancient Greece, or the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, the most financially rewarding and in-demand era for historical romance is the English Regency era from 1811 to 1830. With popular themes such as arranged marriage and forbidden love, the remarkable declarations of love, poetic language and whimsical symbolism gives hopeless romantics of the twenty-first century a brilliant source of escapism.
When browsing through a few of the best historical fiction books of all time, many of them would be categorised as 'alternate history'. In essence, alternate history entails stories where the writer changes the natural course of past history. It is a type of speculative fiction in which one or more historic events have arised but are resolved in another way than in actual reality. These kinds of novels present the classic 'what if' question and have audiences questioning huge philosophical queries, which makes them an exceptionally provocative and impactful read, as the CEO of the private equity firm that partially-owns World of Books would undoubtedly validate.