I’m going to start with books about Tristan and Isolde, of which there are surprisingly few. I was never 100% satisfied with any of them which is why I’ve written my Trilogy. Then there are books about King Arthur, of which there are many, and ‘dark-age’ books, which are set roughly in Scotland and roughly in the same period as my Trilogy. I also read historical fiction set in later periods and general fiction in a number of genres, including fantasy, but I can’t mention them all, so here are a few of my favourites, which really means books I’ve read more than once and will read again.
Books about Tristan and Isolde
- R Sutcliff: Tristan and Iseult
- K Hawks: The Lovers
- A Taylor: Drustan the Wanderer
- DL Paxson: The White Raven
- R Miles: Isolde and sequels
- DM Meaney: Iseult
Books about King Arthur
- R Sutcliff: The Sword at Sunset
- R Sutcliff: King Arthur Stories
- M Stewart: The Crystal Cave and sequels
- B Cornwell: The Winter King and sequels
- G Bradshaw: Hawk of May and sequels
- C Christian: The Pendragon
- M Zimmer Bradley: The Mists of Avalon and sequels
- V Canning: The Crimson Chalice
- P Godwin: Firelord and Beloved Exile
- TH White: The Once and Future King
Books set in the first millennium in Scotland or thereabouts
- J Watson: The White Mare and sequels
- C Nayland: Paths of Exile
- R Sutcliff: The Mark of the Horse-lord
- P Finney: A Shadow of Gulls and The Crow Goddess
- M Bragg: Credo
- S Pyke: The Lost Queen and The Forgotten Kingdom
Other historical books:
- Anything by R Sutcliff, not mentioned above
- B Cornwell: The Sharpe series, The Last Kingdom series, Harlequin and sequels
- H Mantel: Wolf Hall and sequels
- M M Kaye: Shadow of the Moon and other historical novels
- D Dunnett: The Game of Kings and sequels
- W Breem: The Eagle in the Snow
- M Scott: Dreaming the Eagle and other historical novels
- PF Chisholm: The Sir Robert Cary Series
- P Gregory: The White Queen and sequels
- G Heyer: Her Georgian fiction
- G Clews: Eboracum series
- B Jagger: Her Victorian and Roman novels.
- C McCulloch: First Man in Rome and sequels
- R Low: A Dish of Spurs and Burning the Water
Fantasy and Science Fiction
- Anything by Tolkein
- Anything by Guy Gavriel Kay. My favourite is Last Light of the Sun
- Anything by Laini Taylor
- JSA Corey: The Expanse series
- GRR Martin: Game of Thrones
- Anything by Ian M Banks (who wrote general fiction as Ian Banks)
General fiction
- Anything by Kate Atkinson
- Anything by Joanne Harris
- Anything by Ian Banks (who writes science fiction as Ian M Banks)
