A Post on Historical Fiction

I'm experiencing deja vu; when I was in ninth grade, I wrote a 2500 word essay on the genre of historical fiction. It was fun; my bibliography was pretty much made up of my favorite books.

Anyway. When I was younger, historical fiction was my favorite genre. When I was in elementary school, I either wanted to read about times before I was born or else stories about witches. Nothing else. Contemporary fiction didn't really interest me; neither did other sort of fantasy. Except for Ella Enchanted but that book is so awesome. But I'll talk more about why I love fantasy in a different post.

So historical fiction. It's probably my second favorite genre. I still love it. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly is my second favorite book. And if you haven't read it, you simply must. You girls will probably really like it because you will totally be able to relate to Mattie, the main character. She loves to read and she wants nothing more than to go to college and study writing. She often references literature. And the story is just fantastic. Highly recommended. And I'll read pretty much anything else set in times long ago. (Another reason I love A Northern Light; how many books are set in 1906? Or the Adirondacks?)

What brought about this post is the fact that I recently finished reading The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. It only took me like five months. *rolls eyes* I started reading it maybe several weeks before I saw the movie. It wasn't that the book was horrible or anything. It actually reads pretty quickly. I just didn't have a lot of time and was reading a lot else at the time.

When I was younger, I really enjoyed the Young Royals series by Carolyn Meyer. Actually, it was Mary, Bloody Mary that in fifth grade introduced me to the marvelous world of Tudor England. I've loved everything related to Tudor England since.

Historical fiction is really interesting. When I was younger, I'd read it to gain an understanding and learn something about history, so I wanted the books to be as accurate as possible and to have detailed author's notes explaining what was fact and what was fiction, why the author wrote the book and changed what he or she did. That was one of the best things about Ann Rinaldi's books; a lot of her books have fantastic, in-depth author's notes.

But fiction means "made up". Authors don't have to stay true to fact. And sometimes, there's just not enough fact.

Take the person of Mary Boleyn. Mary narrates Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl. She also appears in Meyer's Doomed Queen Anne (whose narrator is the one and only Anne Boleyn, who is either my first or second favorite of Henry VIII's sixth wives. Katherine Parr also rocks. Both were smart, independent women). Not much is known about Mary other than the basic outline of her life. She married William Carey, became Henry VIII's mistress, her husband died, and she remarried a poor man, William Stafford, for love (have to love her for that). And she a son, Henry, and a daughter, Catherine. That's just about it. But who was she as a person?

Gregory has a sweet, obedient Mary who really hates court life. She's actually sort of dull. (Anne's got a lot more personality, but I'm not a fan of Gregory's portrayal of her, either.) However, when we first meet Mary in Doomed Queen Anne, she's haughty and confident, reveling in being Henry's mistress. Quite a difference, right? Which is right and which is wrong? I don't know; I haven't done enough research into the figure of Mary Boleyn; I don't know what the historical accounts say about her. Since there are two pretty different portrayals of her...I don't think there are many accounts of her.

I think if I had to say which book I liked more...I'd have to say that The Other Boleyn Girl is vastly more entertaining, but I'd rather read Doomed Queen Anne, paired with Mary, Bloody Mary. Why? Because I think Meyer's books portray Tudor England better. It was more than just the setting; it was part of the story. I don't think that you can read The Other Boleyn Girl and come away with the same understanding. I could be wrong; maybe the fact that I knew enough about Tudor England to know that most historians actually think Mary was the elder of the two Boleyn sisters and not the younger as Gregory has her sort of ticked me off. I mean, why change that? It just seemed like Gregory sensationalized the events; Meyer's seemed less dramatic. And as much as I love drama, I'm not into it when it's based on true events and people because I think the author has an obligation to keep it realistic. I mean, if you want to dramatize things, change the names, some of the details, and call it fantasy. Seriously.

So historical fiction...it should entertain. However, I'm more likely to like a "boring" historical fiction novel because chances are, it's more historical.

What about you?

♥anilee