Good Fiction

The world abounds with fictional tales of barbarians who slash their way through the pages with scantily clad abandon. Here are some books about early periods that are historical as well as good reading.

Gillian Bradshaw wrote a great trilogy of Arthurian times set in the 500;'s like it ought to be. The books are A Hawk in May, Kingdom of Summer, and In Winter's Shadow. The principle character is Gwalchmai, known in later Arthurian stories as Sir Gawain.

Prince of Annwn, The Children of Llyr, The Song of Rhiannon, and The Island of the Mighty.

I, Claudius by Robert Graves is valuable for information on Imperial Rome. Another good one is The Roman by Mika Waltari, who also wrote The Egyptian. Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague DeCamp, while it is a science fiction book, has an excellent Roman/Visigothic period feeling.

Morgan Llywelyn has written several books about early Ireland including Bard: The Odyssey of the Irish and The Lion of Ireland, the first about the coming of the Irish to Ireland and the second about Brian Boru. Another book of the time is Boru is The Kings in Winter by Cecelia Holland. She has written many historical novels on early time periods, but this is one of my personal favorites.

Poul Anderson has written a number of books based on Norse sagas. Check your local library for titles. Also by Anderson is The King of Ys: Roma Mater, written with his wife Karen Anderson. I have gotten good reviews on it.

If you have any favorites, please share them with us. we are also looking for good movies on early period themes, such as "Alfred the Great".

---

Back to Early Period #3 | Back to Early Period Index | Back to PastTimes