And while it focuses only on the perspective of slaveholders, it provides a vivid insight into a defining moment in American history.'Still an acknowledged masterpiece and a model for historical fiction. Spanning the whole war, this epic takes you through the horrors that armed conflicts inflict upon civilians. While some are tempted to call Gone With the Wind a romance, Margaret Mitchell’s only published work has long been considered a historical masterpiece - though its regressive, period-appropriate view of race can be painful to read today. As she struggles for survival in a land ravaged by warfare, disease, and famine, she continuously encounters Rhett Butler - a pompous opportunist with whom she maintains a love-hate relationship. Widowed at a young age, she raises her child as a single parent while the American Civil War wages. Scarlett O’Hara, daughter to a wealthy plantation-owning couple in 19th-century Georgia, USA, is raised in luxury, but she finds herself in hardship as an adult. This classic needs no introduction, but we’ll give you a brief synopsis anyway. As her exposure to the wider world challenges her faith, how will her conservative family respond? There, Kristin falls in love with a man who was excommunicated for raising children with someone else’s wife.

But when she survives a rape attempt, she’s sent of to faraway Oslo, to live in a Benedictine convent. The child of a wealthy landowner, Kristin Lavransdatter (the surname literally translates to “Lavran’s daughter”) grows up happily enough, taking solace in the Catholic faith she learned from her mother. Sexy, yet exhaustively researched, it’s sure to change your view of the Middle Ages. Though the first installment, The Wreath, was published in 1920, it makes for a spellbinding read even today. Still, this masterful exploration of life in 14th-century Norway deserves a place on your bookshelf. After all, no one can reflexively sing out lines from Kristin Lavransdatter, the historical fiction trilogy that netted her the book world’s biggest lifetime achievement award. As far as Nobel laureates in literature go, Sigrid Undset has slightly less name recognition than Bob Dylan.

I claudius novel