I’m looking for historical novels that stands as biography so i could learn more about history.
Siddharta from Herman Hess or books by Stephan Zweig are books i’m thinking of when asking.
They were awsome.
Also if you know books and novels that explain history, the hidden truth about the vatican, or political figures/ kings/governments it would be great (not looking for polar/thriller or fictions like dan brown books, but “reality” books)
Thanks a lot in advance
by Raskolnikov6622
2 Comments
I don’t know how much this aligns with what your looking for, but Colm Toibin has written two novels that are biographies of prominent writers, which are very straightforward as biographies except for the fact that they explore their hidden sexualities where extensive documentation doesn’t exist.
The book about Thomas Mann, The Magician, in particular, shed a lot of light on non Jewish exiles form Germany in light of Hitler and WWII. His children’s lives were especially interesting in their political activism through the arts. It also looked at how emigres of prominence experienced coming to America verses regular people were met with very disparate experiences.
The book on Henry James, The Master, gives much insight into the Gilded Age of expats in Europe and the literary world in particular.
[The Name of the Rose](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2519) by Umberto Eco (a murder mystery 14th century set in a monastery which provides a ton of history into the politics and religion of that time)
I also read [Margaret the First](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25943007) by Danielle Dutton which is a novel based on a real life person. The book is not great but I did learn some things.