I've been reading Giuseppe Di Lampedusa's The Leopard (1958), a novel about a Sicilian prince set in the early 1860s during the period of Italian unification. The fictional protagonist isn't a key figure in any of the unfolding events, but the book is about changes in Sicilian and Italian society in that era.
This has made want to explore other literary novels that have a similar political-historical dimension. As one example, I just bought García Márquez's The General in his Labyrinth (1989), which is fiction but is about an unnamed general who is clearly Bolívar. Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel's novel about Oliver Cromwell, is another.
Any recommendations for other literary novels that include an element of political history? As an American who has already read a great deal about our nation's history, I'm particularly interested in novels from or about countries other than the United States.
Thanks!
by pinestreets