The rest is history

The past comes to life in kate Atherton’s pick of the best historical fiction…

The Bone Fire

by SD Sykes

(Hodder & Stoughton, £18.99) It is 1361 and the Black Death has returned to kent. Lord oswald of Somershill flees with his family to Eden Island and its remote castle, surrounded by marsh, where they will try to wait it out. But the small community, sealed inside, soon discovers a murderer in its midst. As the number of victims rises, oswald knows he faces a threat every bit as great as the plague that now besieges the castle walls.

Tidelands

by Philippa Gregory

(Simon & Schuster, £20)

The Civil War has ended and Charles I is imprisoned. But the king’s troubles are worlds away from those of Alinor who scrapes a meagre living from the Sussex tidelands. These are dangerous times for wise women such as Alinor, and the arrival of a handsome stranger makes matters worse after Alinor discovers his true identity and the treacherous mission that has brought him to England. The novel’s power lies in Gregory’s evocative portrayal of the tidelands and the everyday lives of those who are bound to them.

The Art Of Dying

by Ambrose Parry

(Canongate, £12.99)

Edinburgh leads the world in medical science in 1850 but too many people are dying suspicious deaths. Raven, now a qualified obstetrician, works alongside his mentor Dr James Simpson, whose career is threatened by scandal. As Raven and his former love Sarah work to clear Simpson’s name, they discover that a killer hides among the medical community. This is a gripping Victorian medical thriller.

The Irish Princess

by Elizabeth Chadwick

(Sphere, £20)

Aoife, princess of Leinster, is a pawn in her father’s brutal schemes to extend his kingdom across Ireland. But Aoife has ambition of her own. When she is wed to Richard de Clare, a troublemaking noble in Wales, they form an alliance that torments England’s king Henry

II. The monarch also finds himself fascinated with Aoife.

The 12th century is one of the most thrilling, savage periods in history and with The Irish Princess, Chadwick has excelled herself. This terrific novel is packed with action, emotion, politics and passion.

Published on September 12.