Historical fiction is most likely my favorite genre, although as I've mentioned before I enjoy a wide variety of reading. I love this genre because I think it's really cool to learn about things in the past, especially American history, and when I can learn in the context of a story it becomes practically irresistible.
I guess it's kind of backwards that I call this my favorite genre when it's the one I'm the least read in. I really haven't many of these books, especially relative to all the other genres I've read. I think this is because it's more rare, at least in my experience, to come across a book that I truly enjoy and believe is well written. However when I do find these books, such as The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss and The Help by Kathryn Stockett (two books on my favorites shelf) I find that I truly enjoy them and through reading them I learn a lot about events, movements, or cultural practices of the past. I like how it's not easy to figure out which parts are the true events and which parts are made up for the fictional story. When an author can blend fact and fiction together like that, I think it's something special.
My most recent endeavor into the world of literature was a book called The Nineteenth Wife by David Ebershoff. While this book did not earn a spot on my favorites shelf, it definitely earned a post on my book blog.
This was a really interesting read. As I've also said before, I enjoy books where the chapters switch between two characters' stories which come together in the end. This book was similar in that one story, that of the famous historical Ann Eliza Young, was being told simultaneously with the story of present day fictional character Jordan Scott. There was more to the setup of this book than just those two stories, though.
I'm not sure if you know anything about Ann Eliza Young, who she was or what she did. I didn't until I started reading Ebershoff's book. Does the name Brigham Young ring any bells? It did for me but again I didn't know who he was, it was just a name that sounded familiar. He was the President and Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (try saying that five times fast) in the mid-1800s and Ann Eliza was one of his wives. This church was the beginning of the Mormon religion in America, and one of their practices (formerly, not currently) was polygamy.
This whole book was written on a topic that I am wholly unfamiliar with, which I'm sure was one reason I was drawn into it. Ann Eliza's story is told based on the book she wrote after divorcing Brigham, and also through diary entries and other records from those who knew her. These chapters tell us the historical part of the story, although Ebershoff did not use all the original texts and took liberties with modifying parts of them to flow in his novel, as any novelist of a fiction work has the right to do. The parallel story we read is of the modern day Firsts, the religion that originated with the Latter Day Saints and then broke off from them once they denounced polygamy.
Note: All of the historical and religion related information I'm writing here is just for background so that the rest of my thoughts make sense, and is written from my memory after reading a work of fiction.
Anyway, these two stories were being told and among the chapters from Ann Eliza or Jordan's points of view were other chapters, shorter or longer, written from Ann Eliza's family members' view points, other scholarly works, and fictitious Wikipedia articles and research papers. They all came together to paint this picture of the religion, the culture, the times and the characters. In my mind it was a rather creative, and I'm sure very complex, approach to writing a book.
When I read The Whiskey Rebels last year, I learned about the events that occurred after the Revolutionary War that led to the Whiskey Rebellion. Through reading The Help, I gained a clearer picture of our nation's civil rights atmosphere in more recent history. After having read The Nineteenth Wife, I have an outsider's perspective on a different religion, how it began and the trials it faced.
Maybe you're not one who wants to sit in a history class. For me, it takes a very special teacher to make history come alive in the classroom where a textbook is one main source of information. You also may not be one to read biographies and documentaries, or even watch them on television. I personally do not gravitate to these types of books or shows. I am a lover of language who also has a passion for learning. I encourage you to find a topic you're interested in, or even one you don't know anything about, and pick up a historical fiction novel on it. The beauty of it is that you're not memorizing facts and dates or being given dry information, but immersing yourself in a true story that although it might be fictional still opens your eyes to a world in the past. If that's not magical, I don't know what is.
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