There are plenty of good Civil War historical fiction novels. I can't think of any from the Reveloutionary War of the top of my head. Anyone have suggestions?

Martha Peake. Also 1776.

"Redcoat" by Bernard Cornwell is pretty good. I like a lot of his other novels, too. They span many different historical periods and countries.

In the YA area, of course, there's Johnny Tremain.

There's also M.T. Anderson's The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, which is now also available in Volume 2 (The Kingdom on the Waves). I read Volume 1, and it was all right but in my opinion nothing to write home about, so I didn't keep my hardcover copy but donated it to my local library instead. I don't plan on getting Volume 2.

Still, though, you should give it a look-see, because I think I may be in a minority in giving it just a so-so rating. Don't be put off by its YA status, because although Octavian Nothing gets categorized as a YA book, it's really fairly advanced (and because of its rather convoluted writing style I wouldn't recommend it to YAs who aren't at least fairly advanced readers).

Message edited by its author, Nov 28, 2008, 3:50pm.

Kenneth Roberts wrote a number of historical novels about the Revolutionary War in the 1930s and 40s. There are some available now on BookMooch and on eBay, and sometimes they can be found in library sales and used book stores.

This is one of my all time favorite books, Drums along the Mohawk by Walter d. Edmonds. Its a great tale about a newly wed couple in upstate New York right on the eve of the revolution. It follows them throughout the revolution unitl its conclusion. Wonderful absolutely wonderful.

The Whiskey Rebels takes place a few years after the Revolutionary War, when George Washington is President, but one of the characters was a spy during the war and many of the Founding Fathers figure prominently in the story.

Thank-you all for your suggestions - I looked at several and added 1176, The Whiskey Rebels and Drums along the Mohawk to my wish list.

#4 - I read Octavian Nothing - I had mixed feelings about it as well - I think it would have been better without all the gimmicks - I also don't plan on going out of my way to read the second volume.

Rise to Rebellion and The Glorious Cause by Jeff Shaara, are some of my favorite historical fiction novels. Rise to Rebellion are centered around the events that lead up to the Revolution, while Rise to Rebellion is about the war itself as told from perspective's of key figures in the revolution.

I have to second the comment about Kenneth Roberts. He was one of my favorite authors for a while. I grew up virtually in a library, and read everything they had by Roberts. Just be prepared to set aside your learned prejudices about Bennedict Arnold.

I read one of those Kenneth Roberts, Arundel when in Junior High. I purchased it as an adult to be sure I had it in my collection. It tells of the time when Benedict Arnold was a good guy and the reasoning for his being one of our generals...

Message edited by its author, Dec 31, 2008, 5:59pm.

My Brother Sam is Dead is a young adult book, but very good.

Dark Eagle by John Ensor Harr chronicles the downfall of Benedict Arnold.

Kenneth Roberts' books are still in print. Published by Down East Books. Roberts was a bit of a Royalist, and took a dim view of egalitarian democracy.

Message edited by its author, Jan 14, 2009, 9:44am.

I think that all of the titles I've read mentioned here are great choices. And I am sooo glad to see nobody recommended the bicentennial publications by John Jakes. Dreadful stuff!

My particular favorites are the four novels of F. van Wyck Mason which cover the entire war. The series is a rousing set of stories which are tremendously well written; they have a great sense of time and place. The geographic scope of the novels takes place in the nascent United States, Great Britain, and the West Indies. To use a term I hate, these are really good reads.

Each volume stands on its own as a narrative, but it is much more enjoyable to read them in order. Fictional personalities weave through the series in more or lesser important roles in each volume.

• Three Harbours (1938)
• Stars on the Sea (1940)
• Rivers of Glory (1942)
• Eagle in the Sky (1948)

Mason also wrote a Civil War series which included descendant
characters from the Revolutionary War series.

I'll second #9's recommendation of the Jeff shaara duo. I'm re-reading Rise to Rebellion right now. Since he writes from the perspective of several different notables (on both sides of the conflict), it's a nice, balanced look at what really happened.

Long Knife by James Alexander Thom is a great account of George Rogers Clark, a pioneer general who kept things going on the western front--one you hear less about in the history books.

Johnny One-Eye: A Tale of the American Revolution by Jerome Charyn. Not your usual historical fiction read but a good diversion from my usual reads

I join #9 and #16 in recommending Rise to Rebellion and The Glorious Cause by Jeff Shaara. The former is particularly fun, fleshing out the roles of Sam and John Adams leading up to the revolution, along with Ben Franklin, George Washington and others. Its depiction of the Continental Congress resulting in the Declaration of Independence is fascinating.

Bruce Lancasteer wrote several histories of the French-Indian War & also of the American Revolution. His work is still highly regarded.
He also wrote novels,
I have read Scarlet Patch Night March Trumpet to Arms

I just finished reading The Tory Widow, which takes place in NYC during the Revolution. I personally was unimpressed by it, but others seemed to enjoy it, so maybe it's just me :-)

I whole heartedly agree with the Whiskey Rebels. However, I must be older than everyone else that responded because John Jakes Patriot/Bicentennial Series is the first thing that comes to my mind. They came out in the 70s and used book stores are full of the paperbacks. I really enjoyed this series. Book #1 is The Bastard John Jakes

I loved Celia Garth when I was younger. It would probably seem very dated today, but I would read it again.

Altho not a novel but a memoir writen
40 years after the Revolutionary WarPrivate Yankee Doodle: Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier by Joseph Plumb Martin is a very good read.
These memoirs are of a young farmer who becomes a private in the continental army during the American Revolution. Full of day to day living, of long marches, cold, heat,rain, snow and hunger. The modern soldier would recognize Mr. Martin.
The only other novel that comes to mind is a April Morning by Howard Fast, depicting the Battle of Lexington and Concord from the perspective of a fictional teenager.

>15: oldfolkgc
I'm going to have to look into those F. van Wyck Mason books.

Message edited by its author, May 24, 2009, 5:32am.

Celia Garth by Gwen Bristow is very good -- about the Revolution in South Carolina. Shadow Patriots by Lucia St. Clair Robson is also quite good -- it is about the spy network based in NYC during the Revolution. I also enjoyed Whiskey Rebels by David Liss, and Rise to Rebellion and Glorious Cause by Jeff Shaara.

Diana Gabaldon has a series of books following the same two main characters from Scotland to France to the American Colonies. In, "The Drums of Autumn" the series picks up in the American Colonies. I enjoyed reading the entire series over a summer. My husband got to know the characters through my description of the books. Soon at the end of his working day he would ask me how Jamie and Claire got along that day. It is a captivating, and educational series!

The Jeff Shaara books, while technically novels, read more like personal histories.

Howard Fast, one of the authors blacklisted for his socialist tendencies, wrote a couple of good ones: "April Morning" and "The Unvanquished."

Kenneth Roberts most famous revolutionary novels are "Northwest Passage" and "Rabble in Arms."

John Harr's "Dark Eagle" is good one, as is David Nevin's book (called "Treason" if I recollect correctly)

A great French and Indian War one that I love is "Unconquered" by Neil Swanson (made into a wonderfully corny Cecil B. DeMille movie starring Gary Cooper and Paulette Goddard-- it even has Boris Karloff as a sinister Native American sachem).

I also recommend "Drums Along the Mohawk" and "The Whiskey Rebels."

I'm not a fan of Bernard Cornwell, so I can't recommend him, and I have not read M.T. Anderson. On the YA list, I preferred "Johnny Tremain" to "My Brother Sam is Dead," but both my children disagree.

I had read the Roberts books, and Drums years and years ago. Excellent books. Whiskey Rebels was my airplane book last month. Liss weaves a complex and fascinating story.

Have you read the Mason books I suggested back in April. If you like Roberts, you'll like them.

BTW, saying that Fast had 'socialist tendencies' begs the question. He was an active member of the Communist Party from 1943 or '44 until 1956. During WWII many of the writers (and other entertainment types) who had joined the Party during the '30s had left, either when Stalin signed the non-aggression pact with Hitler, or when the US entered the war. He joined during the war, and
through the start of the Cold War, and through the Korean War and beyond he remained in the Party. One might surmise--I have no way of knowing--that it took the Soviet invasion of Hungary in '56 for him to see the light. He was jailed for contempt of congress, not for his 'tendencies'. Whether or not HUAC should have head those hearings is a matter for debate. Whether he should have been blacklisted is also a matter for debate, but the moguls acceded to it to cover their seats.

I enjoyed Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson. It's YA, takes place mostly in NYC during the year 1776. You might find it in the Children's section of the bookstore, but thematically I think it belongs in the YA section and it also should have great crossover appeal for adults.

A newer publication is Blindspot by Jane Kamensky and Jill Lepore. It is set in the pre-Revolutionary War period in Boston. It interweaves the social unrest leading up to the Revolution, a little romance (not an overwhelming amount), struggling artists (including a woman) and intrigue.

The authors are established academics and have won prizes for their academic writing and knowledge. So this book let them "play" with the historical facts in a fictional form. It keeps the historical authenticity of the period.