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Fiction Featuring Real People

Description: I'm looking for books that have real historical figures as characters in them. It doesn't matter if the real people are the main characters or side players.

Rank Title Author Added

1

by Tracy Chevalier

2,431 members

92 reviews

3.2

4 Members: paradoxosalpha, lahochstetler, raidergirl3, elkiedee
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: William Blake

2

The Tale of Hill Top Farm

by Susan Wittig Albert

731 members

30 reviews

3.8

3 Members: raidergirl3, MDGentleReader, jenniferw88

3

by Neal Stephenson

18,171 members

310 reviews

4.2

3 Members: hipdeep, baaic, paradoxosalpha
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: Alan Turing, Douglas MacArthur, Ronald Reagan, many others

4

Arthur and George

by Julian Barnes

5,193 members

183 reviews

½ 3.7

3 Members: raidergirl3, souloftherose, jenniferw88
Explanations: souloftherose: Arthur Conan Doyle

5

Remarkable Creatures

by Tracy Chevalier

3,535 members

237 reviews

3.9

3 Members: Chatterbox, raidergirl3, souloftherose
Explanations: souloftherose: Mary Anning

6

by Michael Cunningham

13,613 members

243 reviews

3.9

3 Members: raidergirl3, souloftherose, ManWithAnAgenda

7

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

by Susanna Clarke

29,722 members

837 reviews

3.9

3 Members: hipdeep, paradoxosalpha, ManWithAnAgenda
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: Lord Byron, the Duke of Wellington, Napoleon Bonaparte, others

8

The Other Boleyn Girl

by Philippa Gregory

16,723 members

387 reviews

3.9

2 Members: ursula, jenniferw88

9

by Paula McLain

6,760 members

388 reviews

½ 3.7

2 Members: Chatterbox, raidergirl3

10

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald

by Therese Anne Fowler

2,120 members

93 reviews

3.8

2 Members: raidergirl3, jenniferw88

11

by Peter H. Cannon

42 members

½ 4.3

2 Members: paradoxosalpha, yoyogod
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: H. P. Lovecraft, Frank Belknap Long

12

by Michelle Moran

1,112 members

97 reviews

4

2 Members: Chatterbox, jenniferw88

13

by Katherine Neville

5,354 members

145 reviews

½ 3.7

2 Members: hipdeep, paradoxosalpha
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: William Blake, Giacomo Casanova, many others

14

by Hilary Mantel

15,481 members

698 reviews

4

Member: hipdeep

15

by Barbara Kingsolver

5,900 members

271 reviews

3.9

Member: souloftherose

16

The Illuminatus! Trilogy

4,855 members

59 reviews

3.9

Member: wester

17

Time Cat: The Remarkable Journeys of Jason and Gareth

by Lloyd Alexander

2,776 members

36 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: ManWithAnAgenda

18

by Irving Stone

2,207 members

38 reviews

4.1

Member: ursula

19

Clara and Mr Tiffany

by Susan Vreeland

1,012 members

77 reviews

3.8

Member: lahochstetler

20

The Book of Dead Days

by Marcus Sedgwick

729 members

26 reviews

½ 3.5

Member: Soupdragon

21

by Barbara Mujica

403 members

5 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: SqueakyChu

22

The House of Rumour

197 members

16 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: paradoxosalpha
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: Aleister Crowley, Rudolf Hess, Ian Fleming, Robert A. Heinlein, etc.

23

The Darling Strumpet

by Gillian Bagwell

194 members

24 reviews

3.8

Member: elkiedee

24

The Damned Highway: Fear and Loathing in Arkham

128 members

5 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: yoyogod

25

Waiting for Robert Capa

by Susana Fortes

123 members

9 reviews

½ 3.4

Member: Chatterbox

26

Mason & Dixon: A Novel

by Thomas Pynchon

5,114 members

50 reviews

4

Member: paradoxosalpha
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: Charles Mason, Jeremiah Dixon, George Washington, others

27

Cleopatra's Daughter

by Michelle Moran

1,704 members

100 reviews

4

Member: Chatterbox

28

by Neal Stephenson

523 members

21 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: baaic
Explanations: baaic: Beria, MacArthur

29

Move Under Ground

by Nick Mamatas

235 members

9 reviews

3.8

Member: yoyogod

30

The Remarkable Millard Fillmore: The Unbelievable Life of a Forgotten President

by George Pendle

73 members

2 reviews

3.2

Member: ManWithAnAgenda

31

Bring Up the Bodies

by Hilary Mantel

8,076 members

378 reviews

½ 4.3

Member: hipdeep

32

The Prague Cemetery

5,142 members

174 reviews

½ 3.4

Member: paradoxosalpha
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: Giuseppe Garibaldi, Sigmund Freud, Eugene Vintras, Diana Vaughan, Leo Taxil, Dr. Bataille, etc.

33

The First Man in Rome

by Colleen McCullough

3,607 members

63 reviews

4

Member: Chatterbox

34

Memoirs of Hadrian

by Marguerite Yourcenar

3,348 members

81 reviews

4.2

Member: ManWithAnAgenda

35

Death at Gallows Green

510 members

5 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: lahochstetler

36

by Robert Louis Stevenson

12,586 members

131 reviews

3.8

Member: ManWithAnAgenda

37

Circling the Sun

by Paula McLain

2,224 members

187 reviews

3.9

Member: raidergirl3

38

by Sharon Kay Penman

993 members

58 reviews

3.9

Member: Chatterbox

39

Wonders Will Never Cease

by Robert Irwin

91 members

4 reviews

½ 3.3

Member: paradoxosalpha
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: Anthony Woodville, George Ripley, John Tiptoft, many others

40

by Gail Carriger

6,243 members

545 reviews

3.9

Member: hipdeep
Explanations: hipdeep: Queen Victoria

41

by Robert Louis Stevenson

1,033 members

17 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: ManWithAnAgenda

42

The Winter Palace

by Eva Stachniak

951 members

84 reviews

½ 3.5

Member: Chatterbox

43

Doctor Mirabilis

345 members

6 reviews

½ 3.5

Member: paradoxosalpha
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: Roger Bacon

44

The Mirror and the Light

by Hilary Mantel

3,665 members

130 reviews

½ 4.3

Member: hipdeep

45

by Colm Tóibín

3,382 members

95 reviews

3.9

Member: jenniferw88

46

2,582 members

58 reviews

4

Member: ManWithAnAgenda

47

The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.

by Sandra Gulland

1,320 members

35 reviews

4.1

Member: raidergirl3

48

Memoirs of a Gnostic Dwarf

by David Madsen

251 members

7 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: paradoxosalpha
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: Pope Leo X, others

49

Reign of Madness

95 members

9 reviews

3.8

Member: Chatterbox

50

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.

by Neal Stephenson

2,507 members

108 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: ManWithAnAgenda

51

Masks of the Illuminati

by Robert Anton Wilson

853 members

8 reviews

3.9

Member: paradoxosalpha
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: Carl Gustav Jung, James Joyce, Albert Einstein, Aleister Crowley

52

The Master of Bruges

by Terence Morgan

87 members

4 reviews

½ 3.4

Member: Chatterbox

53

Blackadder: The Whole Damn Dynasty (1485-1917)

by Richard Curtis

931 members

5 reviews

½ 4.3

Member: hipdeep

54

The Glass Town Game

by Catherynne M. Valente

368 members

10 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: ManWithAnAgenda

55

Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore

by Stella Duffy

288 members

28 reviews

½ 3.5

Member: Chatterbox

56

Exquisite Corpse

by Robert Irwin

168 members

3 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: paradoxosalpha
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: Salvador Dali, Aleister Crowley, George Orwell, others

57

20,996 members

517 reviews

½ 4.3

Member: hipdeep
Explanations: hipdeep: Richard Nixon

58

Count Belisarius

by Robert Graves

1,126 members

16 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: Chatterbox

59

The Chess Garden

by Brooks Hansen

406 members

6 reviews

4.1

Member: paradoxosalpha
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: Hermann Lebert, Rudolf Ludwig Carl Virchow, John Bigelow, others

60

by Alex Landragin

716 members

21 reviews

3.8

Member: ManWithAnAgenda

61

All Souls' Rising

by Madison Smartt Bell

615 members

10 reviews

3.8

Member: paradoxosalpha
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: Toussaint Louverture

62

The Great Lover

264 members

13 reviews

½ 3.3

Member: Chatterbox

63

Doctor Copernicus

by John Banville

633 members

13 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: paradoxosalpha
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: Nicolaus Copernicus

64

Master of the Revels: A Return to Neal Stephenson's D.O.D.O.

by Nicole Galland

270 members

6 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: ManWithAnAgenda

65

by Christopher Priest

3,775 members

149 reviews

3.8

Member: paradoxosalpha
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: Nikola Tesla

66

She Who Became the Sun

by Shelley Parker-Chan

2,982 members

84 reviews

3.9

Member: ManWithAnAgenda

67

The Broken Lands

by Robert Edric

57 members

1 review

½ 3.5

Member: Chatterbox

68

Puck and Prejudice

113 members

4 reviews

½ 3.4

Member: ManWithAnAgenda

69

The Collector of Worlds

by Ilija Trojanow

671 members

34 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: Chatterbox

70

The Amber Witch

by Wilhelm Meinhold

64 members

½ 4.3

Member: ManWithAnAgenda

71

by Sheramy Bundrick

239 members

12 reviews

3.8

Member: Chatterbox

72

Antichrist: A Novel of the Emperor Frederick II

by Cecelia Holland

32 members

2 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: paradoxosalpha
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: Frederick II

73

by Brian Catling

1,229 members

28 reviews

½ 3.4

Member: paradoxosalpha
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: Eadweard Muybridge, Raymond Roussel

74

The Lambs of London

by Peter Ackroyd

911 members

39 reviews

½ 3.3

Member: Chatterbox

75

Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon

191 members

7 reviews

½ 3.4

Member: paradoxosalpha
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: Aleister Crowley, Victor Neuburg

76

The Gardens of Lucullus

by Richard L. Tierney

10 members

2 reviews

4

Member: paradoxosalpha
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, Valeria Messalina

77

Casanova in Bohemia : A Novel

by Andrei Codrescu

99 members

2 reviews

½ 3.3

Member: paradoxosalpha
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: Giacomo Casanova

78

Woman Between the Worlds

by F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre

65 members

4 reviews

½ 3.4

Member: paradoxosalpha
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: S. L. MacGregor Mathers, Aleister Crowley, William Butler Yeats

79

The Sign of Glaaki

by Steven Savile

36 members

1 review

½ 3.5

Member: paradoxosalpha
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: Harry Houdini, Dennis Wheatley

80

by Thomas Wheeler

226 members

10 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: paradoxosalpha
Explanations: paradoxosalpha: Harry Houdini, Arthur Conan Doyle, Marie Laveau, H. P. Lovecraft

81

Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo

by Hayden Herrera

1,798 members

17 reviews

4.1

Explanations: aulsmith : Not fiction

About This List

Started: ursula
January 2012
Type: Numbered and unnumbered

Related Lists

Walter Scott Prize Winners and Shortlist

Historical Fiction Lovers

Historical Fiction

real people in fiction circumstances

History in the long view

Historical Fiction set in the 1800s

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