The other Cromwell (and the Stuarts)

Just saw an OK movie about Oliver Cromwell and the beheading of Charles I called To Kill A King -- it made me realize how little I know about that time period and the Stuarts in general. I've been kind of stuck with the Tudors and more likely to go back from them than forward. Anyway, does anyone have any recommendations for good historical fiction about the Stuarts, the Civil War or the Commonwealth period?

I think they're out of print now but Margaret Irwin The Stranger Prince about Prince Rupert of the Rhine & the English Civil War is superb - well researched and easy to read and her two books about Montrose - The Bride and Proud Servant and the one about Charles II sister Minette called Royal Flush are all very readable.

I have looked and found suprisingly little set during the English Civil War. The is more with the Stuarts, including the great Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson

There's always Scott's Woodstock, which isn't bad but takes quite a few liberties with history. And Robert Graves's slightly embarrassing Wife to Mr Milton - told from the point of view of Milton's second wife and definitely not one of his best efforts. If you really want to know about the Civil War and Commonwealth, there's a lot of good non-fiction, especially from Christopher Hill.

The tagmash http://www.librarything.com/tag/English+Civil+War,+historical+fiction comes up with a few more, but also a lot of noise from the other civil war (Ellis Peters vs. Ken Follet)

I haven't read it yet, but Lindsey Davis's Rebels and Traitors is set during the English Civil War. For non-fiction I would recommend The English Civil War by Diane Purkiss.

I have to admit that I find the notion of Oliver Cromwell being the other Cromwell rather mindboggling, but that's because I'm Irish and so for me "Cromwell" means Oliver.

>5 Scorbet: Scorbet

"Cromwell" means Oliver for me too.

It was over 30 years ago that I read an interesting biography of Oliver Cromwell: Cromwell, our Chief of Men by Antonia Fraser. I remember it being very readable, although I thought Antonia Fraser was a bit soft on Cromwell (but, of course, Fraser is English).

>6 Thrin:
Isn't she Anglo-Irish by birth? She's certainly a Roman Catholic, and she wrote the Cromwell book a couple of years before the IRA tried to blow her husband up.

If you want a bodice ripping pot boiler try Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor. As I recall Amber was a orphan of a cavalier brought up by round heads and ends up leading a most interesting life. ;)

>7 thorold: Thanks thorold, I didn't know about Antonia Fraser's Anglo-Irish background. Why did the IRA want to murder her husband? I would have thought the Irish had more respect for a playwright.

I probably should have put a winking semi-colon after '(but, of course, Fraser is English)'. I was just stirring.

>9 Thrin:
It wasn't Pinter, it was her first husband, Sir Hugh Fraser, a Tory MP.

>10 thorold:

Ah!

As someone currently obsessed with Charles II (how many places can I write THAT?), I recommend Susan Holloway Scott's novels about his mistresses (also The Darling Strumpet and Exit the Actress about Nell Gwyn). There's also Jude Morgan's The King's Touch. If you want a LOOOONG series that touches on the Stuarts for a couple books, try the Morland Saga by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. (Books 4-6 are the main ones.)

Thanks everyone -- and keep 'em coming, too! Lots of interesting reading here, I can see. Now that I think about it, referring to Oliver as the "other Cromwell" is a bit odd but like I said in my initial post I'm Tudor-centric plus Wolf Hall got so much attention in historical fiction circles I assumed Thomas would be most people's first thought when they read the name. (In an almost completely off topic note: I'm currently watching the third season of True Blood on DVD and one of the bad vampires is played by the actor who played Thomas Cromwell on the Tudors -- I can never remember the character's name so I just refer to him as "Thomas Cromwell Vampire." No doubt that mash-up is headed our way soon ... )

Oliver Cromwell, Vampire Protector.

I would definatly read that book.

>14 AsYouKnow_Bob:
Nol!

Eleanor Hibbert wrote a few novels about the Stuarts under her Jean Plaidy pseudonym including the omnibus The Loves of Charles II. That covers the Civil War and Restoration. So does Loyal in Love, formerly Myself, My Enemy in her "Queens of England" series.
I second on The Stranger Prince by Margaret Irwin.

Hester: The Missing Years of the Scarlet Letter by Paula Reed was a good read that covers Cromwell and the time period.

I probably sound like a broken record, but Nigel Tranter wrote books about that time period, some in Scotland and some in England. I particulary liked his Montrose duology: The Young Montrose and Montrose: The Captain General. Those focus mainly on Scotland, but he has several others that focus on England, particularly when James I and VI took the throne.

And then there's always The Three Musketeers which, although set in France, deals with this time period and includes intrigue with an English nobleman!

Royal Escape by Georgette Heyer, one of her historical novels. About the flight of Charles II after the Battle of Worcester in 1651.

I just read Dark Angels by Karleen Koen, set in 1670-1671. It's got political intrigue, mystery, and melodrama, along with some romance; it may look like a romance novel but it really isn't--and the protagonist, a young lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine, is a hard-headed character and not entirely likeable. I hope there's a sequel in the works!