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Historical novels

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Set in France before and during World War I, this is both an unflinchingly realistic war novel and a touching romance.

The Bone People by Keri Hulme
This great New Zealand novel, winner of the 1985 Booker Prize, tells the story of Kerewin, a despairing part-Maori artist who is convinced that her solitary life is the only way to face the world. An ambitious work that tackles the clash between Maori and European characters in beautiful prose.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
First published in 1961, this satirical indictment of military madness and stupidity revolves around Yosarian, a bombardier in World War II, who tries desperately to escape the insanity of the war. A great book that is worth re-reading again and again.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
This seductive and evocative novel, which tells the extraordinary story of a young geisha, reveals the cruelty and ugliness of life behind the rice-paper screens, and summons up more than 20 years of Japan's most dramatic history.

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
Born at the stroke of midnight that marked India's independence, Saleem is handcuffed to history by the coincidence. He is one of 1,001 children born that midnight, each of them endowed with an extraordinary talent. Salman Rushdie won the 1981 Booker Prize for this beautiful novel.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
First published in 1958, this is the story of a man whose life is dominated by fear and anger. It is also a social document, recounting the impact of colonialism and Christianity on the life of an African tribe, the Ibo, in turn-of-the-century Nigeria.

The Tin Drum by Günter Grass
Hitler's rise and fall is seen through the eyes of a dwarfish narrator whose magical powers are symbolic of the grave forces dominating the German nation of that period. A provocative assault on the poisoned legacy of the Third Reich.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Pulitzer prize-winning novel set in the American Deep South of the 1930s, as seen through a child's eyes. Scout and Jem Finch lose their innocence when their lawyer father defends a black man charged with the rape of a white girl.

The Trial by Franz Kafka
Joseph K is tried and condemned for a crime that is never specified. For many, this is the novel – published in 1925, a year after Kafka's death – that captures the spirit of the 20th century most comprehensively.

Underworld by Don Delillo
The novel opens at Shea Stadium in New York City during a baseball game, part of the World Series of 1951. The ball is caught by a young black man in the crowd, and continues to change hands throughout the book. The various recipients of the ball tell the story of post-war US history, giving a panorama of America from the 1950s to the 1990s.

Wild Swans by Jung Chang
Through the lives of a grandmother, mother and daughter, this book tells the story of 20th-century China. At times scarcely credible in what it reveals of the suffering of millions of ordinary Chinese, it is an unforgettable record of tyranny, hope and ultimate survival under conditions of extreme harshness.

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