If you could travel in time, where would you go? This simple question, which has sparked hours and hours of debates between families, friends and couples for many generations, is one of the axes of the historical novel genre. By simply opening the first page and with addictive and well-written prose, the kind that hooks you instantly, period books make us travel to any time in history, either to narrate fictional events that occurred in reality or to invent themselves. an event but set in a real historical moment.
We want to recommend five period novels that, with the exception of one of them, take place in the 20th century, which due to its proximity is one of the most exploited moments in the genre. 70s, beginning of the century, 80s, Spain, Italy… All of them are very addictive and will excite you.
‘The dream of the Crespi family’ (Alessandra Selmi)
Planet International The dream of the Crespi family
Planet International The dream of the Crespi family
I can’t stop recommending this book to everyone who asks me for a good historical novel that will engage them. ‘The dream of the Crespi family’ (Planeta Internacional) It raises the average quality of the genre, as it is a very addictive novel, very well written and with so much detail that it makes you book a plane ticket to see first-hand the town in which it is set. That is, Crespi d’Adda, in northern Italy, a working-class town built around a textile factory that is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The book tells the private stories of the many people who, even at the risk of their lives, made possible the dream of an enlightened capitalist, Cristoforo Crespi: happy workers, without food or housing problems, would perform better.
‘The women’s barracks’ (Fermina Cañaveras)
Espasa Narrative The women’s barracks
Espasa Narrative The women’s barracks
First novel by the author, Fermina Cañaveras, who has spent more than a decade investigating the repression of women in the 20th century. ‘The women’s barracks’ (Espasa Narrative) reveals the story of all the Spanish women who were sent to prostitute themselves in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. It focuses on one of them, the real character of Isadora Ramírez who, shortly before the end of the Civil War, flees Spain at the age of 17 with her mother and aunt with false documentation. However, they will be detained in Paris and taken to the concentration camp, where Isadora is forced to be a ‘feld-hure’ (field whore).
‘The best years of our lives’ (Christine Leunens)
Espasa Narrative The best years of our lives
Espasa Narrative The best years of our lives
Don’t get carried away by the cover, which is not very accurate, because the clothes, hairstyles and makeup of the characters seem to be from World War II, from the 40s, but in reality ‘The best years of our lives’ (Espasa Narrative) It takes us to the 80s, when Greenpeace demonstrated against nuclear weapons. The name of its author, Christine Leunens, may not sound familiar to you but she is the writer of ‘Caged Heaven’, which inspired Taika Waititi’s film ‘Jojo Rabbit’. Ethan, a young film student, is madly in love with his great friend Amber, an environmental activist who apparently has a perfect family. But she, although she appreciates him very much, does not love him in the same way.
‘The daughters of the factory’ (Raúl Montilla)
Grijalbo The daughters of the factory
Grijalbo The daughters of the factory
Not enough cinematographic, serial or literary use has been made of the stories and imagination of working-class Barcelona at the end of the 20th century, but this entertaining book by Raúl Montilla closes the hole a bit. ‘The daughters of the factory’ (Grijalbo) They are those of the SEAT factory in Martorell, where everyone in the neighborhood wanted to work back in the 70s. One of them was Lucía’s father, it was the dream of her life, but finally it was she who got a job at the factory with 17 years. This job, which should make her mother happy, becomes a reason for confrontation because she thinks that her daughter has gotten into politics. And at that time, the industry was the breeding ground for the demands that changed a country.
‘The regent king’ (José Calvo Poyato)
HarperCollins The King Regent
HarperCollins The King Regent
A story that fans of the author will really like, a renowned period novel writer with an enormous capacity for documentation and dissemination. José Calvo Poyato writes in ‘The Regent King’ (HarperCollins) about the work of King Ferdinand the Catholic after the death of his wife, Queen Isabel. The 12 years that he spent on the throne confirmed that Columbus had not reached the Indies; consolidate Spanish rule in Naples and expand throughout North Africa; look for a passage to reach the South Sea, expand the domains of Ultramar… and also control the intrigues of his own palace and family.
