Books by Norah Lofts
“This was the first novel I read on Anne Boleyn, in the 1960s, and it’s excellent. It really sums up Anne. It’s so beautifully written that you can forgive the inaccuracies in it. There’s a fictional nurse in it, who gives her poppy juice in difficult times—but that’s one tiny detail. Norah Lofts is my favourite author. I have all 63 of her books.” Read more...
The Best Tudor Historical Fiction
Alison Weir, Historical Novelist
The Town House
by Norah Lofts
The Town House by Norah Lofts is the first book in her Suffolk House trilogy (books 2 and 3 are The House at Old Vine and The House at Sunset). The books, together, tell the history of England, through the eyes of each generation of the owners of a medieval house. The trilogy starts in 1380—giving a real feel for what it was like to be a serf in medieval England—and goes through to the 1950s. The trilogy comes with the highest possible recommendation from Alison Weir, one of Britain’s bestselling historians: “If you read them all as one book—and you can—it is the most outstanding historical novel that I have ever read,” she says.
The House at Sunset
by Norah Lofts
"If you read them all as one book – and you can – it is the most outstanding historical novel that I have ever read. It is effectively the history of England, seen through the eyes of each generation of the owners of a medieval house, from 1380 through to the 1950s."—Alison Weir
The House at Old Vine
by Norah Lofts
If you read them all as one book – and you can – it is the most outstanding historical novel that I have ever read. It is effectively the history of England, seen through the eyes of each generation of the owners of a medieval house, from 1380 through to the 1950s.
Interviews where books by Norah Lofts were recommended
The Best Historical Novels, recommended by Alison Weir
Bestselling British historian and author Alison Weir plunges us deep into the world of walled-up skeletons, Vikings, poisoning, intrigue, witchcraft and rebellion. This is the best of historical novels – books that never compromise on painstaking research.
The Best Tudor Historical Fiction, recommended by Alison Weir
The Tudor dynasty, which ruled England from 1485 to 1603, has been the focus of extraordinary public attention in recent years, thanks to the success of books like Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and the lavish television drama The Tudors, starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers. We asked Alison Weir, the author of many bestselling factual and novelistic books on the period, to recommend her favourite works of Tudor historical fiction.
