Historical novels can tell us much about not only our past, but also what we collectively hold to be important about our past. Usually, they provide an insight into the past in many and varied ways, including ways that are, I suggest, simply impossible to present to students of history through textbooks. This chapter will show how the development of an appreciation of historical facts and historical agency can be achieved most fruitfully through the use of historical novels in the classroom.

The historical novelist and facts

Historical figures have become historical characters in this type of novel. But is their characterisation partly imaginary? Often the novelist will explain what he or she has done with their characters. Witness Ken Follett (2010) in the back page of his novel set in the Western Front of the First World War: