historical fiction

noun

1. the genre of literature, film, etc., comprising narratives that take place in the past and are characterized chiefly by an imaginative reconstruction of historical events and personages.
2. works of this genre, as novels and plays.

Word History and Origins

Origin of historical fiction¹

First recorded in 1585–95

Example Sentences

Follett is out this fall with his final installment of an historical fiction trilogy that races through the 20th century.

From The Daily Beast

When Waters herself is writing historical fiction, how immersed is she in the period?

From The Daily Beast

“There was so much lesbian historical fiction around,” she recalls.

From The Daily Beast

He talks to Allen Barra about the Jewish mob, historical fiction, and how he grades Obama.

From The Daily Beast

Paradise Alley won the 2003 James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Best Historical Fiction and the American Book Award.

From The Daily Beast

Certainly The Cheats establishes her in my mind as our first writer of historical fiction.

From Project Gutenberg

Historical fiction has gone hand in hand with a revived interest in historical and archæological research.

From Project Gutenberg

From the Crusades to the Palisades they have enriched the arts of history and fiction and the trade of historical fiction.

From Project Gutenberg

The world is filled with historical fiction; it is the cant and the sham of the hour.

From Project Gutenberg

At any public library he can find a catalogue of historical fiction arranged according to centuries.

From Project Gutenberg