The French Revolution began on May 5, 1789, when the Estates-General (representatives elected to represent the clergy, the nobility, and the rest of the population) gathered together for the first time in more than 150 years. Most of the French population was frustrated by heavy taxes and a political system that put virtually all power in the hands of aristocrats. Revolutionaries tried to seize power, which led to rioting and violence in Paris, and on July 14, 1789, they stormed the Bastille fortress. Many French aristocrats fled to other countries, including England, and French revolutionaries attacked and burned the homes of the wealthy. In August 1789, the Revolutionary government published the Declaration of the Rights of Man, proclaiming a new vision of social and political equality.
Despite the hopes of creating a more just and equal society, violence and unrest continued. The French King and Queen were executed during a period known as the "Reign of Terror," which lasted from 1793 to 1794. During this time, anyone perceived as disloyal to the Revolutionary government could be imprisoned or executed. In total, more than 16,000 people were executed. The violence of the Revolution led other European countries to eventually declare war against France. The Revolution finally came to an end when a French general named Napoleon was recognized as the leader of the French state. The wars which began during the Revolution lasted until 1815 when Napoleon was defeated for the final time.
The roots of the historical novel can be traced back to the early nineteenth-century. In 1814, Walter Scott published Waverley, or' Tix Sixty Years Hence, which is usually considered the first example of modern historical fiction. In this book and later works, Scott brought two key innovations to his representation of the past. Firstly, he focused on representing small details of everyday life, such as food, clothing, and architecture, in order to create an immersive experience for the reader. Secondly, he interwove the personal experiences of fictional characters with documented historical events. This combination of fact and fiction was very popular with audiences and authors in the nineteenth century. Major works of historical fiction from the period include George Eliot's Romola (1863), the novels of James Fenimore Cooper, Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter (1850), and Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831).
A Tale of Two Cities is considered an example of the classic form of the historical novel during its golden age. Dickens incorporates factual events from the past, such as the storming of the Bastille, but he also creates a rich fictional world where the emotional experiences of specific characters intersect with historical events. Later in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, historical fiction would continue as a significant literary movement, with important examples including Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy or Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient. Increasingly, authors use historical fiction to present perspectives of individuals whose voices were not included in the historical record. For example, Alice Walker's The Color Purple tells the story of a poor, uneducated black girl living in the rural South in the early twentieth century. Sarah Waters has published several novels set in the Victorian era in which she focuses on the experience of LGTBQA characters.
