I just sat down with my morning tea, planning to review the Man Booker Prize for nominees from long ago and far away setting but Kate Braithwaite over at the Historical Novel Society beat me to it. She found that six of the thirteen nominees are historical fiction! Yes!

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton is set in 1866 New Zealand.

The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin, I assume, takes place in 1st century Palestine which places it in a time/place nearly as popular as the US and Western Europe. (The Near East spikes again at the Crusades.)

And, The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri is set in India during the Vietnam War. I confess I’m having a hard time labeling the Vietnam War historical fiction. Nothing that happened during my lifetime should qualify. But if that’s far enough back for you – then we’ll call it Long Ago and Far Away.