Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting located in the past. Although the term is used as a synonym for the historical novel, it can be applied to other types of narrative, including theatre, opera and television, as well as video games and graphic novels. An essential element of historical fiction is that it is set in the past and pays attention to the manners, social conditions and other details of the period depicted. Authors frequently choose to explore notable historical figures in these settings, allowing readers to better understand how these individuals might have responded to their environments; some subgenres such as alternate history and historical fantasy insert speculative or ahistorical elements into a novel. Works of historical fiction are sometimes criticized for lack of authenticity because of readerly or genre expectations for accurate period details; this tension between historical authenticity, or historicity, fiction becomes a point of comment for readers and popular critics, while scholarly criticism goes beyond this commentary, investigating the genre for its other thematic and critical interests.

Historical fiction as a contemporary Western literary genre has its foundations in the early-19th-century works of Sir Walter Scott and his contemporaries in other national literatures such as the Frenchman Honoré de Balzac, the American James Fenimore Cooper, a Russian, Leo Tolstoy. However, the melding of "historical" and "fiction" in individual works of literature has a long tradition in most cultures. Definitions differ as to. On the one hand the Historical Novel Society defines the genre as works "written at least fifty years after the events described", while critic Sarah Johnson delineates such novels as "set before the middle of the last century... in which the author is writing from research rather than personal experience." Again Lynda Adamson, in her preface to the bibliographic reference work World Historical Fiction, states that while a "generally accepted definition" for the historical novel is a novel "about a time period at least 25 years before it was written", she suggests that some people read novels written in the past, like those of Jane Austen, as if they were historical novels.

Historical fiction sometimes encouraged movements of romantic nationalism. Walter Scott's Waverley novels created interest in Scottish history and still illuminate it. A series of novels by Józef Ignacy Kraszewski on the history of Poland popularized the country's history after it had lost its independence in the Partitions of Poland. Henryk Sienkiewicz wrote several immensely popular novels set in conflicts between the Poles and predatory Teutonic Knights, rebelling Cossacks and invading Swedes, he won the 1905 Nobel Prize in literature. He wrote the popular novel, Quo Vadis, about Nero's Rome and the early Christians, adapted several times for film, in 1913, 1924, 1951, 2001 to only name the most prominent. Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter fulfilled a similar function for Norwegian history. Many early historical novels played an important role in the rise of European popular interest in the history of the Middle Ages. Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame receives credit for fueling the movement to preserve the Gothic architecture of France, leading to the establishment of the Monuments historiques, the French governmental authority for historic preservation.

Rita Monaldi and Francesco Sorti's historical mystery saga Imprimateur Secretum Veritas Mysterium has increased interest in European history and features famous castrato opera singer Atto Melani as a detective and spy. Although the story itself is fiction, many of the persona and events are not; the book is based on research by Monaldi and Sorti, who researched information from 17th-century manuscripts and published works concerning the siege of Vienna, the plague and papacy of Pope Innocent XI. The genre of the historical novel has permitted some authors, such as the Polish novelist Bolesław Prus in his sole historical novel, Pharaoh, to distance themselves from their own time and place to gain perspective on society and on the human condition, or to escape the depredations of the censor. In some historical novels, major historic events take place off-stage, while the fictional characters inhabit the world where those events occur. Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped recounts private adventures set against the backdrop of the Jacobite troubles in Scotland.

Charles Dickens's Barnaby Rudge is set amid the Gordon Riots, A Tale of Two Cities in the French Revolution. In some works, the accuracy of the historical elements has been questioned, as in Alexandre Dumas' Queen Margot. Postmodern novelists such as John Barth and Thomas Pynchon operate with more freedom, mixing historical characters and settings with invented history and fantasy, as in the novels The Sot-Weed Factor and Mason & Dixon respectively. A few writers create historical fiction without fictional characters. One example is the series Masters of Rome by Colleen McCullough. Historical prose fiction has a long tradition in world literature. Three of the Four Classics of Chinese literature were set in the distant past: Shi Nai'an's 14th-century Water Margin concerns 12th-century outlaws.

Pine Grove is an unincorporated community in Klamath County, United States. Pine Grove lies south of Oregon Route 140 just east of its interchange with Oregon Route 39 near Altamont. Pine Grove had a station on the Oregon and Eastern Railway, which by 1927 reached from Klamath Falls to Bly. A 1941 timetable lists Pine Grove as the third stop east of Klamath Falls between Olene. After 1990, the rail line passing through Pine Grove became part of a rail trail, the OC&E Woods Line State Trail, managed by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. One of the trailheads on the 100-mile trail is at Pine Grove

David Harris Davies was a Welsh international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Neath and county rugby for Glamorgan. He won a single international cap, selected to play for Wales in 1904. Davies was born in Tonna and came through the ranks of local team Tonna RFC, before moving to Neath, considered the area's major rugby team. While with Neath, Davies turned out for Glamorgan police and Glamorgan County. By the 1902/03 season, Davies was a prominent member of the Neath squad and was given the senior team captaincy. Davies' most notable rugby match was his one and only international cap, being selected to represent Wales as part of the 1904 Home Nations Championship; the opening game of the Championship had resulted in a 14 all draw between England and Wales, the Welsh selectors responded by bringing in five new caps, four of them forwards. Played against Scotland at Swansea Wales were led out by Willie Llewellyn; the game was a one-sided affair, with the Welsh forwards providing plenty of possession for the Welsh backs to control the play.

Despite a heavy Welsh victory, the Welsh selectors made further changes for the next game, with Davies being one of those players dropped from the team. Jenkins would become a prominent member in Welsh rugby administration. Wales Scotland 1904 Jenkins, John M.. Who's Who of Welsh International Rugby Players. Wrexham: Bridge Books. ISBN 1-872424-10-4. Smith, David. Fields of Praise: The Official History of The Welsh Rugby Union. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-0766-3