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Is history factual, or just another form of fiction?

Are there distinct boundaries between the two, or just extensive borderlands?

How do novelists represent historians and history?

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The relationship between history and fiction has always been contentious and sometimes turbulent, not least because the two have traditionally been seen as mutually exclusive opposites.

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However, new hybrid forms of writing - from historical fiction to docudramas to fictionalised biographies - have led to the blurring of boundaries, and given rise to the claim that history itself is just another form of fiction.

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In his thought-provoking new book, Beverley Southgate untangles this knotty relationship, setting his discussion in a broad historical and philosophical context. Throughout, Southgate invokes a variety of writers to illuminate his arguments, from Dickens and Proust, through Virginia Woolf and Daphne du Maurier, to such contemporary novelists as Tim O'Brien, Penelope Lively, and Graham Swift.

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Anyone interested in the many meeting points between history and fiction will find this an engaging, accessible and stimulating read.