My old time favorite author is James Mischner. He writes historical fiction novels that takes a place and goes back way into time and brings it forward to today all in hte same place. The historical facts are correct as well as some of the characters, but he makes up characters to go into the story.. His books are long, but they are enjoyable to read. I really enjoyed his book "Poland", "Centennial".
Oh, yes, he also wrote "Tales of teh South Pacific" which they made a movie out of.