In modern multimedia society, media like film, computer games and literature have a significant impact on peoples understanding of history, and to a degree forms the development of historical consciousness amongst pupils, separate from the teaching in school. The use of film and computer games in history teaching is not uncommon, and has been subject to research, while the use of the historical novel in history teaching is less common. It has also received little attention from scholars. A central question raised for debate in this article is whether the historical novel could be used in the history teaching in the Norwegian upper secondary school, and how this use could be related to the core elements and aims of competence in the subject curriculum. A central argument made is that the use of the historical novel in the school subject history can be connected to the core elements of historical empathy and historical consciousness and promote both core elements when combined with sources and history textbooks. In addition, the article discusses the relationship between the field of history as a scientific subject and the historical novel, and how certain shared characteristics could benefit history teaching.