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Best Historical Fiction Books: Novels That Bring the Past to Life

Historical fiction places invented characters inside real times and events. This list covers wars, empires, revolutions and quiet daily lives, from ancient worlds to the twentieth century.

It suits readers who like to learn a little while they are carried along by a story. Books are ordered by reader interest, and each has a hook and a note on what you get.

Best for: Readers who enjoy stories rooted in real history.

Scope: Books in our catalog with this genre.
Order: By reader interest (Open Library want-to-read counts), then newest first. Not a quality ranking.

145 books

2005
The Book Thief
Markus Zusak
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
A girl in Nazi Germany steals books, narrated by Death
What you get: A tender, original story narrated in a voice you will not forget. It celebrates books, friendship and small acts of kindness, and many readers cherish it for life.
Amazon Description
1983
The Color Purple
Alice Walker
Historical Fiction · Thoughtful
Letters from a young woman in rural Georgia
What you get: A powerful story told in an unforgettable voice that leaves you feeling hopeful and deeply connected to its heroine.
Amazon Description
1988
Beloved
Toni Morrison
Historical Fiction · Dark
In 1873 Cincinnati, a formerly enslaved woman's house is haunted, and then a young woman arrives
What you get: A masterpiece of lyrical storytelling that fills the page with beauty and feeling. It is a deeply rewarding read with a power that stays with you for years.
Amazon Description
2015
All the Light We Cannot See
Anthony Doerr
Historical Fiction · Hopeful
A blind girl in Paris and a German radio-gifted orphan, on opposite sides of World War II
What you get: Beautiful, carefully built prose and two lives that move toward each other. Short chapters make it easy to read, and the images linger long after you finish.
Amazon Description
1952
East of Eden
John Steinbeck
Historical Fiction · Thoughtful
Two California families and the old story of Cain and Abel
What you get: A rich, deeply human story that makes you think about your own choices and family. Generous, wise and unforgettable.
Amazon Description
1991
Outlander
Diana Gabaldon
Historical Fiction · Warm
A nurse in 1945 steps through a stone and lands in 1743
What you get: A sweeping romance across time, with the Scottish Highlands, vivid details and a love story you can settle into. Rich and immersive, it is an adventure that carries on through a long series.
Amazon Description
2009
The Help
Kathryn Stockett
Historical Fiction · Warm
Black maids in 1960s Mississippi tell their stories
What you get: A warm, engaging story told in distinct and memorable voices, about courage and unlikely friendship. It is a satisfying, emotional page-turner that makes for great discussion.
Amazon Description
2016
A Gentleman in Moscow
Amor Towles
Historical Fiction · Warm
A count under house arrest in a Moscow hotel
What you get: A graceful, charming story about finding a full life in a small world. Its wit, friendships and elegance make it a joy to read at a leisurely pace.
Amazon Description
1937
Gone with the Wind
Margaret Mitchell
Historical Fiction · Epic
Scarlett O'Hara survives the Civil War and Reconstruction in Georgia
What you get: A grand, sweeping saga with a headstrong heroine and the drama of a changing world. It is an immersive, page-turning epic you can get lost in for days.
Amazon Description
1940
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Ernest Hemingway
Historical Fiction · Dark
An American dynamiter in the Spanish Civil War
What you get: A passionate, vivid story of courage and love set in the mountains of Spain. It captures how much can matter in just a few days.
Amazon Description
2007
Half of a Yellow Sun
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Historical Fiction · Hopeful
Ugwu, a village boy, goes to work for a radical professor in Nsukka as Nigeria heads toward civil war
What you get: A powerful novel that brings history to life through characters you care about deeply.
Amazon Description
1986
Lonesome Dove
Larry McMurtry
Historical Fiction · Epic
Two retired Texas Rangers drive a herd from the border to Montana
What you get: A sprawling, richly human adventure with two of fiction's great friends. You will want to ride along to the end.
Amazon Description
1981
Midnight's Children
Salman Rushdie
Historical Fiction · Epic
Saleem Sinai is born at the moment of India's independence, linked to a thousand other children
What you get: A dazzling mix of humor, myth and history in a voice that sweeps you along. Imaginative and unforgettable.
Amazon Description
1975
Shōgun
James Clavell
Historical Fiction · Epic
An English pilot washes ashore in feudal Japan
What you get: A sweeping epic of discovery, intrigue and clashing worlds that transports you.
Amazon Description
1976
Roots
Alex Haley
Historical Fiction · Dark
Seven generations of an African American family, from Gambia to freedom
What you get: An unforgettable story that connects you to history through one family's journey.
Amazon Description
1997
Memoirs of a Geisha
Arthur Golden
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
A fisherman’s daughter becomes a famous geisha
What you get: A beautiful, immersive tale that carries you into another time and another life.
Amazon Description
2009
Wolf Hall
Hilary Mantel
Historical Fiction · Epic
Thomas Cromwell rises from a blacksmith's son to Henry VIII's most trusted adviser
What you get: Rich atmosphere and a protagonist you cannot help admiring. It makes history feel alive and present.
Amazon Description
1826
The Last of the Mohicans
James Fenimore Cooper
Historical Fiction · Epic
A frontier adventure during the French and Indian War
What you get: A fast-moving adventure with chases, bravery and the wild landscape.
Amazon Description
2004
The Last Kingdom
Bernard Cornwell
Historical Fiction · Epic
An orphan raised by Danes in a divided England
What you get: A rousing, vivid story of a young man caught between two worlds, full of action.
Amazon Description
1977
The Thorn Birds
Colleen McCullough
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
A family saga set in the Australian outback
What you get: A sweeping, emotional epic across decades set in the Australian outback.
Amazon Description
2017
The Underground Railroad
Colson Whitehead
Historical Fiction · Dark
Cora runs from a Georgia plantation on a literal underground railroad
What you get: A fast, inventive story that pulls you through one world after another and makes history feel immediate and personal.
Amazon Description
1992
All the Pretty Horses
Cormac McCarthy
Historical Fiction · Epic
In 1949, a sixteen-year-old Texas cowboy rides south into Mexico with his best friend
What you get: Gorgeous landscape writing and a young hero riding toward adventure, love and loss.
Amazon Description
1999
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Tracy Chevalier
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
A maid in Vermeer’s house and the painting that made her famous
What you get: A delicate, atmospheric story that lets you step inside a master's studio.
Amazon Description
2021
Small Things Like These
Claire Keegan
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
A coal merchant in 1985 Ireland
What you get: A concise, deeply moving book that you can read in one sitting and remember for a long time.
Amazon Description
1992
Dragonfly in Amber
Diana Gabaldon
Historical Fiction · Warm
Paris, the Jacobite rising and a family at risk
What you get: A sweeping, emotional continuation with rich history and a love story at its center.
Amazon Description
2020
Hamnet
Maggie O'Farrell
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
A fictional account of Agnes Hathaway, William Shakespeare and their son Hamnet, and the family's grief
What you get: A beautiful, poetic story that brings a household in Shakespeare's England vividly to life. It is tender and full of love, and its imagery stays with you long after.
Amazon Description
2020
The Nickel Boys
Colson Whitehead
Historical Fiction · Dark
A bright Black teenager in 1960s Florida is sent to a brutal reform school
What you get: A concise, deeply felt story that stays in your mind and makes you think about courage and memory. Beautifully controlled writing.
Amazon Description
Water for Elephants
2006
Water for Elephants
Sara Gruen
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
A veterinary student joins a Depression-era circus
What you get: Immersive circus atmosphere, a tender love story and a deeply sympathetic narrator. Full of heart and a touch of wonder.
Amazon Description
2010
Fall of Giants
Ken Follett
Historical Fiction · Thoughtful
Five families through the First World War
What you get: An epic, engaging story that makes a great historical era feel personal.
Amazon Description
1918
My Ántonia
Willa Cather
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
A narrator remembers the Bohemian girl he knew on the prairie
What you get: A tender, vivid portrait of a remarkable woman and the land that shaped her.
Amazon Description
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
2008
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
Historical Fiction · Warm
A writer finds a friend in a Guernsey literary society
What you get: A heartwarming story of an island community and the comfort of books, told through lively letters. Full of charm and warmth.
Amazon Description
2016
The Sympathizer
Viet Thanh Nguyen
Historical Fiction · Dark
A South Vietnamese captain is secretly a communist spy, and flees to California
What you get: A darkly funny, thought-provoking story told by an unforgettable narrator. It combines suspense with real intellectual bite.
Amazon Description
1934
I, Claudius
Robert Graves
Historical Fiction · Dark
Claudius, dismissed as a harmless stammerer, tells of the Julio-Claudian dynasty from Julius Caesar to Caligula
What you get: A delicious tale of palace plots and sharp characters, told with the voice of a surprising emperor.
Amazon Description
1992
The English Patient
Michael Ondaatje
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
Four people shelter in a ruined Italian villa at the end of the Second World War
What you get: Beautiful, immersive writing and four people in an old villa whose stories gradually open up.
Amazon Description
1975
The Killer Angels
Michael Shaara
Historical Fiction · Tense
Four days at Gettysburg, told through the commanders
What you get: A gripping, up-close look at the people behind a turning point in history. It reads like a novel and feels completely real.
Amazon Description
2005
A Breath of Snow and Ashes
Diana Gabaldon
Historical Fiction · Dark
War comes to the Ridge
What you get: A big, emotional volume of love and hardship.
Amazon Description
2009
Brooklyn
Colm Tóibín
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
A young Irish woman moves to Brooklyn
What you get: A quiet, beautifully told story of love and belonging that feels warm and true.
Amazon Description
1991
The Kitchen God’s Wife
Amy Tan
Historical Fiction · Thoughtful
A mother tells her daughter her secret past
What you get: A rich, moving story that gives you a new view of family secrets.
Amazon Description
2001
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Michael Chabon
Historical Fiction · Hopeful
Two cousins create a comic-book superhero in 1939 Brooklyn
What you get: A joyful, imaginative story about two cousins making their dreams real, full of wonder and heart. It makes you love creativity itself.
Amazon Description
1997
Drums of Autumn
Diana Gabaldon
Historical Fiction · Warm
The Frasers settle in North Carolina
What you get: A rich, immersive chapter of adventure and family in a new world.
Amazon Description
2021
Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone
Diana Gabaldon
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
The Frasers face the end of the Revolution
What you get: A warm, rich continuation full of familiar voices.
Amazon Description
2001
The Fiery Cross
Diana Gabaldon
Historical Fiction · Warm
The eve of the American Revolution
What you get: A big, absorbing book with warmth, adventure and romance.
Amazon Description
1927
Death Comes for the Archbishop
Willa Cather
Historical Fiction · Warm
Two French priests work to establish a Catholic diocese in New Mexico after the territory passes to the United States
What you get: A serene, luminous novel that feels like a long walk through the desert at sunrise.
Amazon Description
2025
James
Percival Everett
Historical Fiction · Tense
Huckleberry Finn retold by Jim, the enslaved man who runs before he can be sold
What you get: A fresh, daring take on a famous story, with sharp wit, real courage and a hero who owns every page. Powerful and surprising.
Amazon Description
2012
Bring Up the Bodies
Hilary Mantel
Historical Fiction · Tense
Thomas Cromwell engineers the fall of Anne Boleyn
What you get: A tense, vivid story of palace schemes, told closely through a clever central character.
Amazon Description
2017
Lincoln in the Bardo
George Saunders
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
Abraham Lincoln visits his dead son's tomb, and the ghosts in the graveyard watch
What you get: A moving, original story told through a chorus of voices, full of tenderness and wonder.
Amazon Description
2009
An Echo in the Bone
Diana Gabaldon
Historical Fiction · Dark
The war across two timelines
What you get: A rich, absorbing continuation with plenty of heart.
Amazon Description
2004
Small Island
Andrea Levy
Historical Fiction · Warm
Jamaican migrants Hortense and Gilbert find lodgings in the London home of an English couple in 1948
What you get: A rich, funny and moving story told by several voices, full of heart and hope.
Amazon Description
1880
Ben-Hur
Lew Wallace
Historical Fiction · Epic
A Jewish prince is betrayed and seeks revenge in Roman times
What you get: A sweeping story of friendship, rivalry and redemption, with a famous chariot race.
Amazon Description
1939
The Yearling
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Historical Fiction · Warm
A boy adopts an orphaned fawn on a struggling Florida farm
What you get: A tender, vivid story of growing up in the Florida woods that fills you with warmth and feeling.
Amazon Description
1913
O Pioneers!
Willa Cather
Historical Fiction · Warm
A Swedish girl, a Bohemian immigrant and the Nebraska prairie
What you get: A beautiful, heartfelt story of resilience and love of place.
Amazon Description
1998
American Pastoral
Philip Roth
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
At a 1995 reunion, a writer learns about a Newark athlete's life and imagines the rest
What you get: A rich, absorbing story that makes you think about family, hope and how well we know the people we love.
Amazon Description
2013
The Luminaries
Eleanor Catton
Historical Fiction · Epic
Twelve men meet in a New Zealand gold-rush hotel to piece together a night of mysterious events
What you get: A grand, cleverly constructed puzzle with a large cast and a rich sense of time and place.
Amazon Description
1994
Voyager
Diana Gabaldon
Historical Fiction · Warm
Claire goes back to find Jamie
What you get: A big, immersive story with grand locations and a deep bond at its heart.
Amazon Description
1952
The Caine Mutiny
Herman Wouk
Historical Fiction · Tense
A young ensign, an unstable captain and a court-martial
What you get: A gripping, thoughtful story about duty, leadership and loyalty.
Amazon Description
1928
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Thornton Wilder
Historical Fiction · Thoughtful
A rope bridge in Peru collapses and a friar asks why those five died
What you get: A beautiful, compact book that invites you to think about love, fate and why people matter.
Amazon Description
1994
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
Louis de Bernières
Historical Fiction · Warm
An Italian officer and a Greek doctor’s daughter during the occupation
What you get: A warm, vivid story of love, music and war that carries you across the years.
Amazon Description
2021
The Night Watchman
Louise Erdrich
Historical Fiction · Warm
A night watchman fights a 1953 bill that would end his tribe's legal status
What you get: A moving story of community and quiet courage as a night watchman stands up for his people.
Amazon Description
1997
The Red Tent
Anita Diamant
Historical Fiction · Warm
The story of Dinah from the Book of Genesis
What you get: A warm, sensuous, immersive story full of sisterhood and ritual.
Amazon Description
1967
The Fixer
Bernard Malamud
Historical Fiction · Dark
A Jewish handyman is accused of murder in Tsarist Russia
What you get: A powerful, absorbing story about courage and dignity in the face of prejudice.
Amazon Description
2023
Trust
Hernan Diaz
Historical Fiction · Thoughtful
A 1920s New York financier and his wife, in four conflicting accounts of their marriage
What you get: A beautifully constructed puzzle of money, marriage and storytelling, where each part changes how you see the others. Rewarding and elegant.
Amazon Description
1997
Cold Mountain
Charles Frazier
Historical Fiction · Epic
A wounded Confederate soldier walks home through the last months of the Civil War to the woman he loves
What you get: A moving, beautifully written odyssey with a strong sense of landscape and devotion.
Amazon Description
2014
Edge of Eternity
Ken Follett
Historical Fiction · Thoughtful
From Berlin to the fall of the Wall
What you get: A sweeping, gripping story that ends the trilogy with high drama.
Amazon Description
2026
Angel Down
Daniel Kraus
Historical Fiction · Tense
Five soldiers sent into no-man's-land in World War I find something not of this world
What you get: A haunting, original tale of five soldiers and a mystery that blends the trenches with the unexplained. Atmospheric and gripping.
Amazon Description
2025
The Safekeep
Yael van der Wouden
Historical Fiction · Tense
In 1961 Isabel lives alone in her family's home until her brother's girlfriend Eva comes for the summer
What you get: A slow-burning, gripping story full of atmosphere and unexpected feeling.
Amazon Description
2024
Night Watch
Jayne Anne Phillips
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
A girl brings her mother to a West Virginia asylum in 1874, after the Civil War
What you get: A tender, beautifully written story of a mother, a daughter and a place of care in post-war West Virginia.
Amazon Description
2024
Brotherless Night
V. V. Ganeshananthan
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
Sixteen-year-old Sashi in Jaffna dreams of becoming a doctor while her family is caught up in the civil war
What you get: A thoughtful, powerful story told by a young woman in Sri Lanka.
Amazon Description
2020
The Mirror & the Light
Hilary Mantel
Historical Fiction · Thoughtful
Thomas Cromwell’s last years
What you get: A rich, powerful finale with vivid scenes of the court and its schemes.
Amazon Description
2020
War Lord
Bernard Cornwell
Historical Fiction · Epic
The final Saxon Stories novel
What you get: A strong finale that honors the whole series.
Amazon Description
Sword of Kings
2019
Sword of Kings
Bernard Cornwell
Historical Fiction · Epic
The battle of Brunanburh
What you get: A tense, rousing volume with a famous clash.
Amazon Description
2019
The Huntress
Kate Quinn
Historical Fiction · Tense
A war correspondent, a Nazi hunter and a teenager chase a war criminal after the war
What you get: A fast, suspenseful story with several strong women.
Amazon Description
2018
War of the Wolf
Bernard Cornwell
Historical Fiction · Epic
A new war with the Norse
What you get: A strong, atmospheric story with steady action.
Amazon Description
2018
The Tattooist of Auschwitz
Heather Morris
Historical Fiction · Dark
A prisoner tattooing numbers at Auschwitz meets a young woman, in a novel inspired by a true story
What you get: An emotional, quick-reading story that centers on resilience, courage and the power of love.
Amazon Description
2016
The Flame Bearer
Bernard Cornwell
Historical Fiction · Epic
The long wait for Bebbanburg
What you get: A satisfying, vivid story that pays off a long wait.
Amazon Description
2016
Lilac Girls
Martha Hall Kelly
Historical Fiction · Dark
Three women's lives cross during and after the war, inspired by real events
What you get: A moving, well-paced story of resilience and hope.
Amazon Description
2016
Everyone Brave Is Forgiven
Chris Cleave
Historical Fiction · Warm
Young Londoners find love and courage at the start of the war
What you get: An emotional, engaging story of London in wartime, full of humor and feeling.
Amazon Description
2015
Warriors of the Storm
Bernard Cornwell
Historical Fiction · Epic
The Danes’ last stand
What you get: A fast, thrilling story of war and strategy.
Amazon Description
2015
The Nightingale
Kristin Hannah
Historical Fiction · Epic
Two sisters in occupied France resist the war in very different ways
What you get: A moving story of two sisters and the courage found in everyday heroes. It is emotional and gripping, and it makes you proud of what people can do for each other.
Amazon Description
2014
The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Richard Flanagan
Historical Fiction · Dark
An Australian surgeon on the Thai-Burma railway looks back on captivity and a lost love
What you get: A powerful, lyrical novel that makes you feel the strength of the human spirit.
Amazon Description
2014
Written in My Own Heart’s Blood
Diana Gabaldon
Historical Fiction · Dark
The Revolution reaches a turning point
What you get: An emotional, epic chapter.
Amazon Description
The Empty Throne
2014
The Empty Throne
Bernard Cornwell
Historical Fiction · Epic
Aethelflaed’s story
What you get: An exciting, well-paced chapter with a great sense of drama.
Amazon Description
2013
The Good Lord Bird
James McBride
Historical Fiction · Warm
An enslaved boy in 1856 Kansas is mistaken for a girl by abolitionist John Brown and rides with him
What you get: A lively, fresh and surprising story that mixes humor with real feeling.
Amazon Description
2013
The Pagan Lord
Bernard Cornwell
Historical Fiction · Epic
A pagan lord and a Christian kingdom
What you get: A rousing story with sharp battles and sharp wit.
Amazon Description
2013
TransAtlantic
Colum McCann
Historical Fiction · Thoughtful
Three journeys across the Atlantic
What you get: A beautifully written story connecting journeys across an ocean.
Amazon Description
2012
Winter of the World
Ken Follett
Historical Fiction · Thoughtful
The next generation faces the Second World War
What you get: A big, absorbing saga that follows families through enormous events.
Amazon Description
2011
Death of Kings
Bernard Cornwell
Historical Fiction · Epic
The old king dies
What you get: A strong, atmospheric chapter full of change.
Amazon Description
2010
The Lacuna
Barbara Kingsolver
Historical Fiction · Thoughtful
Harrison Shepherd grows up between Mexico and the U.S. and ends up cooking for Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo
What you get: An absorbing novel that puts you inside famous places and times.
Amazon Description
2010
The Invisible Bridge
Julie Orringer
Historical Fiction · Epic
A Hungarian student goes to Paris in 1937 and is caught up in the coming war
What you get: An immersive, tender story of love and family across a changing Europe.
Amazon Description
2009
The Burning Land
Bernard Cornwell
Historical Fiction · Epic
Uhtred and the Mercian rebellion
What you get: A pacy story of war and divided people.
Amazon Description
2008
Shadow Country
Peter Matthiessen
Historical Fiction · Epic
Peter Matthiessen's three-part novel about Edgar Watson, a planter and alleged outlaw of the Florida Everglades
What you get: A grand, immersive saga about a legendary planter, told from several angles.
Amazon Description
2007
Tree of Smoke
Denis Johnson
Historical Fiction · Dark
A young CIA officer joins his uncle's secret operation in Vietnam, and the war and the truth drift apart
What you get: An immersive, powerful story with rich characters and a strong sense of place.
Amazon Description
2007
Sword Song
Bernard Cornwell
Historical Fiction · Epic
A river battle
What you get: A fast, vivid adventure with strong action.
Amazon Description
2006
March
Geraldine Brooks
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
The absent father from Little Women, serving as a Union chaplain in the Civil War
What you get: A thoughtful, richly imagined companion that adds depth to a beloved classic.
Amazon Description
The Lords of the North
2006
The Lords of the North
Bernard Cornwell
Historical Fiction · Epic
Uhtred goes north
What you get: A tough, rousing story of battle and survival.
Amazon Description
2006
Sarah's Key
Tatiana de Rosnay
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
A journalist in Paris uncovers the story of a girl caught in the 1942 roundup
What you get: A moving, gripping novel that opens a hidden piece of history.
Amazon Description
2005
Europe Central
William T. Vollmann
Historical Fiction · Dark
Parables about generals, composers and ordinary people facing moral choices in wartime Europe
What you get: A rich, original book of linked tales that gives a many-sided view of a turbulent era.
Amazon Description
2005
The Pale Horseman
Bernard Cornwell
Historical Fiction · Epic
Uhtred in the marshes
What you get: A fast, vivid story of Alfred's early fight and Uhtred's loyalty.
Amazon Description
2004
The Known World
Edward P. Jones
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
In 1855 Virginia, a Black farmer who was once enslaved owns enslaved people himself
What you get: A richly imagined, many-voiced story that opens a world you may not have seen and keeps you thinking about it.
Amazon Description
2004
The News from Paraguay
Lily Tuck
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
An Irish courtesan and the man who will rule Paraguay, told in short scenes and letters
What you get: A vivid, lyrical story of love and power told in short, bright scenes.
Amazon Description
2004
Suite Française
Irène Némirovsky
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
Irène Némirovsky's unfinished novel of France in the first year of the war
What you get: A fine, humane novel with a powerful story behind it.
Amazon Description
2003
The Great Fire
Shirley Hazzard
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
A British war hero tours postwar Japan in 1947 and falls into a love story with an Australian teenager
What you get: A beautifully written story of two people finding each other in a changed world.
Amazon Description
2003
Property
Valerie Martin
Historical Fiction · Dark
On a plantation near New Orleans in 1828, Manon resents Sarah, the enslaved woman she received as a wedding gift
What you get: A short, gripping story with a sharp edge.
Amazon Description
2001
True History of the Kelly Gang
Peter Carey
Historical Fiction · Epic
Ned Kelly tells his own story in a raw voice, from childhood to the final siege
What you get: A raw, lively and moving story told in an unforgettable voice.
Amazon Description
2000
In America
Susan Sontag
Historical Fiction · Thoughtful
A Polish stage star plans a utopian colony in America in 1876, based on the real actress Helena Modjeska
What you get: A thoughtful, richly imagined story of a famous actress and her dream of a new life.
Amazon Description
2000
When I Lived in Modern Times
Linda Grant
Historical Fiction · Thoughtful
In 1946 a young Jewish woman from London emigrates to what will become Israel and lives through its birth
What you get: A lively, vivid novel full of hope and change.
Amazon Description
1997
Martin Dressler
Steven Millhauser
Historical Fiction · Hopeful
A bellboy's rise in late nineteenth-century New York
What you get: A charming, strange tale of a bellboy who builds ever more wondrous hotels.
Amazon Description
1996
Ship Fever and Other Stories
Andrea Barrett
Historical Fiction · Thoughtful
One novella and seven stories about scientists and the people close to them, from 1764 to 1971
What you get: Elegant, curious stories that join the lives of scientists with feeling.
Amazon Description
1996
A Spell of Winter
Helen Dunmore
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
Cathy and her brother Rob grow up on a rural estate with their grandfather, after their parents have gone
What you get: A dark, lyrical, absorbing tale full of mood.
Amazon Description
1995
The Ghost Road
Pat Barker
Historical Fiction · Dark
A psychiatrist remembers a Melanesian island while his patient returns to the trenches
What you get: A thoughtful, beautifully made close to a famous trilogy.
Amazon Description
1992
Sacred Hunger
Barry Unsworth
Historical Fiction · Dark
A slave ship sails from Liverpool in 1752, and its crew and cargo start to turn on each other
What you get: A powerful, absorbing story that holds your attention to the last page.
Amazon Description
1990
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
Oscar Hijuelos
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
Two Cuban brothers start a mambo band in New York in the early 1950s
What you get: A lively, colorful story of two brothers and their band, full of rhythm and heart.
Amazon Description
1990
Middle Passage
Charles Johnson
Historical Fiction · Tense
In 1830, a freed slave in debt stows away on a ship bound for Africa to buy captives
What you get: A rich, fast-moving sea story with humor, danger and reflection.
Amazon Description
1988
Oscar and Lucinda
Peter Carey
Historical Fiction · Epic
Two compulsive gamblers plan to ship a glass church across the Australian wilderness
What you get: A wonderfully odd, imaginative story about two dreamers and a glass church.
Amazon Description
1987
Moon Tiger
Penelope Lively
Historical Fiction · Thoughtful
A historian in hospital reconstructs her life, from wartime Cairo to old age
What you get: A bright, intelligent and moving story of a remarkable woman looking back.
Amazon Description
1984
Empire of the Sun
J. G. Ballard
Historical Fiction · Dark
A boy in Shanghai is cut off from his parents when Japan takes the city
What you get: A gripping, unusual story seen through the eyes of a boy.
Amazon Description
1982
Schindler's Ark
Thomas Keneally
Historical Fiction · Dark
A German factory owner saves over a thousand Jewish workers from the death camps
What you get: An inspiring, carefully told account that shows how one person can make an enormous difference.
Amazon Description
1980
Rites of Passage
William Golding
Historical Fiction · Tense
A young aristocrat keeps a journal on a ship bound for Australia
What you get: A gripping, finely written voyage full of observation and tension.
Amazon Description
1975
Heat and Dust
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Historical Fiction · Thoughtful
A woman retraces her step-grandmother's scandalous life in 1920s India
What you get: A vivid, atmospheric story that links two women across fifty years.
Amazon Description
1975
Ragtime
E. L. Doctorow
Historical Fiction · Thoughtful
A wealthy New Rochelle family, an immigrant father and daughter and a Black musician appear alongside real historical figures
What you get: A lively, fast-moving panorama of early twentieth-century America.
Amazon Description
1973
The Siege of Krishnapur
J. G. Farrell
Historical Fiction · Tense
British residents shelter in a besieged Indian compound during the 1857 uprising
What you get: A lively, witty and moving story of a small group of people under pressure.
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1973
Augustus
John Williams
Historical Fiction · Thoughtful
Told in letters and fragments, the life of Augustus from the day Julius Caesar summons him at seventeen
What you get: A rich, absorbing portrait of an emperor seen from many sides.
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1972
Angle of Repose
Wallace Stegner
Historical Fiction · Thoughtful
A retired historian writes his grandmother's story
What you get: A rich, patient story that connects past and present and makes you feel the beauty of the land.
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1972
G.
John Berger
Historical Fiction · Thoughtful
A young seducer comes of age in Europe in the years before the First World War
What you get: A bold, poetic story of a young man's education on the eve of a great change.
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1971
The Winds of War
Herman Wouk
Historical Fiction · Epic
Herman Wouk follows a US Navy officer and his family as war spreads
What you get: A broad, engrossing portrait of the lead-up to a global war through one family.
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1970
Troubles
J. G. Farrell
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
An English major inherits an Irish hotel that is falling apart in 1919
What you get: A witty, richly atmospheric tale that blends comedy and history.
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1968
The Confessions of Nat Turner
William Styron
Historical Fiction · Dark
A first-person novel of the 1831 Virginia slave rebellion
What you get: A vivid, serious story that invites reflection on history and conscience.
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1960
The Dean’s Watch
Elizabeth Goudge
Historical Fiction · Warm
A watchmaker, a dean and a fenland cathedral
What you get: A gentle, poetic story set in a fenland cathedral town.
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1959
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters
Robert Lewis Taylor
Historical Fiction · Light
A boy and his gambling father cross the continent to the gold fields
What you get: A fast, colorful adventure full of humor and the energy of the gold rush.
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Doctor Zhivago
1957
Doctor Zhivago
Boris Pasternak
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
A poet-physician caught between love and the Russian Revolution
What you get: A grand, poetic story of love and survival across the Russian revolution.
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1956
Andersonville
MacKinlay Kantor
Historical Fiction · Dark
Life inside a Confederate prison camp, told from many sides
What you get: An immersive, many-voiced portrait of one of history's famous prison camps.
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1952
From Here to Eternity
James Jones
Historical Fiction · Tense
At Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, a career soldier who refuses to box is harassed daily by his superiors
What you get: A powerful, absorbing portrait of men and loyalty in a peacetime army.
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1951
The Town
Conrad Richter
Historical Fiction · Thoughtful
A frontier settlement grows into a town, and a pioneer woman grows rich
What you get: A calm, richly detailed portrait of a pioneer family and a young town.
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1950
The Way West
A. B. Guthrie Jr.
Historical Fiction · Tense
A wagon train sets out from Missouri for Oregon
What you get: An epic, vivid journey along the Oregon Trail, full of characters and landscapes.
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1949
Guard of Honor
James Gould Cozzens
Historical Fiction · Thoughtful
Forty-eight hours at an Army Air Forces base in Florida, 1943
What you get: An absorbing portrait of a small world under pressure over a single weekend.
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Tales of the South Pacific
1948
Tales of the South Pacific
James A. Michener
Historical Fiction · Warm
Nineteen linked stories of American servicemen on Pacific islands
What you get: Vivid, varied stories with warmth, romance and the feel of island life.
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1945
A Bell for Adano
John Hersey
Historical Fiction · Warm
An American officer rebuilds a Sicilian town in 1943
What you get: A kind, human story of an officer helping a town rebuild and find its voice.
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1943
Dragon's Teeth
Upton Sinclair
Historical Fiction · Tense
Lanny Budd in Nazi Germany, 1929 to 1934
What you get: A well-paced story that puts a gentle observer in the middle of history.
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1936
Honey in the Horn
H. L. Davis
Historical Fiction · Light
An orphan's coming of age in homestead-era Oregon
What you get: A colorful, humorous coming-of-age tale full of open-air energy.
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1934
Lamb in His Bosom
Caroline Miller
Historical Fiction · Warm
A poor white woman grows up in the pre-Civil War South
What you get: A moving, vivid portrait of one woman's life in the Georgia backcountry.
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1933
The Store
T. S. Stribling
Historical Fiction · Dark
A Confederate colonel in a Southern town after Reconstruction
What you get: A detailed, absorbing portrait of a community and its changing fortunes.
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1929
The Last September
Elizabeth Bowen
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
An Anglo-Irish family at the end of an era
What you get: An elegant, poignant novel of a family at the end of an era.
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1924
The Able McLaughlins
Margaret Wilson
Historical Fiction · Warm
A returning soldier and the Scottish settlers of pioneer Iowa
What you get: A warm, vivid story of settlers and their land in early Iowa.
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1923
One of Ours
Willa Cather
Historical Fiction · Melancholic
A restless Nebraska farm son finds purpose in World War I
What you get: A thoughtful, beautifully written story set from the Nebraska plains to the battlefields of France.
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The Three Musketeers
1844
The Three Musketeers
Alexandre Dumas
Historical Fiction · Epic
Three young musketeers in the age of Richelieu
What you get: Pure, witty fun with sword fights, schemes and the famous cry of one for all.
Amazon Description
The Count of Monte Cristo
1844
The Count of Monte Cristo
Alexandre Dumas
Historical Fiction · Epic
A wronged sailor’s long revenge
What you get: A gripping adventure of disguise, treasure and brilliant planning that keeps you turning pages. It delivers the deep satisfaction of a story told on a grand scale.
Amazon Description