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64 past books matching Historical Literary Fiction
This will appeal to readers who enjoy literary fiction about utopian communities, belonging, and coming of age.
Arcadia
Literary Fiction · Coming of Age · Historical Literary Fiction
Our take
Called “Beautifully crafted” by Booklist, Arcadia follows Bit, who grows up in a 1970s commune in western New York, deeply attached to its residents and agrarian life. As the community rises and falls, he must eventually find his place in the world beyond Arcadia. This will appeal to readers who enjoy literary fiction about utopian communities, belonging, and coming of age.
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About the book
From the bestselling author of Fates and Furies comes a gripping, romantic, and tragic tale of trying to achieve utopia.
"Beautifully crafted." —Booklist
In the fields of western New York State in the 1970s, a few dozen idealists set out to live off the land, founding what would become a commune centered on the grounds of a decaying mansion called Arcadia House.
Arcadia's inhabitants include Handy, a musician and the group's charismatic leader; Astrid, a midwife; Abe, a master carpenter; Hannah, a baker and historian; and Abe and Hannah's only child, the book's protagonist, Bit, who is born soon after the commune is created.
While Arcadia rises and falls, Bit, too, ages and changes. If he remains in love with the peaceful agrarian life in Arcadia and deeply attached to its residents—including Handy and Astrid's lithe and deeply troubled daughter, Helle—how can Bit become his own man? How will he make his way through life and the world outside of Arcadia where he must eventually live?
With Arcadia, Lauren Groff establishes herself not only as one of the most gifted fiction writers at work today but also as one of our most accomplished literary artists.
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A strong fit for readers drawn to historical fiction about enslavement, rebellion, and the pursuit of freedom.
Burn Down Master’s House
Historical Fiction · Literary Fiction · Historical Literary Fiction · People of Color
Our take
An instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller, Burn Down Master's House follows Luke and Henri, two enslaved men seeking escape from a Virginia plantation, and others whose acts of resistance challenge slavery across the American South. Inspired by true stories, the novel also follows Josephine's quiet defiance and Charity Butler's fight for freedom through the courts. A strong fit for readers drawn to historical fiction about enslavement, rebellion, and the pursuit of freedom.
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About the book
Inspired by true, long-buried stories of enslaved people who dared to fight back, a searing portrayal of resistance for readers of Colson Whitehead, Jesmyn Ward, and Percival Everett, from Clay Cane, award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author of The Grift.
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES & USA TODAY BESTSELLER!
As turmoil simmers within a divided nation, smoke from another blaze begins to rise. Sparked by individual acts of resistance among those enslaved across the American South, their seemingly disparate rebellions fuel a singular inferno of justice, connecting them in ways quiet at times, explosive at others. As these flames rise, so will they.
Luke, quick-witted and literate, and Henri, a man with a strong and defiant spirit, forge an unbreakable bond at a Virginia plantation called Magnolia Row. Both seek escape from unimaginable cruelty. And sure as the fires of hell, Luke and Henri will leave their mark, sparking resistance among the lives they touch…
One is Josephine, a young, sharp, and observant girl who wields silence as her greatest weapon. A witness to Luke and Henri’s resilience, she listens, watches, waits for the moment to make her move.
Then there is Charity Butler, her husband a formerly enslaved man who proved his ferocity as a young boy standing alongside Josephine. At his encouragement, Charity fights for her freedom in court and wins – only to battle a deeply unjust system designed to destroy the life they’ve built.
And finally, there is Nathaniel, who ruthlessly exploits other Black people and mirrors the cruelty of the white men who, like him, are enslavers. A perversion of the system of slavery, his fragile and contradictory rule will become a catalyst of its own.
Inspired by the true stories of the profoundly courageous men and women who dared to fight back, Burn Down Master’s House is a singular tour de force of a novel—breathtaking in scope, compassion, and a timeliness that speaks powerfully to our present era.
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Ideal for readers who like dual-timeline historical fiction, Tudor intrigue, and family mysteries.
The Queen’s Spy
Historical Fiction · Literary Fiction · Historical Literary Fiction · Historical Romance
Our take
Called “Utterly beautiful, a real page turner!” in a reader review, The Queen’s Spy moves between 1584, when Queen Elizabeth I’s apothecary Tom serves as a silent spy amid a plot against the throne, and 2021, when Mathilde inherits an English hall hiding secrets. Ideal for readers who like dual-timeline historical fiction, Tudor intrigue, and family mysteries.
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About the book
A perilous mission. An unforgivable betrayal. A secret lost in time…
1584: Elizabeth I rules England. But a dangerous plot is brewing in court, and Mary Queen of Scots will stop at nothing to take her cousin’s throne.
There’s only one thing standing in her way: Tom, the queen’s trusted apothecary, who makes the perfect silent spy…
2021: Travelling the globe in her campervan, Mathilde has never belonged anywhere. So when she receives news of an inheritance, she is shocked to discover she has a family in England.
Just like Mathilde, the medieval hall she inherits conceals secrets, and she quickly makes a haunting discovery. Can she unravel the truth about what happened there all those years ago? And will she finally find a place to call home?
Enchanting and gripping, The Queen’s Spy effortlessly merges past with present in an unforgettable tale of love, courage and betrayal – perfect for fans of Lucinda Riley and Kathryn Hughes.
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A strong match for readers who enjoy multigenerational family sagas about identity, complicated relationships, and long-hidden secrets.
These Ghosts Are Family
Literary Fiction · Historical Literary Fiction · People of Color
Our take
Called a “rich, ambitious debut novel” by The New York Times Book Review, These Ghosts Are Family follows Abel Paisley, a Jamaican man who faked his own death and assumed his best friend’s identity. Thirty years later, his firstborn daughter unknowingly arrives to care for the father she believes is dead. Spanning generations from colonial Jamaica to present-day Harlem, the novel explores the consequences of Abel’s choices and their impact on a family shaped by slavery, migration, infidelity, and loss. A strong match for readers who enjoy multigenerational family sagas about identity, complicated relationships, and long-hidden secrets.
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About the book
PEN/Hemingway Award For Debut Novel Finalist
Shortlisted for the 2020 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize
A “rich, ambitious debut novel” (The New York Times Book Review) that reveals the ways in which a Jamaican family forms and fractures over generations, in the tradition of Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.
Stanford Solomon’s shocking, thirty-year-old secret is about to change the lives of everyone around him. Stanford has done something no one could ever imagine. He is a man who faked his own death and stole the identity of his best friend. Stanford Solomon is actually Abel Paisley.
And now, nearing the end of his life, Stanford is about to meet his firstborn daughter, Irene Paisley, a home health aide who has unwittingly shown up for her first day of work to tend to the father she thought was dead.
These Ghosts Are Family revolves around the consequences of Abel’s decision and tells the story of the Paisley family from colonial Jamaica to present-day Harlem. There is Vera, whose widowhood forced her into the role of a single mother. There are two daughters and a granddaughter who have never known they are related. And there are others, like the houseboy who loved Vera, whose lives might have taken different courses if not for Abel Paisley’s actions.
This “rich and layered story” (Kirkus Reviews) explores the ways each character wrestles with their ghosts and struggles to forge independent identities outside of the family and their trauma. The result is a “beguiling…vividly drawn, and compelling” (BookPage, starred review) portrait of a family and individuals caught in the sweep of history, slavery, migration, and the more personal dramas of infidelity, lost love, and regret.
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A strong match for readers who enjoy historical Western fiction with frontier adventures, complex characters, and intersecting stories of love, loss, and revenge.
The Last Crossing
Historical Fiction · Literary Fiction · Historical Literary Fiction · Western
Our take
An award-winning bestseller called “A feast of a book” by Annie Proulx in The Globe and Mail, The Last Crossing follows English brothers Charles and Addington Gaunt as they search for their missing missionary brother in the late nineteenth-century American West. Guided by Jerry Potts, their expedition grows to include a journalist, a saloonkeeper, a Civil War veteran, and a young woman seeking revenge. A strong match for readers who enjoy historical Western fiction with frontier adventures, complex characters, and intersecting stories of love, loss, and revenge.
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About the book
Journey from Victorian England to the whiskey trading posts of the Old West in this epic award-winning bestseller from the author of The Englishman's Boy.
In the late nineteenth century, Englishmen Charles and Addington Gaunt are sent by their father to find their brother Simon, a missionary who has gone missing in the wilds of the American West. In the outreaches of the Montana frontier, the brothers hire a guide—a half Blackfoot, half Scot named Jerry Potts—to lead them further north into the area where Simon was last seen. As the party heads out, it grows to include a journalist, a saloonkeeper, a Civil War veteran in search of love, and a young woman bent on revenge.
There's no telling what awaits them . . .
"One of North America's best writers . . . A feast of a book." —Annie Proulx, The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
"Stuffed with enough goodies to keep us entertained for days." —The New York Times Book Review
"Quest and revenge, love and loss converge before the novel's satisfying final twist." —The Boston Globe
"The quality of its plotting, vivid characterizations and descriptions and dark humor place it firmly in the company of the likes of Larry McMurtry and Cormac McCarthy." —St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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A strong match for readers drawn to historical fiction about wartime espionage, family loyalties, and the consequences of difficult choices.
The Storm We Made
Historical Fiction · Literary Fiction · Asian Fiction · Historical Literary Fiction · World War 2
Our take
A national bestseller and Good Morning America Book Club pick, The Storm We Made is an “espionage-laden family epic” (Vanity Fair) set in Japanese-occupied Malaya. In 1945, Cecily Alcantara’s son has disappeared, her daughters face growing danger, and the secrets of her past as a spy threaten to destroy her family. As the consequences of her choices catch up with her, Cecily must find a way to protect those she loves. A strong match for readers drawn to historical fiction about wartime espionage, family loyalties, and the consequences of difficult choices.
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About the book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK * LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION 2024 FIRST NOVEL PRIZE
In this “espionage-laden family epic” (Vanity Fair), an ordinary housewife becomes an unlikely spy—and her dark secrets will test even the most unbreakable ties.
Malaya, 1945. Cecily Alcantara’s family is in terrible danger: her fifteen-year-old son, Abel, has disappeared, and her youngest daughter, Jasmin, is confined in a basement to prevent being pressed into service at the comfort stations. Her eldest daughter Jujube, who works at a tea house frequented by drunk Japanese soldiers, becomes angrier by the day.
Cecily knows two things: that this is all her fault; and that her family must never learn the truth.
A decade prior, Cecily had been desperate to be more than a housewife to a low-level bureaucrat in British-colonized Malaya. A chance meeting with the charismatic General Fujiwara lured her into a life of espionage, pursuing dreams of an “Asia for Asians.” Ten years later as the war reaches its apex, her actions have caught up with her. Now her family is on the brink of destruction—and she will do anything to save them.
Told from the perspectives of four unforgettable characters, The Storm We Made spans years of pain, triumph, and perseverance. “The tenderness in its details, the ordinary ways that these characters love and laugh in the face of the extraordinary…Chan shows us, with clarity and care, how the truest mirror comes from the intimacy of human connection” (The New York Times Book Review).
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Grief fractures even the most carefully tended lives.
Beneficence
Literary Fiction · Historical Literary Fiction · Psychological Fiction
Our take
Grief fractures even the most carefully tended lives. In Beneficence, Meredith Hall follows the Senter family after an unthinkable loss reshapes their rural existence, testing their faith in work, love, and one another. As sorrow gives way to reckoning, each member must confront guilt and forgiveness in this quiet literary novel about endurance, responsibility, and the fragile grace of staying together.
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About the book
"People stay together, fall apart, come back together, altered. It is a book about work, about grief, about thick ongoing love" from the bestselling author (The Boston Globe).
In the midst of a nearly perfect life, Doris Senter is thankful but wary. "We can't ever know what will come," she says. When an unimaginable tragedy turns the family of five into a family of four, everything the Senters held faith in is shattered. The family is consumed by sorrow and guilt. Slowly, the surviving family members find their way to forgiveness—of themselves and of each other.
Few writers know the human heart and the burden of grief as well as New York Times-bestselling author Meredith Hall (Without a Map). This is a radiant novel of goodness and love—both its gifts and its obligations—that will stay with readers long after the last page. With a rare tenderness and compassion, Beneficence shows broken hearts becoming whole as this family reclaims their love and peace.
"If the word 'luminous' didn't already exist, you'd have to invent it to describe Meredith Hall's radiant new novel." —Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
"A modern American masterpiece." —Dani Shapiro, New York Times-bestselling author
"A quiet but steady book, one that echoes ancient and important rhythms." —The Washington Post
"One of the best books I've ever read." —Simon Van Booy, award-winning author
"Spare but decked with moments of crystalline beauty . . . A family flounders in grief, but finds their way home through forgiveness and acceptance, in Beneficence, Meredith Hall's gorgeous and moving new novel." —Foreword (starred review)
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Ideal for readers looking for feminist myth retellings, historical fantasy, and reimagined ancient and biblical traditions.
Lilith
Pre-History | Ancient History · Literary Fiction · Historical Literary Fiction
Our take
Lilith refuses Adam's demand that she submit to him and is banished from Eden, beginning a journey across centuries to rescue Eve, find the missing Asherah, and restore balance to the world, with a 3.6-star average from more than 13,000 Goodreads ratings. Ideal for readers looking for feminist myth retellings, historical fantasy, and reimagined ancient and biblical traditions.
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About the book
A triumphantly feminist retelling of ancient creation myths in the tradition of Madeline Miller and Claire North.
Lyrically rendered, this epic U.S. debut tells the story of the woman known as Adam's first wife and her fall from Paradise and quest for revenge.
Before Eve, there was Lilith.
Lilith and Adam are equal and happy in the Garden of Eden. Until Adam decides Lilith should submit to his will and lie beneath him. She refuses—and is banished forever from Paradise.
Demonized and sidelined, Lilith watches in fury as God creates Eve, the woman who accepts her submission. But Lilith has a secret: she has already tasted the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Endowed with Wisdom, she knows why Asherah—God’s wife and equal, the Queen of Heaven—is missing. Lilith has a plan: she will rescue Eve, find Asherah, restore balance to the world, and regain her rightful place in Paradise.
Lilith’s quest for justice drives her throughout history, from the ziggurats of Ancient Sumer, to the court of Israel’s Queen Jezebel, and to the side of a radical preacher in Roman Judea. Noah’s wife, Norea, Jezebel and Mary Magdalene all play their part in Lilith’s enlightenment. In the modern age, as she observes the catastrophic consequences of a world built on inequality, Lilith finally understands what must be done to correct the wrong done to women—and all humankind—at the beginning of time.
Inspired by ancient myths and suppressed scriptures, Lilith is a thought-provoking and ambitious novel with an evocative literary voice and a triumphantly engaging heroine.
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Clara Kelley enters Andrew Carnegie’s household under a stolen identity, hiding poverty and ambition behind a maid’s apron.
Carnegie’s Maid
Biographical Fiction · Historical Fiction · Literary Fiction · Historical Literary Fiction
Our take
Clara Kelley enters Andrew Carnegie’s household under a stolen identity, hiding poverty and ambition behind a maid’s apron. Her intelligence earns his trust, but affection and secrets threaten her future and her family’s survival. This richly imagined historical novel explores power, class, and the unseen influence of women, with 4.4 stars on Amazon and widespread book club acclaim.
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About the book
The USA Today Bestseller
From the bestselling author of The Only Woman in the Room comes a mesmerizing tale of historical fiction that asks what kind of woman could have inspired an American dynasty.
Clara Kelley is not who they think she is. She's not the experienced Irish maid who was hired to work in one of Pittsburgh's grandest households. She's a poor farmer's daughter with nowhere to go and nothing in her pockets. But the woman who shares her name has vanished, and assuming her identity just might get Clara some money to send back home.
Clara must rely on resolve as strong as the steel Pittsburgh is becoming famous for and an uncanny understanding of business, attributes that quickly gain her Carnegie's trust. But she still can't let her guard down, not even when Andrew becomes something more than an employer. Revealing her past might ruin her future—and her family's.
With captivating insight and heart, Carnegie's Maid is a book of fascinating 19th century historical fiction. Discover the story of one brilliant woman who may have spurred Andrew Carnegie's transformation from ruthless industrialist to the world's first true philanthropist.
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Cleopatra reclaims her life from the myths that silenced her in this bold historical epic.
Cleopatra
Literary Fiction · Historical Fiction · Historical Literary Fiction
Our take
Cleopatra reclaims her life from the myths that silenced her in this bold historical epic. Speaking in her own voice, she reveals the strategist, mother, and ruler behind the legend, fighting to protect her children and her legacy. This #1 new release delivers a subversive and intimate portrait of power in the ancient world.
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Cleopatra tells her own story in this evocative and sensuous historical epic from the bestselling and award-winning author of Faebound and The Final Strife.
“Enchanting, smart, and subversive—this is El-Arifi’s masterpiece”—RF Kuang, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Katabasis
YOU KNOW MY NAME, BUT YOU DO NOT KNOW ME.
Your historians call me seductress, but I was ever in love's thrall.
Your playwrights speak of witchcraft, but my talents came from the gods themselves.
Your poets sing of my bloodlust, but I was always protecting my children.
How wilfully they refuse to concede that a woman could be powerful, strategic, and divinely blessed to rule.
Death will silence me no longer.
This is not the story of how I died. But how I lived.
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Set in post–Cultural Revolution China, this sweeping novel follows two women shaped by sacrifice and survival.
And The Ancestors Sing
Historical Fiction · Literary Fiction · Historical Literary Fiction
Our take
Set in post–Cultural Revolution China, this sweeping novel follows two women shaped by sacrifice and survival. From a forced rural marriage to the brutal choices of a teenage migrant in Shanghai, their lives reflect decades of upheaval and resilience. A multigenerational story of family, ambition, and the unbreakable pull of home.
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About the book
Spanning decades of seismic change in post-Cultural Revolution China, And The Ancestors Sing is a sweeping, multigenerational novel of resilience, sacrifice, and the unbreakable pull of home, perfect for fans of Pachinko and The Island of Sea Women.
In 1978, as the Cultural Revolution fades into history, Lei is bartered away into marriage for two cartons of cigarettes and a handful of eggs. She finds herself in the unfamiliar village of her new husband where she is met with indifference. When a disaster upends their world, Lei and her husband are forced to join China’s vast wave of city-bound, rural migrants, leaving behind children whom they may never see again.
Sixteen-year-old LuLu arrives in Shanghai with nothing but ambition. Denied a factory job and determined to keep her family from starving, she turns to sex work, navigating the dangers of the city’s underbelly with sharp wit and a fierce will to survive. When a powerful client offers her a chance at security, LuLu faces an impossible choice: seize a future that could lift her family from poverty, or risk everything for a life on her own terms.
Immersive, evocative, and impeccably detailed, And The Ancestors Sing is a sweeping, multigenerational story of sacrifice, survival, and the unbreakable pull of home.
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A mysterious painting links two women across decades, from 1930s Spain to 1960s London.
The Muse
Literary Fiction · Historical Fiction · Romance · Historical Literary Fiction
Our take
A mysterious painting links two women across decades, from 1930s Spain to 1960s London. As ambition, desire, and deception ripple through the art world, buried truths surface with lasting consequences. This richly layered historical novel explores creativity and power, earning 4.3 stars on Amazon and 3.9 stars on Goodreads from thousands of readers.
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From the #1 internationally bestselling author of The Miniaturist comes a captivating and brilliantly realized story of two young women—a Caribbean immigrant in 1960s London, and a bohemian woman in 1930s Spain—and the powerful mystery that ties them together.
England, 1967. Odelle Bastien is a Caribbean émigré trying to make her way in London. When she starts working at the prestigious Skelton Institute of Art, she discovers a painting rumored to be the work of Isaac Robles, a young artist of immense talent and vision whose mysterious death has confounded the art world for decades. The excitement over the painting is matched by the intrigue around the conflicting stories of its discovery. Drawn into a complex web of secrets and deceptions, Odelle does not know what to believe or who she can trust, including her mesmerizing colleague, Marjorie Quick.
Spain, 1936. Olive Schloss, the daughter of a Viennese Jewish art dealer and an English heiress, follows her parents to Arazuelo, a poor, restless village on the southern coast. She grows close to Teresa, a young housekeeper, and Teresa’s half-brother, Isaac Robles, an idealistic and ambitious painter newly returned from the Barcelona salons. A dilettante buoyed by the revolutionary fervor that will soon erupt into civil war, Isaac dreams of being a painter as famous as his countryman Picasso.
Raised in poverty, these illegitimate children of the local landowner revel in exploiting the wealthy Anglo-Austrians. Insinuating themselves into the Schloss family’s lives, Teresa and Isaac help Olive conceal her artistic talents with devastating consequences that will echo into the decades to come.
Rendered in exquisite detail, The Muse is a passionate and enthralling tale of desire, ambition, and the ways in which the tides of history inevitably shape and define our lives.
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