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  1. Genres
  2. ›Historical Fiction

Best Historical Fiction Books

Explore the best historical fiction books — comprehensive summaries, key takeaways, and insights from the standout titles in this genre.

2,135 summaries

Showing 1,057–1,080 of 2,135

  1. Jayber Crow

    Wendell Berry

    ★ 4.4 (11k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    This novel follows Jayber Crow, Port William's barber, as he navigates faith, love, and life's mysteries in a changing rural community.

  2. Skybreaker

    Kenneth Oppel

    ★ 4.3 (11k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Matt Cruse and heiress Kate de Vries climb twenty thousand feet into dangerous skies aboard a ghost ship, fighting deadly high-altitude creatures and ruthless pursuers, all for the treasure of the vanished airship Hyperion.

  3. The Postman

    David Brin

    ★ 3.7 (11k) average on GoodreadsRomance

    In a post-apocalyptic America, a lone wanderer dons a dead postman's uniform and, through a powerful lie, rekindles the dream of a unified nation.

  4. The White Guard

    Mikhail Bulgakov

    ★ 4.0 (11k) average on Goodreads

    Amidst the chaos of the Russian Revolution, the Turbin family in Kiev tries to keep their home and humanity as their world falls apart.

  5. The Ambassadors

    Henry James

    ★ 3.6 (11k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    A middle-aged American sent to rescue a young man from the supposed corruptions of Parisian life instead finds himself captivated by the city's sophisticated charm, forcing him to question his own rigid New England values.

  6. The Assault

    Harry Mulisch

    ★ 3.7 (11k) average on Goodreads

    After Nazis burn his family home in retaliation for a collaborator's assassination, a young boy's attempt at a normal life is haunted by the past, forcing him to face the truth of that night in occupied Holland.

  7. The Piano Tuner

    Daniel Mason

    ★ 3.6 (11k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In 1886 Burma, a London piano tuner travels to repair an instrument, becoming caught in colonial politics, the country's beauty, and a journey of self-discovery.

  8. Sabotaged

    Margaret Peterson Haddix

    ★ 3.9 (11k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Time-traveling teens Jonah and Katherine face their most dangerous mission yet when they land in the wrong historical era, discover their target, Virginia Dare, is unwilling to leave, and realize their journey to the Lost Colony of Roanoke has been deliberately sabotaged.

  9. The Way We Live Now

    Anthony Trollope

    ★ 4.1 (11k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    Trollope's novel exposes the greed and dishonesty of 19th-century English society through a fraudulent financier and the people caught in his schemes.

  10. The Years of Rice and Salt

    Kim Stanley Robinson

    ★ 3.7 (11k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    In an alternate 14th century where the Black Death wipes out 99% of Europe, "The Years of Rice and Salt" reimagines a millennium of human history, tracing the rise and fall of Eastern empires and the evolution of a world shaped by different hands.

  11. Nada

    Carmen Laforet

    ★ 3.9 (11k) average on Goodreads

    After the Spanish Civil War, an orphaned student in Barcelona navigates her family's bohemian home and her university friends' glittering world, slowly learning unsettling truths that shape her coming-of-age.

  12. The Man Who Would Be King

    Rudyard Kipling

    ★ 3.7 (11k) average on Goodreads

    Two British adventurers con their way into becoming gods and rulers of a remote Kafiristan tribe, only to have their empire crumble when a woman discovers their mortal flesh.

  13. The Alexandria Quartet

    Lawrence Durrell

    ★ 4.2 (11k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In pre-war Alexandria, a writer deals with the lingering effects of a passionate affair, only to have his memories reshaped by new views on love, politics, and the city's slow decline.

  14. Leo Africanus

    Amin Maalouf

    ★ 4.2 (11k) average on Goodreads

    From the fall of Granada to the Renaissance courts of Rome, a scholar's life unfolds with forced migrations, daring adventures, and the search for identity across three continents.

  15. A Man for All Seasons

    Robert Bolt

    ★ 3.9 (11k) average on GoodreadsSpirituality

    In a treacherous court, Sir Thomas More, a man of conscience, chooses death over betraying his soul and God for King Henry VIII's desires.

  16. Pink and Say

    Patricia Polacco

    ★ 4.5 (11k) average on GoodreadsChildren's

    During the Civil War, a white Union soldier's life changes forever when a young Black soldier saves him, making him face the harsh truth of slavery and the pointlessness of war.

  17. Tree of Smoke

    Denis Johnson

    ★ 3.5 (11k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In the chaos of the Vietnam War, a new spy navigates a maze of lies and delusion, seeking meaning amidst the moral decay and psychological operations run by his uncle.

  18. Late Nights on Air

    Elizabeth Hay

    ★ 3.5 (11k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In 1975, a cynical TV producer exiled to the remote Canadian North falls in love with a captivating radio voice. Their lives and community face challenges from an Arctic canoe trip and a gas pipeline.

  19. This Dark Endeavor

    Kenneth Oppel

    ★ 3.8 (11k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    To save his dying twin brother, a young Victor Frankenstein braves the forbidden Dark Library and embarks on a perilous quest with his friends to find an alchemist and the ingredients for the mythical Elixir of Life, demanding a piece of each of them in return.

  20. Excellent Women

    Barbara Pym

    ★ 3.9 (11k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In 1950s England, a mild-mannered spinster finds her quiet life as an 'excellent woman' upended by the chaotic arrival of new neighbors, revealing the comedic and poignant dance of unrequited desires and societal expectations.

  21. Shame

    Salman Rushdie

    ★ 3.8 (11k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In a world where honor and humiliation dictate life and death, an un-shameable man born of three mothers unwittingly ignites a fatal rivalry between two powerful families in a land on the brink of historical upheaval.

  22. The Family

    Mario Puzo

    ★ 3.8 (11k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    In Renaissance Rome, the ambitious Borgia family, led by Pope Alexander VI, manipulates power, faith, and family to control 15th-century Italy amidst art, war, and scandal.

  23. Sorcerer to the Crown

    Zen Cho

    ★ 3.8 (11k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    A freed slave and Sorcerer Royal must team up with a woman of immense, untamed power to solve England's magical drought, uncovering a conspiracy that could change sorcery forever.

  24. Tracks

    Louise Erdrich

    ★ 3.9 (11k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In early 1900s North Dakota, a community faces the loss of ancestral lands and the encroaching world, relying on the enduring, often mystical, power of its Anishinaabeg heritage.

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