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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 1,513–1,536 of 2,135

  1. Runaway Horses

    Yukio Mishima

    ★ 4.2 (5k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In a Japan grappling with modernity, a charismatic young patriot, steeped in the samurai code, ignites a desperate terrorist plot to restore the Emperor's power and dismantle the industrialists he believes are corrupting the nation's soul.

  2. The Berlin Boxing Club

    Robert Sharenow

    ★ 4.2 (5k) average on GoodreadsYoung Adult

    In Nazi-era Berlin, a young Jewish cartoonist wants to prove himself during rising persecution. He finds an unexpected way to self-discovery and family protection through boxing legend Max Schmeling, even as his hero's loyalties become dangerously unclear.

  3. The Inheritance

    Tamera Alexander

    ★ 4.2 (5k) average on GoodreadsRomance

    In 1870s Colorado, a determined woman seeking to rein in her wayward brother finds her own independence challenged and her guarded heart reawakened by a mysterious inheritance and a U.S. Marshal grappling with his past.

  4. Dragonwyck

    Anya Seton

    ★ 3.8 (5k) average on GoodreadsMystery

    An 18-year-old's dream of escaping rural life for luxury with a mysterious relative at his gothic upstate New York estate, Dragonwyck, quickly descends into a nightmare of dark secrets and terror.

  5. Harris and Me

    Gary Paulsen

    ★ 4.2 (5k) average on GoodreadsChildren's

    A summer of outrageous farm escapades with his mischievous cousin Harris transforms a young boy's ordinary tenth year into a riotous, unforgettable adventure filled with heartwarming chaos and country charm.

  6. Brazzaville Beach

    William Boyd

    ★ 3.9 (5k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In a civil war, a primate researcher uncovers truths about humanity's capacity for savagery and the blurred lines between ape and man.

  7. On the Night of the Seventh Moon

    Victoria Holt

    ★ 4.0 (5k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    Swept into a whirlwind romance under the mystical allure of the Black Forest's Seventh Moon, a young woman's dream quickly sours into a chilling nightmare when ancient legends bleed into her terrifying reality.

  8. King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table

    Roger Lancelyn Green

    ★ 3.9 (5k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Young readers can explore the valiant quests of King Arthur and his knights, from the sword in the stone to the Holy Grail, retold with charm.

  9. Serafina and the Splintered Heart

    Robert Beatty

    ★ 4.3 (5k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Scarred and disoriented after a brutal battle, Serafina awakens to a Biltmore Estate transformed by betrayal and an encroaching, nameless darkness, forcing her to master strange new powers and reclaim her identity as its guardian before an apocalyptic storm shatters everything she loves.

  10. The Death of Achilles

    Boris Akunin

    ★ 4.1 (5k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    In 1882 Moscow, the detective Erast Fandorin uncovers deceit and passion around a war hero's suspicious death, leading him from a hotel armchair to a mysterious singer's boudoir.

  11. Hope and Other Punchlines

    Julie Buxbaum

    ★ 4.0 (5k) average on GoodreadsYoung Adult

    Fifteen years after an iconic 9/11 photo made her a symbol of hope, a teenager seeking anonymity at summer camp collides with a boy whose family was shattered by the same tragedy, forcing them to confront the shared, painful history that binds them.

  12. The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years

    Chingiz Aitmatov

    ★ 4.3 (5k) average on GoodreadsScience Fiction

    A man in the Kazakh steppes struggles with ancient traditions and cosmic encounters, reflecting the Soviet Union's conflict between its earthly roots and celestial goals.

  13. Nightjohn

    Gary Paulsen

    ★ 3.8 (5k) average on GoodreadsChildren's

    On a 19th-century Southern plantation, a slave risks severe injury to secretly teach a young girl to read, starting a dangerous spread of forbidden knowledge and hope.

  14. The Company

    Robert Littell

    ★ 4.2 (5k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    From the Cold War's shadowy battlefields to the corridors of power, CIA operatives navigate a world of assassinations, covert wars, and betrayals, while hunting for a mole within their own ranks.

  15. Waverley

    Walter Scott

    ★ 3.4 (5k) average on Goodreads

    A young English idealist finds his loyalties fractured and his destiny forged amidst the wild beauty and brutal realities of the the 1745 Jacobite Rising, caught between the dying embers of feudal Scotland and the dawning age of British unity.

  16. Poison

    Chris Wooding

    ★ 3.8 (5k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A headstrong girl named Poison enters a dangerous fae world of deadly stories, murderous plots, and dark romance to rescue her sister from the unpredictable Phaerie Lord, only to find a plot far worse than she imagined.

  17. Manhattan Transfer

    John Dos Passos

    ★ 3.7 (5k) average on Goodreads
  18. Seven Daughters and Seven Sons

    Barbara Cohen

    ★ 4.2 (5k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Disguised as a boy to build a business empire, a determined young woman in ancient Arabia falls for the prince who knows her only as a man.

  19. The Mirror

    Marlys Millhiser

    ★ 4.0 (5k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Trapped in the past on her grandmother's wedding day, a 1978 bride must navigate Victorian expectations, while her grandmother, flung into the future, grapples with an unexpected pregnancy and the freedoms of the disco era.

  20. As Meat Loves Salt

    Maria McCann

    ★ 3.9 (5k) average on GoodreadsRomance

    During the English Civil War, a soldier's wish for a new life turns into a dark obsession, threatening his sanity.

  21. The Human Comedy

    William Saroyan

    ★ 4.0 (5k) average on GoodreadsYoung Adult

    In World War II California, fourteen-year-old Homer Macauley races through Ithaca as a telegraph messenger, delivering news of love, money, and death. This work forces him to confront human emotion and grow from boy to man, all set against his immigrant family's strong spirit.

  22. The Medium

    C.J. Archer

    ★ 3.7 (5k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    In Victorian London, a witty spirit medium, an enigmatic ghost, and a mischievous demon clash in a supernatural romance that blurs the line between life and death.

  23. The Distant Land of My Father

    Bo Caldwell

    ★ 4.1 (5k) average on Goodreads

    In pre-war Shanghai, a young girl's idyllic world shatters when her father's charmed life unravels into a harrowing tale of betrayal and resilience.

  24. Ragnarok

    A.S. Byatt

    ★ 3.5 (5k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    During World War Two, a young girl's world falls apart and is remade when she discovers the Norse myth of Ragnarok, finding a reflection of her own wartime experience and the power of stories to face ultimate destruction.

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