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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 169–192 of 2,135

  1. Everything is Illuminated

    Jonathan Safran Foer

    ★ 3.9 (164k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    A young American Jew goes on a funny, difficult journey through post-Soviet Ukraine with a translator who misuses words, a blind, haunted elder, and an 'undersexed' dog. He wants to find out about his grandfather's past and the woman who saved him from the Nazis.

  2. The Girls

    Lori Lansens

    ★ 3.5 (164k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    Joined at the head yet seeking individual lives, conjoined twins Rose and Ruby experience love, loss, and the journey of their shared existence as one sister writes their story.

  3. The Invention of Hugo Cabret

    Brian Selznick

    ★ 4.2 (163k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    In a 1930s Paris train station, an orphaned clockmaker's quest to fix a broken automaton reveals a secret linking his past to a reclusive toymaker and the start of cinema.

  4. The Cider House Rules

    John Irving

    ★ 4.1 (161k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In a world of ether addiction, unwanted pregnancies, and the sweet-sour tang of cider, an orphan named Homer navigates love, loyalty, and the moral complexities of his mentor's controversial legacy in rural Maine.

  5. City of Girls

    Elizabeth Gilbert

    ★ 4.0 (157k) average on GoodreadsRomance

    In 1940s New York City, a young woman's theatrical awakening leads her to a life of pleasure, self-discovery, and unconventional love, told from her ninety-five-year-old perspective.

  6. Invisible Man

    Ralph Ellison

    ★ 3.9 (157k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    A nameless Black man's journey from the Jim Crow South to Harlem shows the invisibility of racial identity in 1950s America.

  7. Beautiful Ruins

    Jess Walter

    ★ 3.7 (157k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    A romance starts on the Italian coast in 1962 and affects fifty years of lives, Hollywood dreams, and 'Beautiful Ruins'.

  8. The White Queen

    Philippa Gregory

    ★ 3.9 (155k) average on GoodreadsRomance

    A commoner secretly marries a king, putting her into the Wars of the Roses where her sons become the 'Princes in the Tower,' changing England's future.

  9. White Fang

    Jack London

    ★ 4.0 (154k) average on GoodreadsChildren's

    White Fang, a wolf-dog, journeys from the brutal Yukon wilderness to human companionship, illustrating a primal story of survival, instinct, and the slow taming of a wild heart during the Klondike Gold Rush.

  10. The Immortalists

    Chloe Benjamin

    ★ 3.7 (152k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In 1969, four New York City siblings learn their death dates from a psychic, which shapes their paths through a world of magic, science, love, and loss, as they consider destiny versus choice over the next five decades.

  11. A Room With a View

    E.M. Forster

    ★ 3.9 (152k) average on GoodreadsRomance

    In sun-drenched Florence and the rigid drawing-rooms of Edwardian England, Lucy Honeychurch navigates the intoxicating pull of unconventional love against the stifling expectations of her class, choosing between societal approval and the awakening of her own heart.

  12. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

    Christopher Moore

    ★ 4.2 (151k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Resurrected and irreverent, Christ's childhood pal Biff hilariously recounts the missing years of Jesus, from kung fu training in the East to encounters with demons and hot babes, all while desperately trying to divert his best friend from his tragic destiny.

  13. Midwives

    Chris Bohjalian

    ★ 4.0 (151k) average on GoodreadsMystery

    In 1981 rural Vermont, a dedicated midwife performs an emergency C-section during a blizzard to save a baby, leading to a murder trial as her daughter recounts the community's struggle with truth and guilt.

  14. The Constant Princess

    Philippa Gregory

    ★ 3.9 (150k) average on GoodreadsRomance

    From the sun-drenched courts of Spain to the cold, calculating heart of Tudor England, Catalina of Aragon fights to fulfill her destiny as queen, even if it means weaving a powerful lie that will shape history.

  15. Lonesome Dove

    Larry McMurtry

    ★ 4.5 (149k) average on Goodreads

    Two aging, cantankerous Texas Rangers embark on one last, epic cattle drive from the dusty Rio Grande to the untamed Montana frontier, confronting the brutal beauty and heartbreaking realities of the fading American West.

  16. Rules of Civility

    Amor Towles

    ★ 4.0 (147k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In the dazzling, cutthroat world of 1938 New York City, a chance encounter propels a sharp-witted young woman from a Coney Island upbringing into a dizzying ascent through Manhattan's high society, forcing her to navigate love, ambition, and the precarious rules of civility.

  17. Shōgun

    James Clavell

    ★ 4.4 (147k) average on Goodreads

    Washed ashore in feudal Japan, an ambitious English pilot becomes a pawn and a player in a ruthless samurai lord's quest for ultimate power, navigating a treacherous world of honor, intrigue, and forbidden love.

  18. Roots: The Saga of an American Family

    Alex Haley

    ★ 4.4 (146k) average on Goodreads

    Following Kunta Kinte and his descendants, 'Roots' shows slavery's brutality and an American family's lasting resilience.

  19. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

    Alan Bradley

    ★ 3.8 (145k) average on GoodreadsMystery

    In the summer of 1950, an eleven-year-old chemistry prodigy with a penchant for poisons finds her life truly begins when a mysterious dead bird and a dying man in the cucumber patch launch her into a delightfully macabre investigation at her family's eccentric estate.

  20. Anne of Avonlea

    L.M. Montgomery

    ★ 4.2 (144k) average on GoodreadsChildren's

    Anne Shirley, a new schoolteacher in Avonlea, handles the funny and heartfelt parts of growing up, meddling in romances, taking in new orphans, and figuring out a handsome doctor-to-be's confusing feelings, all while her red hair and temper stay wild.

  21. The Little House Collection

    Laura Ingalls Wilder

    ★ 4.3 (142k) average on GoodreadsChildren's

    Follow Laura Ingalls and her pioneer family as they build a life of resilience, love, and resourcefulness across the American frontier, facing blizzards, grasshopper plagues, and new beginnings with determination.

  22. Shanghai Girls

    Lisa See

    ★ 3.9 (140k) average on Goodreads

    From 1930s Shanghai's pre-war glamour to the harsh realities of forced marriage, wartime escape, and immigrant life in Los Angeles, two sisters navigate a world intent on tearing them apart while clinging to the bond that defines their survival.

  23. The Age of Innocence

    Edith Wharton

    ★ 4.0 (139k) average on GoodreadsRomance

    In Gilded Age New York, a man of society is torn between his love for an unconventional woman and his family's expectations, fearing social ruin.

  24. A Breath of Snow and Ashes

    Diana Gabaldon

    ★ 4.4 (139k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    As the American Revolution begins, Claire and Jamie Fraser navigate shifting loyalties and a published death notice, fighting to secure their future and family amid a nation's birth.

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