The Best Historical Fiction Novels to Read Right Now - The New York Times

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Take me ... aboard the Titanic

The Second Mrs. Astor
by Shana Abé
The Girl Who Came Home
by Hazel Gaynor
A Brilliant Night of Stars and Ice
by Rebecca Connolly
Sisters of Fortune
by Anna Lee Huber
Luck of the Titanic
by Stacey Lee
Unsinkable
by Jenni L. Walsh
The Lost Passenger
by Frances Quinn
The Titanic Survivors Book Club
by Timothy Schaffert

New and noteworthy

Our latest historical fiction reviews

Mule Boy
by Andrew Krivak
Ondro Prach, the sole survivor of a mine disaster, shares glimpses of what happened with the children and grandchildren of those who died back in the winter of 1929.
The Scent of Oranges
by Kathy George
A retelling of “Oliver Twist” from the point of view of fatally kindhearted Nancy.
Now I Surrender
by Álvaro Enrigue
Enrigue’s latest novel reimagines a three-front war between Apaches, Mexico and the United States during the 19th century.
We Are Green and Trembling
by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara
This poetic, hallucinatory tale was inspired by Catalina de Erauso, who was known in 17th-century Spain for her New World exploits living as a man.
Berlin Shuffle
by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz; translated by Philip Boehm
This tale of the grifters and bottom-feeders who congregate at a seedy tavern in Berlin is a humane portrait of a society floundering after the 1929 economic crisis.
Very Cold Winter
by Fausta Cialente; translated by Julia Nelsen
There are countless WWII novels, but far fewer that explore the post-war years in Europe, as this one does.
The Last of Earth
by Deepa Anappara
Two expeditions travel to Tibet in 1869 — at a time when foreigners have been denied entry into the country.
Hope and Destiny
by Niklas Natt och Dag
Natt och Dag, best known for a historical crime trilogy set in 18th-century Stockholm, fictionalies the story of a 15th-generation grandfather.
The Jaguar's Roar
by Micheliny Verunschk
Inspired by the portraits of two 19th-century Indigenous children, a modern-day Brazilian woman attempts to tell their story “through the cracks” of history.
The Architect of New York
by Javier Moro; translated by Peter J. Hearn
A fictionalized account of tRafael Guastavino, the 19th-century Spanish architect who left an indelible imprint on New York City's Beaux-Arts buildings.
The Rush
by Beth Lewis
A gripping historical thriller, set in the Klondike in 1898, follows three women who band together to avenge a death.
The Eights
by Joanna Miller
Miller invents fascinating stories (and back stories) for four young women admitted to Oxford’s first class of female undergraduates in 1920.
Daikon
by Samuel Hawley
Daikon’s riveting, impeccably researched novel asks, what if a third atomic bomb fell into the hands of the Japanese when an American plane crashed?
Simone in Pieces
by Janet Burroway
This lovely, eloquent novel follows a World War II orphan through her life as she searches for elusive clues to her past.
The Wayfinder
by Adam Johnson
In this powerful and original epic, a girl ventures from her remote Polynesian island to try to save her people from doom.
The Art of a Lie
by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
This mystery is filled with fascinating glimpses of mid-18th-century London, where the recently widowed Hannah Cole runs a confectionery shop.
The Book of Guilt
by Catherine Chidgey
Chidgey’s devastating new novel, set in an alternative version of the 20th century, watches young lives get twisted into unnatural shapes.
Amanda
by H.S. Cross
Cross’s World War I love story, about a mysterious governess and an upper-class university student, balances historical sweep with erotic tension.
The Original
by Nell Stevens
Though this novel’s ingredients sound familiar — a seedy English mansion, a ne’er-do-well scion, his domineering mother — conventions are soon upended.
Sing to Me
by Jesse Browner
In this novel of the Trojan War, Browner focuses not on the warriors but on the unknown lives that were lost, and on the damage that years of fighting left behind.
World Pacific
by Peter Mann
Mann’s novel stars a Richard Halliburton-ish character caught in a maelstrom of spies, émigrés and double-dealers.
Florenzer
by Phil Melanson
Melanson introduces us to a teenage Leonardo da Vinci still struggling to find himself amid the roiling atmosphere of late-15th-century Florence.

Immersive Tudor mysteries

All the Queen’s Spies
by Oliver Clements
Execution
by S.J. Parris
Unicorn’s Blood
by Patricia Finney
A Tip for the Hangman
by Alison Epstein
The Devil’s Apprentice
by Edward Marston
Dissolution
by C.J. Sansom
Queen of Ambition
by Fiona Buckley
A Stage for Murder
by Peter Tonkin
A Famine of Horses
by P.F. Chisholm
Revenger
by Rory Clements

Books that bring the 1920s to life

The Paying Guests
by Sarah Waters
The Paris Wife
by Paula McLain
Gods of Jade and Shadow
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Jazz
by Toni Morrison
Shrines of Gaiety
by Kate Atkinson
A Gentleman in Moscow
by Amor Towles
Live by Night
by Dennis Lehane
Z
by Therese Anne Fowler

New in paperback

Tinier, but just as mighty.

The Wildes
by Louis Bayard
The Book of I
by David Greig
33 Place Brugmann
by Alice Austen
The Fisherman's Gift
by Julia R. Kelly
The Ghosts of Rome
by Joseph O'Connor
The Paris Express
by Emma Donoghue
The Pretender
by Jo Harkin
Isola
by Allegra Goodman
Dead in the Frame
by Stephen Spotswood
To Save the Man
by John Sayles
Whale Fall
by Elizabeth O'Connor
The Heart in Winter
by Kevin Barry
The Antidote
by Karen Russell
The Empusium
by Olga Tokarczuk
Peggy
by Rebecca Godfrey with Leslie Jamison
Shy Creatures
by Clare Chambers
The Wolves of Winter
by Dan Jones
The Bondswoman’s Narrative
by Hannah Crafts
Our Narrow Hiding Places
by Kristopher Jansma
Shanghai
by Joseph Kanon
Quincas Borba
by Machado de Assis
Ring Shout
by P. Djèlí Clark
A Sunny Place for Shady People
by Mariana Enriquez

Classic murder mystery reissues

The White Priory Murders
by Carter Dickson
Death of an Author
by E.C.R. Lorac
The Fallen Sparrow
by Dorothy B. Hughes
Nothing but Murders and Bloodshed and Hanging
by Mary Fortune
To Catch a Thief
by David Dodge
Tokyo Express
by Seicho Matsumoto
Before the Fact
by Francis Iles
Suddenly at His Residence
by Christianna Brand
The Tule Marsh Murder
by Nancy Barr Mavity
The Little Sparrow Murders
by Seishi Yokomizo; translated by Bryan Karetnyk
The Three Coffins
by John Dickson Carr

17 excellent World War II novels

Gone to Soldiers
by Marge Piercy
Mischling
by Affinity Konar
The Invisible Bridge
by Julie Orringer
A Meal in Winter
by Hubert Mingarelli
The Night Watch
by Sarah Waters
City of Thieves
by David Benioff
Everyone Brave Is Forgiven
by Chris Cleave
Half-Blood Blues
by Esi Edugyan
All the Light We Cannot See
by Anthony Doerr
The Storm We Made
by Vanessa Chan
When the Emperor Was Divine
by Julie Otsuka
The English Patient
by Michael Ondaatje
Our Narrow Hiding Places
by Kristopher Jansma
Good Night, Irene
by Luis Alberto Urrea
To Die in Spring
by Ralf Rothmann
The Great Reclamation
by Rachel Heng
Transcription
by Kate Atkinson

Great novels set in the 18th century

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
by David Mitchell
Beyond the Door of No Return
by David Diop
All Souls’ Rising
by Madison Smartt Bell
The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock
by Imogen Hermes Gowar
Golden Hill
by Francis Spufford
Slammerkin
by Emma Donoghue
The Blue Flower
by Penelope Fitzgerald
A Conspiracy of Paper
by David Liss
Perfume
by Patrick Süskind
Sacred Hunger
by Barry Unsworth
Abundance
by Sena Jeter Naslund

Shannon Chakraborty’s Favorite Historical Fantasy Books

The author of “The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi” recommends fantastical tales grounded in real history

Lavinia
by Ursula K. Le Guin
She Who Became the Sun
by Shelley Parker-Chan
The Bird King
by G. Willow Wilson
The Pasha of Cuisine
by Saygin Ersin
A Master of Djinn
by P. Djèlí Clark
Siren Queen
by Nghi Vo
Moonshine
by Alaya Johnson
Gods of Jade and Shadow
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws
by Adrienne Mayor
Read more about Shannon Chakraborty’s favorite historical fantasy novels.

The Essential Jane Austen

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