Historical Fiction

Updated October 21, 2025
Upper Peninsula Region of Library Cooperation Forsyth Township Public Library
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Historical Fiction

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1

Canary girls : a novel
Chiaverini, Jennifer
Paper Book
Rosie the Riveter meets A League of Their Own in New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini's lively and illuminating novel about the "munitionettes" who built bombs in Britain's arsenals during World War I, risking their lives for the war effort and discovering camaraderie...

2

Phoenix Pencil Company
King, Allison.
Paper Book
'Absorbing' GUARDIAN 'Magical' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 'Suspenseful' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'Wildly inventive' LIZ MOORE JUNE 2025 REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK CLUB PICK In this dazzling debut novel, a young reclusive coder unearths the story of a lost Shanghai pencil company and a...

3

The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club
Kelly, Martha Hall.
Paper Book
2016 Fresh from her mother's funeral, Mari arrives on Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts to study under the enigmatic painter Elizabeth Devereux. But she soon realises that her relationship to the island runs deeper than she ever thought possible. ...

4

Bury our bones in the midnight soil
Schwab, Victoria
Paper Book
The Heart-Stopping International Sensation! Instant No. 1 Sunday Times Bestseller No. 1 New York Times Bestseller The Radio 2 Book Club Pick From V. E. Schwab, a genre-defying, unforgettable novel to sink your teeth into . . .

5

Shelterwood a novel
Wingate, Lisa
Paper Book
USA TODAY AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BESTSELLER * "Wingate's stellar latest explores a centuries-long legacy of missing child cases. . . . Her portrayal of the region's history, culture, and landscape enthralls. Wingate is at the top of her game."--Publishers Weekly, starred...

6

The comfort of ghosts
Winspear, Jacqueline
Paper Book
A milestone in historical mystery fiction as Maisie Dobbs takes her final bow! The Comfort of Ghosts completes Jacqueline Winspear's ground-breaking and internationally bestselling series. "An outstanding historical series."--The New York Times ...

7

A choice considered
Peterson, Tracie
Paper Book
Love has a way of derailing even the most carefully laid plans.Melody Doyle has spent years following her father across the country as the transcontinental railroad is built. When she announces her desire to settle down in Cheyenne, her father presents her with an unconventional challenge: he...

8

The most
Anthony, Jessica
Paper Book
Longlisted for the 2024 National Book Award for Fiction. One of Time's 100 Must-Read Books of 2024. One of the Washington Post's Best Books of 2024​. From "one of our most thrilling and singular innovators on the page" (Laura...

9

Wandering Stars
Orange, Tommy.
Paper Book
Following its unforgettable characters through almost two centuries of history, from the horrors of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1865 to the aftermath of a mass shooting in the early 21st century, Wandering Stars is an indelible novel of America's war on its own people. It is also...

10

Bellevue
Cook, Robin
Paper Book
A young doctor must come to terms with some of the greatest medical advances in history made. In Bellevue, dark truths are revealed in this the gripping suspense-horror from New York Times bestselling author Robin Cook. Twenty-four-year-old Michael "Mitt" Fuller...

11

The Briar Club
Quinn, Kate
Paper Book
The New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye and The Rose Code returns with a haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets in a Washington, DC, boardinghouse during the McCarthy era. Washington, D.C., 1950 Everyone keeps to themselves at...

12

Miss Morgan's book brigade a novel
Skeslien Charles, Janet
Paper Book
" The New York Times and internationally bestselling author of the "captivating, richly drawn" (Woman's World) The Paris Library returns with a brilliant new novel based on the true story of Jessie Carson--the American librarian who changed the literary landscape of France...

13

The God of The Woods
Moore, Liz.
Paper Book
AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER AN AMAZON BEST BOOK OF 2024 WINNER OF GOODREADS MYSTERY & THRILLER BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024 'I was totally gripped' DOUGLAS STUART 'Immersive and enthralling' PAULA HAWKINS 'At first hard to put down. By page 200, impossible' STEPHEN...

14

The vaster wilds
Groff, Lauren
Paper Book
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'Exhilarating' GUARDIAN 'Her writing has a timeless quality' THE TIMES '[Has] a visionary quality' OBSERVER A profound and explosive novel about a spirited girl alone in the wilderness, trying to survive

15

The invisible hour
Hoffman, Alice
Paper Book
One brilliant June day when Mia Jacob can no longer see a way to survive, the power of words saves her. The Scarlet Letter was written almost two hundred years earlier, but it seems to tell the story of Mia's mother, Ivy, and their life inside the Community -- an oppressive cult in western...

16

Sisters under the rising sun
Morris, Heather (Screenwriter)
Paper Book

17

California Golden
Benjamin, Melanie.
Paper Book
Two sisters navigate the thrilling, euphoric early days of California surf culture in this dazzling saga of ambition, sacrifice, and the tangled ties between mothers and daughters from the New York Times bestselling author of The Aviator's Wife. "A shimmering...

18

The little liar
Albom, Mitch
Paper Book
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'Moving' Daily Mail 'It will stay with you' Independent 'Profound' Irish Examiner ____________________ A moving new novel from the...

19

Flags on the Bayou a novel
Burke, James Lee
Paper Book

20

The Mitford affair
Benedict, Marie
Paper Book
"Plunges readers into a world of glamorous, charismatic young British debutantes and then turns that shiny world on its head...the most delicious storytelling." --Allison Pataki, New York Times bestselling author of The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post From New York Times bestselling...

21

The book spy
Hlad, Alan
Paper Book
Perfect for fans of Kate Quinn, Marie Benedict, and Pam Jenoff and inspired by true stories of the heroic librarian spies of WWII, the new book from the internationally bestselling author of Churchill's Secret Messenger transports readers from the New York Public Library to Portugal's city...

22

The golden doves
Kelly, Martha Hall
Paper Book
Inspired by true events, The Golden Doves is an unforgettable story about the fates of the Nazi doctors in the wake of WWII, and the unsung females spies who risked it all to fight for justice. As part of the French Resistance in Paris, Arlette LaRue and American Josie...

23

The lost English girl
Kelly, Julia
Paper Book

24

The night travelers : a novel
Correa, Armando Lucas
Paper Book
Four generations of women experience love, loss, war, and hope from the rise of Nazism to the Cuban Revolution and finally, the fall of the Berlin Wall in this sweeping novel from the bestselling author of the "timely must-read" (People) The German Girl. Berlin,...

25

CABINET OF DR. LENG
PRESTON, DOUGLAS.
Paper Book
Preston & Child continue their #1 bestselling series featuring FBI Special Agent Pendergast and Constance Greene, as they cross paths with New York's deadliest serial killer: Pendergast's own ancestor...and now his greatest foe. AN INCREDIBLE JOURNEY ...

26

The spectacular : a novel
Davis, Fiona
Paper Book
New York City, 1956: Nineteen-year-old Marion is over the moon to have been selected to be one of the Rockettes, Radio City Music Hall's glamorous precision dancing troupe. It's an honour to perform in the world's most spectacular theatre, an art deco masterpiece. But with four shows a day as well...

27

Beyond that, the sea
Spence-Ash, Laura
Paper Book
"Spence-Ash has written the novel in eight points of view, but each character is utterly three-dimensional and distinct. This debut novel captivated me from start to finish." --Julia Quinn, author of the Bridgerton Series A sweeping, tenderhearted love story,...

28

Loyalty
Scottoline, Lisa
Paper Book

29

Family of liars
Lockhart, E.
Paper Book
Instant New York Times bestseller! Family of Liars is the page-turning must-read thriller prequel to TikTok sensation We Were Liars which takes readers back to the story of another summer, another generation, and the secrets that will haunt them for decades to come. Includes a hand...

30

The good left undone
Trigiani, Adriana
Paper Book
Domenica Cabrelli had two great loves of her life. First, her childhood sweetheart, from the small, sun-drenched Italian town of Viareggio. A romance that was over before it had a chance to begin. Then, on an wartime French coastline, her second love affair - a mysterious captain, with a future on...

31

Circus of wonders
Macneal, Elizabeth
Paper Book
It is 1865 and in a coastal village in southern England, Nell picks violets for a living. Set apart from her community because of the birthmarks that pepper her skin, Nell keeps her head down and her sights small: her world is her beloved brother and devotion to the sea. Then, Jasper Jupiter's...

32

Switchboard soldiers : a novel
Chiaverini, Jennifer
Paper Book
From New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini, a bold, revelatory novel about one of the great untold stories of World War I--the women of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, who broke down gender barriers in the military and battled a pandemic as they helped lead the...

33

The ways we hide : a novel
McMorris, Kristina
Paper Book
From the New York Times bestselling author of Sold on a Monday comes a sweeping World War II tale of an illusionist whose recruitment by British Intelligence sets her on a perilous, heartrending path Raised amid the hardships of Michigan...

34

The marriage portrait
O'Farrell, Maggie
Paper Book
WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION FINALIST * REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK * NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * The author of award-winning Hamnet brings the world of Renaissance Italy to jewel-bright life in this unforgettable fictional portrait of the captivating young duchess Lucrezia de' Medici...

35

Carrie Soto is back a novel
Reid, Taylor Jenkins
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "An epic adventure about a female athlete perhaps past her prime, brought back to the tennis court for one last grand slam" (Elle), from the author of Malibu Rising, Daisy Jones & The Six, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

36

My name is Yip
Crewe, Paddy
Paper Book
A THE TIMES HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR LONGLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2023 "MY NAME IS YIP TOLROY & I am a mute. I have made not a sound since the day of my birth, October 2nd, 1815. I will say that my life has been...

37

Her hidden genius
Benedict, Marie
Paper Book
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Mystery of Mrs. Christie and The Only Woman in the Room! Rosalind Franklin has always been an outsider--brilliant, but different. Whether working at the laboratory she adored in Paris or toiling at...

38

Cloud cuckoo land : a novel
Doerr, Anthony
Paper Book
On the New York Times bestseller list for over 20 weeks * A New York Times Notable Book * A National Book Award Finalist * Named a Best Book of the Year by Fresh Air, Time, Entertainment Weekly, Associated Press, and many more "If you're looking for...

39

Sunflower sisters : a novel
Kelly, Martha Hall
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Martha Hall Kelly's million-copy bestseller Lilac Girls introduced readers to Caroline Ferriday. Now, in Sunflower Sisters, Kelly tells the story of Ferriday's ancestor Georgeanna Woolsey, a Union nurse during the Civil War whose calling leads...

40

West with giraffes
Rutledge, Lynda
Paper Book
"Few true friends have I known and two were giraffes . . ."

41

The Paris library : a novel
Skeslien Charles, Janet
Paper Book
An instant New York Times, Washington Post, and USA TODAY bestseller--based on the true story of the heroic librarians at the American Library in Paris during World War II--The Paris Library is a moving and unforgettable "ode to the importance of libraries, books, and...

42

The forest of vanishing stars
Harmel, Kristin
Paper Book
Parade "Best Books of Summer" pick * Real Simple summer reading pick * SheReads "Best WWII Fiction of Summer 2021" pick The New York Times bestselling author of the "heart-stopping tale of survival and heroism" (P...

43

Blind tiger
Brown, Sandra
Paper Book
From a New York Times bestselling author, a war-weary soldier jumps from a moving freight train to avoid trouble-and lands in more than he bargained for. On the day Thatcher Hutton arrives in Foley, Texas, a local woman goes missing. Thatcher becomes the...

44

Go tell the bees that I am gone : a novel
Gabaldon, Diana
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Diana Gabaldon returns with the "vast and sweeping" (The Washington Post) newest novel in the epic Outlander series. War leaves nobody alone. Neither the past, the present, nor the future offers true safety, and the only refuge is...

45

Small things like these
Keegan, Claire
Paper Book
**OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK 2024** **NEW YORK TIMES BOOK CLUB PICK 2024** NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING CILLIAN MURPHY A New York Times Bestseller * Shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize * Winner of the Orwell Prize for...

46

The four winds
Hannah, Kristin
Paper Book
"The Bestselling Hardcover Novel of the Year."--Publishers Weekly From the number-one bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes a powerful American epic about love and heroism and hope, set during the Great Depression, a time when the...

47

Survive the night : a novel
Sager, Riley
Paper Book
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER One of New York Times Book Review's "summer reads guaranteed to make your heart thump and your skin crawl"; An Amazon Best of the Month Pick; Named a must-read summer book by The Washington Post, USA Today, Vulture<...

48

The night watchman : a novel
Erdrich, Louise
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE 2021 PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER WASHINGTON POST, NPR, CBS SUNDAY MORNING, KIRKUS, CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY, AND GOOD HOUSEKEEPING BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR Based on the extraordinary life of National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich's...

49

A long petal of the sea a novel
Allende, Isabel
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the author of The House of the Spirits, this epic novel spanning decades and crossing continents follows two young people as they flee the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War in search of a place to call home. "One of the most...

50

The light after the war
Abriel, Anita
Paper Book
Inspired by an incredible true story of two Jewish friends who survived the Holocaust, this "heartfelt and memorable tale of family, love, resilience, and the triumph of human spirit" (Pam Jenoff, New York Times bestselling author) spans World War II from Budapest to Austria and the...

51

Diary of a dead man on leave
Downing, David
Paper Book
In April 1938, a man calling himself Josef Hofmann arrives at a boarding house in Hamm, Germany, and lets a room from the widow who owns it. Fifty years later, Walter Gersdorff, the widow's son, who was eleven years old in the spring of 1938, discovers the carefully hidden diary the boarder had kept...

52

Spy : a novel
Steel, Danielle
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A young woman is caught up in a dangerous double life on behalf of her country during World War II in Danielle Steel's thrilling new novel.   At eighteen, Alexandra Wickham is presented to King George V and Queen Mary in an exquisite...

53

Heads you win
Archer, Jeffrey
Paper Book
#1 New York Times Bestselling AuthorEditor's Choice #5 TitleLeningrad, 1968. Alexander Karpenko is no ordinary child. It's clear he's destined to lead his countrymen. But when his father is assassinated by the KGB, he and his mother will have to leave Russia to survive. At the docks, should they...

54

Master of his fate
Bradford, Barbara Taylor
Paper Book
From #1New York Timesbestselling author Barbara Taylor Bradford comes the first book in a stunning new historical saga. Victorian England is a country of sharp divides between rich and poor, but James Lionel Falconer, who spends his days working at his father's market...

55

The bishop's pawn
Berry, Steve
Paper Book
The first case of New York Times bestseller Steve Berry's iconic hero, Cotton Malone. History notes that the ugly feud between J. Edgar Hoover and Martin Luther King, Jr., marked by years of illegal surveillance and the accumulation of secret files, ended on April 4,...

56

Freedom's light
Coble, Colleen
Paper Book
Explore the mystery and the romance of the Revolutionary War as a young lighthouse keeper navigates the dangerous waters of revolution and one man's obsession with her to find safe harbor with the sea captain she loves.   Hannah Thomas believes she's escaped Galen...

57

Transcription
Atkinson, Kate
Paper Book
The magnificent novel by bestselling and award-winning Kate Atkinson: 'A masterpiece' - Telegraph; 'Pageturner' - Evening Standard; 'Wise, funny and paced like a thriller' Observer In 1940, eighteen-year old Juliet Armstrong is reluctantly recruited into...

58

The clockmaker's daughter
Morton, Kate
Paper Book
Kate Morton's highly acclaimed novels have sold over 11 million copies worldwide and are number one bestsellers around the world.

59

Unsheltered
Kingsolver, Barbara
Paper Book
New York Times Bestseller * Named one of the Best Books of the Year by NPR, O: The Oprah Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek "Kingsolver brilliantly captures both the price of profound change and how it can pave the way not only for future...
Find this list online: https://librarian.syndetics.com/syndeticsunbound/lp/1918.2384/list/6606

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