Historical Fiction About a Scientific Discovery

Updated April 27, 2026
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The signature of all things : a novel
Gilbert, Elizabeth
Paper Book
A glorious, sweeping novel of desire, ambition, and the thirst for knowledge, from the # 1 New York Times bestselling author of Eat Pray Love, Big Magic, and City of Girls In The Signature of All Things, Elizabeth Gilbert returns to fiction,...
Euphoria : a novel
King, Lily
Paper Book
From New England Book Award winner Lily King comes a breathtaking novel about three young anthropologists of the '30's caught in a passionate love triangle that threatens their bonds, their careers, and, ultimately, their lives. English anthropologist Andrew Bankson has been alone in the...
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau
Moreno-Garcia, Silvia.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the bestselling author of Mexican Gothic and Velvet Was the Night comes a lavish historical drama reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century Mexico. "This is...
The fossil hunter
Cooper, Tea
Paper Book
Buried secrets. An ancient fossil. And one woman's determination to unravel a nineteenth-century mystery. Australia, 1847. The last thing Mellie Vale remembers before the fever takes her is sprinting through the bush with a monster at her heels--but no one believes her. In a bid to curb...
When we cease to understand the world
Labatut, Benjamín
Paper Book
One of The New York Times Book Review's 10 Best Books of 2021 Shortlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize and the 2021 National Book Award for Translated Literature A fictional examination of the lives of real-life scientists and thinkers whose discoveries...
The circus train
Parikh, Amita
Paper Book
International Bestseller and #1 LibraryReads Pick Water for Elephants meets The Night Circus in this World War II debut about a magnificent travelling circus, a star-crossed romance, and one girl's coming-of-age during the darkest of times. "A powerful...
An hour unspent
White, Roseanna M.
Paper Book
Once London's top thief, Barclay Pearce has turned his back on his life of crime and now uses his skills for a nation at war. But not until he rescues a clockmaker's daughter from a mugging does he begin to wonder what his future might hold. Evelina Manning has constantly fought for...
The last days of night : a novel
Moore, Graham
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "A world of invention and skulduggery, populated by the likes of Edison, Westinghouse, and Tesla."--Erik Larson   "A model of superior historical fiction . . . an exciting, sometimes astonishing story."--The Washington Post<...
The confessions of Frannie Langton
Collins, Sara
Ebook
Don't miss the TV miniseries, streaming now exclusively on BritBox! "A blistering historical thriller." -- Entertainment Weekly A servant and former slave is accused of murdering her employer and his wife in this breathtaking debut that moves from a Jamaican sugar plantation to...
Poor things
Gray, Alasdair
Ebook
NOW THE OSCAR-WINNING MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING EMMA STONE, RAMY YOUSSEF, MARK RUFFALO, AND WILLEM DAFOE, DIRECTED BY YORGOS LANTHIMOS. "Witty and delightfully written" (New York Times Book Review), Alasdair Gray's Poor Things echoes Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in this novel of a young...
Follow me to Africa : a novel
Haw, Penny
Paper Book
Historical fiction inspired by the story of Mary Leakey, who carved her own path to become one of the world's most distinguished paleoanthropologists. It's 1983 and seventeen-year-old Grace Clark has just lost her mother when she begrudgingly accompanies her estranged father to an...
West with giraffes :
Rutledge, Lynda
Paper Book
An emotional, rousing novel inspired by the incredible true story of two giraffes who made headlines and won the hearts of Depression-era America. "Few true friends have I known and two were giraffes..." Woodrow Wilson Nickel, age 105, feels his life ebbing away. But...
Butcher : father of modern gyno-psychiatry
Oates, Joyce Carol
Paper Book
From one of our most accomplished storytellers, an extraordinary and arresting novel about a women's asylum in the nineteenth century, and a terrifying doctor who wants to change the world In this harrowing story based on authentic historical documents, we follow the career of Dr...
Her Hidden Genius A Novel
Benedict, Marie.
Ebook
"Brings to life Franklin's grit and spirit...an important contribution to the historical record." --The Washington Post The new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Mystery of Mrs. Christie! She changed the world with her discovery. Three men took the credit. ...
A grave robbery
Raybourn, Deanna
Paper Book
Veronica and Stoker discover that not all fairy tales have happy endings, and some end in murder, in this latest historical mystery from New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author Deanna Raybourn. Lord Rosemorran has purchased a wax figure of a beautiful...
The Technologists (with bonus short story the Professor's Assassin) A Novel
Pearl, Matthew.
Ebook
"A terrific historical mystery in the fine old Arthur Conan Doyle style . . . Who knew that a mystery formed around the founding of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology could be so good? . . . There are cliffhanger endings and fortuitous escapes. . . . There are even a couple of very sweet...
The alienist
Carr, Caleb
Paper Book
In 1896 New York, psychologist--or in period terminology, an alienist--Laszlo Kreizler joins forces with journalist John Schuyler Moore to track a vicious serial killer.
All the light we cannot see : a novel
Doerr, Anthony
Paper Book
*NOW A NETFLIX LIMITED SERIES--from producer and director Shawn Levy (Stranger Things) starring Mark Ruffalo, Hugh Laurie, and newcomer Aria Mia Loberti* Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist, the beloved instant New York Times bestseller...
The German wife
Rimmer, Kelly
Paper Book
"Skillfully researched and powerfully written, The German Wife will capture you from the first page." --Madeline Martin, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Bookshop in London For fans of All the Light We Cannot See and The Tattooist of Auschwitz--from...
Fatal code
Walters, Natalie
Paper Book
In 1964, a group of scientists called the Los Alamos Five came close to finishing a nuclear energy project for the United States government when they were abruptly disbanded. Now the granddaughter of one of those five scientists, aerospace engineer Elinor Mitchell, discovers that she has highly...
The only woman in the room
Benedict, Marie
Paper Book
The New York Times and USA Today Bestseller! She possessed a stunning beauty. She also possessed a stunning mind. Could the world handle both? Her beauty almost certainly saved her from the rising Nazi party and led to marriage with an Austrian arms dealer. Underestimated in...
The other Einstein : a novel
Benedict, Marie
Paper Book
"Superb...the haunting story of Einstein's brilliant first wife who was lost in his shadow."--Sue Monk Kidd, New York Times bestselling author of The Invention of Wings, The Secret Life of Bees, and The Mermaid Chair "The Other Einstein takes you into Mileva's heart, mind, and study as she...
The Women of Oak Ridge
Shocklee, Michelle.
Paper Book
In the hills of Tennessee, two women work at a Manhattan Project site during World War II and uncover truths that irrevocably change their lives in this captivating new story from award-winning Southern fiction author Michelle Shocklee. 1944.Maebelle Willett arrives in Oak...
Skylark : a novel
McLain, Paula
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK! The New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife weaves a mesmerizing tale of Paris above and below--where a woman's quest for artistic freedom in 1664 intertwines with a doctor...

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