Historical Fiction about Real Life Women

Updated June 10, 2026
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Sisters in Arms
Alderson, Kaia
Ebook
"Sisters in Arms is heartwarming but fierce, a novel brimming with camaraderie and fire, starring women you'd love to make your friends. Prickly, musical Grace and bubbly, privileged Eliza may not make the most natural allies, but it's fight or die when they're thrown together in...
White houses : a novel
Bloom, Amy
Paper Book
For readers of The Paris Wife and The Swans of Fifth Avenue comes a "sensuous, captivating account of a forbidden affair between two women" (People)--Eleanor Roosevelt and "first friend" Lorena Hickok. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS...
By Her Own Design: A Novel of Ann Lowe, Fashion Designer to the Social Register
Huguley, Piper.
Paper Book
The incredible untold story of how Ann Lowe, a Black woman and granddaughter of slaves, rose above personal struggles and racial prejudice to design and create one of America's most famous wedding dresses of all time for Jackie Kennedy. 1953, New York City Less than a...
The only woman in the room
Benedict, Marie
Ebook
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER THE USA TODAY BESTSELLER Bestselling author Marie Benedict reveals the story of a brilliant woman scientist only remembered for her beauty. Her beauty almost certainly saved her from the rising Nazi party and led to marriage with an Austrian arms...
Sister mother warrior : a novel
Riley, Vanessa
Paper Book
ONE OF USA TODAY'S "BEST BOOKS OF SUMMER!" Acclaimed author of Island Queen Vanessa Riley brings readers a vivid, sweeping novel of the Haitian Revolution based on the true-life stories of two extraordinary women: the first Empress of Haiti, Marie-Claire Bonheur, and Gran Toya, a West...
The queen of Sugar Hill : a novel of Hattie McDaniel
Billingsley, ReShonda Tate
Paper Book
Bestselling author ReShonda Tate presents a fascinating fictional portrait of Hattie McDaniel, one of Hollywood's most prolific but woefully underappreciated stars--and the first Black person ever to win an Oscar for her role as Mammy in the critically acclaimed film classic Gone...
Diva
Goodwin, Daisy
Paper Book
New York Times bestselling author Daisy Goodwin returns with a story of the scandalous love affair between the most celebrated opera singer of all time and one of the richest men in the world. In the glittering and ruthlessly competitive world of opera, Maria Callas was...
The Chanel Sisters
Little, Judithe
Ebook
A USA Today and Globe and Mail bestseller! A novel of survival, love, loss, triumph--and the sisters who changed fashion forever Antoinette and Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel know they're destined for something better. Abandoned by their family at a...
Learned by Heart Hardcover
Donoghue, Emma.
Paper Book
From the bestselling author of Room and The Wonder, this novel is based on the true story of two girls who fall secretly, deeply, and dangerously in love at boarding school in 19th century York. "A wrenching love story." --Chris Bohjalian, The...
The lost journals of Sacajewea : a novel
Earling, Debra Magpie
Paper Book
Winner of the Montana Book Award From the award-winning author of Perma Red comes a devastatingly beautiful novel that challenges prevailing historical narratives of Sacajewea. "In my seventh winter,...
The woman with the cure
Cullen, Lynn
Paper Book
"Huge applause... women have always been in science--despite those who would pretend otherwise." --Bonnie Garmus, New York Times bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry She gave up everything -- and changed the world. A...
Someone Always Nearby Hardcover
Albert, Susan Wittig
Paper Book
In 1940, art-world icon Georgia O'Keeffe bought a house in a mountain-rimmed New Mexico desert, planning to live there for six months every year. To manage her remote household while she paints, O'Keeffe invited Maria Chabot-a young and naïve would-be writer-to join her. &...

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