Rooted in the Past

Get historical with books rooted in the past! Try one of the titles listed here for fictional takes on real events and historical figures. You can also ask a friendly Ledding librarian to show you nonfiction books on a historical subject, person, or era. Plant a seed, read!

Updated May 11, 2026
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Daughter of Egypt
Benedict, Marie
Paper Book
In the 1920s, archeologist Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon of Highclere Castle made headlines around the world with the discovery of the treasure-filled tomb of the boy Pharaoh Tutankhamun. But behind it all stood Lady Evelyn Herbert--daughter of Lord Carnarvon--whose daring spirit and relentless...
The Mitford affair : a novel
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...
The Jackal's mistress : a novel
Bohjalian, Chris
Paper Book
INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER * #1 BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER * USA TODAY BESTSELLER * In this Civil War love story, inspired by a real-life friendship across enemy lines, the wife of a missing Confederate soldier discovers a wounded Yankee officer and must decide what she's willing to risk...
All the broken places
Boyne, John
Paper Book
"You can't prepare yourself for the magnitude and emotional impact of this powerful novel." --John Irving, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The World According to Garp "Exceptional, layered and compelling...This book moves like a freight train...
Girl with a pearl earring
Chevalier, Tracy.
Paper Book
In seventeenth-century Delft, there's a strict social order -rich and poor, Catholic and Protestant, master and servant -and all know their place. When Griet becomes a maid in the household of the painter Johannes Vermeer, she thinks she knows her role: housework, laundry, and the care of his six...
All the light we cannot see
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...
Atomic Love
Fields, Jennie
Paper Book
"A novel of science, love, espionage, beautiful writing, and a heroine who carves a strong path in the world of men. As far as I'm concerned there is nothing left to want."--Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House "A highly-charged love story that reveals the dangerous energy...
A column of fire
Follett, Ken
Paper Book
#1 New York Times Bestseller "Absorbing . . . impossible to resist." --The Washington Post As Europe erupts, can one young spy protect his queen? Ken Follett takes us deep into the treacherous world of powerful monarchs, intrigue, murder, and treason with...
The women
Hannah, Kristin
Paper Book
A #1 bestseller on The New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times! From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah's The Women--at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a...
The book of lost names
Harmel, Kristin
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Inspired by an astonishing true story from World War II, a young woman with a talent for forgery helps hundreds of Jewish children flee the Nazis in this unforgettable historical novel from the New York Times bestselling author...
News of the world : a novel
Jiles, Paulette
Paper Book
Now a Major Motion Picture National Book Award Finalist--Fiction In the aftermath of the Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young captive of the Kiowa back to her people in this exquisitely rendered, morally complex, multilayered...
Orphan train : a novel
Kline, Christina Baker
Paper Book
Between 1854 and 1929, so-called orphan trains ran regularly from the cities of the East Coast to the farmlands of the Midwest, carrying thousands of abandoned children whose fates would be determined by pure luck. Would they be adopted by a kind and loving family, or would they...
Wolf Hall : a novel
Mantel, Hilary
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR FICTION In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel's New York Times bestselling Wolf Hall is "a darkly brilliant reimagining of life under Henry VIII. . . ....
Hamnet : a novel of the plague
O'Farrell, Maggie
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER * Now a major motion picture starring ACADEMY AWARD® winner Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Emily Watson, and Joe Alwyn, directed by Chloé Zhao. The acclaimed author of the Reese's Book Club pick The...
The lost apothecary
Penner, Sarah
Paper Book
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER -- OVER A MILLION COPIES SOLD! "A bold, edgy, accomplished debut!" --Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code A forgotten history. A secret network of women. A...
The book woman of Troublesome Creek : a novel
Richardson, Kim Michele
Paper Book
RECOMMENDED BY DOLLY PARTON IN PEOPLE MAGAZINE! A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A USA TODAY BESTSELLER A LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER A PBS BOOK PICK The bestselling historical fiction novel from Kim Michele Richardson, this is a novel following Cussy...
China Dolls : a novel
See, Lisa
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "A fascinating portrait of life as a Chinese American woman in the 1930s and '40s."--The New York Times Book Review   "Superb . . . This emotional, informative and brilliant page-turner resonates with resilience...
Salt to the sea
Sepetys, Ruta
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A journey to freedom is rocked by an epic disaster in this masterpiece of historical fiction that shines a light on one of World War II's most devastating--yet overlooked--tragedies. WINNER OF THE CARNEGIE MEDAL "Masterfully crafted."--...
The killer angels : a novel of the Civil War
Shaara, Michael.
Paper Book
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER * NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The "remarkable" (Ken Burns), "utterly absorbing" (Forbes) Civil War classic that inspired the film Gettysburg, with more than three million copies in print--now in a 50th anniversary edition featuring a new introduction by...
Maus : a survivor's tale
Spiegelman, Art.
Paper Book
Maus es la biografía de Vladek Spiegelman, un judío polaco superviviente de los campos de exterminio nazis, contada a través de su hijo Art, un dibujante de cómics que quiere dejar memoria de la aterradora persecución que sufrieron millones de personas en la Europa sometida por Hitler y de...
Ghost girl, banana : a novel
Wharton, Wiz
Paper Book
Set between the last years of the "Chinese Windrush" in 1966 and Hong Kong's Handover to China in 1997, a mysterious inheritance sees a young woman from London uncovering buried secrets in her late mother's homeland in this captivating, wry debut about family, identity, and the price of belonging...
The underground railroad : a novel
Whitehead, Colson
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * PULITZER PRIZE WINNER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER * "An American masterpiece" (NPR) that chronicles a young slave's adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. One of The New York Times's 10 Best Books of...
The dictionary of lost words : a novel
Williams, Pip
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK * "Delightful . . . [a] captivating and slyly subversive fictional paean to the real women whose work on the Oxford English Dictionary went largely unheralded."--The New York Times Book Review "A marvelous...

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