Best Historical Fiction Books of all Time

Pan MacMillan selected their 50 Best Historical Books of all Time.

Updated August 8, 2023
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The house of fortune : a novel
Burton, Jessie
Paper Book
The sequel to Jessie Burton's million-copy bestseller The Miniaturist.'A book of beauty and insight . . . awe-inspiring. Burton is a master storyteller' Elizabeth DayIn the golden city of Amsterdam, in 1705, Thea Brandt is turning eighteen, and she is ready to welcome adulthood with open arms. At...
Sin eater : a novel
Campisi, Megan
Paper Book
An old adage says there are really only two stories: a man goes on a voyage, and a stranger arrives in town. This is the third: a woman breaks the rules . . .Set in a thinly disguised sixteenth-century England, Megan Campisi's The Sin Eater is a wonderfully rich story of treason and treachery; of...
The water dancer : a novel
Coates, Ta-Nehisi
Paper Book
THE NEW YORK TIMES #1 BESTSELLER !! FIRST OPRAH BOOK CLUB PICK 2019 !! 'One of the best books I have ever read in my entire life. I haven't felt this way since I first read Beloved . . .' Oprah Winfrey The unmissable debut novel by...
Trust
Di?az, Herna?n
Paper Book
A Most Anticipated Book of 2022 - Vulture, AV Club, Lithub, Oprah Daily, Goodreads A literary puzzle about money, power, and intimacy, TRUST is a novel that challenges the myths shrouding wealth, and the fictions that often pass for history.Even through the roar and effervescence of the 1920s,...
Haven
Donoghue, Emma
Paper Book
The wonder a novel
Donoghue, Emma
Paper Book
An eleven-year-old girl stops eating, but remains miraculously alive and well. A nurse, sent to investigate whether she is a fraud, meets a journalist hungry for a story. Set in the Irish Midlands in the 1850s, The Wonder - inspired by numerous European and North American cases of 'fasting girls'...
The evening and the morning
Follett, Ken
Paper Book
From master storyteller Ken Follett, The Evening and the Morning is a historical epic that ends where The Pillars of the Earth begins. A Time of Conflict It is 997 CE, the end of the Dark Ages. The king's grip on the country is fragile and chaos reigns. A young...
The pillars of the earth
Follett, Ken
Paper Book
A spellbinding epic tale of ambition, anarchy, and absolute power set against the sprawling medieval canvas of twelfth-century England, this is Ken Follett's classic historical masterpiece.The Pillars of the Earth tells the story of Philip, prior of Kingsbridge, a devout and resourceful monk driven...
Ross Poldark : a novel of Cornwall, 1783-1787
Graham, Winston
Paper Book
Tired from a grim war in America, Ross Poldark returns to his land and his family. But the joyful homecoming he has anticipated turns sour, for his father is dead, his estate is derelict and the girl he loves is engaged to his cousin.But his sympathy for the destitute miners and farmers of the...
The most precious of cargoes : a tale
Grumberg, Jean-Claude
Paper Book
A haunting fable that tells a story of the Holocaust, and the remarkable acts of kindness which people are capable of. 'A magnificent small book to read urgently' - Libération Once upon a time in an enormous forest there lived a poor woodcutter and...
The four winds
Hannah, Kristin
Paper Book
'Kristin Hannah is a classic storyteller and The Four Winds sees her at the top of her game' - Matt Haig'Powerful and compelling' - Delia Owens, number one international bestselling author of Where the Crawdads Sing'A story of love, family, unbreakable bonds, bravery and hope. I loved this book so...
The nightingale
Hannah, Kristin.
Paper Book
The bestselling Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick Soon to be a major motion picture, The Nightingale is a multi-million copy bestseller across the world. It is a heart-breakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the endurance of...
The dance tree : a novel
Hargrave, Kiran Millwood
Paper Book
The gripping new novel from Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Mercies.'Exceptionally brilliant. Immersive, sensual, compelling, ambitious' - Marian Keyes'Intriguing, haunting . . . raw, beautiful' - Jennifer Saint, author of AriadneStrasbourg, 1518. In the midst of a...
The mercies : a novel
Hargrave, Kiran Millwood
Paper Book
The Sunday Times Bestseller and BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick. For readers of Circe and The Handmaid's Tale, Kiran Millwood Hargrave's The Mercies is a story about a love that could prove as dangerous as it is powerful. Winter, 1617...
Stone blind : a novel
Haynes, Natalie
Paper Book
In Stone Blind, Natalie Haynes - the Women's Prize-shortlisted author of A Thousand Ships - brings the infamous Medusa to life as you have never seen her before . . .'So to mortal men, we are monsters. Because of our flight, our strength. They fear us, so they call us monsters.'Medusa is the sole...
A thousand ships : a novel
Haynes, Natalie
Paper Book
In A Thousand Ships, broadcaster and classicist Natalie Haynes retells the story of the Trojan War from an all-female perspective. This was never the story of one woman, or two. It was the story of all of them. . .In the middle of the night, Creusa wakes to find her beloved Troy engulfed in flames....
The Children of Jocasta
Haynes, Natalie.
Paper Book
When you have grown up as I have, there is no security in not knowing things, in avoiding the ugliest truths because they can't be faced . . . Because that is what happened the last time, and that is why my siblings and I have grown up in a cursed house, children of cursed parents . . . Jocasta is...
The attic child : a novel
Jaye, Lola
Paper Book
'An incredibly important book . . . a beautifully crafted, compelling story . . . which will undoubtedly break your heart but also make it sing' - Mike GayleTwo children trapped in the same attic, almost a century apart, bound by a secret.1907: Twelve-year-old Celestine spends most of his time...
Beloved : a novel
Morrison, Toni.
Paper Book
Discover Toni Morrison's most iconic work in this Pulitzer-prize winning novel that exemplifies her powerful and important place in contemporary American literature. 'An American masterpiece' AS Byatt It is the mid-1800s and as slavery looks to be coming to an...
Homecoming : a novel
Morton, Kate
Paper Book
'If you haven't read Kate Morton before, do yourself a favour' - Graham Norton, broadcaster and bestselling author of Home Stretch A breathtaking mystery of love, lies and a cold case come back to life, Homecoming is an immersive, twisting epic from the...
The city of tears
Mosse, Kate
Paper Book
A breathtaking historical novel of revenge, persecution and loss, The City of Tears by Kate Mosse follows on from her Sunday Times number one bestseller, The Burning Chambers. May 1572: for ten violent years the Wars of Religion have raged across France....
She who became the sun
Parker-Chan, Shelley
Paper Book
The Number One Sunday Times Bestseller An immersive, historical fantasy set in 14th-century China, She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan is a queer tale of love, loss, betrayal and triumph. 'Magnificent in every way' - Samantha Shannon, author of...
Mrs. Porter calling : a novel
Pearce, A. J.
Paper Book
Yours cheerfully : a novel
Pearce, A. J.
Paper Book
The land beyond the sea
Penman, Sharon Kay
Paper Book
Filled with drama and battle, tragedy and romance, Sharon Penman's The Land Beyond the Sea tells the epic tale of a clash of cultures that will resonate with readers today.1172. The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as Outremer - the land beyond the sea.A young realm, Outremer was baptized in blood...
Tombland
Sansom, C. J.
Paper Book
Summer, 1549. Two years after the death of Henry VIII, England is sliding into chaos... the economy is in collapse, inflation rages and rebellion is stirring among the peasantry.Since the old King's death, Matthew Shardlake has been working as a lawyer in the service of Henry's younger daughter, the...
The lamplighters
Stonex, Emma
Paper Book
The Sunday Times bestseller As recommended by the BBC Radio 2 Book Club 'A mystery, a love story and a ghost story, all at once. Wonderful' - S. J. Watson 'Gripping' - Guardian'Riveting' - Independent 'Excellent' - Observer'A triumph' - Daily MailCornwall, 1972. Three keepers vanish from a remote...
The nickel boys : a novel
Whitehead, Colson
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION 2020 WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION 2020 Winner of the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction 2020 Time #1 Novel of the Year 2019 ______________...

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