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
Alive with the magic of Amsterdam, the enchanting new historical novel from the author of the sensational New York Times bestseller The Miniaturist, which has sold more than two million copies. In 1705 Amsterdam, Thea Brandt is coming of age, trying to grapple...
The water dancer : a novel
Coates, Ta-Nehisi
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK * From the National Book Award-winning author of Between the World and Me, a boldly conjured debut novel about a magical gift, a devastating loss, and an underground war for freedom. "This potent book about America's...
Trust
Di?az, Herna?n
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES'S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2022 LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 BOOKER PRIZE "Buzzy and...
The red tent / Anita Diamant
Diamant, Anita.
Paper Book
Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis that are about her father, Jacob, and his dozen sons. Told in Dinah's voice, this novel reveals the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood-...
Haven : a novel
Donoghue, Emma 1969-
Paper Book
In this beautiful story of adventure and survival from the New York Times bestselling author of Room, three men vow to leave the world behind them as they set out in a small boat for an island their leader has seen in a dream, with only faith to guide them. In seventh...
The wonder a novel
Donoghue, Emma
Paper Book
Now a Netflix film starring Florence Pugh: In this "old-school page turner" (Stephen King, New York Times Book Review) by the bestselling author of Room, an English nurse is brought to a small Irish village to observe what appears to be a miracle--a girl said to have survived...
The evening and the morning
Follett, Ken
Paper Book
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author, a thrilling and addictive new novel--a prequel to The Pillars of the Earth--set in England at the dawn of a new era: the Middle Ages It is 997 CE, the end of the Dark Ages. England is facing attacks from the Welsh in the west...
The pillars of the earth
Follett, Ken
Paper Book
If you liked the Century Trilogy, you'll love the "extraordinary . . . monumental masterpiece" (Booklist) that changed the course of Ken Follett's already phenomenal career. "Follett risks all and comes out a clear winner," extolled Publishers Weekly on the release...
Ross Poldark : a novel of Cornwall, 1783-1787
Graham, Winston
Paper Book
As Seen on Masterpiece(tm) on PBS®: Book 1 of the beloved Poldark series In the first novel in Winston Graham's hit series, a weary Ross Poldark returns to England from war, looking forward to a joyful homecoming with his beloved Elizabeth. But instead he discovers his father has died, his...
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...
The nightingale
Hannah, Kristin.
Paper Book
In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France . . . but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and...
The mercies : a novel
Hargrave, Kiran Millwood
Paper Book
After the men in an Arctic Norwegian town are wiped out, the women must survive a sinister threat in this "perfectly told" 1600s parable of "a world gone mad" (Adriana Trigiani).   Finnmark, Norway, 1617. Twenty-year-old Maren Magnusdatter stands on...
A thousand ships : a novel
Haynes, Natalie
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER An NPR Best Book of the Year "Gorgeous.... With her trademark passion, wit, and fierce feminism, Natalie Haynes gives much-needed voice to the silenced women of the Trojan War."--Madeline Miller, author of Circe Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for...
The attic child : a novel
Jaye, Lola
Paper Book
A hauntingly powerful and emotionally charged novel about family secrets, love and loss, identity and belonging. Two children trapped in the same attic, almost a century apart, bound by a shared secret. Early 1900s London: Taken from his homeland, twelve-year-old...
Angel falls : a frontier epic of love and war
Catron, Derek
Paper Book
A Josey Angel Novel (Book 1)Following his critically acclaimed debut Trail Angel, Derek Catron weaves a thrilling tale of three unforgettable characters: Josey Angel, a Union cavalryman struggling with a violent past; Annabelle Rutledge, a Southern war widow who found love in the West but little...
Dead man's walk
McMurtry, Larry.
Paper Book
The first of Larry McCurtry's Pulitzer Prize-winning Lonesome Dove tetralogy, showcasing McCurtry's talent for breathing new life into the vanished American West through two of the most memorable heroes in contemporary fiction: Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call. As young Texas...
Beloved : a novel
Morrison, Toni.
Paper Book
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER * NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A spellbinding novel that transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. With a new afterword by the author.  This "brutally powerful, mesmerizing story" (...
Homecoming : a novel
Morton, Kate
Paper Book
The highly anticipated new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Clockmaker's Daughter, a sweeping novel that begins with a shocking crime, the effects of which echo across continents and generations Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959: At the end of a...
She who became the sun
Parker-Chan, Shelley
Paper Book
Two-time British Fantasy Award Winner Astounding Award Winner Lambda Literary Award Finalist Hugo Award Finalist Locus Award Finalist A Dragon Award Finalist Otherwise Award Finalist "Magnificent in every...
Mrs. Porter calling a novel
Pearce, A. J. (Amanda-Jane)
Paper Book
Yours cheerfully : a novel
Pearce, A. J.
Paper Book
From the author of the "jaunty, heartbreaking winner" (People) and international bestseller Dear Mrs. Bird comes a charming and uplifting novel set in London during World War II about a plucky young journalist and her adventures as wartime advice columnist. ...
The land beyond the sea
Penman, Sharon Kay
Paper Book
The lamplighters
Stonex, Emma
Paper Book
"Transported me effortlessly...Haunting, harrowing and heartbreaking, this is a novel that will stay with you." --Ashley Audrain, New York Times bestselling author of The Push "A ghost story and fantastically gripping psychological investigation rolled into one. It...
The nickel boys : a novel
Whitehead, Colson
Paper Book
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * This follow-up to The Underground Railroad brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys unjustly sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. * "One of the most gifted novelists...

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