Your Guide To New Historical Fiction Books For 2024

The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan
Out January 2

Setting: Malaysia during WW2

I’m always looking for WW2 books that bring something new — like a new setting during the War or a new perspective I haven’t really read that often.

This book follows a mother in Malaysia, during WW2, who becomes an unlikely spy for the invading Japanese forces in order to help oust the British. Her decision has big consequences on her community and family as they try to survive the war in general and the decision that she made. .

Unsinkable by Jenni L. Walsh
Out January 9

Setting:1912 & 1942

This one follows the lives of two resilient women around the time of both wars — one based on a real person and the other is a composite of different women’s stories — and how their stories eventually intertwine.

We follow Violet Jessop — dubbed Miss Unsinkable — who has survived three maritime disasters: one being the Titanic. She keeps returning to the sea despite these traumatic near-death experiences.

Then we meet Violet, during WW2, who is a fictional woman (based on real life stories) who was a spy part of the Special Operations Executive in France.

Code Name Butterfly by Embassie Susberry
Out January 4

Setting: 1941 in Bohemian Paris on the verge of Nazi Occupation

This one centers around the real life of Josephine Baker: a Black American entertainer who was also a member of the French Resistance

Elly, an American student and journalist living in Paris, is given tickets to see entertainer Josephine Baker and is drawn into the world of Josephine Baker (posing undercover as her cousin) and the secret intelligence group she is working with.

The Curse of Pietro Houdini by Derek B. Miller
Out January 16

Setting: WW2 Italy

This one looks so good — a WW2 saga set in Italy, art heist adventure, and coming-of-age story featuring found family. 

Centering around the true history of Montecassino Abbey during WW2, we follow a newly orphaned 14 year old boy who has been rescued by and taken in by the mysterious Pietro Houdini — an art conservator for the art treasures housed in the ancient abbey of Montecassino — who then makes him his assistant.

Both with their own secrets and reasons for traveling south to Naples, the pair find themselves needing to escape as the frontline has come to their doorstep at the abbey — an escape in which they concoct a dangerous plan to also smuggle three Renaissance Titian masterpieces out with them (and a rag-tag group) to save them from the Germans.

The London Bookshop Affair by Louise Fein
Out January 16

Setting: dual time-line set in 1962 in the thick of the Cold War as well as Nazi occupied France in 1942

On the brink of nuclear War, a bookshop worker finds her life upended with both a whirlwind romance as well as a discovery, made by her best friend, that unravels a shocking secret about her family and makes her question everything. Her story collides with a buried connection to a young undercover agent during WW2.

Espionage and state secrets abound! I’m also really interested in the fact that so often any Cuban Missile Crisis related story is from an American perspective so I’m really interested to get this perspective set in London.

The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James
Out January 23

Setting: 1895 & 1964 in Texas and Mexico

Part Western, part epic family saga — with a nice dose of magical realism! Probably one of my most anticipated new historical fiction books (especially if you love literary fiction).

It tells the story of the Sonoro family — first in 1890’s we meet Antonio who is a Mexican bandido headed to Texas to save his family with the treasures from a heist. When the heist goes wrong, he sets out on a journey to avenge his brother’s death where he encounters a mysterious figure waiting in the shadows to collect a debt.

Then we meet his grandson, an actor and singer, who finds the dark truth about his entire bloodline from a book he’s given. And when the same mysterious figure from his grandfather’s timeline shows up, he has the realization that he might be the one to pay for his ancestor’s sins if he can’t find out the truth about his grandfather.

When The Jessamine Grows by Donna Everhart
Out January 23

Setting: Civil War Era in North Carolina 1861- 1866

This one follows a woman whose family owns a small family farm without slaves as they don’t agree with many in their community and Confederacy’s position on slavery though her position on the impending war remains to be neutral as its not their fight.

Despite their upbringing and mother’s convictions, one of her son’s becomes filled their grandfather’s fervor for the Confederate cause and runs off to join the war.

Sending her husband off to find him and bring him home, she’s struggling to maintain the farm as well as the increasing strain between her and her community due to her unwavering principles and beliefs especially after she engages in an act of kindness that shuns her even further.

Picasso’s Lovers by Jeanne Mackin
Out January 23

Setting: 1920s art scene in Europe and 1950s in NYC

A dive into the life of Picasso — renowned artist but also famous for his many women as lovers and muses.

It follows an aspiring female journalist in the 1950’s looking to make her way in a male dominated industry with an in-depth expose on Pablo Picasso — an artist who she’s always been drawn to likely through her mother’s fascination with him.

Through her two interviews with women who were in his circle in the 1920’s, she gets an intimate look into Picasso — the artist and the man — through their stories and finds an unexpected connection within them.

Diva by Daisy Goodwin
Out January 23

Setting: mostly 1950’s & 1960’s

Diva is all about the life of celebrated opera singer Maria Callas with a focus on her love affair with wealthy business man Aristotle Onassis who abruptly went on to marry the former first lady Jackie Kennedy.

I can’t say I really know much about her but I love a good historical fiction that brings to life famous figures and the circles that they inhabit.

The Mayor of Maxwell Street by Avery Cunningham
Out January 23

Setting: Chicago during the roaring 20s

A wealthy Black debutante, who has been secretly working as an investigative writer with published works in a local Chicago newspaper, accepts a dangerous assignment to find the head of an underground crime syndicate known only as “The Mayor of Maxwell Street.”

While balancing her new debutante social life and standing, her investigative work takes her in the dangerous underground of Prohibition-era Chicago and crossing paths with a young man, working as a low level speakeasy manager, who will try to help her expose the Mayor.

The Queen of Sugar Hill by ReShonda Tate
Out January 30

Setting: 1940-1952 (Old Hollywood setting)

This dives into the story of Hattie McDaniel — the first Black woman to win an Oscar in 1940 — on the night she won the Oscar and then everything that happened after that groundbreaking win both professionally and personally.

I know the basics of Hattie McDaniel but I’m so looking forward to learning more about her fight in Hollywood after that historic win (especially in paving the way for others), her friendships with other actors of that Era and her trying to find a place in between the two worlds she inhabited.

The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard
Out January 30

Setting: Paris 1917, New York 1970

There was a time when I was really into all things fashion and fashion history (even started to apply to fashion school) so I’m very excited to read some historical fiction centered on the fashion industry but more so strong women who want to make their own way in a male-dominated world where they are more likely to be muses than taken seriously. Thrown in a mystery? This definitely sounds like my kind of read!

This one is centered around three generations of Bricard women in the fashion and design world — the first being Mizza Bricard who was known as the muse of Christian Dior.

Then we meet Astrid Bricard who is her designer husband’s muse but is trying to break out into her own career as a designer and then disappears.

Present day we meet Blythe Bricard -who has always had to live with the legacy of her family and has completely rejected this world despite really wanting to be a designer – as she learns the truth about her family’s legacy (and her mother’s disappearance) and begins to rebuild it.

Queens of London by Heather Webb
Out February 6, 2024

Setting: 1925 London

An all-girl gang/sisterhood of thieves set in post-WW1 London? Sounds fun to me and I know immediately I’m going to go research the heck out of the real Forty Elephants all-female crime syndicate.

This story is all about this group and their leader, Diamond Annie, as they attempt their biggest heist yet. At the same time a female detective (one of the only!) at Scotland Yard trying to make this big arrest of Diamond Annie to prove herself on the job.

Things We Didn’t Know by Elba Iris Perez
Out February 6, 2024

Setting: 1950’s in small town Massachusetts and Puerto Rico

Like a historical more on the literary fiction side?

This coming of age story, set in the 1950’s, is about two siblings who are taken back to Puerto Rico by their mother (who leaves them with family in poverty) and then months later they return back to Massachusetts with their father and struggle to acclimate to the changes they find when they get home and not feeling like they belong.

The Lost Dresses of Italy by M.A. McLaughlin
Out February 6, 2024

Setting: 1864 & 1947 in Verona, Italy

This dual-timeline historical fiction centers around a mystery related to three Victorian dresses that were believed to have belonged to poet Christina Rossetti. This is all inspired by the real story of Christina Rossetti.

The mystery is unraveled as a textile historian in 1947 is brought in to take a look at these recently discovered Victorian dresses before they are put on exhibit and, as she is going through everything, she uncovers a mysterious letter with a warning amongst the dresses.

The other timeline is of Christina Rossetti in 1864, returning home, and discovers secret compartment containing a letter and urgent request from her exiled father hidden in a gift he gave her.

The Road from Belhaven by Margot Livesey
Out February 6, 2024

Setting: late-nineteenth-century Scotland

Travel back to late 19th century Scotland for the coming of age story about a girl named Lizzie, orphaned and living with her grandparents, who has a secret gift of second sight/clairvoyance.

As she grows up, she struggles with this gift of hers and how to best use it as well as how to make decisions based on what she sees. When she makes some terrible choices, after falling in love, she tries to right her path with her gift.

A bit more of a slow-burn, character-driven literary historical that follows Lizzie from childhood to young adulthood as she navigates her gift and girlhood in this time.

The Women by Kristin Hannah
Out February 6, 2024

Setting: Vietnam War

I’m SO excited for a new Kristin Hannah historical fiction. The Vietnam War era is something I really haven’t read in my historical fiction and I love that her story is going to be an exploration of the women — their part in it all so often glossed over from history — who were there in Vietnam.

It’s about a young woman and nursing student who deviates from her life plan when she enlists, just like her brother did, to join the Army Nurse Corps over in Vietnam.

It tells her story amidst the destruction and horror during war, with a big part on the friendship/sisterhood with the other women by her side, as well as the trauma of returning home after the war.

The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West
Out February 6, 2024

Setting: dual timelines in 1927 & 1987

I love stories about fearless and spirited women who fight back against the male-dominated spaces they find themselves wanting to pursue and bulldozing their way there. This one seems exactly that and with plenty of adventure to boot!

This one is the story of a young female pilot in 1927 who is told she can’t embark on a dangerous and daring air race (the Dole Air Races) across the Pacific ocean but who will find a way to take part in it one way or another — a decision that will change her life as she sets on this harrowing journey.

In 1987 a down-on-her-luck young woman, having just inherited land from her great uncle, discovers the buried history of this daring young pilot in a dilapidated barn which sets her on a whole new life path.

Neferura by Malayna Evans
Out February 13, 2024

Setting: Ancient Egypt (during Egypt’s 18th Dynasty)

Plunge yourself into Ancient Egypt and meet Neferura — forgotten daughter of powerful Pharaohs Hatshepsut and Thutmose II — in this historical re-imagining.

It tells her story of her unique position at court as she navigates the dangers that come with it and the power struggle between her mother and Thutmose III as he tries to overthrow her mother’s rule and stop Neferura’s potential rise to power.

Neferuru won’t go down without a fight though as she tries to outmaneuver her half-brother before he can succeed but the path won’t be easy as she makes uneasy alliances and must decide what is worth sacrificing for her plan to succeed.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
Out February 13, 2024

Setting: WW1 Belgium

Love your historical with a dash of supernatural? I sure do love that if done right plus I’m such a huge Katherine Arden fan that this is definitely one of my most anticipated new historical fiction books for 2024!

This one tells the story of a combat nurse and her brother – also fighting in the war but has been missing and presumed dead in combat — and the story unravels in dual POVs taking place a year apart.

We see her volunteering, after being wounded and honorably discharged, in a Belgian hospital in order to find out the truth about her brother because she feels like something just isn’t right and wants the truth about her brother. What she finds is beyond what she could imagine.

Then we get her brother’s perspective, a year before she receives the letter about her brother, and we learn what actually happened to him in the trenches and the precarious position he found himself amidst the horrors of war and beyond.

A Wild & Heavenly Place by Robin Oliveira
Out February 13, 2024

Setting: Scotland & Washington State in the late 1800s

Love an epic story of star-crossed lovers in your historical reads? This one might be the one for you!

Young lovers, a high society girl and a boy in poverty, have their fledgling secret relationship torn apart when bankruptcy causes the young girl’s family to move from Scotland to rugged Washington State for the coal mining business and its promise of easy money.

The lovestruck boy ends up leaving everything in pursuit of her into this new land — a place where they will all find hardships, adversity and circumstances so different from the one they left.

The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn & Janie Chang
Out February 13, 2024

Setting: San Francisco in 1906 plus the few years that follow

Historical fiction dream team Kate Quinn (one of my favorite historical fiction authors) and Janie Chang coming together makes this a must read historical fiction for me in 2024.

“San Francisco, 1906. In a city bustling with newly minted millionaires and scheming upstarts, two very different women hope to change their fortunes: Gemma, a golden-haired, silver-voiced soprano whose career desperately needs rekindling, and Suling, a petite and resolute Chinatown embroideress who is determined to escape an arranged marriage. Their paths cross when they are drawn into the orbit of Henry Thornton, a charming railroad magnate whose extraordinary collection of Chinese antiques includes the fabled Phoenix Crown, a legendary relic of Beijing’s fallen Summer Palace.

His patronage offers Gemma and Suling the chance of a lifetime, but their lives are thrown into turmoil when a devastating earthquake rips San Francisco apart and Thornton disappears, leaving behind a mystery reaching further than anyone could have imagined . . . until the Phoenix Crown reappears five years later at a sumptuous Paris costume ball, drawing Gemma and Suling together in one last desperate quest for justice.”

The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
Out February 13, 2024

Setting: 1900’s Manchuria

In this historical fiction, infused with magic and folklore, you’ll be transported to the early 1900’s that brings together the story of a detective investigating mysterious deaths and a mother looking for revenge as they track a murderer — all infused with the folklore and mythology of fox spirits.

Sisters of Fortune by Anna Lee Huber
Out February 20, 2024

Setting: on board the Titanic in 1912 (and after)

I’m always looking for a new Titanic-related historical fiction and I’m excited for this historical story inspired by the actual family that was on the Titanic.

This one is about the three sisters of the Fortune family, who are on the last leg of their Grand Tour with their parents, and what each of them are dealing with as they set sail on the Titanic and how that ill-fated voyage will change their lives forever.

Ours by Phillip B. Williams
Out February 20, 2024

Setting: Antebellum South

This one looks so fantastic — historical fiction with some magical realism.

“In this ingenious, sweeping novel, Phillip B. Williams introduces us to an enigmatic woman named Saint, a fearsome conjuror who, in the 1830s, annihilates plantations all over Arkansas to rescue the people enslaved there. She brings those she has freed to a haven of her own a town just north of St. Louis, magically concealed from outsiders, named Ours.

It is in this miraculous place that Saint’s grand experiment—a truly secluded community where her people may flourish—takes root. But although Saint does her best to protect the inhabitants of Ours, over time, her conjuring and memories begin to betray her, leaving the town vulnerable to intrusions by newcomers with powers of their own. As the cracks in Saint’s creation are exposed, some begin to wonder whether the community’s safety might be yet another form of bondage.

Set over the course of four decades and steeped in a rich tradition of American literature informed by Black surrealism, mythology, and spirituality, Ours is a stunning exploration of the possibilities and limitations of love and freedom by a writer of capacious vision and talent.”

The Turtle House by Amanda Churchill
Out February 20, 2024

Setting: 1930’s in Japan and onward during the War (as well as Texas in the late 90’s)

A literary fiction historical novel story centering around the evolving relationship of a grandmother (who has been displaced by a fire) and grand-daughter (who has mysteriously moved back to her childhood home) as they become roommates and get to know one another a bit better.

The grandmother, who was a Japanese war bride, tells her story of her life in pre-War Japan, what she went through as the War emerged and beyond. Her story is interspersed with her grand-daughter’s story and what led to her moving back home as a young adult.

The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson by Ellen Baker
Out February 20, 2024

Setting: 1920’s to 2015

This has been pitched as Orphan Train x Water for Elephants x When We Were Yours but the biggest pull for me is the circus setting!

This family drama starts in 1920’s when a four-year-old Cecily is dropped off at an orphanage, after her mother promised to come back, at 7 years old she finds herself sold to a traveling circus and embarks on a new life full of adventure, found family, forbidden love and the darker side the circus & life.

In the present time-line, her great grandchild is working on a DNA project and a now 94 year old Cecily will have to confront the secrets of her life that have been hidden for so long and could shake up her family.

The American Daughters by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
Out February 27, 2024

Setting: New Orleans during the Civil War Era (mid-1800s)

This one chronicles the life of an enslaved girl named Ady, enslaved with her mother to a businessmen in New Orleans, and then later on in her young life when she meets a free Black woman named Lenore who changes her life forever when she’s introduced to the women’s resistance group she’s part of.

Sisters of Belfast by Melanie Maure
Out February 27, 2024

Setting: WW2 era (and decades later)

This one looks like a tough & emotional read considering a lot of it is about the abuse and injustices that happened to orphaned children during this time as well as a sister story.

It’s about two twin sisters who survive a bombing on their home in Ireland during WWII and, after being sent to an orphanage full of mistreatment, become separated from one another for decades. Later on, the two are reunited and learn about the secrets of the past and what each of them experienced since they were separated.

No Better Time by Sheila Williams
Out February 27, 2024

Setting: WW2

I said it before in this post but I love looking for historical settings that maybe are a little more popular but finding a little known aspect/story or someone whose voice never gets to be told in the majority of them. This looks like a perfect story for anyone who feels the same and wants something different in the WW2 historical space.

This book centers around the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion — the only Black Women’s Army Corps to serve overseas during the conflict.

The Painter’s Daughters by Emily Howes
Out February 27, 2024

Setting: 1700’s England

It centers around the two daughters — and frequent subjects — of English Painter Thomas Gainsborough and their complicated relationship.

It chronicles their relationship through childhood — and especially how inseparable they are navigating the bouts of mental confusion one of them has– and then their young adulthood thrust into high society where the condition further declines and the arrival of a man into their life threatens to break their bond.

I was so curious after reading the summary of the book that I already went down the rabbit hole learning about this family before even reading it and I’m very interested to see how the author handles the real life mental condition the eldest daughter had and the whole Johann thing.

The Girls We Sent Away by Meagan Church
Out March 5, 2024

Setting: 1960’s America

This one is set during the Baby Scoop Era (post WW2 til about the early 1970’s where there was both a huge increase in premarital pregnancies and newborn adoptions than seen previously) and it’s about a young girl who gets pregnant during this time.

The girl-next-door with a promising future gets pregnant and her parents send her to a house for wayward girls — a dark place where she will have to fight for her autonomy to keep her child and be shunned or give up the baby to play within society’s rules for young women.

I feel like this is going to be such a good book club book for 2024 with a story that is still so relevant as women face challenges of body autonomy and choice when it comes to pregnancy and motherhood.

I Am Rome by Santiago Posteguillo
Out March 5, 2024

Setting: Ancient Rome

This Spanish-language best-seller is now translated to English and sheds a light on a much younger and idealistic Julius Caesar as he works to prosecute a corrupt system and leader as a young lawyer.

The Tower by Flora Carr
Out March 5, 2024

Setting: Scotland, 1567

A new book centering around Mary Queen of Scots that re-imagines her time when she was held hostage in isolated Lochleven Castle and was plotting her escape?? PLEASE, I need it now.

The Silver Bone by Andrey Kurkov
Out March 5, 2024

Setting: 1919 Kyiv

Love a good historical mystery/crime novel (with a hint of magical realism)? This one is the start of a series set in a post-WW1 Kyiv and centers around a young man, who just lost his ear and father thanks to the Red Army, who falls into the job of rookie detective and is working on his first case amidst the tumultuous landscape of Kyiv in this time.

This author has been dubbed the Ukrainian Steig Larsson and, I for one, am excited to give this series a try.

The Last Verse by Caroline Frost
Out March 5, 2024

Setting: 1970’s Nashville in the country music scene

An aspiring musician, involved in a shocking crime after a night out gone wrong, writes a haunting ballad to process the night — a song she only performs once to an empty bar.

She’s shocked when weeks later she hears that very song on the radio sung by another woman and is left to wonder if she should claim her now hit song to propel her to the long-sought fame — even if it implicates her in a crime.

The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez
Out March 5, 2024

Setting: 1907 Panama during the construction of the Panama Canal

I’m actually reading this one right now at the time of writing this and I’m about halfway through and enjoying this sweeping saga full of interconnected people’s vignettes amidst the construction of the Panama Canal.

I wouldn’t say it is very heavy on the history of the Canal but more about the people who were affected by the construction of it: those who lived there and those who came to Panama during it for whatever reason.

Some of the more main characters we meet are: father and son locals with very different opinions on the Canal, a young girl from Barbados who came to find work in Panama in order to help her sister and a scientist (and his wife) who is trying to eliminate the very real problem of malaria.

Highly recommend!

Pelican Girls by Julia Malye
Out March 5, 2024

Setting: 1720’s

Wow I’ve never heard of the Baleine Brides before! I’m eager to learn about this piece of history.

It’s about a group of young women of childbearing age — orphans, asylum patients, daughters from families in poverty, etc — who are gathered and sent on a ship to marry settlers in the wilds of the Louisiana Territory.

The Woman With No Name by Audrey Blake
Out March 12, 2024

Setting: 1940’s in Britain and France

In this one we are introduced to the story of a real woman (Yvonne Rudellat) in her 40’s who did extraordinary things during WW2 due to her desire to help bring the war to a close. She accepts a position to go into her beloved France as a Britain’s first female SOE and becomes a huge part of France’s largest resistance networks.

If you love tales of wartime espionage and courageous women, check this one out!

The Underground Library by Jennifer Ryan
Out March 12, 2024

Setting: WW2 London

I loved The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir from this author so I am really anticipating this one! Plus I love finding more heart-warming WW2 era books and the fact this really showcases how libraries are one of the best community spaces? Whew, it’s a definite yes.

Based on an actual event, it’s the story of three women — each with their own personal challenges going on — who come together, after a library is bombed during the War, and bring it back to life for the community as they move the books into a subway tunnel where citizens shelter at night.

All Our Yesterdays by Joel H. Morris
Out March 12, 2024

Setting: 11th Century Scotland

Fans of Hamnet should check out this newest Shakespeare re-imagining! This time it’s centering around Lady Macbeth and her son 10 years before the events of Macbeth as it delves into her past and her story.

Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray
Out March 12, 2024

Setting: Great Depression era

A historical novel centering around the life and work of trailblazer Frances Perkins and her rise to becoming FDR’s most trusted cabinet member ( and first woman to be appointed!) as well as the work she did making the way for, in the face of great personal and national hardship, the New Deal and Social Security.

To be completely honest, I feel like either my memory has failed me or my American history textbooks because I don’t know who she is and I am excited to learn all about this trailblazing woman in such a male dominated space.

The Swan’s Nest by Laura McNeal
Out March 12, 2024

Setting: late 1800’s

All about the unlikely romance between two of the greatest Victorian poets — Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett. From admirers of each other’s work, their love story blossoms from hundreds of correspondence to a secret courtship in the face of familial disapproval in which they will decide to do what it takes to be together.

A Home For Friendless Women by Kelly Hill
Out March 19, 2024

Setting: Victorian-era Louisville

Based on the real-life institution that took in pregnant, unmarried women — from 1876 to 1919 — it tells the stories of some of these “fallen” women who have no other choice or place to turn to except this place where good intentions often come up short and with often housed much darker realities.

Finding Margaret Fuller by Allison Pataki
Out March 19, 2024

Setting: mid-1800s

Allison Pataki’s The Magnificent Life of Marjorie Post was one of my favorite historical reads in 2022 when it came out and I am so excited to learn more about another trailblazing woman from history that I know next to nothing about.

This one centers around Margaret Fuller — a woman who inspired and rubbed elbows literary greats (like Louisa May Alcott and Emerson) and paved the way for women in future generations in the march for equal rights.

I mean, a true luminary — first female foreign news correspondent, first woman to be allowed to use the library at Harvard and feminist writer who bucked the idea of society’s role for women.

I cannot wait to learn about her and hear her adventurous story from literary saloons to adventures abroad.

The Lost Book of Bonn by Brianna Labuskes
Out March 19, 2024

Setting: Germany in WW2 (and post-war)

Told in dual timelines, it’s the story of a librarian’s quest to return a precious book, stolen by the Nazis with other works of literature, to its rightful owner and the way this book intersects the lives of two sisters choosing different paths amidst the horrors of WWII.

If The Tide Turns by Rachel Rueckert
Out March 26, 2024

Setting: mid-1700’s (Massachusetts and the high seas)

Set in the Golden Age of Pirates and post Salem Witch Trials, it’s about the enduring love between young lovers – daughter of a wealthy family & an orphaned sailor turned pirate — and what they did and endured for the hopes of being together in a society that would keep them apart.

The Philadelphia Heiress
Out March 26, 2024

Setting: 1920’s Main Line (affluent suburb of Philadelphia)

I mean, considering I live near the Main Line I am very interested in this story about Helen Montgomery: a young woman who wants more than being a debutante and the life that will go after it but, after her father is caught in a scandal, she must quickly marry to save their fortune and reputation. As she marries a man as independent as she is and it feels like this marriage is what they both could need, the cracks begin to show in both her marriage and the perfect life she wanted to construct.

American Daughters by Piper Huguley
Out April 2, 2024

Setting: 1901 to 1930 in America

This new historical fiction book is all about the lives and enduring friendship of Alice Roosevelt and Portia Washington (Booker T. Washington’s daughter) — exceptional women brought together by their famous fathers’ causes in a segregated world.

Delve into the lives of these women individually and the story of how they were there each other in friendship spanning many years in a society where their friendship was frowned upon.

Perfect if you like reading about real women from history — especially one not as known as Portia Washington or featured heavily in historical books that I’ve seen.

The Secret Keeper by Genevieve Graham
Out April 2, 2024

Setting: WW2

This one is about two inseparable — and total opposites — twin sisters from Canada who join the war effort — one as a pilot and the other as a codebreaker. As they face the dangers of wartime as well as the secrecy and harrowing adventures of their respective jobs, their unbreakable bond is tested at every turn.

Check it out if you liked The Rose Code or The Nightingale!

All We Were Promised by Ashton Lattimore
Out April 2, 2024

Setting: pre-Civil War Philadelphia (late 1830’s)

As someone who lives in the Philadelphia area, I can’t say I’m even familiar about this era in my city but I’m eager to learn about this turbulent but pivotal time in Philadelphia’s history.

A look at the abolition movement (and the attack against it) in Philadelphia told from the perspective of three very different young Black women — a rebel, a socialite and a fugitive — who unite to help one another and the fight for freedom happening in their city.

The Sicilian Inheritance by Jo Piazza
Out April 2, 2024

Setting: Sicily, Italy in the early 1900’s and present day

Love a good historical novel with a dual timeline that seamlessly blends the past and the present?

Check out this historical novel that is part murder mystery and part family saga set in Italy and featuring some strong women. It’s also inspired by the author’s own family history!

It’s the story of a young woman who is sent on a journey to finally solve a family mystery — the possible murder of her great grandmother — at the request of her Sicilian aunt who has just passed and has left her a deed to her home in the small Sicilian village she was born in.

The Widow Spy by Megan Campisi
Out April 9, 2024

Setting: American Civil War Era

Set during the American Civil War era, this historical mystery is all about Kate Warne — the real life first female detective in the U.S. for the Pinkerton agency — whose latest assignment could end the Civil War as she goes undercover to help the Union effort to gain the pivotal secrets of a captured spy.

The House on Biscayne Bay by Chanel Cleeton
Out April 9, 2024

Setting: 1918 and 1940 in Miami

Ridiculously excited for a new Chanel Cleeton — this one a departure from the Perez family that I’ve loved so much these past few years.

This one is an atmospheric gothic historical mystery set in Miami with two women whose lives — in different timelines — will intersect in danger centering around the mansion they both reside in that has had its share of mysterious deaths.

The Wartime Book Club by Kate Thompson
Out April 9, 2024

Setting: 1940s on the German-occupied English island of Jersey

Immediately this one is giving me vibes of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society which I LOVED so long ago. Plus I love a good story about books and reading and people brought together by books.

It’s about two friends living on the German-occupied isle of Jersey who come together in little acts of resistance to provide their neighbors an escape in reading as they defy orders to destroy books banned by the harshly ruling German soldiers — an act which inspires even more acts of bravery and resistance that become even more dangerous over time.

Inspired by real events!

The Outlaw Noble Salt by Amy Harmon
Out April 9, 2024

Setting: early 1900s American West

If you haven’t read an Amy Harmon book before, I cannot recommend them more! Truly!

If you like your historical fiction with a great romance plot, check out this new historical release centering all around Wild West outlaw Butch Cassidy — but giving a softer brush to this infamous figure as he tries to have a chance at a new life and love.

The Royal Librarian by Daisy Wood
Out April 11, 2024

Setting: 1940 Windsor (with a present day thread)

Love royal settings? This dual timeline takes readers into the story of a woman, exploring her family tree and finding a mysterious book that belongs to Windsor Castle, who unfolds the real story of her family and particularly that of her great aunt and what happened when the sisters were separated.

That story takes place in England in the midst of the war and a woman named Sophie who has a job at the Royal Library in Windsor — a job that is more than meets the eye.

The Evolution of Annabel Craig by Lisa Grunwald
Out April 16, 2024

Setting: 1925 Tennessee

I loved Time After Time by Lisa Grunwald and this one sounds fascinating and something I’m not really familiar with at all.

It is centered around an infamous and historic trial — the Scopes Trial – which was essentially a (staged) fight between religion and science and teaching evolution in the schools after a teacher is arrested for teaching evolution after it has been made illegal to do so.

The backdrop of the trial and the media frenzy is where we meet a young woman — whose husband is on the defense team for Scopes– and whose life will never be the same as all of this unfolds as it challenges her beliefs, marriage and more as the small Southern town is divided.

The Beautiful People by Michelle Gable
Out April 16, 2024

Setting: 1960’s Palm Beach

Love your historical reads dripping in opulence and with plenty of real life famous socialites?

Check out this story about a young woman trying to reinvent herself and takes a job as an assistant to Slim Aarons — a photographer to high society and famous folk — which will have her jet-setting and headfirst into high society.

But when they land in Palm Beach she finds herself even further entangled into the social scene — and especially with that of rising designer and heiress Lilly Pulitzer — but her standing becomes precarious with some secrets and gossip

Under the Paper Moon by Shaina Steinberg
Out April 23, 2024

Setting: WWII but also 1948 Los Angeles

A new historical noir that has been pitched as The Rose Code meets Mr. and Mrs. Smith!

It’s about a private investigator in LA, who used to be a spy during WW2 and is very much affected by her past, who is reunited with the spy she shared missions (and more) with when the person she is tailing for her latest case is murdered. The two must team up again, putting their past behind them, to solve this case — a case that has more to do with the past than they could have realized.

The Flower Sisters by Michelle Collins Anderson
Out April 23, 2024

Setting: 1928 in West Plains, MO and also in the 1970’s

This historical family saga is based on the true story of a Dance Hall explosion that happened in 1928 and killed many young people.

It’s the story about a young woman who survives the explosion but her sister does not and her grand-daughter, many years later living with her, who is digging into the tragedy for a column about the past at her new newspaper internship. The people of the town are reluctant to talk and dredge the tragedy back up and the young woman stumbles upon a shocking secret.

Your Presence is Mandatory by Sasha Vasilyuk
Out April 23, 2024

Setting: WW2 and 21st century Russia

Part epic historical and part family saga, this book is actually inspired by the life of the author’s grandfather.

It’s about a WW2 veteran and Jewish Ukrainian who kept his war stories with him until the day he died to protect his family and not be imprisoned a Soviet gulag.

After his death, the family learns that he has been keeping a life-long secret about his life during this time and must reconcile everything they thought they knew and the impact of the secret on them in the present.

The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club
Out May 7, 2024

Setting: English coast in 1918

It took me a minute to realize this is the same author that wrote Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand which I read a million years ago and really enjoyed. This one looks like a delight too!

Set after WW1, a young woman is trying to figure out her next move now that all the men have returned home from war and she’s no longer needed to manage the estate she had been when all the men are gone.

As she tries to figure things out, she ends up in a seaside town to act as a caregiver for an old family friend. Her life is forever changed by this when she finds herself befriending a group of women that belong to a motorcycle riding club and are bucking what society tells them the roles they must go back to now that the War is over.

Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung
Out May 7, 2024

Setting: 1948 China and Taiwan

Inspired by the author’s grandmother and her narrow escape with her mother and sisters out of mainland China, this is the story of a mother and her daughters trying to escape during a time of political upheaval during the Communist revolution in China after being left behind to face the communists by family who sees them — as women — as burdens. They embark on a long journey across war-torn China to Taiwan in search for hope and freedom.

Love a good book about resilient women, mothers & daughters plus a historical time period I don’t know much about but am now eager to read about.

Ella by Diane Richards
Out May 7, 2024

Setting: 1930’s in New York

A biographical historical fiction about a slice of time in the earlier years of the life and career of legendary singer Ella Fitzgerald! I’m excited to read about her more formative years before she became THEEEEE Ella Fitzgerald and see all she went through — at times turbulent — on her way to becoming the star that she became.

The Library Thief by Kuchenga Shenje
Out May 7, 2024

Setting: Victorian England

A gothic historical mystery about a white-passing bookbinder who has found herself in the midst of a mystery at the estate she’s now working at to restore its collection of rare books after fleeing her own scandal. The much-whispered about estate holds many secrets — especially that surrounding the late wife of the estate’s Lord — and a half-burned diary of the late woman could hold the answers.

Rednecks by Taylor Brown
Out May 14, 2024

Setting: 1920-1921 West Virginia

This one is a historical drama fictionalizing the largest labor uprising in American history: The Battle of Blair Mountain/The West Virginia Mine Wars.

A diverse group of 10,000 coal miners came together against the owners of the mines, state militia and the US government.

One of those “why have I never heard of this huge battle that happened” moments?? Like literal bombs were dropped and it was largest armed conflict on American soil since the Civil War.

The Shadow of War by Jeff Shaara
Out May 14, 2024

Setting: 1960’s Cuban Missile Crisis

Okay so I had a moment, seeing the last name Shaara, and was immediately flung back to high school reading The Killer Angels. Which I realize NOW that that was this author’s father — Michael Shaara. But, whew, any other elder millennials have to read that book in school (and then watched Gettysburg afterward)?

ANYWAYS, I digress. That was just such a visceral reaction I had.

This one brings you right into the fear and intensity during the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis — where a war seemed to be on the horizon – through the eyes of both well-known and little-known players of the time throughout the US, Soviet Union and Cuba.

Seems like a pretty political-heavy historical fiction!

Every Time We Say Goodbye by Natalie Jenner
Out May 14, 2024

Setting: 1950’s Rome

I feel pretty confident you could read this totally as a standalone but just know it is a companion with cameos from characters from The Jane Austen Society (LOVED!) and Bloomsbury Girls (still need to read!) so I’d imagine the reading experience is even better having read those two — especially because this book continues Vivien’s story from Bloomsbury Girls.

Vivien, a struggling playwright, has fled to Italy after her first play flopped and is now a script-fixer for a big studio in Rome.

Still trying to move on from the war and figure out the mysterious disappearance of her soldier fiance during it, she finds herself — along with a group of British and American expats — embroiled in a controversy while making a movie about a female Italian resistance fighter during the war.

Tomorrow is For The Brave by Kelly Bowen
Out May 14, 2024

Setting: WW2 in North Africa

This one is loosely based on the life of Susan Travers — a socialite who became the first and only woman to ever serve with the French Foreign Legion.

Our heroine is a socialite named Violet who, when France falls to Germany, defies the wishes of her parents and joins the war effort to give her the life of meaning and purpose she’s desired.

She’s given a job — thanks to her skills at driving under pressure — in North Africa to drive French Foreign Legion officers and the crucial intelligence they car through dangerous territories.

Things get more dangerous, as it becomes clear to here that there is a spy in their ranks and her commanding officer is murdered, and Violet knows she must uncover the traitor before the spy does more harm.

Looks like a great book club book honestly!

Last House by Jessica Shattuck
Out May 14, 2024

Setting: mostly 50’s to 70’s in America

If you like your historical fiction to also be a sweeping family saga (me! it’s me!!), definitely keep this one on your radar for 2024.

It follows three generations of a family — wealthy thanks to the Oil Industry — their lives and the complicated relationship/feelings as years go on towards the very resource that gave them everything: including the idyllic Vermont oasis they built that becomes a refuge in so many ways.

From the earlier years, post WW2, building the fortune and the dream to the late 60’s and 70’s where the now adult children are swept up in the political and activist movements that go against all that their parents worked for.

It all comes together, at their beloved refuge, in the present day for a truly epic family saga that gives intimate looks into each generation of the family and how it grapples with changing times, legacy and more.

The Wealth of Shadows by Graham Moore
Out May 21, 2024

Setting: 1939-1945

I loved Graham Moore’s The Holdout and I’m excited for his latest — a historical thriller centered around the never before told true story of Ansel Luxford.

It’s about an ordinary man who joins a secret mission to bring down the Nazis as war is starting in Europe, without firing a bullet, by engaging in economic warfare and crashing their economy.

This decision drops him into a world of espionage, peril, and deceit in faraway backrooms — but also closer to home than he ever could have imagined — as the team works hard to not break the neutrality agreement in their subterfuge efforts.

I saw it described as “fiction for readers of Erik Larson” and I love that — a bit of Erik Larson meets Ken Follett!

And honestly I just really love historical fiction that brings to light a true story of somebody ordinary doing something extraordinary.

The Medicine Woman of Galveston by Amanda Skenandore
Out May 21, 2024

Setting: 1900 Texas

Ooh this one is about the 1900 Galveston Hurricane which is still considered the country’s most deadly natural disaster.

Out of options and desperate to be able to provide for her disabled son, a female doctor joins a traveling medicine show troupe — even though she is conflicted about peddling this swindle.

As they travel from town to town, their path collides with a deadly storm and into a town that will be desperate for her help.

The Incorrigibles by Meredith Jaeger
Out May 21, 2024

Setting: San Fransisco in the 1890’s and 1970’s

A feminist historical read tells the story of two fierce women separated by 80 years: one who suffered a betrayal that sent her to the San Quentin prison and a woman who learns about this woman from the past and the history of her neighborhood — which is facing gentrification — and joins the fight to save it.

Nero by Conn Iggulden
Out May 24, 2024

Setting: Ancient Rome, AD 37

The start of a new trilogy that will chronicle the life of Nero. This first book drops into Nero’s childhood years with his mother, Empress Aggripina, and her ambition and maneuvering to pave the way for her son’s rule through the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius

The Goddess of Warsaw by Lisa Barr
Out May 28, 2024

Setting: Warsaw 1943 & 2005 Hollywood

A Hollywood starlet decides, after meeting a legendary Golden Age movie star, she wants to make a movie about her life — a story that goes back to her time in the Warsaw Ghetto as her life and family were destroyed by the Nazis to the secrets that followed her to Hollywood.

The Paris Affair by Maureen Marshall
Out May 28, 2024

Setting: Belle Epoque Paris

Historical meets suspense meets queer romance — all centered around the building of the Eiffel Tower and about the young engineer working for Gustave Eiffel, trying to raise money for the project and secure his own future, caught in a web of deceit that could destroy both him and the famous tower.

The Last Twelve Miles by Erika Robuck
Out June 4, 2024

Setting: Prohibition Rum Wars (1920’s)

Set amidst the Prohibition Rum Wars, it’s about two ambitious women up against one another — the wife of a rum-runner who has her own ambitions for the illegal business and the Coast Guard Special Agent code-breaker hot on her trail to dismantle it.

Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate
Out June 4, 2024

Setting: 1909 and 1990’s in Oklahoma

Set amidst the Winding Stair Mountains, it weaves together the story of two children on the run in 1909 who stumbled on a group of orphan children in the mountains and the story of a park ranger in the 1990’s who uncovers a hidden burial ground during her search for a missing teenager.

It all surrounds the corruption and greedy power struggle regarding land and oil in the area (particularly towards Native land) and the often exploited and displaced children who got caught up in this struggle.

All The Summers In Between by Brooke Lea Foster
Out June 4, 2024

Setting: 1967 and 1977 in the Hamptons

In the summer of 1967 two girls become fast friends in the Hamptons — one a wealthy summer socialite, the other a hard-working local — until an incident that summer that causes them to not see one another for 10 years: a reunion that happens when one of them surprisingly reappears in the other’s life asking for help and secrets to be kept.

Lovers of complicated friendship stories — check this one out!

The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye
Out June 4, 2024

Setting: 17th century Caribbean

A swash-buckling tale that chronicles the rise of the purported shipwright turned lady pirate captain of much lore and debate — Jacquotte Delahaye.

Whether or not she existed or not, it definitely pulls from the Golden Age of Piracy and from the few women who were involved.

The Secret Keeper of Main Street by Trisha R. Thomas
Out June 4, 2024

Setting: 1950’s Oklahoma

A young Black dressmaker, who dresses the elite of the oil industry, uses her gift of “second sight” to provide readings to the more discreet brides who ask her.

But she finds herself at the center of huge scandal after she shares what she sees with her latest bride-to-be, who is also the daughter of one of the richest oil men in the area, when the groom is found dead before the wedding.

The Forgotten Names by Mario Escobar
Out June 11, 2024

Setting: 1940’s France (with 90’s timeline)

This one chronicles the resistance who worked to rescue people from a French internment camp before they could be sent to concentration camps and the woman who, in the 1990’s, works to locate children from a big rescue mission of 108 children in one night and connect them with their heritage (as they were given new identities and lives in order to save them).

Jackie by Dawn Tripp
Out June 18, 2024

Setting: 1950s-1990s

In Dawn Tripp’s latest biographical historical fiction novel she fictionalizes the life of Jackie O — all told in the first person as if being told in a memoir. From meeting JFK and falling in love to that tragic day and its aftermath, it gives an intimate re-imagining of her life.

The Glass Maker by Tracy Chevalier
Out June 18, 2024

Setting: 1400’s to present day Venice/Murano

Staring in Renaissance-era Venice, it follows a family of glassblowers over the span of 500 years as the city and the family transforms through the years — particularly focused on the eldest daughter who works on the trade in a time a woman isn’t meant to work on glass.

After visiting Murano and a small-owned glassblowing company last year, I am EAGER for this one.

Secrets of Rose Briar Hall by Kelsey James
Out June 25, 2024

Setting: Gilded Age New York

Love a good Gothic mystery? Check out this Gilded Age set mystery about a new wife and heiress, who is ready to prove herself with a grand party, only to wake up weeks later and find out that something terrible happened at the party and she’s being told by her new husband that she’s to blame.

Husbands and Lovers by Beatriz Williams
Out June 25, 2024

Setting: 1950’s Cairo (with contemporary storyline too)

This isn’t a full on historical novel but knowing that Beatriz Williams will knock a dual timeline out of the park and make the most of the historical subplot within the story, I had to add it.

While looking for a donor match for her son, a single mother stumbles upon some family secrets and also finds herself reunited with her childhood friend turned lover turned famous musician who she hasn’t seen in many years.

Her story converges with Hannah’s, set amidst the Egyptian revolution in the 50’s, a Hungarian refugee married to an English diplomat but who becomes involved in an affair with a spy.