Adult Historical Fiction

These historical fiction books are new to our shelves in the last 30 days (most recent on top).

You may also be interested in what we have On Order in this category.

List

It girl : a novel / Allison Pataki.
"At the dawn of the twentieth century, New York's streets teem with change: electricity, automobiles, the brash young President Teddy Roosevelt—and the It Girls. As artists' muses and working models, these independent young women soar to stardom not becau…
Frida's cook : a novel / Florencia Etcheves ; [English translation by Beth Fowler].
"Mexico City, 1939: Young and determined Nayeli Cruz flees from her Oaxaca home to arrive in Mexico City with neither friends nor prospects. Alone and armed only with her sharp wit and extraordinary talent in the kitchen, she finds herself in front of La …
A deeper well : the story of the woman at the well / Jill Eileen Smith.
"In ancient Israel, soon after Nessa is of marriageable age, her father gives her to a wealthy widowed friend, capitalizing on her beauty to bring in the highest bride-price he can find. Nessa is devastated, as she had begged to marry Lavi, who returned h…
The determined / Rachel Rueckert.
"1721, Spanish Town, Jamaica. Captured, convicted, and pregnant, 23-year-old Anne Bonny faces the gallows. When writer Captain Charles Johnson enters the garrison, she strikes a deal: she'll tell this opportunistic fool her life story if he sends a doctor…
White River crossing : a novel / by Ian McGuire.
"A ragged fur peddler arrives at a remote outpost of the Hudson's Bay Company in the winter of 1766 with a lump of gold, claiming that there is plenty more like it further north at a place called Ox Lake. The outpost’s chief factor, Magnus Norton, dreams …
Railsong : a novel / Rahul Bhattacharya.
"In a newly independent India charged with national vigour, Charu, the motherless daughter of a railway worker, pines for freedom from the shackles of her impoverishment and meagre prospects. As diesel engines replace steam and the calamitous churn of dro…
Everything lost returns : a novel / Sarah Domet.
"1986. The Earthshine Soap Company has given Nona Dixon everything, from making her the brand’s first Earthshine Girl to launching her acting career. It also threatens to be the very thing that causes her to unravel when a group of Jane Does file a class …
The woman and her stars : a novel / Penny Haw.
"She must find her own place amongst the stars. Caroline Herschel has always lived in the shadows. Beholden to her wildly popular older brother, William, who rescued her from servitude, she's worked hard to build a life for herself--one where she can go u…
Now I surrender / Álvaro Enrigue ; translated by Natasha Wimmer.
"A visionary novelist imagines the fiercely fought end of an epoch of almost unimaginable freedom and radically recasts the story of how the West was "won." In the contested borderlands between Mexico and the United States, a woman flees into the desert a…
She made herself a monster : a novel / Anna Kovatcheva.
"We make monsters in order to destroy them. For thousands of years, we’ve named witches and burned them, suspected demons and exorcised them. When crops die and children fall ill, who better to blame than a monster? Yana rides from one desolate town to th…
Sisters of book row : a novel / Shelley Noble.
"1915: Manhattan’s Book Row, an eclectic jumble of forty bookshops along Fourth Avenue, is the mecca for rare book buyers from around the world, and the haunt of locals looking for a bargain. It is also the target of the most vicious censor in American hi…
No friend to this house : a novel / Natalie Haynes.
"This is what no one tells you, in the songs sung about Jason and the Argo. This part of his quest has been forgotten, by everyone but me . . . Jason and his Argonauts set sail to find the Golden Fleece. The journey is filled with danger, for him and eve…
All in her hands : a novel / Audrey Blake.
"1849. Dr. Nora Gibson is the only female surgeon in London. In all of England, even. After earning her medical degree and overcoming the prejudice of those who wished to see her fail, she's finally earned her place at the Great Queen Street Hospital alon…
Luminous bodies : a novel of Marie Curie / Devon Jersild.
"In the vein of Georgia (Dawn Tripp) and Matrix (Lauren Groff), the narrative follows Marie from girlhood in Poland to the battlefields of World War I, focusing on her marriage, widowhood, and love affair with physicist Paul Langevin—after which she was o…
A crown of stars / Abé Shana.
"In turn of the century England, the Jolivet family lives a charmed existence. Daughter of a wealthy vineyard owner and a French pianist, vivacious Marguerite, the eldest of three, loves spinning stories and entertaining her family’s well-connected friend…
Where the false gods dwell : a novel / Denny S. Bryce.
"Chicago, 1935. Othella is an orphaned con-artist who needs to escape the city's brutal underworld... or else. Vivian Jean is a wealthy wife, student, and anthropologist eager to prove herself professionally and personally. Zinzi is a Jamaican labor union…
The midnight carousel / Fiza Saeed McLynn.
"1920, Chicago: Maisie Marlowe has come to America for a fresh start. After discovering an antique fairground carousel, she is seized by the idea of running a glittering amusement park. But little does she know that the wondrous object has a sinister past…
The innkeeper of Ivy Hill / Julie Klassen.
"The lifeblood of the village of Ivy Hill is its coaching inn, The Bell. When the innkeeper dies suddenly, his genteel wife, Jane Bell, becomes the reluctant landlady. Jane has no idea how to manage a business, but with the town's livelihood at stake and …
I hope you find what you're looking for : a novel / Bsrat Mezghebe
"The year is 1991. Eritrea is on the verge of liberation from Ethiopian rule and in Washington, D.C.’s tight-knit Eritrean community, change is in the air. Thirteen-year-old Lydia and her family are grappling with what peace after decades of war might mea…
Cleopatra : a novel / Saara El-Arifi.
"Your historians call me seductress, but I was ever in love’s thrall. Your playwrights speak of witchcraft, but my talents came from the gods themselves. Your poets sing of my bloodlust, but I was always protecting my children. How wilfully they refuse to…
Mists over the Channel Islands : a novel of World War II / Sarah Sundin.
"Behind enemy lines, adversary and ally become impossible to distinguish. The German invasion of the British Channel Islands shatters Dr. Ivy Picot's peaceful world, forcing her to shoulder the weight of her father's medical practice and hold together a f…
The violin maker's secret / Evie Woods.
"On any given day, there are thousands of items slowly gathering dust in the Lost and Found of Heathrow Airport. Unknown to anyone, hidden among the clutter, is a very special object that can change the fortunes of those who possess it – a violin of rare …
Book of forbidden words : a novel / Louise Fein.
"1552, PARIS: The print­ing press is quickly spreading new ideas across Europe, threatening the power of church and state and unleashing a wave of book burning and heretic hunting. When frightened ex-nun Lysbette Angiers arrives at Charlotte Guillard’s fa…
House of splinters / Laura Purcell.
"Belinda Bainbridge has spent her life in the shadow of her anxious mother, so when her father-in-law dies at The Bridge, his remote ancestral seat, she is secretly thrilled. His death means she, her husband, Wilfred, and their children can relocate and f…
A slow and secret poison / Carmella Lowkis.
"In the early 1900s, a young gardener at a lush English manor falls in love with her employer whose past is shrouded in deadly secrets—from the author of the “twisty, Gothic thriller” (Entertainment Weekly) Spitting Gold. 1922, Wiltshire: When Vee Morgan…
Autobiography of cotton : a novel / Cristina Rivera Garza ; translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney.
"In 1934, a young Jose Revueltas traveled to Tamaulipas to support the cotton workers' strike in Estacion Camaron, which became the basis of his landmark novel Human Mourning. In her own groundbreaking novel, Autobiography of Cotton, Cristina Rivera Garza…
Inharmonious / Tammye Huf.
"When three young Black men enlist in the US Army hoping to serve their country with honor, their lives are forever changed. When Pearl Harbor is attacked in 1941, Cora's brother Benny rushes to enlist against the wishes of Cora and her mother. Able to p…
Evil genius : a novel / Claire Oshetsky.
"It’s 1974 and San Francisco is full of mystery and menace. Nineteen-year-old Celia Dent keeps telling herself how lucky she is to be working at the phone company and to be married to her Drew, a man who says he loves her. Celia’s contentment with her lit…
The wandering queen : a novel of Dido / Claire Heywood.
"When the King of Tyre dies, he decrees that the rule of the kingdom will pass equally to both his children: Elissa, his clever and strong-willed daughter, and Pygmalion, her young half-brother. But Elissa, not yet skilled in the machinations of court, qu…
The prodigal of Leningrad : a novel / Daniel Taylor.
"While bombs fall and starvation grips the city, Daniil Aslanov continues to lead tours of empty frames through the Hermitage Museum. Although the museum’s masterpieces have been hidden away for safekeeping, their presence lingers in memory and meaning. …
With love from Harlem : a novel / ReShonda Tate.
"Harlem, 1943. At just twenty-three, Hazel Scott is a woman on fire. A jazz prodigy, a glamorous film star, and a fierce advocate for civil rights, she’s breaking barriers and refusing to play by the rules. Then Adam Clayton Powell Jr. walks into her life…
Keeper of lost children : a novel / by Sadeqa Johnson.
"Ethel Gathers, the proud wife of an American Officer, is living in Occupied Germany in the 1950s. After discovering a local orphanage filled with the abandoned mixed-race children of German women and Black American GI’s, Ethel feels compelled to help fin…
The unselected journals of Emma M. Lion. Vol. 8 / Beth Brower.
"The Year is 1884 and Emma M. Lion has, at long last, gained her majority. Entering a golden age of friendship with Pierce, Islington, and Hawkes, Emma is confident she will manage whatever comes her way. It is The Season she must help Arabella secure a h…
The unselected journals of Emma M. Lion. Vol. 6 / Beth Brower.
"The Year is 1883 and Emma M. Lion has returned to her London neighborhood of St. Crispian's. But Emma's plans for a charmed and studious life are sabotaged by her eccentric Cousin Archibald, her formidable Aunt Eugenia, and the slightly odd denizens of S…
The unselected journals of Emma M. Lion. Vol. 7 / Beth Brower.
"The Year is 1884 and Emma M. Lion has, at long last, gained her majority. Entering a golden age of friendship with Pierce, Islington, and Hawkes, Emma is confident she will manage whatever comes her way. It is The Season she must help Arabella secure a h…
The unselected journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol. 5 / Beth Brower.
"The Year is 1883 and Emma M. Lion has returned to her London neighborhood of St. Crispian's. But Emma's plans for a charmed and studious life are sabotaged by her eccentric Cousin Archibald, her formidable Aunt Eugenia, and the slightly odd denizens of S…
The unselected journals of Emma M. Lion. Vol. 4 / Beth Brower.
"The Year is 1883 and Emma M. Lion has returned to her London neighbourhood of St. Crispian's. But Emma's plans for a charmed and studious life are sabotaged by her eccentric Cousin Archibald, her formidable Aunt Eugenia, and the slightly odd denizens of …
Lady Tremaine : a novel / Rachel Hochhauser.
"Twice-widowed, Lady Etheldreda Verity Isolde Tremaine Bramley is solely responsible for her two children, a priggish stepdaughter, a razor-taloned peregrine falcon, and a crumbling manor. Fierce and determined, Ethel clings to the respectability her dece…
A far-flung life : a novel / by M. L. Stedman.
"When we do something that can’t be undone or mended, how do we go on living? How do we find our North Star when there is no right answer?...Remote Western Australia, 1958: here, for generations, the MacBrides have lived on a vast sheep station, Meredith …
The Vermilion Sea : a novel / Megan Chance
"The Great War may be over, but brilliant scientist Billie McKennan continues the fight to be taken seriously. When a deliberate omission wins her a marine biologist position aboard an expedition funded by a wealthy eccentric, she quickly discovers she’s …
Rebel English Academy : a novel / Mohammed Hanif.
"From the brilliant Booker-longlisted Mohammed Hanif comes a lively, rich novel about the power of language, friendship, and protest in the face of political turmoil. When Pakistan's first elected Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is hanged, the people o…
The unselected journals of Emma M. Lion. Vol. 3 / Beth Brower.
"The Year is 1883 and Emma M. Lion has returned to her London Neighbourhood of St. Crispian's. But Emma's plan for a charmed and studious life are sabotaged by her eccentric Cousin Archibald, her formidable Aunt Eugenia, and the slightly odd denizens of S…
Fireflies in winter / Eleanor Shearer.
"A gripping novel about two women fighting for survival in the icy wilderness of Nova Scotia, and the love that simultaneously sustains them and threatens their very existence, from the author of the Good Morning America Book Club pick River Sing Me Home.…
The belle of Chatham / Laura Frantz.
"In 1777, caught in the crossroads of the American Revolution, sisters Maebel and Coralie Bohannon's quaint New Jersey village becomes a battleground as they house American officers. Rebellion ripples through their family as members take opposing sides--P…
Women of a promiscuous nature / Donna Everhart.
"The day Ruth Foster's life changes begins the same way as many others—with a walk through her North Carolina hometown toward the diner where she works. But on this day, Ruth is stopped by the local sheriff, who insists that she accompany him to a health …
Beyond the clouds / Elizabeth Camden.
"As teenagers, Delia Byrne and Finn Delaney fell in love while flying kites and dreaming of a future together-until betrayal tore them apart. Now, Delia, a pacifist and paralegal, and Finn, a decorated war hero, cross paths in famine-stricken WWI Belgium.…
Mule boy / Andrew Krivak.
"On New Year's Day, 1929, Ondro Prach, the thirteen-year-old son of Slovak immigrants in Pennsylvania coal country, begins a new job as mule boy. He knows the danger-his father died in the mines-but he is proud of his position handling the animal that hau…
The sea child : a novel / Linda Wilgus.
"England, early 1800s: Destitute and forced to leave her home in London, Isabel, a young widow of the Napoleonic Wars, returns to the village on the rugged Cornish coast where she was found as a small child, dripping wet and alone. Hoping to learn more ab…
Fire sword and sea : a novel / Vanessa Riley.
"The Caribbean Sea, 1675. Jacquotte Delahaye is the mixed-race daughter of a wealthy tavern owner on the island of Tortuga. Instead of marriage, Jacquotte dreams of joining the seafarers and smugglers whose tall-masted ships cluster in the turquoise water…
Rules of the heart : a novel / Janice Hadlow.
"England, 1794. Now in her thirties, Lady Harriet Bessborough, already the veteran of several liaisons, finds herself pursued by a much younger man. This isn’t unusual in her circle, where married women often take younger lovers. No one minds much, provid…