Recommended Reading

I am a true lover of history. Fact or fiction, it makes no difference. When I am let loose in a book store, I naturally gravitate toward any novel whose cover might hint at something historical. The novels listed below range somewhere between biblical times and the mid twentieth century. They will take you to ancient Rome, Tudor England, the slave trade in Africa, revolutions in Eastern Europe, Mughal India, and beyond. So if you have a similar passion for anything about the past, this list of novels is for you.

Historical Fiction (not including classics)

  • Katherine by Anya Seton
  • The First Princess of Wales by Karen Harper
  • The Last Boleyn by Karen Harper
  • The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
  • The Queen’s Fool by Philippa Gregory
  • The Virgin’s Lover by Philippa Gregory
  • The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory
  • Balm by Dolan Perkins-Valdez
  • The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory
  • The Fool’s Tale by Nicole Galland
  • Revenge of the Rose by Nicole Galland
  • The Scarlet Lion by Elizabeth Chadwick
  • Courtesan by Diane Haegar
  • The Color Purple by Alice Walker
  • The Secret Bride by Diane Haegar
  • The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
  • Abundance by Sena Naslund
  • Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran
  • The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan
  • Roots by Alex Haley
  • Feast of Roses by Indu Sundaresan
  • Beneath A Marble Sky by Jonathan Shors
  • Through A Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen
  • Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
  • People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
  • Push Not the River by James Conroyd Martin
  • Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross
  • The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
  • Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor
  • Snowflower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
  • Empress Orchid by Anchee Min
  • The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins
  • City of Women by David R Gillham
  • The Huntress by Kate Quinn
  • Beautiful Stranger by Camille De Maio
  • Glory over Everything by Kathleen Grissom
  • This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
  • American Princess by Stephanie Marie Thornton
  • Circe by Madeline Miller
  • Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
  • Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
  • Rashi’s Daughters by Maggie Anton
  • One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus
  • Royal Harlot by Susan Holloway Scott
  • The Witch of Cologne by Tobsha Lerner
  • Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill
  • Sula by Toni Morrison
  • The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
  • The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
  • One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  • Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  • In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
  • Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
  • The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
  • The Physician by Noah Gordon
  • Shaman by Noah Gordon
  • The Last Jew by Noah Gordon
  • The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
  • The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
  • Those Who Saved Us by Jenna Blum
  • City of Thieves by David Benioff
  • Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
  • A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
  • Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
  • The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
  • The Unkillable Kitty O’Kane by Colin Falconer
  • The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
  • All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
  • At the Water’s Edge by Sara Gruen
  • Wench by Dolan Perkins-Valdez
  • Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
  • Before We Were Yours By Lisa Wingate
  • Dear Mrs. Bird by A. J. Pearce
  • The Lady in the Tower by Jean Plaidy
  • The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty
  • The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
  • Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
  • Euphoria by Lily King
  • The Help by Kathryn Stockett