Historical Books
A landscape architect unearths the tangled history of a once-celebrated English garden-and all its mysteries-in a captivating novel by the author of The Last ...
The year is 1934. With the country in the stranglehold of drought and economic depression, Ella Barron runs her Texas boardinghouse with an efficiency that ...
For fans of Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, author Rick Bleiweiss’s quirky new detective and ensemble cast of characters set against ...
The year is 1914. Whilst playing cricket, Michael Halahan meets the allusive, married but flirtatious Lady Killick who draws him into her clutches. But ...
A “wildly entertaining” (NPR), “gripping” (The Washington Post) work of historical fiction about an incendiary tragedy that shocked a young nation and tore ...
Second in the trilogy that began with The Good Earth, Buck's classic and starkly real tale of sons rising against their honored fathers tells of the bitter ...
Texas Ranger Steve Kaptain had taken Victoria one night in a Mexican bordello. Then, he had taken her heart. And next he had taken her with him, cursing him, ...
Book DescriptionAlessandra O'Quinn must leave the political turmoils of Washington and her domineering husband and father for recovery from TB in the ...
From the bestselling author of For All Time comes a breathtaking tale of adventure and reckless passion set in the untamed West. Mattie McAlister struck out ...
Paxton of Wychchester was a leader of men, a conqueror who knew more of war than love. He commanded the chatelaine Dominique DeBar's surrender, taking first ...
STAR CROSSED? She, from Ireland ~ he, from Russia From the moment of their first meeting, an extraordinary bond was forged between them. A bond that was ...
The eyes may be said to be the scouts of the heart, but these two rebellious hearts might as well be blind. In January of 1917, young Piedad Arellano is ...
Australia was the land of the Aborigines’ Dream Time. For Amber Briscoll, exiled there as a convict, Australia was her nightmare. But she vowed to survive ...
The beautiful and pampered Lady Jane Lennox was willing to abandon the wealth and luxury of her English aristocracy for peril and poverty...all to find the ...
"The Virginia Company of London seeks 100 willing maids for marriage to bachelor planters of James Cittie Colony. Maids must be young, handsome, and honestly ...
The Frenchman was everything Jeanette St. John detested. A mercenary, a man with no morals, a renegade. But Kitt was reckless and daring, cautious and ...
Description
Historical fiction is a genre that sets its stories in the past, often during significant periods of history. In these stories, the time period isn’t just a backdrop but an essential part of the setting and the narrative itself.
Historical fiction may feature fictional characters, well-known historical figures, or a combination of the two. Authors typically pay close attention to details—such as setting, clothing, and dialogue—to ensure the story feels authentic to the time period it portrays.
Sometimes, historical fiction portrays famous events from perspectives not recorded in history, showing historical figures grappling with real events but in ways not captured in historical records. Other times, the historical event or era provides a rich backdrop that shapes the characters’ lives and actions. In some cases, the story remains largely accurate, but names of people or places are changed for narrative reasons.
Because this is fiction, authors have artistic license to creatively present and explore these settings, as long as they remain reasonably faithful to established historical facts. If the story deviates significantly from historical record, it may move into the genre of alternate history, which imagines how things might have been different if a major historical event had played out differently. Similarly, historical fiction should generally follow the rules of physics and realism; stories that include magical or fantastical elements typically fall under the category of historical fantasy or historical romance.