Historical Books
It is 1936 and London is abuzz with gossip about the affair between Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson. But the king is not the only member of the aristocracy with ...
December 23, 1787, Portsmouth. A fourteen-year-old boy, John Jacob Turnstile, has got into trouble with the police on one too many occasions and is on his ...
Eighty-year-old Georgy Jachmenchev is haunted by his past - a past of death, suffering and scandal that will stay with him until the end of his days. Living ...
July 1910: a gruesome discovery has been made at 39 Hilldrop Crescent, Camden. Buried in the cellar are the remains of Cora Crippen, former music-hall singer ...
September 1919: twenty-one-year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver some letters to Marian Bancroft. Tristan fought alongside ...
It is the year of Our Lord sixteen hundred and twenty-six, and Christian Europe is once more at war with itself about something or other; whether religion, ...
*NATIONAL BESTSELLER* *SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA HISTORICAL DAGGER AWARD* A Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year A New York Times Editors’ Choice ...
WHIZ KID, by Joel Burcat and David S. Burcat, transports readers to 1950 Philadelphia, where Ben Green, a decorated World War II veteran from Camden, NJ, is ...
The Rita Award-winning author of Lord Stanhope's Proposal delights with this devilishly witty and wicked story of lust and longing, and punch-drunk ...
Private Ethan Shard is part of the US Army of Occupation in Japan, 1950, knee-deep in the black market, getting rich stealing from the Army and selling to ...
Billy Boyle is sent to the heart of the USSR to solve a double-murder at a critical turning point in the war in this latest installment of critically ...
The fog of war surrounding D-Day and Operation Tiger provides cover for one of Billy Boyle's grisliest investigations. When an unidentified corpse washes ...
England, 1944: Recovering from physical and psychological wounds sustained in the liberation of Paris, US Army detective Billy Boyle and Lieutenant Kazimierz ...
EDGAR AWARD WINNER FOR BEST NOVEL OF THE YEAR From New York Times bestselling author James Lee Burke comes a novel set in Civil War-era Louisiana as the ...
In this sequel to "Empire of the Sun", the author places the traumatic events described in that novel within the context of a lifetime. Jim, the narrator, ...
"Spellbinding! Tombstone - the time, the place, the people - come alive in these pages. I couldn't put the book down." - Jane Candia Coleman, Author of ...
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.