Historical Books
INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER • #1 BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER • USA TODAY BESTSELLER • In this Civil War love story, inspired by a real-life friendship across ...
‘I’d rather be the lowliest private on the righteous side of history, than the supreme commander on the other." It’s early 1865, and Nathan Chambers is ...
Matilda Jane Anderson drives a brand new 1917 Model T with Sweet Tilly painted on the heavy metal plate covering the radiator. Tilly doesn't care what people ...
Clara Anderson has her routine, and she likes it that way. But oil has brought change to Healdton, Oklahoma, and she doesn't like it one bit. She might not ...
In June of 1940, when Paris fell to the Nazis, Hitler spent a total of three hours in the City of Light-abruptly leaving, never to return. To this day, no ...
A masterful storyteller at the top of his form, Bartle Bull follows the successes of his popular Africa trilogy-A Café on the Nile, The White Rhino Hotel, ...
Returning to his small town roots to rescue his father's ailing law practice, Quinton Cormack has conquered the frosty Rachel Saxon in a courtroom encounter. ...
"An entertaining follow up, involving both espionage and action" Aspects of History July 1943 Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily is ...
"A tale of how otherwise ordinary lives get caught up in the swirl of history, and all of the good and bad that can come of it. At its core a story of second ...
Lady Emily investigates the murder of a glamorous debutante in the next irresistible mystery of Tasha Alexander’s New York Times bestselling series. London, ...
A USA TODAY BESTSELLER ‘An emotional and heartfelt tale of love and courage.’ -Chanel Cleeton, bestselling author of the Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick ...
A Zibby's Most Anticipated Book of Fall 2025! A BookBub Most Anticipated Mystery & Thriller of Fall 2025! A She Reads Most Anticipated Historical Fiction of ...
1941 and the fate of the world hangs in the balance. Across the stormy North Atlantic, battle rages between wolfpacks of U-boats and escort ships fighting ...
Books 1-3 in 'Tulloch at War', a series of historical war novels by Malcolm Archibald, now available in one volume! Now I Am A Soldier: Against the backdrop ...
Europe, 1944. Major Tulloch and the battle-hardened Lothian Rifles stand on the edge of history as the Allies prepare for the D-Day landings. Among them is ...
Returning from Dunkirk, Lieutenant Douglas Tulloch and the Lothian Rifles help defend Britain from the threat of German invasion. Tulloch feels that all is ...
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.