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Historical Fiction January 2026 |
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| Huguette by Cara BlackHuguette, a teenager ill-treated by her father and others, survives the Nazi occupation of France during World War II. In the lawless aftermath, she assists a famous film director and deals in underground goods for him. Fans of the author's acclaimed Aimée Leduc mysteries set in contemporary Paris will appreciate meeting Aimée's grandfather, a kind cop who helps Huguette, in this compelling standalone tale. Read-alike: Pam Jenoff's Last Twilight in Paris. |
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The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau
by Kristin Harmel
In Nazi-occupied France, Colette Marceau's mother is executed while her four-year-old sister disappears and is later found dead. Trained by her mother, Colette becomes a jewel thief, targeting the bad to give to the good, and in 2018 Boston, she's still working when a special bracelet linked to her sister appears in a museum. Elderly Colette seeks answers, hoping to finally learn what happened decades ago in this sweeping dual-timeline tale. Read-alike: Pam Jenoff's Last Twilight in Paris.
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| The Land in Winter by Andrew MillerAs one of the coldest winters in English history bears down in late 1962, two neighboring couples with London connections navigate rural life and the upcoming births of their firstborns. Neither marriage is what it used to be, but Irene, who's married to the local doctor, and Rita, a former dancer turned farmer's wife, connect with each other over their pregnancies in this quiet, interior novel that gathers momentum as a blizzard hits. Try this next: Jessica Anthony's The Most. |
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| Beasts of the Sea by Iida TurpeinenPart of Captain Bering's Great Northern Expedition in 1741, naturalist Georg Steller notices an animal that's never been documented. But the starving men kill the gentle sea cows for food, which leads to their extinction in just 27 years. Later, a Steller's sea cow skeleton is found, studied, and moved to a museum in the 1950s in this "masterful debut" (Booklist) that fuses science and literature. Read-alike: Ethan Rutherford's North Sun, or The Voyage of the Whaleship Esther. |
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Books You May Have Missed
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| Strangers in Time by David BaldacciNavigating life in London as World War II rages, Ignatius Oliver (a widowed bookseller with secrets), Charlie Matters (an orphaned 14-year-old who steals for food), and Molly Wakefield (a well-to-do 15-year-old whose parents are missing), create a safe haven with each other even as bombs fall. Read-alike: The Lilac People by Milo Todd; The Keeper of Lost Art by Laura Morelli. |
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| Junie by Erin Crosby EckstineEnslaved 16-year-old Junie loves poetry and her family. As maid to Violet, the only child of Alabama plantation owners, Junie knows that if Violet marries the wealthy man her father has brought home, they'll both end up in faraway New Orleans. Distraught, Junie asks her dead sister Minnie for help, unleashing her ghost. In this moving debut, the author "evokes the earthly and supernatural to equally powerful effect" (Publishers Weekly). For fans of: Jesmyn Ward's Let Us Descend. |
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| Red Clay by Charles B. FancherIn 1943 Alabama, an 80-something white woman visits a Black household who've just lost their grandfather, Felix Parker. Felix was once enslaved by the visiting woman's family, and surprising information surfaces due to her visit in this thought-provoking tale that flows back to the Civil War and Reconstruction. Based on the author's ancestors, this sweeping debut doesn't shy away from violence and complex topics. Try this next: The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers. |
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| Before Dorothy by Hazel GaynorEmily Gale and her new husband Henry move to Kansas to start a farm, leaving Emily's dear sister Annie and her newborn Dorothy behind in the city. Just a few years later, in 1932, Annie dies and the couple adopt Dorothy. But the youngster isn't the only big change in the couple's world -- drought and devastating dust storms threaten everything. For other Oz retellings, try: After Oz by Gordon McAlpine; Toto by A.J. Hackwith, or Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts. |
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The Names: A Read with Jenna Pick
by Florence Knapp
In the wake of a catastrophic storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register her son's birth. Her husband, Gordon, a local doctor, respected in the community but a terrifying and controlling presence at home, intends for her to name the infant after him. But when the registrar asks what she'd like to call the child, Cora hesitates... Spanning thirty-five years, what follows are three alternate and alternating versions of Cora's and her young son's lives, shaped by her choice of name. In richly layered prose, The Names explores the painful ripple effects of domestic abuse, the messy ties of family, and the possibilities of autonomy and healing.
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| Anima Rising by Christopher MooreIn 1911 Vienna, celebrated artist Gustav Klimt saves a woman from drowning in the Danube, but she has no memory of her past. That is, until Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung help out and the woman recalls, among other things, being in the Arctic over 100 years earlier with Victor Frankenstein. For fans of: offbeat novels that mix real characters and fictional ones into irreverent and compelling plots. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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