|
|
Historical Fiction July 2026 |
|
|
|
| The Forgotten Midwife by Laura AnthonyAfter her grandmother with dementia shows her a strange 1950s Irish birth certificate, orphaned Riley goes to Ireland to investigate. Back in 1954 Tipperary, Margaret Lannigan is happily engaged, but after her older sister dies, she's forced to become a nun to fulfill the family's commitment to the Catholic Church. Sent to work in a home for fallen girls, she sees terrible things and tries her best to help the pregnant young women. For fans of: Susan Wiggs' The Wayward Girls. |
|
| The Fire Agent by David BaerwaldA gifted linguist and musician, aristocratic German Jew Ernst Baerwald is recruited to be a spy in 1900. From working for a chemical company in Japan to adventures in Italy and other locales, he travels, falls in love, watches fascism rise, experiences world wars, and makes difficult choices again and again. This timely, intricately plotted historical spy saga is the debut of acclaimed songwriter and musician David Baerwald and is based on his grandfather's life. Try this next: Joseph O'Connor's My Father's House. |
|
| A Pair of Aces by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher MurrayIn 1930s Manhattan, the city's first Black woman prosecutor, Eunice Carter, interviews Polly Adler, who owns the city's best brothel, and the two women from vastly different worlds realize they can help each other. None of Eunice's male colleagues have been able to touch gangster Lucky Luciano, who's recently put Polly's workers in danger, so the pair utilize a network of women to assemble evidence in this Reese's Book Club pick. Read-alike: Diane Richards' Ella. |
|
| The Windsor Affair by Melanie BenjaminWhen King Edward VIII decides to marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson, it causes his abdication and kindles conflict between Wallis and her sister-in-law, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, whose husband must now become king. Using the voices of both women, this fun, gossipy read follows Edward and Wallis, who love a good party, as well as Elizabeth and King George VI, who are faced with World War II and rebuilding in the postwar years. For fans of: The Windsor Conspiracy by Georgie Blalock; The Golden Hour by Beatriz Williams. |
|
|
|
The Top of the World
by Ethan Joella
June 1975. Maggie Bishop has just graduated high school, the future hers to embrace--but she's still reeling from the death of her older brother, Chip. A devastating diagnosis the summer before prompted Chip to leave home for a few months, never revealing where he went. Maggie's search for clues leads her to The Red Maple Inn, a mountaintop resort in the Poconos. At the Red Maple, Maggie is welcomed into a tight-knit community. Set in a nostalgic resort town over two transformative summers, this dual-narrative novel explores sibling relationships, coming of age, and the quiet power of human connection.
|
|
|
|
There's Only One Sin in Hollywood
by Rasheed Newson
Xavier C. Barlow, one of Hollywood's young Black stars taking the industry by storm in the late 1950s, is Skyline Studios' ambitious attempt to rival Sidney Poitier's burgeoning success. His arrival into the industry is calculated, his charm is magnetic, and his seductive screen presence appeals to both audiences and celebrities across generations. But years later, after Xavier dies at the height of his fame, Aaron Touissant-Skyline's designated backlot fixer who helps the studio's stars stay as deep in the closet as humanly possible-is finally ready to expose the powerful culprits responsible for his untimely death.
|
|
| An Artful Dodge by Karen OddenKit Jimeson can nick a necklace off a lady in a crowded Victorian London theater, but she can't leave her all-women group of thieves until she completes one last job. She's been saving money so her younger sister can have shot at respectability, but legendary thief Maggie O'Connell has returned after years in an Australian penal colony wanting revenge, and she demands Kit's help. "Historical crime fiction at its most authentic," raves Kirkus Reviews. Try this next: Kristin Harmel's The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau. |
|
| Land by Maggie O'FarrellMapping Ireland in 1865 for the British, cartographer Tomás, who survived the Great Hunger, makes sure to record the scars the famine left on the land. But after finding a magical spring, he's a changed man who relocates his reluctant family from Dublin to the remote coastal area. Weaving together several points-of-view and various times and places, this is the lyrical latest from Maggie O'Farrell (Hamnet). Read-alikes: Anna North's Bog Queen; Daniel Mason's North Woods. |
|
| The Last Human Bear by Greg SarrisMary Hatcher, an elderly Pomo woman, describes her long, unusual life. Raised alone by her stepmother in 1930s California, who teaches her about shapeshifting human bears, poisoning, and more, Mary doesn't fit in and isn't trusted. Later, able to pass as white or Mexican, she successfully makes her own way, but wonders about her past, future, and capacity to harm in this compelling novel inspired by the author's childhood. Try this next: Oyinkan Braithwaite's Cursed Daughters. |
|
| A Harlem Wedding by Tiffany L. WarrenYolande, the only child of W.E.B. Du Bois, falls for jazz musician Jimmie Lunceford, and the two flow in and out of each other's lives. Her father doesn't approve of Jimmie, so Yolande agrees to marry her dad's pick, poet Countee Cullen, at a Harlem society event attended by 3,000 people. But it isn't a happy union, leading Yolande to finally make decisions for herself in this evocative novel. Read-alikes: ReShonda Tate's With Love from Harlem; Victoria Christopher Murray's Harlem Rhapsody. |
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
|
|
|