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Historical Fiction July 2025 |
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| Zeal by Morgan JerkinsOpening at Ardelia and Oliver's engagement party in 2019 New York, this sweeping story flows back to 1865, where star-crossed enslaved lovers Harrison and Tirzah are separated by the American Civil War. They end up marrying others, and Zeal movingly depicts their paths and those of their descendants over the following decades. For fans of: Robert Jones, Jr.'s The Prophets; Honorée Fanonne Jeffers' The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois. |
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The Great Mannby Kyra Davis LurieIn 1945 Los Angeles, Charlie Trammell is drawn into the glamour of Sugar Hill, where Black success clashes with white privilege, but as he grows close to the enigmatic Reaper Mann, he uncovers hidden tensions, personal betrayals, and a court battle that threatens the community's future. Library Journal calls it "literary historical fiction that will appeal to a wide audience. Lurie is a writer to watch."
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Daikonby Samuel Jay HawleyA sweeping and suspenseful novel of love and war, set in Japan during the final days of World War II, with a shocking historical premise: three atomic bombs were actually delivered to the Pacific - not two - and when one of them falls into the hands of the Japanese, the fate of a couple that has been separated from one another becomes entangled with the fate of this strange new device. Try this next: To Sing of War by Catherine Mckinnon.
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| Where the Rivers Merge by Mary Alice MonroeIndependent Eliza Rivers, who was born in South Carolina's Lowcountry in 1900, lives through wars, family turmoil, sexism, business growth, and more. At 88, she draws two young women close, sharing her past and hoping they can keep her beloved land safe from her selfish son in this multigenerational novel, the 1st in the Mayfield duology. Read-alikes: Michael Christie's Greenwood; Audrey Ingram's The River Runs South. |
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Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-ValdezWhen Nikki visits her estranged grandmother in Western North Carolina, she uncovers a hidden legacy tied to a forgotten kingdom of freed people in the 1870s, unraveling her family's secrets and her own identity while fighting to protect their endangered heritage in this dual-timeline novel. Try this next: Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine.
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| The Listeners by Maggie StiefvaterIn January 1942, war comes to West Virginia when the United States government orders the luxury Avallon Hotel to house Axis Power diplomats. Balancing work, worry, and ethical questions, hotel manager June Porter Hudson also gets to know a handsome FBI agent. This atmospheric adult fiction debut by a bestselling YA fantasy novelist has hints of magic and is a "must-read for all historical fiction fans" (Library Journal). Read-alike: Melanie Benjamin's Mistress of the Ritz. |
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The Whyte Python World Tourby Travis KennedyIn 1986 Los Angeles, drummer Rikki Thunder's dream comes true when he joins rising glam metal band Whyte Python, but as their music reaches the Eastern Bloc, he's thrust into a high-stakes battle where rock and roll collides with global politics. For fans of Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid.
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Wayward Girlsby Susan WiggsA wrenching but life-affirming novel based on a true story of survival, friendship, and redemption when six girls come together in a Catholic reform school in 1960s Buffalo, NY. Perfect for fans of Before We Were Yours, Orphan Train, and The Berry Pickers.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Forsyth County Public Library
660 W. Fifth St., Winston-Salem, NC 27101
336-703-2665forsythlibrary.org |
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