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Historical Fiction March 2026 |
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Listen
by Sacha Bronwasser
In 1989, twenty-year-old Marie jumps at the chance to work as au pair in Paris--even though it means dropping out of her prestigious art program in the Netherlands. The city, the language, the complicated French family she works for all quickly overshadow the turmoil and pain she'd been reckoning with in school. But years later, during the 2015 attacks in Paris, Marie is shocked to recognize her former teacher, the main reason she fled the Netherlands, pictured in aftermath, in the exact arrondissement where her previous employers live. The past she was sure she could leave behind comes flooding back, as do the questions she thought she could live with leaving unanswered--
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| When We Were Brilliant by Lynn CullenWhen up-and-coming starlet Marilyn Monroe meets documentary photographer Eve Arnold at a 1952 party for director John Huston, the two develop a friendship and working partnership that changes both of their lives. This fascinating look at two legendary women explores their strength, friendship, and ambition. Read-alike: Tatiana de Rosnay's Blonde Dust. |
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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 Red Scare Murders
by Con Lehane
July 1950. Mick Mulligan has just hung out his shingle as a private investigator in New York's sweaty Hell's Kitchen. A former Hollywood cartoonist whose life fell apart when he was blacklisted during a communist witch hunt, Mick is broke, divorced, and in need of a paying gig to make his child support payments. But maybe not this gig. ... Last year, universally reviled cab company owner Irwin Johnson was murdered. One of his drivers, an African American Communist Party member named Harold Williams, was arrested, tried, and found guilty, despite scant evidence. Now his execution date is two weeks away. No one has come out to fight the miscarriage of justice--not the liberals, not the unions, not the Communists. New York City labor leader Duke Rogowski asks Mick to make one last effort on Harold's behalf: can he find fresh evidence that might buy Harold a stay of execution?--
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| Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa JohnsonIn 1948, Philadelphian Ozzie Philips deals with racism as he enlists in the military and is sent to Europe. In 1950s Germany, an American officer's wife finds homes in the United States for the abandoned children of white German women and Black GIs. In 1965 Maryland, biracial Sophia Clark attends a prestigious formerly all-white boarding school. Inspired by real events, this well-researched novel follows these three connected lives. Try this next: The Last Thing You Surrender by Leonard Pitts, Jr. |
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| Skylark by Paula McLainWhen her father, a master dyer at Gobelin Tapestry Works, is unjustly imprisoned in 1660s Paris, teenage Alouette Voland tries to help, but is put in an asylum. In 1939, Dutch medical student Kristof Larson lives on the Rue des Gobelins near a Jewish family when the Nazis arrive in Paris. A GMA Book Club pick, this richly detailed, dual-timeline novel explores freedom, justice, and the tunnels under Paris. Try this next: Amanda Barratt's The Warsaw Sisters; Kirsty Manning's The Hidden Book. |
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| Meet the Newmans by Jennifer NivenFor over ten years, the Newmans have starred in a hit TV show based on their lives. In 1964, when dad Del is in a mysterious car accident, his wife Dinah suddenly needs to write a script for the season finale or risk their show being canceled. Meanwhile, rock star son Shep gets a girl pregnant and steady Guy hides the truth about his love life. Try this next: Christina Hammonds Reed's The Johnson Four; Anita Abriel's American Housewife. |
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| Fireflies in Winter by Eleanor ShearerIn the freezing cold of 1790s Nova Scotia, Cora tries to adapt to where the British have exiled her and several hundred other Jamaican Maroons. In the woods, she meets formerly enslaved Agnes, who uses wilderness knowledge she learned from the Mi’kmaq to hide and survive. As the two spend time together, they unexpectedly fall in love, but neither has an easy road ahead in this evocative, lyrical tale. Try this next: In the Upper Country by Kai Thomas. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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