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Historical Fiction October 2025 |
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Typewriter Beach
by Meg Waite Clayton
Amid McCarthyism in 1957, Isabella Giori dreams of being Alfred Hitchcock's favorite blonde actress. But while temporarily staying at a Carmel-by-the-Sea cottage, she becomes friends with blacklisted writer Leo, changing both of their lives. In 2018, Leo's granddaughter clears out his cottage after his death, meeting his neighbor Isabella and finding secrets in his safe. Read-alikes: Susan Meissner's A Map to Paradise; Sarah Jane Stratford's Red Letter Days.
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The Secret Book Society
by Madeline Martin
In 1895 London, wealthy widow Lady Duxbury handpicks three women to join a secret book club, where they not only discuss novels, but become friends who help each other in a world where a wife can be put in an asylum at the behest of her husband. Read-alikes: Joanna Miller’s The Eights; Helen Simonson’s The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club.
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Lone women : a novel
by Victor LaValle
In 1915, Adelaide Henry, after her secret sin killed her parents, sets out for Montana, dragging an enormous steamer trunk that's locked at all times, to become one of the“lone women” taking advantage of the government's offer of free land where she hopes to bury her past.
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The Story She Left Behind
by Patti Callahan Henry
In 1927, a famed author leaves her South Carolina home in the middle of the night. In 1952 London, Charles Jameson finds the author's papers and a letter addressed to Clara, the daughter she left behind. This soon leads Charles, Clara, and Clara's young daughter to the Lake District in search of answers. Try these next: Rhys Bowen's The Tuscan Child; Ann Hood's The Stolen Child.
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The Hazelbourne ladies motorcycle and flying club : a novel
by Helen Simonson
In the summer of 1919, Constance, sent as a lady's companion to Hazelbourne-on-Sea, is welcomed by Poppy Wirrall, a baronet's daughter who runs a ladies' motorcycle club, but as the country prepares to celebrate its hard-won peace, the club realizes the freedoms they gained during the war are being revoked.
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Ours
by Phillip B. Williams
Sweeping through 1830s Arkansas to rescue enslaved people, Saint, a fearsome conjuror, creates a town magically concealed from outsiders, named Ours, but, over time, as the town becomes vulnerable to intruders, some people wonder whether the community's safety might by yet another form of bondage.
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Weyward : a novel
by Emilia Hart
Told over five centuries through three connected women, this riveting novel follows Kate, in 2019, as she seeks refuge in Weyward Cottage; Altha, in 1619, as she uses her powers to maintain her freedom; and Violet, in 1942, as she searches for the truth about her mother's death. 250,000 first printing.
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Broken Country
by Clare Leslie Hall
In 1955 Dorset, England, teenage Beth falls for wealthy Gabriel, who leaves town. In 1968, Beth, now married to sheep farmer Frank, is still mourning the death of her young son two years before when Gabriel reappears with his own son, setting in motion events that lead to a courtroom trial. This emotionally intense Reese's Book Club pick will please fans of Chris Whitaker's All the Colors of the Dark and Miranda Cowley Heller's The Paper Palace.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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