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Historical Fiction March 2026 |
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| The Last of Earth by Deepa AnapparaWhat it's about: Europeans aren't allowed in 1869 Tibet, so the British secretly hire Indians to conduct surveying expeditions. Looking for a missing friend who'd gone on such a trip, Balram agrees to guide an English captain in disguise. Meanwhile, 50-year-old Anglo-Indian Katherine hopes to be the first Western woman to reach Lhasa. In this atmospheric character-driven novel, the groups face storms, soldiers, doubt, and more.
Try this next: Tsering Yangzom Lama's We Measure the Earth With our Bodies. |
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| When We Were Brilliant by Lynn CullenWhat happens: When 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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Come Fly with Me
by Camille Di Maio
Meet our heroes: Welcome to a glamorous gateway to the jet age. Judy Goodman and Beverly Caldwell have different reasons for putting continents and oceans between themselves and their disparate pasts, but they have the same desire -- to earn a coveted position on an elite team of stewardesses for Pan American Airlines.
Then what happens: But as they build a deep friendship, encounter love and danger, and discover what's truly important, Judy and Beverly must also confront the secrets that could change their lives all over again -- and forever.
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| Women of a Promiscuous Nature by Donna EverhartWhat it's about: In 1940s North Carolina, unmarried 24-year-old Ruth is unjustly accused of promiscuity by the sheriff and incarcerated at the State Industrial Farm Colony for Women. When 15-year-old Stella is raped and gets pregnant, her parents take her to the same place. There, Superintendent Dorothy Baker reigns, forcing medical treatments and more. This moving, eye-opening novel is based on a real government program.
Read-alikes: Ellen Marie Wiseman's The Lies They Told; Meagan Church's The Last Carolina Girl; Dolen Perkins-Valdez's Take My Hand. |
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| Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa JohnsonWhat happens: In 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 McLainWhat it's about: When 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 NivenWhat it is: For 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 ShearerWhat happens: In 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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