Historical Fiction January 2026 |
|
|
|
| Huguette by Cara BlackHuguette, a teenager ill-treated by her father and others, survives the Nazi occupation of France during World War II. In the lawless aftermath, she assists a famous film director and deals in underground goods for him. Fans of the author's acclaimed Aimée Leduc mysteries set in contemporary Paris will appreciate meeting Aimée's grandfather, a kind cop who helps Huguette, in this compelling standalone tale. You may also like Pam Jenoff's Last Twilight in Paris. |
|
|
|
My Fair Frauds
by Lee Kelly
A high society fraud and a scrappy swindler team up to take down Gilded Age New York in this tale of intrigue, drama, and female friendship. The Grand Duchess Marie Charlotte Antonie of Würrtemberg has taken Gilded Age high society by storm. Little does the upper crust know that she is actually a con woman named Alice, a woman out for revenge against those who destroyed her father and left her family in shambles. Alice is joined by Cora, a drifter who has lofty aspirations of her own who helps Alice reel in her target. This sting is sure to be the event of the season--or the ruin of Alice and Cora both.--Amazon
|
|
| The Land in Winter by Andrew MillerAs one of the coldest winters in English history bears down in late 1962, two neighboring couples with London connections navigate rural life and the upcoming births of their firstborns. Neither marriage is what it used to be, but Irene, who's married to the local doctor, and Rita, a former dancer turned farmer's wife, connect with each other over their pregnancies in this quiet, interior novel that gathers momentum as a blizzard hits. Also try Jessica Anthony's The Most. |
|
| Beasts of the Sea by Iida TurpeinenWhile participating in Captain Bering's Great Northern Expedition in 1741, naturalist Georg Steller notices an animal that's never been documented. But the starving men kill the gentle sea cows for food, which leads to their extinction in just 27 years. Later, a Steller's sea cow skeleton is found, studied, and moved to a museum in the 1950s in this "masterful debut" (Booklist) that fuses science and literature. |
|
Books You May Have Missed
|
|
| Strangers in Time by David BaldacciNavigating life in London as World War II rages, three unlikely people come together. Ignatius Oliver (a widowed bookseller with secrets), Charlie Matters (an orphaned 14-year-old who steals for food), and Molly Wakefield (a well-to-do 15-year-old whose parents are missing), create a safe haven with each other even as bombs fall. You may also like The Lilac People by Milo Todd and The Keeper of Lost Art by Laura Morelli. |
|
| Junie by Erin Crosby EckstineEnslaved 16-year-old Junie loves poetry and her family. As maid to Violet, the only child of Alabama plantation owners, Junie knows that if Violet marries the wealthy man her father has brought home, they'll both end up in faraway New Orleans. Distraught, Junie asks her dead sister Minnie for help, which unleashes her ghost. In this moving debut, the author "evokes the earthly and supernatural to equally powerful effect" (Publishers Weekly). For fans of Jesmyn Ward's Let Us Descend. |
|
| Before Dorothy by Hazel GaynorEmily Gale and her new husband Henry move to Kansas to start a farm, leaving Emily's dear sister, Annie, and her newborn, Dorothy, behind in the city. Just a few years later, in 1932, Annie dies, and the couple adopts Dorothy. But the youngster isn't the only big change in the couple's world where drought and devastating dust storms threaten everything. For other Oz retellings, try After Oz by Gordon McAlpine or Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts. |
|
| Last Stop Union Station by Sarah JamesWork is drying up for middle-aged Hollywood star Jackie Love, who has a reputation for being difficult. Without any other options, she joins the Hollywood Victory Caravan, a cross-country train trip raising money for the war effort in 1942. A suspicious death causes the trip to pause in Chicago, where Jackie teams up with Officer Grace Sullivan to prove a case of murder, leading them to danger and homegrown Nazis. You may also enjoy The Starlets by Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne. |
|
| Anima Rising by Christopher MooreIn 1911 Vienna, celebrated artist Gustav Klimt saves a woman from drowning in the Danube, but she has no memory of her past. However, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung try to help her out, and the woman recalls, among other things, being in the Arctic over 100 years earlier with Victor Frankenstein. This book is great for fans of offbeat novels that mix real characters and fictional ones into irreverent and compelling plots. |
|
|
|
Shadow Ticket
by Thomas Pynchon
In Milwaukee 1932, Hicks McTaggart gets sent out on what should be a routine case, locating and bringing back the heiress of a Wisconsin cheese fortune who's gone wandering. Before he knows it, he's been shanghaied onto a transoceanic liner, eventually ending up who knows where. Hicks also becomes entangled with Nazis, Soviet agents, British counterspies, swing musicians, practitioners of the paranormal, outlaw motorcyclists, and more. Surrounded by history he doesn't understand, the only bright side for Hicks is the dawn of the Big Band Era. Whether this will be enough to allow him somehow to Lindy-Hop his way back again to Milwaukee and the normal world, which may no longer exist, is another question.
|
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|