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Historical Fiction - March 2026 |
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| The Last of Earth by Deepa AnapparaEuropeans 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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Liberty Street
by Heather Marshall
Inspired by true events, 'Liberty Street' is a riveting novel about one journalist's harrowing journey into an infamous real-life 1960s women's prison - and the detective who uncovers her story decades later.
Heather Marshall lives near Toronto, ON.
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| Cleopatra by Saara El-ArifiCleopatra tells her own story, starting with her teen years when her father the pharaoh died, through power struggles with siblings and others, her relationships with her children and lovers, and on to her death and beyond. Sometimes directly addressing the reader, this richly detailed, well-researched novel presents a unique portrait of a strong woman.
Try this next: Natasha Solomons' I Am Cleopatra; Malayna Evans' Neferura. |
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The Winter Witch
by Jennifer Chevalier
Inspired by the tales of Canada’s Filles du Roi, 'The Winter Witch' follows two sisters who set sail on a bride ship from Normandy hoping to leave a curse behind them and find better lives in the wilds of 17th-century Quebec, only to meet a mysterious witch who forces them to confront the truth about magic - and their past.
Jennifer Chevalier is the showrunner for CBC Radio’s long-running weekly political affairs program, The House. She lives in Ottawa, ON
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| Women of a Promiscuous Nature by Donna EverhartIn 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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Book of Forbidden Words
by Louise Fein
Louise Fein returns with a new historical novel about an encrypted manuscript that unleashes a chain of consequences across 400 years, set in a world of banned books, fear of new ideas, and the dangers of censorship.
Perfect for fans of 'The Briar Club' and 'Weyward'.
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Crucible
by John Sayles
A sprawling, mural-like novel that engages with the process, the spirit and especially the conflicts of breakneck industrial progress.. . . with a dynamic vision of American history.
'Crucible' is a historical novel about Henry Ford - the Elon Musk of his day - and the violent rise of the Ford Motor Company in 1920-30’s Detroit, featuring strikes, riots, misbegotten jungle expeditions, and the story behind Ford's private army.
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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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All in Her Hands
by Audrey Blake
'All in Her Hands' is set in 1849 and is the story of Nora Beady, a newly graduated physician who must return to London to takeover the family practice, and while facing the prejudice of society, fight against an invisible enemy before it's too late.
Audrey Blake is the pseudonym for Regina Sirois and Jaima Fixsen. Fixsen lives in Edmonton, AB.
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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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Fireflies in Winter
by Eleanor Shearer
Set in Nova Scotia, 1796, 'Fireflies in Winter' is a gripping novel of two young women fighting for survival on the edge of the wilderness, and the love that simultaneously sustains them and threatens their very existence.
From the author of River Sing Me Home.
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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 ShearerSet in Nova Scotia, 1796, 'Fireflies in Winter' is a gripping novel of two young women fighting for survival on the edge of the wilderness, and the love that simultaneously sustains them and threatens their very existence.
From the author of River Sing Me Home. |
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The Seven Daughters of Dupree
by Nikesha Elise Williams
From the two-time Emmy Award-winning producer and host of the Black and Published podcast comes a sweeping multi-generational epic following seven generations of Dupree women as they navigate love, loss, and the unyielding ties of family in the tradition of Homegoing and The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois.
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The Matchbox Girl
by Alice Jolly
Adelheid Brunner does not speak. She writes and draws instead and her ambition is to own one thousand matchboxes. When she meets Dr Asperger, he invites Adelheid to come and live at the Vienna pediatric clinic, where she and other children like herself get to play all under under observation. But when the Nazis march into the city, a new world is created and difficult choices must be made. Why are the clinic's children disappearing, and where do they go? Adelheid starts to suspect that some of Dr Asperger's games are played for the highest stakes. In order to survive, she must play a game whose rules she cannot yet understand.
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The Star Society: A Historical Novel
by Gabriella Saab
Uncover the captivating tale of two extraordinary sisters in The Star Society, a thrilling historical novel inspired by the indomitable spirit of Audrey Hepburn that transports readers from the shadows of the Dutch Resistance to the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.
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The Fourth Princess: A Gothic Novel of Old Shanghai
by Janie Chang
In this haunting Gothic novel set in 1911 China, two young women living in a crumbling, once-grand Shanghai mansion face danger as secrets of their pasts come to light, even as the mansion’s own secret threatens the present.
Janie Chang lives in Vancouver, BC.
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The House of Seymour
by Joanna Hickson
In the shadow of Wolf Hall, can one woman claim her own destiny?
When Isabel Williams is betrothed to John Seymour, Lord of Wolf Hall Manor, she hopes that love and respect will come, despite his ruthless streak. As John's ambition draws them into the orbit of the divided court of the young King Henry VI, his hunger to succeed takes on a darker edge. Isabel realises her husband will pay any price to get what he wants, even if it means destroying those he has sworn to protect...
Can Isabella forge her own path surrounded by treachery and betrayal?
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Rebel English Academy
by Mohammed Hanif
In 'Rebel English Academy', Pakistan is coming into modernity, struggling under martial law after the execution of its former leader. Mohammed Hanif has constructed a vibrant cast of interconnected characters that face this changing landscape with violence, passion, and the occasional sharp humour.
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Watching Over Her
by Jean-Baptiste Andrea
'Watching Over Her' is a “sprawling fresco and star-crossed love story” (NYT) following a dwarf and skilled sculptor as he recounts the moments in his life that inspired his mysteriously powerful masterpiece.
Jean-Baptiste Andrea is a French writer, screenwriter, and director whose novel 'Watching Over Her' was awarded the Prix Goncourt, the most prestigious French literary award.
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Contact your librarian for more great books! |
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