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Historical Fiction July 2026 |
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| The Forgotten Midwife by Laura AnthonyAfter her grandmother with dementia shows her a strange 1950s Irish birth certificate, orphaned Riley goes to Ireland to investigate. Back in 1954 Tipperary, Margaret Lannigan is happily engaged, but after her older sister dies, she's forced to become a nun to fulfill the family's commitment to the Catholic Church. Sent to work in a home for fallen girls, she sees terrible things and tries her best to help the pregnant young women. For fans of: Susan Wiggs' The Wayward Girls. |
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| The Fire Agent by David BaerwaldA gifted linguist and musician, aristocratic German Jew Ernst Baerwald is recruited to be a spy in 1900. From working for a chemical company in Japan to adventures in Italy and other locales, he travels, falls in love, watches fascism rise, experiences world wars, and makes difficult choices again and again. This timely, intricately plotted historical spy saga is the debut of acclaimed songwriter and musician David Baerwald and is based on his grandfather's life. Try this next: Joseph O'Connor's My Father's House. |
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| A Pair of Aces by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher MurrayIn 1930s Manhattan, the city's first Black woman prosecutor, Eunice Carter, interviews Polly Adler, who owns the city's best brothel, and the two women from vastly different worlds realize they can help each other. None of Eunice's male colleagues have been able to touch gangster Lucky Luciano, who's recently put Polly's workers in danger, so the pair utilize a network of women to assemble evidence in this Reese's Book Club pick. Read-alike: Diane Richards' Ella. |
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| The Windsor Affair by Melanie BenjaminWhen King Edward VIII decides to marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson, it causes his abdication and kindles conflict between Wallis and her sister-in-law, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, whose husband must now become king. Using the voices of both women, this fun, gossipy read follows Edward and Wallis, who love a good party, as well as Elizabeth and King George VI, who are faced with World War II and rebuilding in the postwar years. For fans of: The Windsor Conspiracy by Georgie Blalock; The Golden Hour by Beatriz Williams. |
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| The Young Will Remember by Eve J. ChungIn 1950, Chinese American journalist Ellie Chang is on a military flight over North Korea when the plane goes down. Emma, a lonely local woman, saves Ellie by claiming she is her missing daughter, and they take refuge with Emma's pastor's family. But as the war rages on, the entire household heads south, seeking safety and the older woman's actual missing daughter in this “riveting story” (Library Journal). Try this next: Bora Lee Reed's Song for Another Home. |
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Fireflies in Winter
by Eleanor Shearer
A gripping novel about two women fighting for survival in the icy wilderness of Nova Scotia, and the love that simultaneously sustains them and threatens their very existence, from the author of the Good Morning America Book Club pick River Sing Me Home. 1796. Cora, an orphan newly arrived from Jamaica, has never felt cold like this. In the depths of winter, everyone in her community huddles together in their homes to keep warm. So when she sees a shadow slipping through the trees, Cora thinks her eyes are deceiving her. Until she creeps out into the moonlight and finds the tracks in the snow. Agnes is in hiding. On the run from her former life, she has learned what it takes to survive alone in the wilderness. But she can afford no mistakes. When she first spies the young woman in the woods, she is afraid. Yet Cora is fearless, and their paths are destined to cross. Deep amongst the cedars, Cora and Agnes find a fragile place of safety. But when Agnes's past closes in, they are confronted with the dangerous price of freedom-and of love.
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| Land by Maggie O'FarrellMapping Ireland in 1865 for the British, cartographer Tomás, who survived the Great Hunger, makes sure to record the scars the famine left on the land. But after finding a magical spring, he's a changed man who relocates his reluctant family from Dublin to the remote coastal area. Weaving together several points-of-view and various times and places, this is the lyrical latest from Maggie O'Farrell (Hamnet). Read-alikes: Anna North's Bog Queen; Daniel Mason's North Woods. |
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Mists Over the Channel Islands: A Novel of World War II
by Sarah Sundin
The German invasion of the British Channel Islands shatters Dr. Ivy Picot's peaceful world, and she risks her life treating escapees from labor camps. Dutch engineer Gerrit van der Zee crosses paths with Ivy while building enemy fortifications. As their missions grow increasingly dangerous, they must decide if love can survive the cost of defiance?
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| A Fortune of Sand by Ruta SepetysIn 1920s Detroit, Marjorie Lennox, the youngest daughter in an automotive glass dynasty, secretly joins an elite artist residency, but something feels off about the place, which is backed by a mysterious patron. When rumors spread about missing women, Marjorie investigates. Inspired by real events, A Fortune of Sand is the immersive, well-researched adult fiction debut of a popular YA author. For fans of: Crucible by John Sayles. |
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With Love from Harlem
by ReShonda Tate
In 1943 Harlem, beloved jazz pianist Hazel Scott is at the top of her game, performing in front of Langston Hughes and others, when she meets married pastor and councilman Adam Clayton Powell Jr., leading to an exhilarating and tumultuous relationship that changes the course of her life. For fans of: well-researched biographical novels starring Black artists; Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray.
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Contact your librarian for more great books! |
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