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Historical Fiction September 2026* |
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| The Half Life by Rachel BeanlandIn the 1970s, Eileen O'Malley meets and quickly marries charismatic naval officer Paul Archer. Moving to the tiny Mediterranean island of La Maddalena, where Paul works aboard a nuclear submarine tender, Eileen adjusts to life as a navy wife and takes Italian cooking lessons. But when she learns of local concerns about possible nuclear contamination, she finds herself divided and her marriage in trouble. Try this next: Emily Dunlay's Teddy. |
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| Miss Bates: Emma Revisited by Catherine CliffBoring, talkative Henrietta Bates is a spinster with little money in Emma. But in this debut novel and darker reimagining of Jane Austen's classic, readers follow Henrietta as she grows up, learning to ingratiate herself with others to survive. Turning into a cunning woman, she presents her public face to the world while sharing her sometimes vengeful thoughts here. For fans of: immersive novels starring Jane Austen characters. |
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| When Mikan Road Was Ours by D.K. FurutaniReeling from his father's death and his own cancer diagnosis, high school teacher Mr. Murano is in limbo. But everything changes after inheriting his great-uncle Benjiro's unpublished memoir, where Murano learns about his Japanese family, from their bucolic farm in 1930s California to their World War II internment and beyond. This is a well-researched debut and a poignant meditation on life and family. Try this next: Naomi Hirahara's Japantown historical mysteries. |
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Exit Party by Emily St John MandelLos Angeles, 2031: The first spring after the collapse of the United States, peacekeeping troops withdraw from the city, the Jacaranda trees blossom, and the curfew is finally lifted. Ari Waker and her roommate pass the gauntlet of bomb-sniffing dogs, the shanty towns, and the Red Cross tents as they walk across Silverlake to a party. The mood is ecstatic inside the apartment, people drink and dance, a woman wears a silver dress, pleated like tinfoil. And then: A shift. A bewildered twin, an uncanny doppelganger stumbles through the crowd and out into the night, and Kareem, the party's host, vanishes into thin air. As Ari Waker unravels the mystery of this inexplicable night, Emily St. John Mandel unfurls a story that takes us from a future America splintered by civil war to the seaside cliffs of Greece where weapons dealers hide in an elegant resort, and from the domed city of Paris to a colony on the moon. An unforgettable literary feat, Exit Party is a novel about the price of safety, the perils of the surveillance state, a requiem for a world not unlike our own, and a breathtaking story of resilience in the face of cataclysmic change.
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| Runner by Ashton LattimoreIn 1923 Martha's Vineyard, a mysterious shipwreck kills her father and his crew, so Lena Jameson takes over his rum-running business instead of attending college. With help from her brother, her on-and-off boyfriend, and a glamorous young woman with secrets, Lena branches out to Boston and Harlem while also investigating what caused her dad's shipwreck. For fans of: suspenseful Prohibition-era novels; atmospheric historical fiction featuring ground-breaking Black women. |
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| Chelsea Girls by Catherine LloydIn 1950s and '60s London, Mary Quant's clothes and her Chelsea boutique are all the rage. Chelsea Girls showcases three (fictional) women who are part of this scene: Chrissie, who met Mary in college and works at the store; Daphne, a well-to-do debutante turned model; and Fern, a model from a more impoverished background. Read-alikes: Single Girls by John Searles; The Paris Gown by Christine Wells. |
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| The Parisian Heist by Jo PiazzaIn 1996 Paris, American art student Emma cleans the home of Stella Swanson, the widow of a notorious billionaire art dealer, who shares family secrets, leading Emma to plan an art museum heist. In 1891, newly widowed Jo van Gogh inherits worthless paintings by brother-in-law Vincent and champions them with help from new friend Claire. Narrated by Emma and Claire, this atmospheric dual-timeline novel is "a satisfying caper with brains and heart" (Publishers Weekly). For fans of: Joan Fernandez's Saving Vincent. |
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Hollywood, Ending (Signed Edition) by John GreenFor rising talents Kai Laramie and Juniper Castillo, being cast in the buzzy biopic Andy Warhol Never Gets Old is the opportunity they've both been waiting for. They're on the verge of breaking out, and maybe even falling in love. Soon, the movie is blowing up, and so are their lives--in exciting, but also terrifying, ways. John Green artfully blends a behind-the-scenes Hollywood love story with an unflinching examination of the insatiable attention economy. Told through dual points of view, the novel brilliantly juxtaposes the on-screen study of Warhol's life at the dawn of celebrity culture with the intimate struggles of two young people figuring out who they are, both together and alone. Tender, heartbreaking, and shrewdly funny, this is a story as only Green can tell it. Hollywood, Ending is a deeply observed novel about the tension between a public and a private life, and the audacity to pursue the kind of love we all deserve.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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