Historical fiction books have a special ability to transport readers into different worlds. While they’re based on realism, real events, and real people, they help readers expand their worldview by putting them in the minds of characters who lived through incredible historic events. Often thoroughly researched and lovingly written, readers have the chance to better understand some of the most heartbreaking events or the most inspiring, courageous people in history. 2023 was full of rich stories that captivated readers worldwide. Here are just a few of those books:
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See
Tan Yunxian was raised in an elite family and expected to marry an elite husband. Over the years, death and loneliness followed Yunxian and her care was left to her grandmother. Her grandmother wanted her to help people, so she taught her the pillars of Chinese medicine. The four examinations were looking, listening, touching, and asking, which was something a man couldn’t do with a female patient.
Yunxian dedicated her studies to women’s medicine and health. Along the way she met Meiling, a midwife in training, and they became fast friends. They both shared the same goals of helping women.
When Yunxian is forced into an arranged marriage, all of that changes. She is told that she can’t see Meiling and she can’t tend to any patients. She is to stay within her family compound and raise children.
Regardless of the rules given to her, Yunxian is determined to find a way to break free of the traditions holding her back so she can keep helping women.
Tan Yunxian was a real physician in the Ming Dynasty and many of her practices are still used in Chinese medicine to this day. Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is a touching reimagining of her incredible life and a captivating story about women helping other women.
River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer
On August 1st, 1834 the British Parliament officially declared an end to slavery. The emancipation applied to all British colonies and isles. However, on the island of Barbados, an apprenticeship program was enacted where the former slaves were still forced to work for their masters under slightly different circumstances. But was that truly freedom?
When the master of the Providence plantation informed his slaves of the change, Rachel decided to run. She didn’t want to spend more time working for him when her children were somewhere out there in need of her. Five of her children survived birth and were sold into slavery not long after.
Rachel embarks on a perilous journey, emboldened by the desire to know the fates of her children, knowing she will only be truly free when she has the answers she’s looking for. River Sing Me Home is an emotional story about the lengths a mother will go in search of her children.
Based on real accounts of women searching for their stolen children after the abolition of slavery, Eleanor Shearer’s debut novel has stolen the hearts and educated readers.
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Story by James McBride
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store was an instant bestseller, one of Barack Obama’s best books of 2023, and a selection for Oprah’s Book Club. It’s a rich, vibrant story about the small neighborhood of Chicken Hill.
In 1972, workers in Pottstown Pennsylvania discovered a skeleton at the bottom of a well. What happened to the skeleton was a long held secret in Chicken Hill, an old neighborhood filled with African Americans and Jewish immigrants all searching for a better life.
When state officials come to Chicken Hill in search of a young deaf boy to institutionalize him, the leaders in the community work together to protect him. With several different characters involved, their stories all overlap and it paints a clear picture of the struggle people who don’t fit the white, Christian mold in America face every day.
Eventually, the truth of what happened with the skeleton comes to light, and reveals the role the white establishment in the area played in the events leading to the body being in the well.
Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash
Set in London during World War II, Beyond That, the Sea follows Beatrix Thompson on her journey across the Atlantic Ocean to live with an American family to find safety from war. She’s afraid and lonely, but she is quickly welcomed into the Gregory’s home with open arms.
Life in America is different than it was in London. Beatrix was an only child who came from a working class family in London, but the Gregorys had two sons and were affluent in America. She learns to adapt to her new life, becoming close with the sons and adjusting to the new lifestyle. Soon enough, she’s more accustomed to her new life in America than her old life in London and the girl she was before her journey across the ocean fades away.
When the war ends, her parents are eager to bring her home. As much as she wants to stay with the Gregorys, she knows she must return. Even though she’s reunited with her birth family, the life she lived with the Gregorys sticks with her and she can’t let go.
Beyond That, the Sea is a beautifully written novel about heartache, forgiveness, and love set during World War II.
The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende
Samuel Adler was six years old when his father disappeared during Kristallnacht. Kristallnacht is known historically as “Night of Broken Glass” and was an organized attack on German Jewish communities at the beginning of the Holocaust. Hundreds of Jewish people were violently attacked or killed and homes and businesses were destroyed and set on fire.
Kristallnacht was the night Samuel’s family lost everything. His mother managed to secure a spot for him on a trail to the United Kingdom in the hopes he would be safe. He left with nothing but one change of clothes and his violin.
In 2019, Anita Diaz and her mother boarded a train to escape El Salvador and find refuge in the United States. Unfortunately, their arrival in America coincided with the family separation policy, leaving Anita, a blind seven year old girl, all alone in a strange new country.
Anita is assigned to a young social worker named Selena and she discovers that Anita has a living relative in the United States. She’s a woman named Leticia Cordero and she’s employed at the home of Samuel Adler.
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Weyward by Emilia Hart
The novel follows three women over five centuries, weaving their storylines together. In 2019, Kate discovers a secret in an old, abandoned cabin she inherited as she escapes an abusive partner to live there.
In 1619, Altha was suspected of murder because the townsfolk believed her to be a witch. Her mother taught her magic and Altha had a deep connection to nature. As the evidence of her witchcraft is collected, she knows it will take everything she has to survive.
In 1942, Violet dreams of attending school like her brother, but instead, she’s being strangled by social expectations. She misses her mother, who passed years before, and the only thing she has left of her is an old locket with the initial W and the word wayward etched into the floor of her mother’s bedroom.
Weyward is an enthralling novel tying together the lives of these three women highlighting the resilience of womanhood.
The Keeper of Hidden Books by Madeline Martin
From the New York Times Bestselling author Madeline Martin is a new historical fiction book illustrating the importance of books and community. The Keeper of Hidden Books is set in Warsaw during World War II and is based on the true story of an underground library established to continue educating children.
The novel follows Zofia as she struggles to protect the two things she cares about most from the Nazi occupation, her best friend Janina and books. As Hitler’s forces raid the city and destroy everything in their path, Zofia rushes to the aid of her friend and attempts to salvage as many books from the wreckage.
The longer the war rages and the closer Warsaw is to liberation, Zofia and Janina’s lives are more endangered. Together they fight to preserve their culture and community through literature.
The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
Martha managed to escape from an abusive marriage and wants nothing more than to take care of herself. She finds a job working as a housekeeper for the former actress Madame Bowden. Henry is a student who has been obsessed with finding an old manuscript for his studies and will stop at nothing until he finds it.
Their stories intertwine as they try to locate a missing bookshop that should be located next to Madame Bowden’s house. Through their investigations, they discover the book shop is much more than what they thought and they’re sent on an incredible adventure to uncover the secrets within.
The Saints of Swallow Hill by Donna Everheart
During the great depression, when record breaking numbers of Americans were unemployed and in desperate need of work, labor camps cropped up over the south. They offered food and shelter at inflated prices, but for some there were no other options.
The Saints of Swallow Hill follows three people tied to the Swallow Hill turpentine camp in 1932. Rae Lynn Cobb is a young woman disguised as a man running from the people who believe she killed her husband. Del Reese, is a charming bachelor hoping to escape memories of his recent trauma. And Corneia, the wife of the brutal commissary owner, Otis Riddle, who abuses her.
Rae and Del are forced to endure grueling labor and brutal conditions under the leadership of their cruel boss, Crow, and Otis. In spite of that, they form a meaningful connection with Cornelia and the three begin to dream of a future, far away from Swallow Hill where they can begin again. But can all three of them come to terms with their past?
America’s First Daughter by Stephanie Dray
Richly researched and retold in a compelling narrative, America’s First Daughter is about Thomas Jefferson’s eldest daughter Martha “Patsy” Jefferson Randolph.
After her mother’s death, Patsy becomes her father’s most trusted confidant. She is his helper, protector, and friend. She even joins him on his trips to Paris when he becomes the American Minister to France.
When Patsy was fifteen years old, she learned the truth about her father and the inappropriate relationship he had with Sally Hemings, a slave the same age as her. At the same time, she falls in love with her father’s protege, William, an abolitionist. Patsy is torn between her love for her father and their family bond, or the love she has for William.
She must decide what to do. Risk losing the love of her life to protect her father. Or expose her father’s secrets and destroy his reputation and the legacy of the nation he helped found.
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