Top 45 Best Historical Fiction Books of 2023 So Far

The House of Doors

Longlisted for the Booker Prize, this novel was inspired by a story about author W. Somerset Maugham who visited Penang in 1921 to write about the story of a murder committed by an Englishwoman in Kuala Lumpur. The Booker judges called it "a magisterial and haunting tale of forbidden love and loss in the shadow of revolution and empire. This is historical fiction at its finest.”

The Tears and Prayers of Fools

This ode to Jewish life before the Holocaust from the celebrated late Lithuanian writer Grigory Kanovich, takes place in a small Lithuanian town in the late nineteenth century. The story is constrcuted around the arrival of an enigmatic stranger who seems to know the secrets of everyone in the town, leading the locals to wonder who the man is and why he has come.

Straw Dogs of the Universe

Ye Chun’s debut follows 10-year-old Sixiang who is sold into quasi-slavery and bound for California. But rather than accept a life of servitude, Sixiang decides to take her fate into her own hands and find her missing father who came to America to build railroads. Layered throughout the story are instances of anti-Asian racism and violence which Kirkus says creates, “a ghastly and luridly perilous world reminiscent of a horror story.”

Hazardous Spirits

Here we are taken to 1920s Edinburgh where we meet Evelyn and her husband, Robert. The couple live a typically comfortable middle class lifestyle until one day Robert declares that he can communicate with the dead. The revelation ushers the couple down a path which leads Evelyn to question everything that she knows to be true and threatens all that she holds most dear.

The Square of Sevens

Set in 18th century England, this story follows a young girl named Red who learns of an ancient Cornish method of predicting fortunes, known as the ‘Square of Sevens,’ from her father shortly before his death. After being entrusted by her father to a wealthy academic, Red is raised in opulence, and her fortune telling is adored by high society. But mysteries around her family and their enemies remain, and Red’s pursuit of answers leads her towards great danger.

The Madstone

"Elizabeth Crook is already a household name in Texas, but The Madstone should establish her as a national figure,” writes Molly Odintz for CrimeReads. The book evokes “the works of Charles Portis and Larry McMurtry as we go on a harrowing (and sometimes humorous) ride through 1868 Texas," as we follow Nell, a young pregnant mother, her child, and a frontiersman try to escape the grip of Nell’s cruel husband.

The Little Liar

Set in the midst of the Second World War, Albom’s latest is based on the real experiences of 50,000 Jewish people living in Greece during the Holocaust. The story follows young Nico who inadvertently sends nearly everyone he knows and loves to their deaths at Auschwitz, and the consequences of his actions across decades. Rob Merrill of the Associated Press wrote, “As with all Albom books, the pages turn quickly... But no matter how long it takes, it will stay with you.”

The Frozen River: A GMA Book Club Pick

Based on the decades of diary entries from Martha Ballard, a real-life 18th-century midwife, the story develops over the course of a winter as Martha investigates an alleged rape and the subsequent death of one of the potential perpetrators. Kirkus called it “a richly satisfying drama that moves suspensefully between childbed, courtroom, and the banks of the Kennebec River... from one of our most interesting authors of historical fiction.”

A True Account: Hannah Masury's Sojourn Amongst the Pyrates, Written by Herself

The AP’s Donna Edwards calls this swashbuckling tale, ”a dazzlingly fun historical fiction... [with] a slow start that picks up quickly into a wild voyage of satisfying twists and an even more satisfying ending.” Howe invites us to follow Hannah Masury as she abandons her life in servitude to a Boston inn and seeks to win her freedom aboard a pirate crew in search of a rumored treasure in the Caribbean.

The Temple of Fortuna: Volume 3

The third and final chapter in Elodie Harper's bestselling Wolf Den Trilogy, “cements Harper’s place alongside other game-changers in this genre space like Hilary Mantel and Ken Follett,” wrote Lacy Baugher Milas in Paste. Our heroine, the courtesan Amara, is now making power plays in Rome, but those closest to her remain in Pompeii where a now-infamous volcano is nearly ready to burst.