Best Historical Fiction Books to Read

Any era, place, person, event.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. Historical fiction about four generations of a Korean family in Japan. Emotional, powerful, and super readable. It was a National Book Award finalist, won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and made the New York Times Best Books list.

I'm in charge of picking my book clubs book for the month of March and it needs to be historical fiction! What's the best one you've ever read? My favorite I've read was Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon.

I haven’t been reading much fiction the last few years and I want to transition back with some engaging stories and characters, based in moments of societal change. Anytime, anywhere in history.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. I'm not religious or even interested in child birth, it's still one of the most beautiful books I've ever read.

As the title says, I’m looking for suggestions for the best historical fiction books. I know “best” is subjective, but for me that usually means strong writing, likeable characters, and immersive world-building.

I especially love stories where you feel fully pulled into the historical setting, whether that means meeting real historical figures like Leonidas of Sparta or an Egyptian pharaoh and seeing how they lived day to day. Unique concepts and deep immersion are a big plus for me.

I’m curious what the rest of you consider the best historical fiction you’ve read, and why it stood out to you.

All Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

I love HF, and I often love the 1,400 page HF masterpieces that give detail to a century of change. However, I've been reading some sorta difficult/dry books recently and want a real adventure story for my next pick.

What's your favorite HF book that is just a rip-roaring good time and feels like a blockbuster Hollywood movie? Stuff that plays to the cheap seats with exciting sword fights, and forbidden romances, and lovable characters on adventures. Not saying it can't have darkness in it (I feel like it's kind of hard to do stories in the past without a heap of darkness) but more as a means to make defeating the dastardly villain more satisfying than to showcase the difficulties of life during that period.

I still want all the best parts of HF in terms of historical research and versimillitude, but more in service of an exciting story with a fast-paced plot than purely academic. Of course I expect that a book like this would show a more romanticized version of the past than true realism, but I still want someone who did their homework.

Ken Follett's Kingsbridge series are sorta what I'm looking for, with all the mild trashiness that come with them. Heroes you live to root for, sexy romance, and villains you love to hate, all combined in a story that covers half a continent through many of the most consequential moments in history.

I haven't finished it yet, but A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is so much more than a coming-of-age story (as I had always thought it was), it's an entire anthropology of immigrant Brooklyn at the turn of the 20th Century.

Warlord chronicles by Bernard cornwell

“These are the tales of the land we call Lloegyr, which means the Lost Lands, the country that was once ours but which our enemies now call England. These are the tales of Arthur, the Warlord, the King that Never Was, the Enemy of God and, may the living Christ and Bishop Sansum forgive me, the best man I ever knew. How I have wept for Arthur”- the winter king

“much followed from that hurried ceremony in the flower-speckled clearing beside the stream. So many died. There was so much heartache, so much blood and so many tears that they would have made a great river; yet, in time, the eddies smoothed, new rivers joined, and the tears went down to the great wide sea and some people forgot how it ever began. The time of glory did come, yet what might have been never did, and of all those who were hurt by that moment in the sun, Arthur was hurt the most.”-the winter king

or the saxon stories by bernard cornwell

“I am Uhtred, son of Uhtred, and this is the tale of a blood feud. It is a tale of how I will take from my enemy what the law says is mine. And it is the tale of a woman and of her father, a king. He was my king and all that I have I owe to him. The food that I eat, the hall where I live, and the swords of my men, all came from Alfred, my king, who hated me.“ -the last kingdom

“But deep under the earth, where the corpse serpent gnaws at the roots of Yggdrasil, the tree of life, there are three spinners. Three women who make our fate. We might believe we make choices, but in truth our lives are in the spinners' fingers. They make our lives, and destiny is everything. The Danes know that, and even the Christians know it, Wyrd biõ ful araed, we Saxons say, fate is inexorable.”-The Pale Horseman

Pillars of the Earth

A Tale of Two Cities

Shogun, by James Clavel

Everything historical fiction should be, well-researched with a story that is appropriate for the time but still feels relevant today. Also a good balance of exciting plot and well-written character-driven parts.

As someone who has never read historical books. Need suggestions on books that are page turners and make the subject of history an interesting read?

EDIT: Thank you all for the amazing suggestions, cant wait to read them. You guys are the best

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett- it's set in England in the 1100s and covers a big (fictional) cathedral building project and the community which surrounds it. There is barely any way to make it sound interesting when describing it but it's genuinely brilliant, as is the second book which is also set in the same community.

i suggest you start with The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (to me, it was insanely gripping story!). if you like that, you’ll fall down the historical nonfiction rabbit hole 😄 🥰 

God of Fertility by Jack Pinkhunter. It follows an MC who meets a time-traveling mage in Egypt. She gives him the powers of Min, the Egyptian god of fertility, and ends up traveling through time with him as he helps repopulate ancient civilizations lost to wars and famines.

I have a lot to say about this one, but overall it has memorable characters, plenty of romance, fantasy elements and fun adventure.

It also takes place during some of my favorite eras, like the time of Ramses the Great in book one, Greece after the Persian Wars in book two and Rome during Augustus in book three.

Shogun by James Clavell. This one will always have a special place in my heart since it was the first historical fiction book I ever read and it was absolutely epic.

It really makes you feel like you’re in 16th-century Japan. Looking back, it has some similar vibes to God of Fertility, especially how an outsider reacts to a foreign culture, falls in love with the people and the culture, and has to navigate politics.

I want to start getting out of my comfort zone and try jumping into some other genres that aren’t Fantasy or sci-fi. Suggest the best historical fiction books you’ve ever read! Thanks for any and all suggestions!

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett is really well done (set in 11th century England).

Lonesome Dove by McMurtry

Pretty much anything by James Michener, but my faves of his are Hawaii, Centennial, Chesapeake, Caribbean, Texas, and The Covenant. Poland was good, too. Not a huge fan of The Source, though.

Shogun by James Clavell is a banger

This is already a well known series but, The Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell. You’ll meet King Alfred of England, his wife and children, Ubba, Guthred, and of course Uthred of Bamburgh (Bebbanburg), all of which were real people who existed. Of course we’re talking fiction, so some artistic liberties are taken as far as the timelines and lives of these characters. Excellent world building that makes the story easy to picture. Battle scenes are well written and draw you in (Usually I dislike battle scenes). The first two books are very good but the 3rd is where it starts to be great imo. The POV character, Uthred, is arrogant yet likable, even more so starting in book 3.

So anyways… that’s my current favorite historical fiction. 📚

If you want Roman, you really should read I, Claudius and Claudius the God by Robert Graves.

They are classics for a reason!

Hillary Mantel won two Booker Prizes for her Cromwell triology. It starts with Wolf Hall