10 Historical Fiction Books I Highly Recommend! / A Book For Every Reader

[@hubblepie]

Your style and content really hit home with me. Thank you for the great recommendations. One of my favorite historical novels is These is My Words by Nancy Turner. Written as the diary of a pioneer woman in the late 1800s, starting when she is an illiterate child.

[@LiteraryLife]

Thank you!!!! Adding that to my list, very intriguing.

[@sherryzimmerman9220]

Just found You….and so appreciated your take on this genre….I agree Kristin Hannah deserves recognition…just completed “ The Women”…..which blew me away of how little I knew about the nurses of the Viet Nam Era….its moving…. It’s relevant….the reading arc kept me on focus…and finally embarrassed as a 73 Year Old Happy Ager and how lacking I was in knowing more about my own history….

[@LiteraryLife]

So glad you found me, welcome!! I am so appeciative of literature that keeps me connected to our past, present, and future.

[@soozie4him308]

I just stumbled on this video and I watched it because Historical Fiction is my favorite genre. I’d love to see a video about the Kristin Hannah books, and more videos devoted to HistFic. I will work on a list this week of my favorite Historical Fiction titles. I loved your video!!

[@LiteraryLife]

So glad to hear this, thank you!! Would definitely love some recs. I am prepping for a Kristin Hannah video and just got a book by her I have not yet read (Firefly Lane) so excited to delve more into her writing :)

[@SharonMitchell-r3j]

Suggestion: Have a book holder to display the books being reviewed. When you hold it in your hand the book bobs around as an extension of your hand gestures making hard to get information from the cover, like the authors' name. Thanks for share you views on books that you enjoyed and recommend.

[@LiteraryLife]

Great idea! (My hands never stay still)

[@lindaclark710]

All the Light We Cannot See is a favorite. I lived in South Carolina and was intrigued by the history of the indigo industry, so thoroughly enjoyed The Indigo Girl. I'm vey glad I discovered your channel, I've added several of your recommendations to my the list! Thank you.

[@lindaclark710]

Should say the (to be read) list

[@LiteraryLife]

Thanks for sharing! So glad you found me! We lived in the western end of SC for a few years (near Aiken)...random factoid, lol.

[@suzanneparcelewicz4078]

I've read several books by Edward Rutherford and love them.

[@LiteraryLife]

He is absolutely on my radar now!

[@lupepedraza8497]

All the Light ... is the most beautiful book I've read in a while. Highly recommended.

[@kamidsjournee]

New subscriber! 🙌🏼 I really want to read historical fiction, but so much of it is based on WW2. I feel that niche is saturated, but you shared soooo many other great picks. Thank you. I read the Women of the Copper Country by Mary Doria Russell. It is about a woman’s plight living in a Michigan mining community.

[@LiteraryLife]

So glad you found me, and welcome!!! I am adding that book to my list…I am from MI!

[@kamidsjournee]

@@LiteraryLife I’m from MI too!! Beautiful state.

[@karenslaughing]

Definitely agree- gotta say I’m so toured off sooo many books set in WW2. Please there is so much more history than just world war 2. Thank you for the recs outside of that time!😊

[@JacquelineCaron]

I highly recommend the Bronze Horseman trilogy by Paullina Simons, I don't hear this one mentioned much on book tube - read these 3 so long ago and still think about them. Just finding your channel - and really enjoying it! THANK YOU!!

[@LiteraryLife]

Noted, thank you!!!!

[@sally0404]

One of my favorites

[@annwilliams8092]

I just discovered your channel. Totally enjoyed your reviews and I wrote down several of your book recommendations. I did read ‘all the light we cannot see’ and it was a beautiful story. I subscribed to your videos and will be watching for more of them. Your enthusiastic presentations are appreciated.

[@LiteraryLife]

Thank you, and so glad you found me! Welcome to Literary Life :)

[@laurenduke300]

I support the Kristin Hannah video idea!

[@sherryzimmerman9220]

“ The Women” moved me to tears and to realize how little I knew about the Viet Nam War of my country….

[@LiteraryLife]

Great! I am prepping it and reading more K. Hannah this week (as somehow I have not read all of her books.....)

[@920wpu]

Just found your channel! I don’t think I’ll get anything on my to do list done today because your videos are awesome! Thank you!

[@LiteraryLife]

So glad you found the channel and thank you!!!

[@theeighthman9667]

Thank you for this wonderful channel. I just purchased "Carter Beats the Devil" and "Fifty Words for Rain" based on your recommendation. Looking forward to a good read. My experience in historical fiction has been mostly Gore Vidal so I am looking forward to broaden my horizons.

[@LiteraryLife]

So glad!! (And now I am looking up Gore Vidal….)

[@GabrielTheMagolorMain]

Thanks for the recs! I haven’t heard of a bunch of these. My favorite historical fiction I’ve read so far is The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, such a beautiful and important story, I didn’t want it to end. One I never see talked about is The Unknown Beloved by Amy Harmon, it’s based around Eliot Ness and lesser known people in Chicago at that time. She has another book about the Oregon Trail called Where the Lost Wonder that I’m interested in.

[@LiteraryLife]

I looooved The Vanishing Half!!! OOOOOhh, adding those to my TBR, thank you!

[@lavernehodge3320]

Thank you for these recommendations. You have such a nice variety. The Indigo Girl definitely got my attention. I lived in South Carolina for a while. I have really become a historical fiction in the last few years. Two of my absolute favorites are The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah and The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon.

[@LiteraryLife]

Love The Nightingale!!! Adding other to my list, thank you!!

[@lucybarrington4634]

I read The Nightingale years ago and it still haunts me.

[@lizardrock510]

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a book written in the form of letters. That is to say an epistolary novel released in 2008. It told the true story of the German occupation of the channel Islands for almost the entire stretch of World War II, a fact that Winston Churchill preferred to keep quiet as it would’ve been been quite difficult for the British to except that there were Germans actually commanding the islands. we learn about the characters via their letters that they write back-and-forth to one another at the conclusion of the war. The book became an unexpected hit was translated into dozens of languages and ultimately made into a movie of the same name in 2018, starring Lily James, Glenn Powell, Michael Huisman, Among others. An amazing book.

[@LiteraryLife]

This is great background!! Thank you for sharing.

[@ClassicBooksIn60Seconds]

The Indigo Girl sounds fascinating. I love to see how society has changed especially with regards to opportunities that were closed off in the past. Thanks for sharing your historical literary journey 🙂

[@trenae77]

Read the Indigo Girl with my DAR book group and it really IS a great book!! I highly recommend the read!

[@ClassicBooksIn60Seconds]

@@trenae77 thanks for the suggestion 🙂

[@patriciadinapoli528]

If you can find any books by John Jakes. I read his books year ago. Love and War and North and South were two titles I can recall.

[@LiteraryLife]

Thank you!!

[@marciahenthorn9050]

John Jakes Americana series got me through a very difficult time in my life.

[@suzysanders6267]

I love everything John Jake wrote, and I read the whole series when it first came out and every other book he wrote. Our Freedom was fought with blood sweat and tears, so we could live in a country as one nation under God indivisible with liberty to all. in today’s world we’re once again fighting to keep that so we don’tinto a socialist communist country. Read all his books. You will love them if you’re a true patriot.

[@jaynecatherineepinkett3454]

Just found your channel and subbed. I am a big fan of historical fiction but haven't read any of these. I recommend The Lilac Girls. Hard to read at times but very memorable x

[@LiteraryLife]

So glad you found me, and adding The Lilac Girls to my TBR, thank you!! ( Want to confirm is it the book by Ralph Henry Barbour?)

[@jaynecatherineepinkett3454]

Martha Hall Kelly x😊

[@margretenglesson5834]

If you're interested in checking out some classics of historical fiction, don't overlook the works of Zoe Oldenbourg (The World is Not Enough, The Cornerstone, The Heirs of the Kingdom) and Sigrid Undset (Kristin Lavransdatter, The Master of Hestviken, Gunnar's Daughter). These writers do such an amazing job of bringinpg the Middle Ages to vivid life. And I have to say a good word for Sylvia Townsend Warner's Summer Will Show, set in Paris at the time of the revolution of 1848...and Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian...and Alice Hoffman's The Museum of Extraordinary Things...

[@nancytunnell3817]

Thanks for the book reccomendations. I liked Becoming Madame Secretary by Stephanie Dray.

[@catherinecameron2967]

Thanks for sharing. Great tips. Have read ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE.

[@LiteraryLife]

Amazing book!!

[@TarmoAlholinna]

My fave genre is WW 2 historical fiction.. I also❤ love Kristin Hannah!!! Eileen

[@tinydancer2607]

Try Bernard Cornwell and any of his ‘SHARPE’ books where there is none of this waffle and chin drizzle being portrayed by this KZbinr. A Yorkshireman who comes up through the ranks circa 1800 and a proper man’s man type of character. Thanks

[@printface4935]

May I offer a suggestion? I am at this moment re-reading The Island Of The Day Before by Umberto Eco and I love it even more the second time around. Set circa 1620, it's the story of a young Italian castaway from a shipwreck, tied to some flotsam who, half dead, lands on a deserted ship; fully provisioned, in perfect shape, but with no life boats, and anchored off of an island he can't reach. Eco was an encyclopedic historian with a great sense of humor so it's both fascinating and fun. Thanks.

[@LiteraryLife]

I am so intrigued by this book....(and may just be adding it to a future literary journey ;)..........thank you!!

[@Remainsofaruineddeadcursed-d7t]

I love historical fiction but do get annoyed about how so many are 20th century/1940s focused because it's an era way too close to our own for me to get out of it what i like in the genre

[@LiteraryLife]

I wonder if the very fact that that war and time is so close to everyone, and was so incredibly traumatizing for millions, that we have so much focus on it.

[@smokiencooper4264]

OMG! So many great recommendations! Historical fiction is my favorite genre to read. The only book out of this list that I have read is All the Light We Cannot See and it was excellent! Now it’s off to my library to check out the others! A few recommendations from me would be The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams and The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Hamel. Thank you for all your book review and recommendation videos!

[@Shirley61581]

The Book of Lost Names was soooo good!❤ 📖

[@LiteraryLife]

Thank you!!! Adding those to my TBR :)

[@Ramokhan12]

I would want you to make a video on books based on historical fiction with humour such as Dear Mrs bird.

[@geoffreyfaust3443]

"Explosion in a Cathedral" or "The Kingdom of this World", both by Alejo Carpentier. 2 unforgettable masterpieces of history AND fiction.

[@LiteraryLife]

Thank you!!!!

[@subaru7233]

I have recommended The Indigo Girl to everyone I know, I've listened to it twice and will again.

[@dublingirl1470]

I've just finished The Historians by Cecilia Ekbäck and before that, The Dutch Orphan by Ellen Keith

[@starlasell5698]

Thank you for the recommendations! I've added a few of these and some I already own. I enjoyed The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Saving Savannah by Patti Callahan last year.

[@LiteraryLife]

Thank you!! Adding these to my list.

[@starlasell5698]

@@LiteraryLife Great! 🤗

[@dianesellepedrosa1876]

Have you watched the Mini Series of All the Light We Cannot See? Fantastic

[@LiteraryLife]

I have not!! Will add it to my watchlist. Thank you!

[@mountaingirlknits8620]

One of my favorite all time books is Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati. She writes the epic style of historical fiction that’s makes you feel like you are there with the characters.

[@LiteraryLife]

Oooh, that is intriguing! I am putting her on my radar, thank you!

[@beverlyzulauf8940]

Just discovered you 😃...I read 'All the Light We Cannot See' when it was released. Highly recommend also. I also enjoy Kristin Hannah novels.

[@LiteraryLife]

Welcome aboard! So glad you found me. I really need to do a Kristin Hannah journey soon

[@SherryLee-eg7tg]

The Dictionary of Lost Names, Covenant of Water, Cutting for Stone, Outlander series, The Radium Girls, America's First Daughter. I haven't read "The Women" but I have heard so many reviews about how amazing it is. It's in my TBR pile. The Outlander series is so well written and entertaining plus you learn a lot about the time and place. I purposely will not finish the series because I don't want it to be over. The tv series is magical.

[@LiteraryLife]

Wow, thank you!!!!

[@azizshakir6016]

Thanks Suzanne for doing this historical fiction tag I asked for! 🤗 All The Light We Cannot See is one my all time favorite books and I loved the Netflix series as well! 😪 I highly recommend A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by. Anthony Marra

[@LiteraryLife]

Absolutely! Such a great topic that I now realize I have way more interest in that I need to delve into, lol. ( and thanks for rec...added to my TBR!!)

[@lyndalamb3221]

Books by Elswythe Thane and Ginny Dye. Dye's books are a lengthy exploration of the lives of former slaves after the war, as well as Irish people in Boston.

[@sybillovesplantsandcoffee]

The Indigo Girl is about Eliza Pinckney.

[@alisonbennett1589]

Kristen Hannah is my all time favorite but I loved Rose Code by Kate Quinn

[@LiteraryLife]

Thank you!

[@eyesandearseditions]

Also, QV Hunter’s new 4th century spy series, Embers of Empire, plus the Orange Prize nominee 2004, A Visit from Voltaire!

[@LiteraryLife]

Thank you!

[@deidrediane9594]

I am almost finished and really enjoying "The Vanishing Woman" by Doug Peterson. It's based on a true story. I had never heard of it and recently purchased it at my local library.

[@LiteraryLife]

Thank you! Adding that to my list.

[@shawn4white]

Have you read any Greek or Roman historical fiction books? Genghis Kahn? Samurai?

[@LiteraryLife]

I have not! Given that, if there is one or a couple you would recommend for the starting point??

[@shawn4white]

@@LiteraryLife I haven’t I’m looking for one to read haha I’ve mainly read fantasy so just getting into historical fiction. I have read empire of the summer moon about the Comanches. Also have listened to some of Dan Carlins hardcore history it’s amazing

[@suzysanders6267]

Oh yes, the book Freeman was excellent and I think years later cause I saw it. I believe I saw it when it was made into a movie. An excellent choice.

[@Lu-ys9cw]

Gone with the Wind

[@carladaniels7910]

I read at age 14, didn't understand alot but read on my bed and loved hours of great read, then always loved large books to this day A tree grows in Brooklyn I read age 14, loved it!!

[@LiteraryLife]

Classic!!! I need to read this again!

[@bethks1476]

Diana gabladon -outlander series

[@LiteraryLife]

Thank you!

[@kamidsjournee]

Oh, great suggestion. I loved the series. Did you know book 10 is supposed to come out this year or next?

[@shrav1012]

So nothing from the east? No Salman Rushdie or Arundhati Roy or Jhumpa Lahiri (The Lowland) or Amitav Ghosh even? These works are originally in English and there are so, so many translated works out there…

[@LiteraryLife]

I love Salman Rushdie’s writing but have not yet read this other authors, so thank you for sharing.

[@miradonfbd]

Alaska. The beginning is slow but it’s a really good book. Goes into the salmon fishing industry in Alaska and encroachment into native American life.

[@LiteraryLife]

Thank you!! Would love to read about that industry...and realizing I have only read a few books set in Alaska (need to remedy that!)

[@miradonfbd]

@@LiteraryLife it goes through time from the very beginning. A fat book, lol. Could be a good audiobook although I read it in paperback. Now I prefer audiobooks for so I can do other things at the same time and don’t strain my eyes.

[@diannebdee]

That book about the "Siege of Leningrad...." it was written by David Benioff. The very same David Benioff that seems to think we forgot his final season of "Game of Thrones." He wouldn't know history if he fell over it. Eggs? Really Benioff?

[@LiteraryLife]

Lol, I totally did not realize the author was related to the show. We only watched a couple of seasons so never saw the finale.

[@jamesazarzana4431]

Read Stella when it first came out. As an grandson of Italian immigrants, it rang true.

[@LiteraryLife]

Love hearing that since I enjoyed it so much and will definitely read it again; I am glad it is a fair representation

[@NoreenEdge]

My book club loved Indigo Girl, an amazing true story. We also just finished Crow Mary by Kathleen Grissom, the story of a Crow woman marrying a white man and their life together and the conflict between the two cultures.

[@LiteraryLife]

Oohh checking that out!

[@bobbywheeler4810]

Please consider the Outlander series by Diana Gabledone. The main character is Claire...and she is one amazing woman.

[@LiteraryLife]

You know, I tried that series years ago and didn’t care for it….but I have a feeling I need to give it another try. I have found time in life can make a difference with some books

[@suzysanders6267]

So having not read city of thieves during that time. All of Russia was suffering as was the whole world. My first vision in my imaginary mind told me well. They need to steal a chicken and where that chicken might be waiting for them to take a really interesting Plot !

[@miradonfbd]

People of the Wolf and all the books in that series.

[@LiteraryLife]

Thank you!

[@miradonfbd]

@@LiteraryLife one of my favorite books of all time.

[@suzysanders6267]

Hey, slow down you’re gonna give away the whole book all the light we cannot see. It’s so good but it’s a page Turner so don’t tell the whole story.

[@donafrauenhofer2181]

The Agony and the Ecstasy

[@LiteraryLife]

Thank you! Adding this to my list.

[@donafrauenhofer2181]

You're welcome. Enjoy Florence, Rome, Michelangelo, and Pope Julius II.

[@patriciafay-f9l]

All The Light We Cannot See is my choice for the Buzzwordathon Challenge for September (senses) - I am looking forward to it

[@jeanetteernsberger4782]

Hands

[@LiteraryLife]

They are always active :)

[@suzysanders6267]

The book about the illusionist, I forget the title that sounds like the movie the sting which is so so good - - it’s sort of what’s going on in our history right now. I mean we’re watching a movie.

[@beckyhallkovacs2279]

Too much repetitive talking and book waving

[@LiteraryLife]

Noted

[@vduval52]

Really, who cares what you like? What an ego.

[@thomasdoyle9748]

No need to watch

[@myrablackmon1377]

Please stop waving your hands around! Distracting and annoying.

[@thomasdoyle9748]

Maybe she's Italian.

[@LiteraryLife]

Not Italian, but definitely talk with my hands! Lol, have always. I suspect it is a form of hyperactivity with me.

[@LiteraryLife]

Noted, but it is a behavior I have tried controlling for my entire life, and will continue trying, but no guarantees for a quick improvement ;)