Historical fiction allows us to immerse ourselves in eras long past with some exciting storytelling. Bestsellers in Historical fiction are fictional yet very real as they are set in a historical event or period, complementing a story’s narrative and forming a framework and background for the characters’ lives.
This article will give you the best ten historical fiction bestsellers you should read right now.
#1 A Most Clever Girl: A Novel of an American Spy by Stephanie Marie Thornton
About the book
Title: A Most Clever Girl: A Novel of an American Spy
Author: Stephanie Marie Thornton
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 416
Goodreads Rating: 3.82/5
A thrilling tale of love, loyalty, and espionage, based on the incredible true story of Elizabeth Bentley, a Cold War double agent spying for the Russians and the United States, from USA Today bestselling author Stephanie Marie Thornton.
1963: Reeling from her mother’s death and President Kennedy’s assassination, Catherine Gray shows up on Elizabeth Bentley’s doorstep demanding answers to the shocking mystery just uncovered about her family. She doesn’t expect Bentley to trap her in her story of becoming a controversial World War II spy and Cold War informer.
Why do we recommend this book?
This Historical Fiction book based on a true story, a thrilling novel of love, loyalty, and espionage following a Cold War double agent, is a highly recommended bestseller.
To buy A Most Clever Girl: A Novel of an American Spy by Stephanie Marie Thornton now:
#2 A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
About the book
Title: A Suitable Boy
Author: Vikram Seth
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Pages: 1474
Goodreads Rating: 4.12/5
A Suitable Boy tells the story of ordinary people caught up in a web of love, ambition, humour, sadness, prejudice, reconciliation, the most delicate social etiquette, and appalling violence.
At its core, Vikram Seth’s novel is a love story: the tale of Lata’s—and her mother, Mrs. Rupa Mehra’s—attempts to find a suitable boy for Lata through love or exacting maternal appraisal. Set in the early 1950s in an India newly independent and struggling through a time of crisis, this compelling story takes us into the richly imagined world of four large extended families and spins a compulsively readable tale of their lives and loves.
Why do we recommend this book?
This a lengthy book, but finishing it feels like a huge accomplishment and worth reading. It is a sweeping panoramic portrait of a complex, multiethnic society in flux.
To buy A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth now:
#3 Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Margaret Mitchell
About the book
Title: Gone with the Wind
Author: Margaret Mitchell
Publisher: Warner Books
Pages: 1037
Goodreads Rating: 4.30/5
Set against the dramatic backdrop of the American Civil War, Margaret Mitchell’s magnificent historical epic is an unforgettable tale of love and loss, a nation mortally divided and people forever changed. Above all, it is the story of beautiful, ruthless Scarlett O’Hara and the dashing soldier of fortune, Rhett Butler.
Why do we recommend this book?
This book is a historical epic, an unforgettable tale of love and loss. It explores life in times of war and people’s reactions to it. Indeed, a great historical fiction read is truly one of the most loved bestsellers.
To buy Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell now:
#4 Mercury Pictures Presents: A Novel by Anthony Marra
About the book
Title: Mercury Pictures Presents: A Novel
Author: Anthony Marra
Publisher: Hogarth
Pages: 416
Goodreads Rating: 4.30/5
Maria Lagana has come to Hollywood to outrun her past. Born in Rome, where every Sunday her father took her to the cinema instead of church, Maria immigrated with her mother to Los Angeles after a childhood transgression led to her father’s arrest. Fifteen years later, on the eve of America’s entry into World War II, Maria is an associate producer at Mercury Pictures, trying to keep her personal and professional lives from falling apart.
Why do we recommend this book?
Mercury Pictures Presents: A Novel spans many moods and tones, from heartbreaking to ecstatic, and it was written with intelligence, wit, and an exhilarating sense of possibility.
To buy Mercury Pictures Presents: A Novel by Anthony Marra now:
#5 Night Angels by Weina Dai Randel
Weina Dai Randel
About the book
Title: Night Angels
Author: Weina Dai Randel
Publisher: Union Publishing
Pages: 375
Goodreads Rating: 4.42/5
From the author of The Last Rose of Shanghai comes a profoundly moving novel based on the true story of a diplomat and his wife who risked their lives to help Viennese Jews escape the Nazis.
1938: Dr. Ho Fengshan, consul general of China, is posted in Vienna with his American wife, Grace. Shy and ill at ease with the societal obligations of diplomats’ wives, Grace is an outsider in a city beginning to feel the sweep of the Nazi dragnet. When Grace forms a friendship with her Jewish tutor, Lola Schnitzler, Dr. Ho requests that Grace keep her distance. His instructions are to maintain amicable relations with the Third Reich, and he and Grace are already under their vigilant eye.
But when Lola’s family is subjugated to a brutal pogrom, Dr. Ho decides to issue them visas to Shanghai. As violence against the Jews escalates after Kristallnacht and threats mount, Dr. Ho must issue thousands more to help Jews escape Vienna before World War II explodes.
Why do we recommend this book?
This book is based on a remarkable true story. Night Angels explores the risks brave souls took and the love and friendship they built and lost while fighting against incalculable evil with excellent character development and historical perspective.
To buy Night Angels by Weina Dai Randel now:
#6 Ponniyin Selvan – The Pinnacle of Sacrifice, Vol. 1 by Kalki, C.V. Karthik Narayanan (Translator)
About the book
Title: Ponniyin Selvan – The Pinnacle of Sacrifice, Vol. 1
Author: Kalki, C.V. Karthik Narayanan (Translator)
Publisher: Macmillan India Limited
Pages: 274
Goodreads Rating: 4.59/5
The first volume of the fifth part in the series Ponniyin Selvan deals with the life of Prince Arulmozhivarmar, who is Ponniyin Selvan and the younger brother of crown Prince Aditha Karikalan.
Why do we recommend this book?
Kalki’s strong background research, imagination, and writing skills make this book a fantastic read. This book has everything—love, trust, obedience, betrayal, friendship, hate, anger, lust, etc. Since the PS-1 movie has been released and if you want to know more, this book is definitely for you.
To buy Ponniyin Selvan – The Pinnacle of Sacrifice, Vol. 1 by Kalki now:
#7 Still Life by Sarah Winman
About the book
Title: Still Life
Author: Sarah Winman
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Pages: 464
Goodreads Rating: 4.18/5
Still Life is a big-hearted story of the families we forge and the friendships that make us.1944, Italy: As bombs fall around them, two strangers meet in the ruined wine cellar of a Tuscan villa and share an extraordinary evening.
Ulysses Temper is a young British soldier, and Evelyn Skinner is a 64-year-old art historian living on her terms. She had come to salvage paintings from the wreckage of war and relive memories of her youth when an Italian maid stole her heart in a particular room with a view. Ulysses’ encounter with Evelyn will forever transform his life—and all those who love him back home in London.
Why do we recommend this book?
The most beautiful book with uplifting, sweeping, and full of unforgettable characters in the story. Still Life is a book about beauty, love, family, and friendship with beautiful prose, extraordinary tenderness, and bursts of humour and light.
To buy Still Life by Sarah Winman now:
#8 The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh
Amitav Ghosh
About the book
Title: The Glass Palace
Author: Amitav Ghosh
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Pages: 486
Goodreads Rating: 3.99/5
Rajkumar is only another boy, helping on a market stall in the dusty square outside the royal palace when the British force the Burmese King, Queen, and all the Court into exile. A far-seeing Chinese merchant rescues him and builds up a logging business in upper Burma with him. But he is haunted by his vision of the Royal Family. Rajkumar journeys to the obscure town in India where they have been exiled. The picture of the tension between the Burmese, the Indians, and the British is excellent.
Among the great range of characters are one of the court ladies, Miss Dolly, whom Rajkumar marries, and the redoubtable Jonakin, part of the British-educated Indian colony, who, with her husband, has been put in charge of the Burmese exiled court. The story follows the fortunes—rubber estates in Malaya, businesses in Singapore, and estates in Burma which Rajkumar, with his Chinese, British and Burmese relations, friends, and associates, builds up—from 1870 through the Second World War to the scattering of the extended family to New York and Thailand, London and Hong Kong in the post-war years.
Why do we recommend this book?
The Glass Palace is well-written historical fiction which is like leafing through your family’s photo album. The book explores the intricacies of colonialism, wars, divided loyalties, race relations, and the exploitation of subjugated peoples and their natural resources.
To buy The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh now:
#9 The Keeper of Happy Endings by Barbara Davis
About the book
Title: The Keeper of Happy Endings
Author: Barbara Davis
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Pages: 415
Goodreads Rating: 4.50/5
An enchanting novel about fate, second chances, and hope lost and found by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Last of the Moon Girls. Soline Roussel is well-schooled in the business of happy endings. For generations, her family has kept an exclusive bridal salon in Paris, where magic is worked with needle and thread. It’s said that the bride who wears a Roussel gown is guaranteed a lifetime of joy. But devastating losses during World War II leave Soline’s world and heart in ruins and her faith in love shaken. She boxes up her memories, stowing them away, along with her broken dreams, determined to forget.
Decades later, while coping with her tragic loss, aspiring gallery owner Rory Grant leases Soline’s old property and discovers a box containing letters and a vintage wedding dress, never worn. When Rory returns the mementoes, an unlikely friendship develops, and eerie parallels in Rory’s and Soline’s lives begin to surface. It’s clear that they were destined to meet—and that Rory may hold the key to righting a forty-year wrong and opening the door to shared healing and, perhaps, a little magic.
Why do we recommend this book?
The book has an interesting premise and pretty good execution. All the characters were well-formed and easy to relate to; the storylines were interesting, and there were many happy and sad moments.
To buy The Keeper of Happy Endings by Barbara Davis now:
#10 Wolf Hall: A Novel by Hilary Mantel
Hilary Mantel
About the book
Title: Wolf Hall: A Novel
Author: Hilary Mantel
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Pages: 604
Goodreads Rating: 3.90/5
In the ruthless arena of King Henry VIII’s Court, only one man dares to gamble his life to win the king’s favour and ascend to the heights of political power. England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. The country could be destroyed by civil war if the king dies without a male heir. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The Pope and most of Europe oppose him. The quest for the king’s freedom destroys his adviser, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum.
Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell is a wholly original man, a charmer, and a bully, both idealist and opportunist. He is astute in reading people and a demon who is also a consummate politician, hardened by his losses and implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?
Why do we recommend this book?
It presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change, where individuals fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage. Also, with a vast array of characters overflowing with incident, the novel re-creates an era when the personal and political are separated by a hairbreadth, where success brings unlimited power, but a single failure means death.
To buy Wolf Hall: A Novel by Hilary Mantel now:
In our book recommendation, we tried to cover a wide range of stories, from period romances to epic drama fantasies in the historical fiction genre. Do tell us your favourite book from our list and share your other favourite historical fiction books that were bestsellers we missed in our list.
| 1 | A Most Clever Girl: A Novel of an American Spy by Stephanie Marie Thornton | Buy now |
| 2 | A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth | Buy now |
| 3 | Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell | Buy now |
| 4 | Mercury Pictures Presents: A Novel by Anthony Marra | Buy now |
| 5 | Night Angels by Weina Dai Randel | Buy now |
| 6 | Ponniyin Selvan – The Pinnacle of Sacrifice, Vol. 1 by Kalki | Buy now |
| 7 | Still Life by Sarah Winman | Buy now |
| 8 | The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh | Buy now |
| 9 | The Keeper of Happy Endings by Barbara Davis | Buy now |
| 10 | Wolf Hall: A Novel by Hilary Mantel | Buy now |
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