Adult Historical Fiction

These historical fiction books are new to our shelves in the last 30 days (most recent on top).

You may also be interested in what we have On Order in this category.


List

A woman of pleasure : a novel / Kiyoko Murata ; translated from the Japanese by Juliet Winters Carpenter.
"In 1903, a fifteen-year-old girl named Aoi Ichi is sold to the most exclusive brothel in Kumamoto, Japan. Despite her modest beginnings in a southern fishing village, she becomes the protégée of an oiran, the highest-ranking courtesan at the brothel. Thr…
The woman with no name : a novel / Audrey Blake.
"1942. Though she survived the bomb that destroyed her home, Yvonne Rudellat's life is over. She's estranged from her husband, her daughter is busy with war work, and Yvonne—older, diminutive, overlooked—has lost all purpose. Until she's offered a chance …
The last verse : a novel / Caroline Frost.
"When aspiring musician Twyla Finch arrives in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1977, the nineteen-year-old Texan is dazzled by the fringe-and-rhinestones country music scene. Live music flows from bars, open mic nights tempt with the chance of stardom, and recor…
The underground library : a novel / Jennifer Ryan.
"When the new deputy librarian, Juliet Lansdown, finds that Bethnal Green Library isn’t the bustling hub she is expecting, she becomes determined to breathe life back into it. But can she show the men in charge that a woman is up to the task of running th…
The painter's daughters / Emily Howes.
"Peggy and Molly Gainsborough—the daughters of one of England’s most famous portrait artists of the 1700s and the frequent subject of his work—are best friends. They spy on their father as he paints, rankle their mother as she manages the household, and r…
The ark and the dove : the story of Noah's wife / Jill Eileen Smith.
"Zara and Noah have walked together with the Creator for their entire lives. They have done their best in an increasingly wicked and defiant world to raise their three sons to follow in their footsteps. It has been a challenge--and it's about to get much,…
Hidden yellow stars / Rebecca Connolly.
"Young schoolteacher Andrée Geulen secretly defies the Nazis in Belgium, who are forcing Jews to wear a yellow Star of David. Andrée is not Jewish, but she feels a maternal connection to her students, who are living in constant fear, and decides to take a…
In the shadow of the Greenbrier : a novel / Emily Matchar.
"Nestled in the hills of West Virginia lies White Sulphur Springs, home to the Greenbrier Resort. Long a playground for presidents and film stars, the Greenbrier has its own gravitational pull. Over ten decades, four generations of the Zelner family must …
Can't we be friends : a novel of Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe / Denny S. Bryce and Eliza Knight.
"1952: Ella Fitzgerald is a renowned jazz singer whose only roadblock to longevity is society’s attitude toward women and race. Marilyn Monroe’s star is rising despite ongoing battles with movie studio bigwigs and boyfriends. When she needs help with her …
No better time : a novel of the spirited women of the Six Triple Eight Central Postal Directory Battalion / Sheila Williams.
"In the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Dorothy Thom, Spelman graduate, librarian and Francophile, joins the Women’s Army Corps wanting to do her part for the war effort. Longing for adventure, she has one question for the recruiter: …
The devil and Mrs. Davenport : a novel / Paulette Kennedy.
"Missouri, 1955. Loretta Davenport has led an isolated life as a young mother and a wife to Pete, an ambitious assistant professor at a Bible college. They're the picture of domestic tranquility—until a local girl is murdered and Loretta begins receiving …
The woman in the sable coat : a novel / Elizabeth Brooks.
"At the height of the Second World War in England, Nina Woodrow joins the Royal Air Force and rebels against her careful upbringing by embarking on an illicit affair with an officer. She risks losing everything for Guy Nicholson: her comfortable home, her…
Your absence is darkness / Jón Kalman Stefánsson ; translated from the Icelandic by Philip Roughton.
"A man comes to awareness in a cold church in the Icelandic countryside, not knowing who he is, why he’s there or how he arrived, with a stranger staring mockingly from a few pews back. Startled by the man’s cryptic questions, he leaves—and plunges into a…
A plague on both your houses : a novel in the shadow of the Russian Mafia / Robert Littell.
"On Christmas Day, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev delivered a ten-minute televised speech announcing his resignation as Soviet president. Moments later, with little pomp and less circumstance, the red flag was lowered from its floodlit perch atop the Kremlin, an…
My beloved life : a novel / Amitava Kumar.
"Jadunath Kunwar’s beginnings are humble, even inauspicious. In 1935 in a village near George Orwell’s birthplace, Jadu’s mother, while pregnant with him, nearly dies from a cobra bite. When we see Jadu again, he is in college, meeting the Sherpa who firs…
All our yesterdays : a novel of Lady Macbeth / Joel H. Morris.
"Scotland, the 11th Century. Born in a noble household and granddaughter of a forgotten Scottish king, a young girl carries the guilt of her mother's death and the weight of an unknowable prophecy. When she is married, at fifteen, to the Mormaer of Moray,…
Becoming Madam Secretary / by Staphanie Dray
"Raised on tales of her revolutionary ancestors, Frances Perkins arrives in New York City at the turn of the century, armed with her trusty parasol and an unyielding determination to make a difference. When she’s not working with children in the crowded …
I am Rome : a novel of Julius Caesar / Santiago Posteguillo ; translated by Frances Riddle.
"Rome, 77 B.C. The corrupt Senator Dolabella is about to go on trial for his crimes. But Dolabella owns the jury. He’s hired the best lawyers in the city. And he’s very willing to use violence against those who oppose him. In all of Rome, no man dares acc…
The tower : a novel / Flora Carr.
"Scotland, 1567. A pregnant Mary, Queen of Scots is dragged out of her palace by rebel lords and imprisoned in the isolated Lochleven Castle, an ancient fortress surrounded by a vast lake. Her infant son and heir, James, has been captured by her enemies. …
The girls we sent away : a novel / Meagan Church.
"It's the 1960s and Lorraine Delford has it all – an upstanding family, a perfect boyfriend, and a white picket fence home in North Carolina. Yet every time she looks through her father's telescope, she dreams of the stars. It's ambitious, but Lorraine ha…
King Nyx : a novel / Kirsten Bakis.
"Anna Fort wants to be a supportive wife, even if that means accompanying her husband for the winter of 1918 to a remote, frozen island estate so he can finish his book as the guest of an eccentric millionaire. When she learns three girls are missing from…
Sisters of Belfast : a novel / Melanie Maure.
"Orphaned during the Second World War, Aelish and Isabel McGuire—known as the twins of Belfast—are given over to the austere care of the Sisters of Bethlehem. Though they are each all the other has, the girls are propelled in opposite directions as they g…
The London bookshop affair : a novel of the Cold War / Louise Fein.
"London, 1962: The world is teetering on the brink of nuclear war but life must go on. Celia Duchesne longs for a career, but with no means or qualifications, passes her time working at a dusty bookshop. The day a handsome American enters the shop, she th…
Mrs. Gulliver : a novel / Valerie Martin.
"It’s 1954 on far-flung Verona Island, a tropical paradise with a fragile economy and a rising crime rate. Prostitution is legal and Lila Gulliver is proud of her business, a high-end brothel where her clients are guaranteed privacy and discretion. When C…
The trouble with you : a novel / Ellen Feldman.
"Set in New York City in the heady aftermath of World War II when the men were coming home, the women were exhaling in relief, and everyone was having babies, The Trouble With You is the story of a young woman whose rosy future is upended in a single inst…
Followed by the lark / Helen Humphreys.
"We mark time and make our mark on the earth, even as everything around us is shifting and growing, and soon enough these marks will disappear. Friendship comes and reorients us to the horizon; loss comes and stretches out into loneliness. Henry measured …
The great divide : a novel / Cristina Henriquez.
"It is said that the canal will be the greatest feat of engineering in history. But first, it must be built. For Francisco, a local fisherman who resents the foreign powers clamoring for a slice of his country, nothing is more upsetting than the decision …
Pelican girls : a novel / Julia Malye.
"Paris, 1720. La Salpêtrière hospital is in crisis: too many occupants, not enough beds. Halfway across the world, France's colony in the wilds of North America has space to spare and needs families to fill it. So the director of the hospital rounds up ne…
Greasepaint / Hannah Levene.
"In one of many bars, Frankie Gold sings while Sammy Silver plays piano after a day job at the anarchist newspaper. The Butch Piano Players Union meets in the corner next to the jukebox. Laur smokes on the back steps, sweaty thigh to thigh with Vic. Frank…
We are only ghosts / Jeffrey L. Richards.
"New York City, 1968: The customers at Café Marie don't come just for the excellent coffee and pastries. They come for the sophisticated ambiance, and the illusion of being somewhere other than a bustling, exhausting city. Headwaiter Charles Ward helps cr…
While the city sleeps / Elizabeth Camden.
"Katherine Schneider's life as a dentist in 1913 New York is upended when a patient reveals details of a deadly plot while under the influence of laughing gas. As she is plunged into danger, she seeks help from the dashing Lieutenant Jonathan Birch, a pol…
The queen's lender : a novel set in history / by Jean Findlay.
"George Heriot, jeweller to King James VI, moves with the Court from Edinburgh to London to take over the English throne. It is 1603. Life is a Babel of languages and glittering new wealth. The Scottish court speaks Danish, German, Middle Scots, French an…
Sisters of fortune / Anna Lee Huber.
"April,1912: It’s the perfect finale to a Grand Tour of Europe—sailing home on the largest, most luxurious ocean liner ever built. For the Fortune sisters, the voyage offers a chance to reflect on the treasures of the past they’ve seen—magnificent castles…
Medea : a novel / Eilish Quin.
"Among the women of Greek mythology, the witch Medea may be the most despised. Known for the brutal act of killing her own children to exact vengeance on her deceitful husband, the Argonauts leader Jason, Medea has carved out a singularly infamous niche i…
The American daughters : a novel / Maurice Carlos Ruffin.
"When Adebimpe is ten, she is sold with her mother Sanite to plantation owner John du Marche. He soon renames her Ady but Sanite never lets her daughter forget who she really is: a person who can read and write and understand numbers. Most importantly, Sa…
The foxhole victory tour / Amy Lynn Green.
"Based on true World War II stories of life in the USO variety shows, worlds collide when performers from around the United States come together to tour North Africa. Vibrant and scrappy Maggie McCleod tried not to get fired from her wartime orchestra, bu…
A season of harvest / Lauraine Snelling ; with Kiersti Giron.
"Can her dreams for the future--and a budding romance--survive the trouble that comes calling? Larkspur Nielsen is determined to keep her family homestead running and to fulfill their dream of starting a seed catalog, with or without her siblings' help. …
The uncharted flight of Olivia West / Sara Ackerman.
"1927. Olivia 'Livy' West is a fearless young pilot with a love of adventure. She yearns to cross oceans and travel the skies. When she learns of the Dole Air Race—a high-stakes contest to be the first to make the 2,400 mile Pacific crossing from the West…
A sign of her own / Sarah Marsh.
"Ellen Lark is on the verge of marriage when she and her fiancé receive an unexpected visit from Alexander Graham Bell. Ellen is deaf and for a time she was Bell's student learning visible speech. During their lessons, Bell also confided in her about his …
Embers in the London sky : a novel / Sarah Sundin.
"London, 1940. As the German army invades the Netherlands in 1940, Aleida van der Zee Martens escapes to London to wait out the occupation. Separated from her three-year-old son, Theo, in the process, the young widow desperately searches for her little b…