The 50 best historical fiction books
The best historical fiction books ranked: WWII novels, ancient Rome, medieval and Tudor England. A top 50 with short reviews and where to read each one.
Historical fiction puts you in another time, with real events in the background and invented people in front. These 50 books cover ancient Rome, medieval Europe, Tudor England, both world wars and more, and include some of the most popular novels of the past decade.
These are editorial picks, ranked for readability and lasting appeal, and nobody pays to be on the list. Not sure where to start? Try the book finder and get three picks for your mood.
Top 50 historical fiction books, ranked
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The Pillars of the Earth
Builders, monks and nobles clash over a cathedral in medieval England.
- Gripping
Where to read
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The Book Thief
A girl in Nazi Germany steals books and shares them with her neighbours. Narrated by Death.
- Moving
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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All the Light We Cannot See
A blind French girl and a German boy have paths that converge during World War II.
- Moving
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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Wolf Hall
Thomas Cromwell rises through the court of Henry VIII.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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The Nightingale
Two sisters resist the German occupation of France in very different ways.
- Moving
- Inspiring
Where to read
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A Gentleman in Moscow
A count is sentenced to house arrest in a grand Moscow hotel and builds a rich life within its walls.
- Cozy
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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The Help
Black maids and a young white writer share their stories in 1960s Mississippi.
- Moving
- Inspiring
Where to read
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Pachinko
Four generations of a Korean family make their lives in Japan.
- Moving
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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Memoirs of a Geisha
A young girl is sold into a geisha house in 1930s Kyoto and rises to fame.
- Moving
Where to read
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Shogun
An English pilot is shipwrecked in feudal Japan and caught up in a struggle for power.
- Gripping
Where to read
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The Count of Monte Cristo
A wrongly imprisoned sailor escapes and plans an elaborate revenge.
- Gripping
Where to read
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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
A writer exchanges letters with the people of Guernsey after World War II.
- Cozy
- Funny
Where to read
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Lessons in Chemistry
A gifted chemist in the 1960s becomes the host of a television cooking show.
- Funny
- Inspiring
Where to read
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The Other Boleyn Girl
Two sisters compete for the attention of Henry VIII.
- Gripping
Where to read
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The Song of Achilles
Patroclus tells the story of his love for Achilles and the Trojan War.
- Moving
Where to read
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Circe
The witch of Greek myth tells her own story.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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The Name of the Rose
A monk investigates a string of deaths in a medieval abbey.
- Thoughtful
- Gripping
Where to read
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Outlander
A World War II nurse is swept back to 18th-century Scotland and caught between two worlds.
- Gripping
Where to read
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World Without End
A sequel to The Pillars of the Earth, set in 14th-century Kingsbridge.
- Gripping
Where to read
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I, Claudius
The Roman emperor Claudius narrates the intrigues of the imperial family.
- Gripping
- Funny
Where to read
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The Last Kingdom
A Saxon boy raised by Vikings fights in the making of England.
- Gripping
Where to read
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Bring Up the Bodies
Cromwell engineers the fall of Anne Boleyn.
- Thoughtful
- Gripping
Where to read
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Cold Mountain
A wounded Confederate soldier walks home to the woman he loves.
- Moving
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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The Red Tent
The biblical story of Dinah told from a woman's point of view.
- Moving
Where to read
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Girl with a Pearl Earring
A maid becomes the model for a famous Vermeer painting.
- Thoughtful
- Moving
Where to read
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A Thousand Splendid Suns
Two women in Afghanistan form a bond across decades of war.
- Moving
Where to read
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The Tattooist of Auschwitz
A prisoner who tattoos numbers on inmates falls in love.
- Moving
Where to read
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The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Two boys on opposite sides of a camp fence form a friendship.
- Moving
Where to read
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Schindler's Ark
The story of the businessman who saved more than a thousand Jews.
- Moving
- Inspiring
Where to read
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Sarah's Key
A journalist uncovers a girl's story from the 1942 Paris roundup.
- Moving
Where to read
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The Alice Network
Two women, decades apart, are linked by a spy ring in World War I.
- Gripping
- Moving
Where to read
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The Women
A young nurse serves in Vietnam and struggles after she returns.
- Moving
- Inspiring
Where to read
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The Great Alone
A family seeks a fresh start in Alaska in the 1970s.
- Moving
- Gripping
Where to read
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Lonesome Dove
Two retired Texas Rangers lead a cattle drive to Montana.
- Gripping
- Moving
Where to read
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The Poisonwood Bible
An American missionary family moves to the Belgian Congo in 1959.
- Thoughtful
- Moving
Where to read
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Master and Commander
A naval captain and a ship's surgeon begin a long friendship at sea.
- Gripping
Where to read
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Hamnet
The story of Shakespeare's family and the death of their son.
- Moving
Where to read
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A Tale of Two Cities
Love and sacrifice in London and Paris during the French Revolution.
- Moving
- Gripping
Where to read
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Les Miserables
A former convict tries to build a new life in 19th-century France.
- Moving
- Inspiring
Where to read
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War and Peace
Five Russian families live through the Napoleonic Wars.
- Thoughtful
- Moving
Where to read
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Midnight's Children
A boy born at the moment of Indian independence is tied to the nation's fate.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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Train to Pakistan
A village on the border is tested by the violence of Partition.
- Moving
- Gripping
Where to read
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Cracking India
A young Parsi girl in Lahore watches Partition tear her city apart.
- Moving
Where to read
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Sea of Poppies
A ship carries a diverse group of passengers in the lead-up to the Opium War.
- Gripping
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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Beneath a Scarlet Sky
A teenager in wartime Italy becomes an unlikely hero.
- Gripping
- Inspiring
Where to read
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The Book of Longings
A woman in ancient Galilee wants to write and falls in love.
- Moving
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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Doctor Zhivago
A physician and poet is caught in the Russian Revolution and in love.
- Moving
Where to read
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Gone with the Wind
A headstrong Southern woman survives the Civil War and Reconstruction.
- Moving
- Gripping
Where to read
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Ben-Hur
A Jewish prince is betrayed and enslaved in Roman Judea.
- Gripping
Where to read
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The Physician
A boy in 11th-century England becomes a barber-surgeon and travels to Persia to learn medicine.
- Gripping
- Moving
Where to read
Each link opens that store’s search for the book. Availability and prices vary by store and country. We may earn a commission from some stores, which never changes the ranking.
Types of historical fiction books
Looking for something more specific? These are the main kinds of historical fiction, with the sort of story or subject each one covers.
World War II fiction
Occupation, resistance and survival.
Medieval and Tudor
Cathedrals, courts and kings.
Ancient world
Greece, Rome and Egypt.
Victorian and Regency
Society and class in nineteenth-century Britain.
American history
The Civil War, the West and the Great Depression.
Biblical and mythic retellings
Old stories told from a new angle.
Want to write and publish your own historical fiction book?
Many readers of this page are also writers. The stores in the lists above are where readers find books, while Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, IngramSpark, Lulu and Draft2Digital are the tools authors use to publish and distribute a book to those stores. You can also publish to Barnes & Noble Press and Google Play Books directly.
Our free KDP calculators help with print cost, royalties and cover size, and our publishing services can take care of setup for you.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best historical fiction book ever written?
The Pillars of the Earth, Wolf Hall and All the Light We Cannot See are among the books most often cited. See our full ranked list on this page.
Is historical fiction accurate?
Authors usually keep the major events and settings accurate and invent the characters and dialogue. Many include an afterword that explains what is real and what is not.
Where can I read or buy the best historical fiction books?
Each of the 50 books has links to Amazon, Kindle, Barnes & Noble and Google Play Books. Authors who want to publish their own historical fiction book can start with our free guides to Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, Lulu and Draft2Digital.
Not sure what to read next?
Pick a genre and a mood and the book finder will suggest three books to try.