New & Upcoming Historical Fiction Books: A 2025 Reading Guide

Homeseeking by Karissa Chen
Out Now

Setting: Spans from 1938 through seven decades after

If you love sweeping historical sagas, check this one out.

It tells the story of Haiwen and Suchi who grew up together, fell in love during wartime China but then spent six decades apart until the day a chance encounter brings them face-to-face after all that time has passed.

As they are able to fill each other in on the missing pieces of their separation and their lives through the decades since they last saw each other, it also gives a portrait of decades of Chinese history through war, famine and more in the 20th century.

Babylonia by Constanza Casati
Out Now

Setting: Ancient Assyria – 9th Century

I love historicals set in Ancient times and Constanza Casati is one of my new favorites doing it!

Her latest re-imagines the rise to power of the Assyrian empire’s only female ruler — Semiramis. It tells the story of her orphaned childhood that turned her into a cunning young woman who takes her life and future into her own hands in the midst of a region torn apart by a civil war between two brothers vying for power.

The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis
Out Now

Setting: Egypt in 1930’s/1978 & NYC in 1978

An ambitious assistant to the Met Gala’s organizer and a curator in the Met’s Egyptian department must work together when an Egyptian artifact goes missing and the assistant becomes a suspect. The search, related to the curator’s research subject, leads them to Egypt – a trip that forces the curator to relieve what happened the last time she was there in the 1930’s as an enthusiastic young archeology student on a dig in the Valley of Kings.

The Kennedy Girl by Julia Bryan Thomas
Out Now

Setting: 1960’s Paris & NYC

Love historicals filled to the brim with fashion, glitz and glamour….but also a bit of espionage??

This one is about an American orphan who is swept up from her bakery job to the glitz and glamour of 1960’s Paris when a mysterious customer offers her a modeling job in Paris at a famous fashion house. As she gets used to life in Paris and the world of modeling, she finds herself unknowingly caught up in a Cold War espionage plot by the very fashion house she works for and needing to decide just which side she will choose to be on.

The Unexpected Diva by Tiffany L. Warren
Out Now

Setting: mid-1800s in US & Europe

I love a good historical based on a real person that seems to have been overlooked or forgotten by history and this one is definitely going to satiate my need for good stories about people I sadly have never heard of before.

This one tells the life story and rise to fame of Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield — the first African American opera singer who was born into slavery and became quite acclaimed in the US and Europe because of her incredible voice, determination and the wealthy benefactor who raised her and whose dying wish was for her to pursue her talent.

A Gorgeous Excitement by Cynthia Weiner
Out Now

Setting: NYC in the 1980’s

If you like your historical fiction to be more on the literary, character-driven side as well as a bit grittier, check this one out. It will drop you right off into the grittiness of NYC in the 1980’s.

Set against the backdrop of the “Preppy Murder” case of 1986 in Central Park, this one is a coming of age story about a young woman’s last summer in the city before leaving college dealing with various things like her mother’s mental health crisis, her quest to lose her virginity, new friendships and infatuations, partying and experimenting with drugs.

Let’s Call Her Barbie by Renee Rosen
Out Now

Setting: 1950-1970s California

When I think about how I spent a lot of my childhood in the early/mid 90’s, it’s always playing outside, Nintendo and BARBIES!! I’m so excited for this book!

This one is all about Barbie’s creator Ruth Handler and just how the doll became to be and its rise to cultural icon — all with the personal ups and downs, scandal, drama and more behind the scene.

Girls of the Glimmer Factory by Jennifer Coburn
Out Now

Setting: WWII Czechoslovakia

Looking for a new angle on WW2 fiction? Check out this one that is set at Theresienstadt — a “model ghetto” and promised peaceful settlement that is used as propaganda by Hitler to give a false reality of what is happening versus what is actually happening here at the settlement and elsewhere.

It follows two former childhood friends who are reunited at this Jewish settlement in Czechoslovakia but come to find they are on opposite sides here at the camp. One is taking up the cause of the resistance to derail the settlement and its prisoners from being used as propaganda and the other is part of the film crew that will spread this propaganda documentary and hopes to make a name for herself.

Grace of the Empire State by Gemma Tizzard
Out Now

Setting: 1930’s NYC

Drop into Depression-Era New York City and follow the story of a young woman who, in order to save her family from ruin after her twin brother is injured on the job and she’s laid off from her job as a dancer, pretends to be her brother and take his place working on the construction of the Empire State Building. She must try to keep her identity secret and keep up with the men, with the help of her brother’s friends on the job, and stay safe from the dangers that abound on the job.

The English Problem by Beena Kamlani
Out Now

Setting: 1930s &1940s in England and India

Based on the author’s own family history, it follows the story of a young Indian man who is chosen by Mahatma Gandhi to go and study law in England in order to come home and help India gain independence from the British. As he is settles into life in England, the fight for liberation of his country also becomes a fight for liberation of his heart in more ways than one.

The Lotus Shoes by Jane Yang
Out Now

Setting: 1800s China

If you loved Pachinko or books by Amy Tan and Lisa See, take a look at this one!

It follows a young woman from a prominent family and her personal maidservant, who she is jealous of for her bound feet and excellence at embroidery that exceeds her own, through their intertwined lives through childhood and young womanhood as resent simmers. After a scandal casts both women out into the Celibate Sisterhood they will have the chance to become allies or betray one another for a better place in life.

Historical Fiction Books Coming Out In February 2025

Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine
Out February 4, 2025

Setting: 1860-1861 Alabama

One of my most anticipated historical fiction books for sure especially since it has a dash of magical realism/supernatural. Plus the character of Junie is inspired by the author’s great-great-great grandmother and I find that type of homage beautiful. I read the author’s note and it really hit me right in the heart.

The story follows an enslaved 16 year old named June who has spent her whole life raised on an Alabama cotton plantation working alongside her family and tending to the master’s daughter who she considers a friend. She’s also been grieving, and blaming herself for, the sudden death of her older sister.

In the wake of life-altering news in the form of a marriage prospect for the master’s daughter, Junie triggers an awakening of her sister’s ghost and must navigate her new reality as truths around her come to light and she’s force to make decisions that will shape her future.

Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray
Out February 4, 2025

Setting: Harlem 1919-1926

The Harlem Renaissance is one subject lately that I’ve been finding myself gravitating to (in part to A Love Song for Ricki Wilde) and I’m happy to see more historicals set during this time period.

It’s about the woman, Jessie Faust, who is really credited with igniting the Harlem Renaissance as the first African American literary editor of The Crisis. It follows her role as literary editor and the fostering of voices the movement who are household literary names now as well as her affair with her boss W.E.B. DuBois.

Last Twilight in Paris by Pam Jenoff
Out February 4, 2025

Setting: WW2 era London & Paris

A woman in postwar London stumbles upon a necklace, while working at a secondhand store, in a fancy department store box that she is certain she’s seen before back in the war when she worked with the British Red Cross sending relief packages to POW. She believes this necklace may hold the key to what happened to her friend Franny to the war which sends her on a hunt to see if she can unravel the mystery.

Her hunt leads her to discover the dark history of Lévitan—a once-glamorous department store that served as a Nazi prison and the story of a woman, torn from her husband, who was imprisoned there during the war.

The Sable Cloak by Gail Milissa Grant
Out February 4, 2025

Setting: 1940’s South & Midwest

This one is set in the pre-Civil rights era America and focuses on a super influential and successful upper middle class Black family who, after a tragedy, must try to keep their legacy and everything they’ve built from unraveling.

It seems like a great family story giving a peek into the Black upper middle class in America during the Jim Crow era which I haven’t seen often.

Isola by Allegra Goodman
Out February 4, 2025

Setting: 16th century France and Canada

Inspired by the true story of French noblewoman Marguerite de Roberval, this one is a story of a woman fighting for survival when she becomes orphaned and her abusive cousin takes control of her life as her guardian. After squandering much of her inheritance, he forces her to accompany him on a dangerous expedition to New France only to punish her by leaving her on a deserted island with little chance of survival along with the man she found romance with during the voyage and her maid.

Let Us March On by Shara Moon
Out February 4, 2025

Setting: 1906 -1945 U.S.

I swear this one was supposed to come out last year but it seems to have gotten pushed back to 2025 but either way I’m excited for another historical that shines a light on a real life unsung heroine.

This one follows Lizzie McDuffie who was a maid in FDR’s White House and became crucial in the administration as she advised and advocated for the Black community working alongside FDR.

The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict
Out February 11, 2025

Setting: 1930s England

This one is more of a historical mystery than straight up historical fiction but I love the literary history angle here.

It’s about a group of the greatest women crime writers in 1930’s London who decide to ban together to form a secret society – the Queens of Crime – in order to prove that they are just as good as their male counterparts of the time. Their plan is to work together to solve an actual highly publicized murder but, as they work together to solve the mystery, one of their own is targeted by the killer.

People of Means by Nancy Johnson
Out February 11, 2025

Setting: 1960s Nashville and 1992 Chicago

If you like historical fiction that is also heavily a family drama through the lens of historical events, check this one out! Plus it looks like a great book club discussion book.

It is a story about a mother and daughter who are living through two crucial moments in history and specifically when in relation to Civil Rights.

Freda, the mother, is coming of age as the Civil Rights Movement is really achieving momentum and she’s in college experiencing a very different experience as a Black woman in the South than she did growing up in upper middle class Chicago. She finds herself torn between two worlds as she gets pulled into the Civil Rights movement.

The other perspective is her daughter who, in 1992, is working hard to climb the ladder in corporate America amidst microaggressions and workplace politics when the Rodney King ruling comes down and has her wanting to do more than staying quiet.

The Riveter by Jack Wang
Out February 11, 2025

Setting: WW2

Like I said before, I’m always a bit excited when I see a WW2 book that gives a different perspective! This one is from the perspective of a Chinese Canadian who wants to enlist in the fight but isn’t allowed to due to his race. He works as a riveter in the meantime and falls in love with a woman whose parents don’t approve of their relationship. Wanting to prove himself and hearing rumors of other Chinese men enlisting successfully, he heads to enlist and is granted enlistment where he begins is journey as a paratrooper fighting for his country and love.

The Dressmakers of London by Julia Kelly
Out February 18, 2025

Setting: 1940s Great Britain

Julia Kelly is probably one of my favorite historical fiction authors of all time so it’s always a delight when I see a new one from her!

Her latest is set in WW2 London and about two estranged sisters who jointly inherit their late mother’s dress shop when she unexpectedly dies – even though one turned her back on the family business previously. The sisters realize they must work together, while confronting old hurts, in order to keep the family business and legacy from ruin.

Maya & Natasha by Elyse Durham
Out February 18, 2025

Setting: Cold War era

Travel back to the Soviet Union during the Cold War era and follow along with two twins, abandoned by their prima ballerina mother at birth, who have also been raised to be dancers at an elite academy. They find themselves in competition for a spot with a prestigious company embarking on a world tour and a betrayal sends one of them on tour while the other is left behind. This decision changes the trajectory of their lives/careers as they live two totally different lives — one outside of the Soviet regime – all as the Cold War escalation permeates everything in their lives.

The Day I Left You by Caroline Bishop
Out February 18, 2025

Setting: Cold War era

If you like a sweeping love story in your historical fiction, check this one out.

It’s the story of a whirlwind romance between a young woman living in East Berlin and an English engineer there for an extended work trip who decide to get married only after a few weeks before his visa is up and so that she can leave life behind the oppressive Berlin Wall.

But less than a year later, a note is left and she is gone without a trace leaving her new husband with many unanswered questions for decades to come about the love of his life until one day he finally gets a clue to lead him to the answers.

Follow Me To Africa by Penny Haw
Out February 25, 2025

Setting: 1935 -1983

This new historical fiction read chronicles the life of Mary Leakey and her journey to becoming one of the most distinguished paleoanthropologists for her work in East Africa.

It follows her scrappiness to get into the field with no formal education from working alongside her famous paleoanthropologist husband to propelling herself out of his shadow in the field.

The Secret History of Audrey James by Heather Marshall
Out February 25, 2025

Setting: WW2 Germany

A story, inspired by real courageous women, about the German resistance movement!

Audrey lives with her friend Ilse and her family in Berlin while she is studying music away from home in England. Everything falls apart, with the rise of the Nazi party, when everyone else in Ilse’s family disappears and their family home is taken over by Nazis with Ilse hiding in the attic and a desperate Audrey acting working as housekeeper for them to keep her friend safe and eventually finding herself as part of the resistance in a bigger way.

There’s also a more modern day story line that intersects a woman in need of a fresh start and her friendship with an elderly Audrey who shares her story of her life.

The Lost Passenger by Frances Quinn
Out February 25, 2025

Setting: early 1900’s

A young mother aboard the Titanic makes the decision to use the tragedy in order to fake her and her son’s death and start a new life away from the marriage that wasn’t what she thought it was and the cold aristocratic family she married into.

Boy by Nicole Galland
Out February 25, 2025

Setting: Elizabethan London

This one takes us back to Shakespeare and shines a light on a real-life actor named Alexander Cooke, who was beloved and renowned for his ability to play leading female roles, and his best friend Joan who disguises herself as a boy so that she can enjoy the opportunities of learning that women aren’t afforded.

Despite his success as an actor, his future is uncertain as he ages role-wise and he starts to plan to secure his future by getting the attention of a patron. This search leads to the pair getting the attention of Francis Bacon, advisor to the Queen, and they find themselves caught up in games of dangerous political intrigue which could change their lives forever.