The 25 best historical novels
The 25 highest-ranked historical novels in our ranking of 2,816, scored on how much readers love them, their prize, best-list and bestseller record, and current buzz. We rank 116 historical novels in all. How we rank
- 1
James99.0Must-Read ScoreJames
Huckleberry Finn, retold by the man on the raft.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (2025)National Book Award (Fiction) winner (2024)#1 New York Times bestseller (4 weeks at #1)52 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2024 - 2
All the Light We Cannot See92.9Must-Read ScoreAll the Light We Cannot See
Marie-Laure, blind since six, lives in Paris with her father, who builds her a miniature of their neighborhood so she can learn its streets by touch.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (2015)#1 New York Times bestseller (3 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 2015 and 2016 (Publishers Weekly)National Book Award (Fiction) finalist (2014) - 3
The Book Thief92.3Must-Read ScoreThe Book Thief
Germany, 1939.
Why it made the list281 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2020PBS Great American Read - 4
The Women91.0Must-Read ScoreThe Women
In 1965, Frankie McGrath is a sheltered twenty-year-old nursing student in Southern California when she hears that women can be heroes too.
Why it made the listGoodreads Choice (historical fiction) winner (2024)#1 New York Times bestseller (10 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 2024 (Publishers Weekly) - 5
The Nightingale90.0Must-Read ScoreThe Nightingale
France, 1939.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 2015 (Publishers Weekly) - 6
Lonesome Dove89.6Must-Read ScoreLonesome Dove
In the dusty Texas border town of Lonesome Dove, two retired Texas Rangers, the talkative, easygoing Gus McCrae and the hard, silent Woodrow Call, run a small cattle business and have settled into old age.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (1986)NBCC Award (Fiction) finalist (1985)PBS Great American Read - 7
The Help89.0Must-Read ScoreThe Help
Jackson, Mississippi, 1962.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (21 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 2009 and 2010 (Publishers Weekly)PBS Great American Read - 8
Pachinko89.0Must-Read ScorePachinko
In 1910s Korea, under Japanese occupation, a fisherman's daughter named Sunja falls for a wealthy stranger and becomes pregnant, then learns he's married.
Why it made the list49 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2017National Book Award (Fiction) finalist (2017)NYT 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 9
The Nickel Boys88.1Must-Read ScoreThe Nickel Boys
In early-1960s Tallahassee, Elwood Curtis is a bright, principled Black teenager inspired by the speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (2020)25 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2019NBCC Award (Fiction) finalist (2019) - 10
Hamnet87.2Must-Read ScoreHamnet
In Stratford in 1596, Agnes, an unusual woman who keeps bees and understands herbs, has three children with her husband, a Latin tutor who now works in London.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2020)NBCC Award (Fiction) winner (2020) - 11
The Great Believers86.7Must-Read ScoreThe Great Believers
Chicago, 1985.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist (2019)National Book Award (Fiction) finalist (2018)NYT 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 12
Half of a Yellow Sun86.6Must-Read ScoreHalf of a Yellow Sun
In 1960s Nigeria, Ugwu, a thirteen-year-old village boy, goes to work as a houseboy for Odenigbo, a radical university professor.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2007)Guardian 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 13
I, Claudius86.3Must-Read ScoreI, Claudius
Claudius, a stammering, limping, scholarly member of Rome's imperial family whom everyone dismisses as a fool, narrates the history of his family from the reign of Augustus through Tiberius and the mad Caligula.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)TIME All-TIME 100 NovelsModern Library 100 Best Novels - 14
The Kite Runner86.1Must-Read ScoreThe Kite Runner
Amir is the privileged son of a wealthy man in 1970s Kabul, and his closest companion is Hassan, the son of his father's servant.
Why it made the listOne of the best-selling books ever (about 31.5 million copies)156 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2008 - 15
The Pillars of the Earth86.1Must-Read ScoreThe Pillars of the Earth
In twelfth-century England, during a brutal civil war over the throne, Tom Builder, a mason, dreams of building a cathedral.
Why it made the listOne of the ten best-selling books of 1989 (Publishers Weekly)21 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2008PBS Great American ReadBBC's The Big Read - 16
Atmosphere85.9Must-Read ScoreAtmosphere
Joan Goodwin has loved the stars all her life, and in 1980, as a reserved physics professor in Houston, she's chosen as one of the first women to train for NASA's space shuttle program.
Why it made the listGoodreads Choice (historical fiction) winner (2025)#1 New York Times bestseller (2 weeks at #1)31 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2025 - 17
Outlander85.9Must-Read ScoreOutlander
In 1945, Claire Randall, a former British army nurse, is on a second honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands when she touches an ancient standing stone and is thrown back two centuries, to 1743.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (3 weeks at #1)34 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2009Goodreads Choice (historical fiction) finalist (2022, for Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone)PBS Great American Read - 18
Circe85.1Must-Read ScoreCirce
In the house of Helios, god of the sun, a strange daughter is born: not powerful like her father nor alluring like her mother.
Why it made the list107 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2018Women's Prize for Fiction finalist (2019) - 19
The Underground Railroad84.6Must-Read ScoreThe Underground Railroad
Cora is an enslaved young woman on a cotton plantation in Georgia, an outcast even among the other enslaved people.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (2017)National Book Award (Fiction) winner (2016)51 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2016Booker Prize longlist (2017) - 20
War and Peace83.8Must-Read ScoreWar and Peace
War and Peace follows five aristocratic Russian families from 1805 to 1812, through the Napoleonic Wars and Napoleon's invasion of Russia.
Why it made the listOne of the best-selling books ever (about 36 million copies)Bokklubben World Library (100 greatest books)PBS Great American ReadBBC's The Big Read - 21
Shōgun83.5Must-Read ScoreShōgun
In 1600, John Blackthorne, an English pilot, is shipwrecked in Japan, a country almost no Englishman has seen, where the Portuguese and their Jesuit priests hold a trade monopoly.
Why it made the listOne of the ten best-selling books of 1975 (Publishers Weekly)BBC's The Big Read - 22
A Gentleman in Moscow83.4Must-Read ScoreA Gentleman in Moscow
In 1922, a Bolshevik tribunal declares Count Alexander Rostov an unrepentant aristocrat and sentences him to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin.
Why it made the list109 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2016 - 23
The Frozen River83.3Must-Read ScoreThe Frozen River
Maine, 1789.
Why it made the list31 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2024Goodreads Choice (historical fiction) finalist (2024) - 24
Lessons in Chemistry83.1Must-Read ScoreLessons in Chemistry
In early-1960s California, Elizabeth Zott is a brilliant chemist in a research lab where men take credit for her work and treat her as a secretary.
Why it made the listOne of the ten best-selling books of 2023 (Publishers Weekly)99 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2022Goodreads Choice (historical fiction) finalist (2022) - 25
The Four Winds83.0Must-Read ScoreThe Four Winds
In 1934, the Texas Panhandle is in the grip of the Dust Bowl: years of drought and dust storms have destroyed the farms, and families are leaving.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (5 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 2021 (Publishers Weekly)Goodreads Choice (historical fiction) finalist (2021)
