Make some room on your bookshelves because I’m giving you 10 charming historical fiction books in 2021. You’ll be running to Amazon or your local book store after you’ve checked out the best historical fiction books released and upcoming in 2021.
A few times a year I find myself drawn to historical fiction novels. Why? I have no clue. Sometimes I’m lucky enough to find a gem and other times, it’s a miss. Either way, I always learn something about history through the eyes of someone else. That’s what reading is all about, escaping into a new world.
I’m a person who reads books based on feelings or my mood. Although romance is my favorite genre, I have a special place in my heart for books that tell the stories of those who came before me. Historical fiction is the perfect remedy.
Whether you love it or hate it, let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear how your top 10 historical fiction of 2021 differs from mine. I love checking out your recommendations.
Keep up with all the upcoming book releases here.
10 Charming Historical Fiction in 2021
Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia
March 30, 2021 – A sweeping, masterful debut about a daughter’s fateful choice, a mother motivated by her own past, and a family legacy that begins in Cuba before either of them were born. In present-day Miami, Jeanette is battling addiction. Daughter of Carmen, a Cuban immigrant, she is determined to learn more about her family history from her reticent mother and makes the snap decision to take in the daughter of a neighbor detained by ICE. Carmen, still wrestling with the trauma of displacement, must process her difficult relationship with her own mother while trying to raise a wayward Jeanette. Steadfast in her quest for understanding, Jeanette travels to Cuba to see her grandmother and reckon with secrets from the past destined to erupt. Read More→
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
September 14, 2021 – From two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead, a gloriously entertaining novel of heists, shakedowns, and rip-offs set in Harlem in the 1960s. “Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked . . .”To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably priced furniture, making a decent life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second child, and if her parents on Striver’s Row don’t approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it’s still home. Read More→
Island Queen by Vanessa Riley
Release date: July 6, 2021 – A remarkable, sweeping historical novel based on the incredible true life story of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, a free woman of color who rose from slavery to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful landowners in the colonial West Indies. Born into slavery on the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat, Doll bought her freedom—and that of her sister and her mother—from her Irish planter father and built a legacy of wealth and power as an entrepreneur, merchant, hotelier, and planter that extended from the marketplaces and sugar plantations of Dominica and Barbados to a glittering luxury hotel in Demerara on the South American continent. Read More→
The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel
Release date: July 6, 2021 – After being stolen from her wealthy German parents and raised in the unforgiving wilderness of eastern Europe, a young woman finds herself alone in 1941 after her kidnapper dies. Her solitary existence is interrupted, however, when she happens upon a group of Jews fleeing the Nazi terror. Stunned to learn what’s happening in the outside world, she vows to teach the group all she can about surviving in the forest—and in turn, they teach her some surprising lessons about opening her heart after years of isolation. Read More→
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict
Release date: June 29, 2021 – The remarkable story of J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, the Black American woman who was forced to hide her true identity and pass as white to leave a lasting legacy that enriched our nation, from New York Times author Marie Benedict, and acclaimed author Victoria Christopher Murray. In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture in New York City society and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps create a world-class collection. Read More→
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
Release date: May 4, 2021 – A mesmerizing debut novel for fans of Madeline Miller’s Circe. Ariadne, Princess of Crete, grows up greeting the dawn from her beautiful dancing floor and listening to her nursemaid’s stories of gods and heroes. But beneath her golden palace echo the ever-present hoofbeats of her brother, the Minotaur, a monster who demands blood sacrifice. Read More→
Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson
Release date: January 12, 2021 – Called “wholly engrossing” by New York Times bestselling author Kathleen Grissom, this harrowing story follows an enslaved woman forced to barter love and freedom while living in the most infamous slave jail in Virginia. Born on a plantation in Charles City, Virginia, Pheby Delores Brown has lived a relatively sheltered life. Shielded by her mother’s position as the estate’s medicine woman and cherished by the Master’s sister, she is set apart from the others on the plantation, belonging to neither world. Read More→
Luck of the Titanic by Stacey Lee
Release date: May 4, 2021 – From the critically-acclaimed author of The Downstairs Girl comes the richly imagined story of Valora and Jamie Luck, twin British-Chinese acrobats traveling aboard the Titanic on its ill-fated maiden voyage. Valora Luck has two things: a ticket for the biggest and most luxurious ocean liner in the world, and a dream of leaving England behind and making a life for herself as a circus performer in New York. Much to her surprise though, she’s turned away at the gangway; apparently, Chinese aren’t allowed into America. Read More→
Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge
Release date: March 30, 2021 – Coming of age in a free Black community in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn, Libertie Sampson is all too aware that her purposeful mother, a practicing physician, has a vision for their future together: Libertie is to go to medical school and practice alongside her. But Libertie, drawn more to music than science, feels stifled by her mother’s choices and is hungry for something else—is there really only one way to have an autonomous life? And she is constantly reminded that, unlike her light-skinned mother, Libertie will not be able to pass for white. Read More→
Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams
Release date: June 1, 2021 – The New York Times bestselling author of Her Last Flight returns with a gripping and profoundly human story of Cold War espionage and family devotion. In the autumn of 1948, Iris Digby vanishes from her London home with her American diplomat husband and their two children. The world is shocked by the family’s sensational disappearance. Were they eliminated by the Soviet intelligence service? Or have the Digbys defected to Moscow with a trove of the West’s most vital secrets? Read More→
How do you feel about this list of historical fiction books in 2021?
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Good collection of historical fiction. I think “Our Woman in Moscow” is the most appealing for me.
A strong list! I am still to read Harlem Shuffle!