Best Historical Fiction Books for Beginners

1. 1

   

   The Nightingale

   by Kristin Hannah

   ★ 5.00 BLT Score (2.2M ratings)

   ★ 4.65 Goodreads (2.2M)

   564 pages • 2015

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   Get the Book → Start Listening →
2. 2

   

   The Women

   by Kristin Hannah

   ★ 5.00 BLT Score (1.6M ratings)

   ★ 4.59 Goodreads (1.6M)

   471 pages • 2024

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   Get the Book → Start Listening →
3. 3

   

   The Help

   by Kathryn Stockett

   ★ 4.95 BLT Score (3.0M ratings)

   ★ 4.47 Goodreads (3.0M)

   451 pages • 2009

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   Get the Book → Start Listening →
4. 4

   

   The Rose Code

   by Kate Quinn

   ★ 4.85 BLT Score (381.4K ratings)

   ★ 4.44 Goodreads (381.4K)

   656 pages • 2021

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   Get the Book → Start Listening →
5. 5

   

   The Giver of Stars

   by Jojo Moyes

   ★ 4.77 BLT Score (515.6K ratings)

   ★ 4.29 Goodreads (515.6K)

   390 pages • 2019

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   Get the Book → Start Listening →
6. 6

   

   Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942

   The Pacific War Trilogy • Book 1

   by Ian W. Toll

   ★ 4.74 BLT Score (10.4K ratings)

   ★ 4.61 Goodreads (10.4K)

   656 pages • 2011

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   Get the Book → Start Listening →
7. 7

   

   The Book Thief

   by Markus Zusak

   ★ 4.73 BLT Score (2.9M ratings)

   ★ 4.39 Goodreads (2.9M)

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   Get the Book → Start Listening →
8. 8

   

   The Frozen River

   by Ariel Lawhon

   ★ 4.71 BLT Score (594.0K ratings)

   ★ 4.38 Goodreads (594.0K)

   448 pages • 2023

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   Get the Book → Start Listening →
9. 9

   

   Homegoing

   by Yaa Gyasi

   ★ 4.69 BLT Score (410.6K ratings)

   ★ 4.47 Goodreads (410.6K)

   305 pages • 2016

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   Get the Book → Start Listening →
10. 10

    

    Code Name Hélène

    by Ariel Lawhon

    ★ 4.69 BLT Score (82.5K ratings)

    ★ 4.41 Goodreads (82.5K)

    451 pages • 2020

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    Get the Book → Start Listening →
11. 11

    

    A Land Remembered

    by Patrick D. Smith

    ★ 4.69 BLT Score (14.8K ratings)

    ★ 4.48 Goodreads (14.8K)

    416 pages • 1984

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    Get the Book → Start Listening →
12. 12

    

    The Reformatory

    by Tananarive Due

    ★ 4.68 BLT Score (78.1K ratings)

    ★ 4.43 Goodreads (78.1K)

    570 pages • 2023

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    Get the Book → Start Listening →
13. 13

    

    The Alice Network

    by Kate Quinn

    ★ 4.67 BLT Score (642.8K ratings)

    ★ 4.32 Goodreads (642.8K)

    503 pages • 2017

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    Get the Book → Start Listening →
14. 14

    

    Gates of Fire

    by Steven Pressfield

    ★ 4.66 BLT Score (44.4K ratings)

    ★ 4.4 Goodreads (44.4K)

    526 pages • 1998

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    Get the Book → Start Listening →
15. 15

    

    The Song of Achilles

    by Madeline Miller

    ★ 4.66 BLT Score (2.0M ratings)

    ★ 4.3 Goodreads (2.0M)

    408 pages • 2011

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    Get the Book → Start Listening →
16. 16

    

    This Tender Land

    by William Kent Krueger

    ★ 4.62 BLT Score (223.8K ratings)

    ★ 4.39 Goodreads (223.8K)

    450 pages • 2019

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    Get the Book → Start Listening →
17. 17

    

    The Kitchen House

    by Kathleen Grissom

    ★ 4.61 BLT Score (304.9K ratings)

    ★ 4.24 Goodreads (304.9K)

    369 pages • 2010

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    Get the Book → Start Listening →
18. 18

    

    The Huntress

    by Kate Quinn

    ★ 4.60 BLT Score (217.5K ratings)

    ★ 4.3 Goodreads (217.5K)

    560 pages • 2019

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    Get the Book → Start Listening →
19. 19

    

    The Book of Lost Friends

    by Lisa Wingate

    ★ 4.55 BLT Score (123.9K ratings)

    ★ 4.15 Goodreads (123.9K)

    388 pages • 2020

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    Get the Book → Start Listening →
20. 20

    

    City of Thieves

    by David Benioff

    ★ 4.55 BLT Score (169.7K ratings)

    ★ 4.3 Goodreads (169.7K)

    258 pages • 2008

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    Get the Book → Start Listening →
21. 21

    

    1970 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

    by Dee Brown

    ★ 4.54 BLT Score (103.3K ratings)

    ★ 4.26 Goodreads (103.3K)

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    Get the Book → Start Listening →
22. 22

    

    Winter Garden

    by Kristin Hannah

    ★ 4.54 BLT Score (453.3K ratings)

    ★ 4.28 Goodreads (453.3K)

    394 pages • 2010

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    Get the Book → Start Listening →
23. 23

    

    All Quiet on the Western Front

    All Quiet on the Western Front/The Road Back • Book 1

    by Erich Maria Remarque

    ★ 4.54 BLT Score (525.3K ratings)

    ★ 4.11 Goodreads (525.3K)

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    Get the Book → Start Listening →
24. 24

    

    Dances with Wolves

    Dances With Wolves • Book 1

    by Michael Blake

    ★ 4.54 BLT Score (29.2K ratings)

    ★ 4.24 Goodreads (29.2K)

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    Get the Book → Start Listening →
25. 25

    

    The Nickel Boys (Winner 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)

    by Colson Whitehead, J.D. Jackson

    ★ 4.51 BLT Score (313.0K ratings)

    ★ 4.25 Goodreads (313.0K)

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    Get the Book → Start Listening →

Historical fiction pairs well with almost every other genre — if you liked the mystery elements, try historical mysteries. If the romance drew you in, historical romance has incredible depth.