This post is coming to you as a request from a reader of mine. She said, “Please make a post of all of your favorite books you have read”. I was genuinely excited to do this as you know I love all things reading. What I didn’t expect was just how hard it would be! I have read so many amazing books over the years. It was hard to narrow it down, but luckily thanks to the Goodreads app where I keep track of my books, I could look back and see all the books I gave 4 or 5 stars to. Many of the books I included are popular reads and some are a little less known. This week’s post will cover one of my favorite genres, Historical Fiction. I will be sure to do additional Favorite Books Posts in the months to come covering other genres. But for now, I hope this list of my Favorite Historical Fiction books I have read will help you find a new favorite read or two of your own!
- The Kitchen House- Kathleen Grissom
- Water for Elephants- Sara Gruen
- Orphan Train- Christina Baker Kline
- The Shoemaker’s Wife- Adriana Trigiani
- Pope Joan- Donna Woolfolk Cross
- Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet – Jamie Ford
- Shanghai Girls- Lisa See
- Sarah’s Key- Tatiana de Rosnay
- The Red Tent- Anita Diamant
- Mademoiselle Chanel- C.W. Gortner
- The Tattooist of Auschwitz- Heather Morris
- The Girl Who Wrote in Silk- Kelli Estes
- Drowning Ruth- Christina Schwarz
- The Traitor’s Wife- Allison Pataki
- The Help- Kathryn Stockett
- Loving Frank- Nancy Horan
- The Kite Runner- Khaled Hosseini
- The Other Boleyn Girl- Philippa Gregory
- Calling Me Home- Julie Kibler
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn- Betty Smith
- The Four Winds- Kristin Hannah
- The Book Thief- Markus Zusak
- The Aviator’s Wife- Melanie Benjamin
- One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd- Jim Fergus
- Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe- Fannie Flagg
- The Chosen- Chaim Potok
- The Girl on the Train- Paula Hawkins
- Enemy Women- Paulette Jiles
- The Invention of Wings- Sue Monk Kidd
- The Nightingale- Kristin Hannah
- Circling the Sun- Paula McLain
- Rules of Civility- Amor Towles
- A Fall of Marigolds- Susan Meissner
- The Accidental Empress- Allison Pataki
- Sisi: Empress on Her Own- Allison Pataki
- Before We Were Yours- Lisa Wingate
- The Alice Network- Kate Quinn
- Beneath a Scarlet Sky- Mark T. Sullivan
- Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe- Fannie Flagg
- The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane- Lisa See
- Carnegie’s Maid- Marie Benedict
- All the Light We Cannot See- Anthony Doerr
- The Crooked Branch- Jeanine Cummins
- Becoming Mrs. Lewis: The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman & C.S. Lewis- Patti Callahan
- The Heart’s Invisible Furies- John Boyne
- The Winthrop Woman- Anya Seton
- The Color Purple- Alice Walker
- The Paris Wife- Paula McLain
I hope this list of my favorite historical fiction books gets you excited to pick up a new book or two! Please feel free to comment below with a book you think I may have missed that you have loved. Or let me know if one of the books on this list is one of your favorites too. The more people who comment the more we can help one another find our next great read.
As I mentioned above I use the Goodreads app to keep track of the books I have read. I also follow friends who are readers on there as well. If you haven’t checked out Goodreads, here is a link to it. If you sign up for it please friend request me on there so we can share great reads with one another. https://www.goodreads.com/
Happy Reading Friends!
XO- Kerry
P.S.- If you want to know which of the books on this list is my all-time favorite you can check out a previous blog post of mine here where I share about this gem of a book! https://herheartstirs.com/books-a-love-story/
Are these in order of your favorites? I’ve got some reading to do then! I enjoyed Memoirs of a Geisha….
Hi Stephanie- No they are not in any particular order. They are all books that I gave either 4 or 5 stars to on Goodreads.
Kerry – I love reading yet your list made me realize I’ve not ventured into historical fiction. Your blog post has inspired me to start reading at least one off this list. Thanks for the nudge. And the pot pie recipe looks amazing!
Hi Michelle- So glad you are going to pick up some Historical Fiction. I LOVE this genre so much!!