The year is coming to an end. Therefore– it’s time to discuss our favorite reads of the year. Check out my picks for Best Historical Fiction 2024!
Best Historical Fiction 2024 Round-Up
We’ve been filling out our trackers and completing our Reading Challenges all year (How’d you do by the way? Did you meet your reading goals?) Now it’s time to share our favorite reads of the year and compare. Below are MY picks for Best Historical Fiction 2024. Some were on my previous posts from my Half-Year 2024 Faves Round-Up and my Most Anticipated Reads for 2024 and then others I found later in the year.
Have you read any of these? Share in the comments some of your faves as well!
The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
Wow, what a read! I loved Kamali’s The Stationery Shop and was excited to read her newest book. There are so many things to love about The Lion Women.
For starters, I love that it’s a friendship story. The book opens in the 1950s with the unlikely pairing of these two girls with vastly different personalities and backgrounds. Their friendship is truly beautiful. Kamali breathes such life into their personalities and makes you fall in love with each of them. Pair that with the setting and the ticking time bomb of Iran’s politics and changing landscape for women and man, do you have a story! I could not put this book down and I highly recommend it!
By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult
This book was a surprise for me this year. When I think of Jodi Picoult, I don’t think of historical fiction. But a friend recommended this to me and I’m so glad she did!
We’ve heard it debated for years that Shakespeare might not be the true author of his plays. But By Any Other Name takes it a step further. What if Shakespeare’s plays were written by a woman? Picoult did a flawless job of researching and bringing Shakespearean England to life and I definitely recommend this to anyone willing to explore this “What If” possibility.
Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray
I LOVE Stephanie Dray! The Women of Chateau Lafayette and My Dear Hamilton are still two of my favorite historical fiction books ever! Therefore, I was waiting with baited breath for her latest release.
For starters, Frances Perkins has always been a favorite person of mine in history. She witnessed the Triangle Fire and cited it as inspiration for many of her labor movement contributions. Furthermore, she was a massive force to be reckoned with! Therefore, with Dray being the one writing this book– I felt this book was tailor-made for me. She so did not disappoint either!
Frances Perkins leaps from the page and I most definitely fell in love with her even more! I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for inspiration from one of the most formidable, groundbreaking women in history.
The Briar Club by Kate Quinn
Kate Quinn is another of my “I wait with baited breath” authors. Moreover, I’m super excited to be meeting her in person in January for a signing event in Maryland along with Fiona Davis another favorite author of mine!
The Briar Club was SUCH a fun read. It opens with a murder scene and an omniscient house setting the scene and introducing the characters. And oh, what a cast of characters they are! Set during the McCarthy Era in Washington D.C. there is the natural paranoia already present and then there are the secrets each of these characters are keeping. Who is the guilty party? You’ll be guessing till the end.
The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
This was a different type of historical fiction again. I love variety in historical fiction and especially love to promote historical fiction books that are not war-focused. I fell in love with Silvia Moreno-Garcia reading Mexican Gothic a few years ago and was excited to see what else she’d write. This was not nearly as fantastical, or twisted as Mexican Gothic, but it was still ground-breaking and dark in its own way.
For starters, I love that this hits on the dark side of Hollywood during the Golden Age. We often associate old Hollywood film stars with the glitz and glamour. However, what about the desperate actors willing to do anything to get on the screen?
Then, Moreno takes us even further back to Biblical times and the story of Salome, the step-daughter of Herod and her famous dance that resulted in John the Baptist’s death.
More Best Historical Fiction 2024.
Thanks for joining me! Be sure to share some of your faves from the year in the Comments below!
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