With a bunch of great historical fiction books in store for 2022, I thought it was time to do a roundup of the best of these titles. For me, I know I’ll be reading the new Kate Quinn novel, The Diamond Eye. Also, The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont and Woman on Fire (about Nazi-looted art) by Lisa Barr sounds really intriguing as well.
This is a list of the Best (New & Anticipated) Historical Fiction Books for 2022. The list has been compiled based on stuff I’ve read, other reviews, early buzz, etc., so I’ll be updating it as more titles are announced or released and more reviews are published!
Want more historical fiction? See the list of Best Historical Fiction for 2021.
The Diamond Eye
What It's About: The New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code returns with an unforgettable World War II tale of a quiet bookworm who becomes history's deadliest female sniper. Based on a true story.
In 1937 in the snowbound city of Kyiv, wry and bookish history student Mila Pavlichenko organizes her life around her library job and her young son--but Hitler's invasion of Ukraine and Russia sends her on a different path...Publication Date: March 29, 2022
What It's About: The New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code returns with an unforgettable World War II tale of a quiet bookworm who becomes history's deadliest female sniper. Based on a true story.
In 1937 in the snowbound city of Kyiv, wry and bookish history student Mila Pavlichenko organizes her life around her library job and her young son--but Hitler's invasion of Ukraine and Russia sends her on a different path...Publication Date: March 29, 2022
Her Hidden Genius
What It's About: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Mystery of Mrs. Christie and co-author of The Personal Librarian.
Rosalind Franklin has always been an outsider―brilliant, but different. Whether working at the laboratory she adored in Paris or toiling at a university in London, she feels closest to the science, those unchanging laws of physics and chemistry that guide her experiments...Publication Date: January 25, 2022
What It's About: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Mystery of Mrs. Christie and co-author of The Personal Librarian.
Rosalind Franklin has always been an outsider―brilliant, but different. Whether working at the laboratory she adored in Paris or toiling at a university in London, she feels closest to the science, those unchanging laws of physics and chemistry that guide her experiments...Publication Date: January 25, 2022
Violeta
What It's About: The epic story of Violeta del Valle, a woman whose life spans one hundred years and bears witness to the greatest upheavals of the twentieth century.
Violeta comes into the world on a stormy day in 1920, the first girl in a family of five boisterous sons. From the start, her life will be marked by extraordinary events, for the ripples of the Great War are still being felt, even as the Spanish flu arrives on the shores of her South American homeland almost at the moment of her birth...Publication Date: January 25, 2022
What It's About: The epic story of Violeta del Valle, a woman whose life spans one hundred years and bears witness to the greatest upheavals of the twentieth century.
Violeta comes into the world on a stormy day in 1920, the first girl in a family of five boisterous sons. From the start, her life will be marked by extraordinary events, for the ripples of the Great War are still being felt, even as the Spanish flu arrives on the shores of her South American homeland almost at the moment of her birth...Publication Date: January 25, 2022
The House of Fortune (The Miniaturist #2)
What It's About: The House of Fortune is the sequel to Jessie Burton’s million copy bestselling The Miniaturist. Set in the golden city of Amsterdam in 1705, it is a story of fate and ambition, secrets and dreams, and one young woman’s determination to rule her own destiny.
Thea Brandt is turning eighteen, and is ready to welcome adulthood with open arms...Publication Date: Not Available
What It's About: The House of Fortune is the sequel to Jessie Burton’s million copy bestselling The Miniaturist. Set in the golden city of Amsterdam in 1705, it is a story of fate and ambition, secrets and dreams, and one young woman’s determination to rule her own destiny.
Thea Brandt is turning eighteen, and is ready to welcome adulthood with open arms...Publication Date: Not Available
Woman on Fire
What It's About: After talking her way into a job with Dan Mansfield, the leading investigative reporter in Chicago, rising young journalist Jules Roth is given an unusual--and very secret--assignment. Dan needs her to locate a painting stolen by the Nazis more than 75 years earlier: legendary Expressionist artist Ernst Engel's most famous work, Woman on Fire...Publication Date: March 1, 2022
What It's About: After talking her way into a job with Dan Mansfield, the leading investigative reporter in Chicago, rising young journalist Jules Roth is given an unusual--and very secret--assignment. Dan needs her to locate a painting stolen by the Nazis more than 75 years earlier: legendary Expressionist artist Ernst Engel's most famous work, Woman on Fire...Publication Date: March 1, 2022
The Christie Affair
What It's About: Why would the world's most famous mystery writer disappear for eleven days? What makes a woman desperate enough to destroy another woman's marriage? How deeply can a person crave revenge?
In 1925, Miss Nan O’Dea infiltrated the wealthy, rarefied world of author Agatha Christie and her husband, Archie...Publication Date: February 1, 2022
What It's About: Why would the world's most famous mystery writer disappear for eleven days? What makes a woman desperate enough to destroy another woman's marriage? How deeply can a person crave revenge?
In 1925, Miss Nan O’Dea infiltrated the wealthy, rarefied world of author Agatha Christie and her husband, Archie...Publication Date: February 1, 2022
Yonder
What It's About: The Water Dancer meets The Prophets in this spare, gripping, and beautifully rendered novel exploring love and friendship among a group of enslaved Black strivers in the mid-19th century.
They call themselves the Stolen. Their owners call them captives. They are taught their captors’ tongues and their beliefs but they have a language and rituals all their own...Publication Date: January 11, 2022
What It's About: The Water Dancer meets The Prophets in this spare, gripping, and beautifully rendered novel exploring love and friendship among a group of enslaved Black strivers in the mid-19th century.
They call themselves the Stolen. Their owners call them captives. They are taught their captors’ tongues and their beliefs but they have a language and rituals all their own...Publication Date: January 11, 2022
The Hacienda
What It's About: "Mexican Gothic meets Rebecca in this debut supernatural suspense novel, set in the aftermath of the Mexican War of Independence, about a remote house, dark secrets, and the woman pulled into their clutches...
During the overthrow of the Mexican government, Beatriz’s father was executed and her home destroyed...Publication Date: May 3, 2022
What It's About: "Mexican Gothic meets Rebecca in this debut supernatural suspense novel, set in the aftermath of the Mexican War of Independence, about a remote house, dark secrets, and the woman pulled into their clutches...
During the overthrow of the Mexican government, Beatriz’s father was executed and her home destroyed...Publication Date: May 3, 2022
A School for German Brides
What It's About: In this intriguing historical novel, a young woman who is sent to a horrific “bride school” to be molded into the perfect Nazi wife finds her life forever intertwined with a young Jewish woman about to give birth.
Germany, 1939
As the war begins, Hanna Rombauer, a young German woman, is sent to live with her aunt and uncle after her mother’s death...Publication Date: April 26, 2022
What It's About: In this intriguing historical novel, a young woman who is sent to a horrific “bride school” to be molded into the perfect Nazi wife finds her life forever intertwined with a young Jewish woman about to give birth.
Germany, 1939
As the war begins, Hanna Rombauer, a young German woman, is sent to live with her aunt and uncle after her mother’s death...Publication Date: April 26, 2022
Beautiful Little Fools
What It's About: USA Today bestselling author Jillian Cantor reimagines and expands on the literary classic The Great Gatsby in this atmospheric historical novel with echoes of Big Little Lies, told in three women’s alternating voices.
On a sultry August day in 1922, Jay Gatsby is shot dead in his West Egg swimming pool...Publication Date: February 1, 2022
What It's About: USA Today bestselling author Jillian Cantor reimagines and expands on the literary classic The Great Gatsby in this atmospheric historical novel with echoes of Big Little Lies, told in three women’s alternating voices.
On a sultry August day in 1922, Jay Gatsby is shot dead in his West Egg swimming pool...Publication Date: February 1, 2022
Black Cake
What It's About: We can’t choose what we inherit. But can we choose who we become?
In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett’s death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a traditional Caribbean black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording...Publication Date: February 1, 2022
What It's About: We can’t choose what we inherit. But can we choose who we become?
In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett’s death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a traditional Caribbean black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording...Publication Date: February 1, 2022
The Magnolia Palace
What It's About: Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue, returns with a tantalizing novel about the secrets, betrayal, and murder within one of New York City’s most impressive Gilded Age mansions.
Eight months since losing her mother in the Spanish flu outbreak of 1919, twenty-one-year-old Lillian Carter’s life has completely fallen apart...Publication Date: January 25, 2022
What It's About: Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue, returns with a tantalizing novel about the secrets, betrayal, and murder within one of New York City’s most impressive Gilded Age mansions.
Eight months since losing her mother in the Spanish flu outbreak of 1919, twenty-one-year-old Lillian Carter’s life has completely fallen apart...Publication Date: January 25, 2022
The Next Ship Home: A Novel of Ellis Island
What It's About: Ellis Island, 1902: Two women band together to hold America to its promise: "Give me your tired, your poor..."
Ellis Island, 1902. Francesca arrives on the shores of America, her sights set on a better life than the one she left in Italy. That same day, aspiring linguist Alma reports to her first day of work at the immigrant processing center...Publication Date: February 8, 2022
What It's About: Ellis Island, 1902: Two women band together to hold America to its promise: "Give me your tired, your poor..."
Ellis Island, 1902. Francesca arrives on the shores of America, her sights set on a better life than the one she left in Italy. That same day, aspiring linguist Alma reports to her first day of work at the immigrant processing center...Publication Date: February 8, 2022
The Good Left Undone
What It's About: From Adriana Trigiani, "a master of visual and palpable detail" (The Washington Post), comes a lush, immersive novel about three generations of Tuscan artisans with one remarkable secret. Epic in scope and resplendent with the glorious themes of identity and belonging, The Good Left Undone unfolds in breathtaking turns...Publication Date: April 26, 2022
What It's About: From Adriana Trigiani, "a master of visual and palpable detail" (The Washington Post), comes a lush, immersive novel about three generations of Tuscan artisans with one remarkable secret. Epic in scope and resplendent with the glorious themes of identity and belonging, The Good Left Undone unfolds in breathtaking turns...Publication Date: April 26, 2022
The Tobacco Wives
What It's About: For the audience of Fiona Davis and Lisa Wingate, a vibrant historical debut set in 1946 North Carolina following a young female seamstress who uncovers dangerous truths about the Big Tobacco empire ruling the American South.
“Myers brilliantly seduces us with her setting—a North Carolina town of beautiful socialites, opulent dresses, and elegant soirees—before revealing a terrible secret that threatens the entire community...Publication Date: March 1, 2022
What It's About: For the audience of Fiona Davis and Lisa Wingate, a vibrant historical debut set in 1946 North Carolina following a young female seamstress who uncovers dangerous truths about the Big Tobacco empire ruling the American South.
“Myers brilliantly seduces us with her setting—a North Carolina town of beautiful socialites, opulent dresses, and elegant soirees—before revealing a terrible secret that threatens the entire community...Publication Date: March 1, 2022
Sister Stardust
What It's About: A PARADE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR
A NEW YORK POST BEST BOOK OF THE WEEK
In her first novel inspired by a true story, Jane Green re-imagines the life of troubled icon Talitha Getty in this transporting story from a forgotten chapter of the Swinging '60s
From afar Talitha's life seemed perfect...Publication Date: April 5, 2022
What It's About: A PARADE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR
A NEW YORK POST BEST BOOK OF THE WEEK
In her first novel inspired by a true story, Jane Green re-imagines the life of troubled icon Talitha Getty in this transporting story from a forgotten chapter of the Swinging '60s
From afar Talitha's life seemed perfect...Publication Date: April 5, 2022
Book Woman's Daughter (The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek #2)
What It's About: An Instant New York Times and USA Today Bestseller
Bestselling historical fiction author Kim Michele Richardson is back with the perfect book club read following Honey Mary Angeline Lovett, the daughter of the beloved Troublesome book woman, who must fight for her own independence with the help of the women who guide her and the books that set her free...Publication Date: May 3, 2022
What It's About: An Instant New York Times and USA Today Bestseller
Bestselling historical fiction author Kim Michele Richardson is back with the perfect book club read following Honey Mary Angeline Lovett, the daughter of the beloved Troublesome book woman, who must fight for her own independence with the help of the women who guide her and the books that set her free...Publication Date: May 3, 2022
The Last House on the Street
What It's About: From the Sunday Times top ten bestselling author of The Silent Sister and Big Lies in a Small Town comes a powerful, gripping and unmissable new novel.
Secrets won't stay silent for ever.
2020. A recently widowed architect moves into the home she and her late husband designed, heartbroken that he will never cross the threshold...Publication Date: January 11, 2022
What It's About: From the Sunday Times top ten bestselling author of The Silent Sister and Big Lies in a Small Town comes a powerful, gripping and unmissable new novel.
Secrets won't stay silent for ever.
2020. A recently widowed architect moves into the home she and her late husband designed, heartbroken that he will never cross the threshold...Publication Date: January 11, 2022
A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons
What It's About: The Lost Apothecary meets Dead Dead Girls in this fast-paced, STEMinist adventure.
Debut author Kate Khavari deftly entwines a pulse-pounding mystery with the struggles of a woman in a male-dominated field in 1923 London.
Newly minted research assistant Saffron Everleigh is determined to blaze a new trail at the University College London, but with her colleagues’ beliefs about women’s academic inabilities and not-so-subtle hints that her deceased father’s reputation paved her way into the botany department, she feels stymied at every turn...Publication Date: June 7, 2022
What It's About: The Lost Apothecary meets Dead Dead Girls in this fast-paced, STEMinist adventure.
Debut author Kate Khavari deftly entwines a pulse-pounding mystery with the struggles of a woman in a male-dominated field in 1923 London.
Newly minted research assistant Saffron Everleigh is determined to blaze a new trail at the University College London, but with her colleagues’ beliefs about women’s academic inabilities and not-so-subtle hints that her deceased father’s reputation paved her way into the botany department, she feels stymied at every turn...Publication Date: June 7, 2022
Three Sisters (The Tattooist of Auschwitz #3)
What It's About: A promise to stay together.
An unbreakable bond.
A fierce will to survive.
From international bestselling author Heather Morris comes the breathtaking conclusion to The Tattooist of Auschwitz trilogy.
When they are girls, Cibi, Magda and Livia make a promise to their father - that they will stay together, no matter what...Publication Date: October 5, 2021
What It's About: A promise to stay together.
An unbreakable bond.
A fierce will to survive.
From international bestselling author Heather Morris comes the breathtaking conclusion to The Tattooist of Auschwitz trilogy.
When they are girls, Cibi, Magda and Livia make a promise to their father - that they will stay together, no matter what...Publication Date: October 5, 2021
I Must Betray You
What It's About: Romania, 1989. Communist regimes are crumbling across Europe. Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu dreams of becoming a writer, but Romanians aren’t free to dream; they are bound by rules and force.
Amidst the tyrannical dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu in a country governed by isolation and fear, Cristian is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer...Publication Date: February 1, 2022
What It's About: Romania, 1989. Communist regimes are crumbling across Europe. Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu dreams of becoming a writer, but Romanians aren’t free to dream; they are bound by rules and force.
Amidst the tyrannical dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu in a country governed by isolation and fear, Cristian is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer...Publication Date: February 1, 2022
Daughters of a Dead Empire
What It's About: An alternate history set during the Russian Revolution.
Russia, 1918: With the execution of Tsar Nicholas, the empire crumbles and Russia is on the edge of civil war—the poor are devouring the rich. Anna, a bourgeois girl, narrowly escaped the massacre of her entire family in Yekaterinburg...Publication Date: February 22, 2022
What It's About: An alternate history set during the Russian Revolution.
Russia, 1918: With the execution of Tsar Nicholas, the empire crumbles and Russia is on the edge of civil war—the poor are devouring the rich. Anna, a bourgeois girl, narrowly escaped the massacre of her entire family in Yekaterinburg...Publication Date: February 22, 2022
I just love to read historical novels because it makes history more personal. However I am very cautious about what I read. Foul language and explicit sexual encounters offend me. I am a Christian and want to obey God by keeping my mind as pure as possible. Only by checking publishers can I be certain the contents are right for me. Could you, in the future, include indication for language and sexual content? Thank you.
Great books! Highly recommended.
I enjoy historical fiction and am looking forward to several of these titles myself. Kate Quinn, for example, is a wonderful writer. I also enjoyed the Minaturist and I am looking forward to that book.