“But it’s nice to do things the slow way. It give you time to think.”
Historical fiction books have the power to present some of the most pivotal and significant eras and events from world history and frame them in new and compelling perspectives. By layering in fictitious elements, readers are given an accessible window into how history might have felt for those living through the events and moments most non-fiction resources can only describe factually. And 2023 more than delivered the goods regarding visceral and enthralling tales. Join us at What We Reading as we look back at the best historical fiction books from 2023!
Weyward – Emilia Hart
First up on our list of the best historical fiction books from 2023 is the Goodreads-winning novel Weyward by Emilia Hart. Winning both Best Historical Fiction and Best Debut Novel, this extraordinary tale of three women spans five centuries and combines themes of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.
Readers follow three relatives: Altha in 1619, Violet in 1942, and Kate in 2019. All three of them have their own but different battles with the repressive force of patriarchy, finding their sources of magic and healing from the natural world around them. Nuanced and layered with wonderful symbolism and imagery, Weyward is a stellar walk through history through the lens of three compelling and empowering women.
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River Sing Me Home – Eleanor Shearer
Readers are whisked to the Providence plantation in Barbados in Eleanor Shearer’s debut novel, River Sing Me Home. The master of the plantation called his slaves together and announced that the following day, the Emancipation Act of 1834 would come into effect. However, the slaves’ cries of joy are abruptly cut short when he announces they will all be forced to stay in his service for another six years as apprentices. Not wishing to stay on any longer, Rachel runs.
Now away from Providence, Rachel begins the search for her five children, all of whom had been sold from her. This perilous quest takes her from Barbados, down the river to British Guiana, and across the sea to Trinidad. Shearer’s 2023 historical fiction tale is one of powerful determination and the sheer grit a mother will endure to find her freedom and the fates of her children.
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? – Crystal Smith Paul
One of the most glamorous historical fiction books from 2023, Crystal Smith Paul’s Did You Hear About Kitty Karr, is a multigenerational saga that navigates the sleek world of old Hollywood and the dizzying glitz of contemporary superstardom.
When the legendary white icon of the silver screen Kitty Karr dies and leaves her multimillion-dollar estate to the St. John sisters, three young, wealthy Black women, a lot of eyebrows are raised. Elise St. John is a celebrity in her own right, but a discovery inside one of an old journal reveals the shocking truth behind Kitty’s ascent to stardom. A murky upbringing in the segregated south, debts owed, unexpected family ties, and questionable crimes all threaten to rip the St. John siblings’ world from underneath them. Smith Paul’s work is an enthralling page-turner set against the backdrop of the Hollywood machine and explores the complexities of race, inheritance, gender, and the lengths some women are forced to go to escape all of them.
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store – James McBride
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is a 2023 historical fiction book by National Book Award-winning author James McBride. The last thing workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, in 1972 were expecting to find when constructing a new development was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. The secret behind who it was and how they got there was something only the African-American and Jewish neighbours at Chicken Hill knew.
McBride takes readers through the lives of these characters, demonstrating how life on the margins can be on the edge. But, as readers unlock the truth behind the body in the well, and the white establishment’s role in it, they are also given an eye-opening showcase of how strength, courage, and love can sustain them.
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Lady Tan’s Circle Of Women – Lisa See
Inspired by the real-life tale of a woman physician from 15th-century China, Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is a 2023 historical fiction book by Lisa See, bestselling author of The Island of Sea Women. Tan Yunxian was born into an elite family but has suffered more than her fair share of separation, loneliness, and death. Cared for by her grandparents, she is taught medicine by her grandmother, one of China’s few female doctors.
However, after she is forced into an arranged marriage, Yunxian is compelled by her mother-in-law to play the role of the ideal wife by reciting poetry, bearing children, and never leaving the walls of their family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights. Yet, through this imaginative retelling of an extraordinary woman, Lisa See demonstrates how Yunxian can break free of these restrictions and leave behind a legacy in the world of medicine that is still being paid homage to five centuries on. Empowering in its message and vivid in its storytelling, ‘Lady Tan’s Circle of Women’ is a story of friendship and of women helping other women.
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The Echo Of Old Books – Barbara Davis
Rare book dealer Ashlyn Greer’s affinity with literature extends much further than just the musty smell of paper, leather, or ink. She can feel the echoes of a book’s previous owners, a bond that only she can interpret. However, this affinity soon turns into an obsession when two volumes of previously unreleased work suddenly appear in her shop.
The two authors, Hemi and Belle, appear to be telling opposing sides of a tragic romance. With no way of tracing how these mysterious tomes came into the world, readers follow Ashlyn as she dives deeper and deeper into a web of mystery, broken promises, and unforgivable betrayals. Barbara Davis’ The Echo of Old Books is the story of two hearts in ruins, Ashlyn’s attempts to bring closure to their story, and the unfinished chapters in her own life.
The Covenant of Water – Abraham Verghese
The Covenant of Water is an epic 2023 historical fiction novel by Professor Abraham Verghese, New York Times bestselling author of Cutting for Stone. Set between the years 1900 to 1977 in Kerala, on India’s Malabar Coast, it follows three generations of a family cursed with a strange affliction: every generation, one person dies by drowning.
At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl is sent by her Christian family by boat to meet her forty-year-old arranged husband. Still grieving the loss of her father, this startling beginning will give way to a life of incredible joys and triumphs, as well as unimaginable loss and pain. Lifting the lid on an India from a bygone time, The Covenant of Water is a mesmeric hymn to progress in medicine, and human understanding, a homage to the hardships endured by the generations that came before us, and is layered with depth, humour and deep emotion.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
