Historical Fiction

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A Bend in The River, the 1974 novel by Nobel Prize winner V. S. Naipaul (A House for Mr. Biswas, In a Free State, The Enigma of Arrival), takes place in an unnamed postcolonial African town. The main character, Salim, narrates the story, which begins when he moves away from his family to the interior of the country to run a town shop. Salim is of Muslim Indian descent, but his family has lived in... Read A Bend In The River Summary

Abeng (1984) is a fictionalized semi-autobiographical novel by Jamaican-American author Michelle Cliff (1946-2016). Born in Kingston, Cliff spent most of her life in the US where she taught at several prestigious colleges and universities. Abeng, the first of Cliff’s three novels, is a subversive history of Jamaica, as well as a coming-of-age story of bi-racial girl Clare Savage. Through her efforts to understand her surroundings and her own place in the world, Clare gradually uncovers... Read Abeng Summary

Published in 2007 by Delacorte Press, A Breath of Snow and Ashes is the sixth book in Diana Gabaldon’s successful Outlander series. Its story encompasses elements of historical fiction, romance, adventure, science fiction, and fantasy. It debuted at #1 on The New York Times hardcover fiction best-seller list of 2005 and won the Quill Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror. Other works by Gabaldon include An Echo in the Bone (2009), Written in My Own Heart’s Blood (2014)... Read A Breath of Snow and Ashes Summary

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena (2013) is a historical fiction novel by American author Anthony Marra. The story, told from an omniscient point of view, begins one morning in 2004 in the small Chechen village of Eldár. The night before, a villager named Dokka was captured and taken by Federalist soldiers, and his house was burned to the ground. Akhmed, Dokka’s good friend who lives across the street, finds Dokka’s eight-year-old daughter Havaa hiding in the... Read A Constellation of Vital Phenomena Summary

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Susan Meissner’s A Fall of Marigolds (2014) is an amalgamation of several literary genres, including historical fiction and romance. Meissner is well-known for setting her stories against the backdrop of significant historical events, and this particular story was inspired by filmmaker Lorie Conway’s documentary about Ellis Island, Forgotten Ellis Island. Meissner intends to donate a portion of her profits of the book to the Save the Ellis Island foundation, which is working to restore the... Read A Fall of Marigolds Summary

A Farewell to Arms, written by Ernest Hemingway and published in 1929, is the story of Frederic Henry, an officer with the Italian army in World War I, and his relationship with Catherine Barkley, a British nurse. Some have noted the similarities between the main character and Hemingway, who also served in the Italian army as an ambulance driver in 1918, and his nurse, Agnes Von Kurowsky, who cared for Hemingway after he was wounded.The... Read A Farewell to Arms Summary

Indian-born Canadian writer Rohinton Mistry’s 1995 novel A Fine Balance is the story of four characters from diverse backgrounds whose paths converge in 1975 India. Maneck Kohlah, a college student, has rented a room in the city. On his way to inspect the apartment of Dina Dalal, he meets two tailors, Ishvar Darji and his nephew Omprakash (Om) Darji, also on their way to Dina’s to find sewing jobs.Dina hires the tailors to work from... Read A Fine Balance Summary

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A Gentleman in Moscow is a historical fiction novel by American author Amor Towles, published in 2016. The story follows Count Alexander Rostov, a Russian nobleman who is sentenced to lifelong imprisonment in Moscow’s Metropol Hotel after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.The Count must adjust not only to his new circumstances in a small room in the hotel’s belfry but also to the knowledge that his way of life is disappearing under the Bolshevik regime... Read A Gentleman in Moscow Summary

Winner of the Asian-American Literary Award, Korean-American Chang-Rae Lee’s A Gesture Life was published in 1999. Lee found inspiration for his historical fiction in the deeply disturbing news about Korean sex slaves used by Japanese soldiers during World War II.Narrated by a young Korean-turned-Japanese medic charged with overseeing comfort women in a camp in Burma, the novel provides a nuanced look at the psychological implications of assimilation and the pressure to conform. As the story... Read A Gesture Life Summary

A God in Ruins is a historical fiction novel by Kate Atkinson. Published in 2015, it is known as a companion piece to Atkinson’s prior novel, Life After Life, and contains many of the same characters. Set against the backdrop of World War II, A God in Ruins examines themes of sacrifice, secrets, family, and the way that war transforms people. Plot SummaryThe events of the novel unfold between 1925 and 2012, and each chapter takes... Read A God in Ruins Summary

Published in 1967 by Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (who also published under the name James Ngugi), A Grain of Wheat takes place in Kenya on the brink of its Uhuru (independence from British colonial rule) in December 1963. The historical fiction novel considers the effects of British rule on several residents of the fictional village of Thabai, many of whom suffered enormously after the real-life rebellion by the Mau Mau, or the Kenya Land... Read A Grain of Wheat Summary

A Hero of Our Time is a classic work of Russian literature written by Mikhail Lermontov and published in 1840. It exemplifies the “superfluous man” trope common in later Russian literature, in which a person of great talent and genius is unable to express these talents healthily due to personal and societal circumstances of some kind. The novel, a work of historical fiction, was highly influential for its critique of tsarist Russian society and for... Read A Hero Of Our Time Summary

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A House for Mr. Biswas is a 1961 historical fiction novel by V. S. Naipaul. The story takes a postcolonial perspective of the life of a Hindu Indian man in British-owned and occupied Trinidad. Now regarded as one of Naipaul's most significant novels, A House for Mr. Biswas has won numerous awards and has been adapted as a musical, a radio drama, and a television show. Naipaul is also known for the works The Mimic... Read A House for Mr. Biswas Summary

Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year was first published in 1722. The novel is written in the first-person and chronicles the spread of the bubonic plague in London in 1665. While the first-person narration and abundant historical detail result in a text that feels like—and masquerades as—nonfiction, Defoe was only 5 years old at the time of the events, while the narrator is an adult man living on his own in London. Despite... Read A Journal Of The Plague Year Summary

The short story “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell describes the investigation of a mysterious murder in rural Dickson County. Glaspell explores gender roles in the early 20th century, the effects of isolation on people’s emotional and mental states, and the duty of neighbors to help one another. Additionally, Glaspell comments directly on the sexism of this period in American history and the prejudices inherent in the belief that women’s proper and only... Read A Jury of Her Peers Summary

A Land of Permanent Goodbyes is a young adult novel from author Atia Abawi. Published in 2018, it tells the story of a teenage refugee, Tareq, who flees his homeland of Syria, making the journey to Turkey, Greece, and eventually Germany. Tareq’s story is complemented by a second narrative, that of Alexia, a young American woman who defers a semester of college in order to support a volunteer organization that assists refugees as they arrive... Read A Land of Permanent Goodbyes Summary