Not gonna lie I’ve got a confession to make. Before becoming a historical fiction author myself (23 years and counting, God help me), I used to be something of a literary snob. Yep. Me. The woman who now cranks out historical novels for a living once rolled her eyes at best selling historical fiction displays in bookstores.
Then my grandmother died and left me her dog-eared copy of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” The bookmark was still there, a faded receipt from 1974. I read it during those weird, sleepless grief nights. By page 87, I wasn’t just hooked. I was TRANSFORMED.
That’s the thing about truly great best selling historical fiction… it doesn’t just tell you about another time. It grabs you by the collar and DRAGS you there.
After almost three decades writing and teaching this stuff (community colleges mostly, nothing fancy), I’ve developed some strong opinions about what makes certain books last while others fade away. So lemme walk you through 10 books that changed everything, not just for me but for countless readers.
A Tale of Two Cities (aka The Book That Made Me Ugly Cry in Public)
Look, Dickens can be a slog sometimes. I tried reading Great Expectations three times before finally giving up. But “A Tale of Two Cities”? Different story entirely.
Last summer I was rereading it at this little coffee shop near my house. When I got to Sydney Carton’s final scenes, I LOST IT. Like, proper sobbing. The barista actually came over to check if I was okay.
“Far, far better thing that I do…” WRECKS me every single time.
What makes this particular best selling historical fiction stick around isn’t just the French Revolution backdrop, it’s how Dickens captures the very essence of sacrifice and redemption. My students always come in thinking it’ll be boring, then end up arguing passionately about whether they would make the same choice Sydney did. (Most say no, until we really dig into it.)
The Book Thief (or How Death Became My Favorite Narrator Ever)
So my book club picked this in 2007, and I put off reading it till the night before. BIG mistake. Ended up calling in sick to work because I stayed up till 5am finishing it.
Zusak did something I thought impossible, he made Death not just sympathetic but EXHAUSTED by humans. Brilliant move for best selling historical fiction set during the Holocaust. When Death says he’s “haunted by humans”… shivers, every time.
I’ve actually tried writing Death as a character twice since reading this book. Failed miserably both times. Some things just can’t be copied, y’know?
The Women (When Real People Become Better Than Fiction)
Confession time: I went through a massive Frank Lloyd Wright phase in my thirties. Visited Fallingwater three times. So when T.C. Boyle decided to explore the architect through the women who loved him? CATNIP.
What makes this best selling historical fiction so fascinating is how it completely flips our understanding of a “great man” narrative. Wright was brilliant, sure, but also kind of a nightmare human?
I actually use this book in workshops to demonstrate how historical fiction can tell truths that straight biography sometimes misses. Also, Mamah Borthwick deserved so much better than her footnote in architectural history.
The Kite Runner (The Book I’ve Bought Seven Times)
Why seven? Because I keep giving my copy away! “You HAVE to read this,” I tell friends, then shove my copy into their hands before they can protest.
Hosseini’s debut showed me how best selling historical fiction can educate without ever feeling like a history lesson. Before this book, what did most Americans know about Afghanistan beyond vague news headlines? Not much.
When my nephew was deployed there in 2010, I sent him a care package with this book inside. His email response weeks later was just: “Now I understand where I am.”
The Nightingale (aka The Book That Made Me Rethink Resistance)
Growing up, most WWII stories I read focused on men fighting on frontlines. Then along comes this novel about two sisters fighting the Nazi occupation in completely different ways.
During a writing retreat in Maine, I got into this heated debate with another author about this book. He called it “women’s fiction disguised as historical.” I nearly dumped my wine on his head. The best selling historical fiction category has LONG marginalized stories of women’s courage, labeling them “domestic” or “romantic” when they’re actually about survival and resistance.
My grandmother was a telephone operator in Paris during the occupation. Never talked about it. Makes me wonder what stories she never told.
All the Light We Cannot See (or How Short Chapters Saved My Reading Life)
Doerr’s masterpiece came out during a period when I was struggling with concentration. My father was ill, work was crazy, and I couldn’t focus on anything longer than a magazine article.
Then this best selling historical fiction gem appeared with its short, perfectly crafted chapters. I could read just one before bed. Then another. Then suddenly it’s 3am and I’m halfway through.
The radio as both a tool and metaphor throughout the book? GENIUS. And the way he writes about blindness, making Marie-Laure’s world MORE vivid, not less, changed how I describe sensory experiences in my own writing.
A Thousand Splendid Suns (The Book That Left Me Speechless)
After reading this, I didn’t write for a month. Not because it discouraged me, but because it humbled me so completely I needed time to process.
The friendship between Mariam and Laila demonstrates something best selling historical fiction does better than any other genre: showing how ordinary people endure extraordinary circumstances.
I once taught this alongside “The Handmaid’s Tale” in a community college course. The discussions got so intense we had to extend class by an hour. Several students said this book helped them understand their immigrant parents’ silence about the past.
Persuasion (Jane’s Quiet Masterpiece)
Hot take: this is Austen’s best novel. Fight me.
Unlike her more famous works, “Persuasion” gives us a heroine who’s already experienced heartbreak when we meet her. Anne Elliot has LIVED, y’know?
Though not written as “historical fiction,” it’s now best selling historical fiction that reveals more about Regency society than a dozen history textbooks. The naval references alone provide this incredible window into post-Napoleonic War England.
My book club, normally VERY chatty but fell completely silent after discussing the letter Captain Wentworth writes. “You pierce my soul.” GOOD LORD. Romance writers have been trying to top that line for 200 years.
The War That Saved My Life (Proof That Kids Deserve Great Historical Fiction Too)
Found this in the middle school section while looking for a gift for my niece. Ended up buying two copies one for her, one for me.
This best selling historical fiction title handles disability, child abuse, and WWII trauma with incredible grace without ever talking down to young readers. Ada’s physical and emotional journey from London to the countryside parallels England’s wartime transformation.
Brought this to my sister’s book club (we alternate hosting) and the discussion lasted THREE HOURS. Half the group admitted they cried. The other half were lying.
To Kill a Mockingbird (The Book That Started It All)
Some books you read differently at different ages. I’ve read this one maybe 15 times since I was twelve. Each reading reveals something new.
As a kid, I thought it was Jem’s story. As a teenager, Scout’s. Now, I see it as Atticus’s tragedy, a man whose moral compass points true north in a town determined to head south.
This best selling historical fiction classic stays relevant because it acknowledges an uncomfortable truth: justice and law aren’t always the same thing. And doing right doesn’t guarantee winning.
Last year, my neighbor’s kid had to read it for school. “It’s kinda slow,” he complained. Two weeks later, he asked if I had any other books “like that one.” VICTORY.
Why We Keep Coming Back to the Past
Look, I get it. Some people think historical fiction is escapism. Maybe sometimes it is. But the best selling historical fiction that truly endures does something more profound: it helps us make sense of NOW by showing us THEN.
In my writing classes, I always tell students: “History isn’t a straight line; it’s a spiral. We keep encountering the same human problems in new contexts.”
These ten books aren’t just good stories, they’re conversations across time. They remind us that people have always been brave and cowardly, kind and cruel, visionary and shortsighted. And somehow, knowing that makes our own complicated present easier to navigate.
Next time you pick up a best selling historical fiction novel, remember you’re not just reading about the past. You’re connecting with everyone who ever struggled, loved, and persevered which is to say, everyone who ever lived. Including yourself.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a deadline for my own historical novel, and my editor stopped believing my excuses somewhere around 2017.
