Historical Fiction

All countries Afghanistan Albania Algeria Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bangladesh Barbados Belize Benin Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil Bulgaria Burundi Canada Chile China Congo, Democratic Republic Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Croatia Cuba Cyprus Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Egypt El Salvador Ethiopia Fiji France Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Guatemala Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Italy Jamaica Japan Kazakhstan Kenya Kuwait Latvia Lebanon Liberia Libya Madagascar Malaysia Mali Mexico Moldova Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Netherlands Nigeria North Korea Oman Pakistan Palestine Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Romania Rwanda Saudi Arabia Senegal Singapore Slovenia South Africa South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tanzania Thailand Türkiye Turkmenistan Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

Newest first Oldest first

The Republic of False Truths

The Republic of False Truths

Cairo, 2011. After decades under a repressive regime, tensions are rising in the city streets. No one is out of reach of the revolution. There is General Alwany, a high-ranking member of the government's security agency, a pious man who loves his family yet won't hesitate to torture enemies of the state; Asma, a young teacher who chafes against the brazen corruption at her school; Ashraf, an out-of-work actor who is having an affair with his maid and who gets pulled into Tahrir Square through a chance encounter; Nourhan, a television personality who loyally defends those in power; and many more. As these lives collide, a new generation finds a voice, love blossoms across class divides, and the revolution gains strength. Even the general finds himself at a crossroads as his own daughter joins the protests. Yet the old regime will not give up without a fight. With an unforgettably vivid cast of characters and a heart-pounding narrative banned across much of the region, Alaa Al Aswany gives us a deeply human portrait of the Egyptian Revolution, and an impassioned retelling of his country's turbulent recent history.

The Last Days of Terranova

The Last Days of Terranova

What if a bookstore could preserve everything the world is trying to forget? In 2014, Vicenzo Fontana faces the imminent closure of Terranova, his family’s beloved bookstore, threatened by property developers after decades of serving as a refuge for dissidents, exiles, and forbidden books. Spending one final night among its shelves, the elderly bookseller revisits the people and events that shaped his life and the history of the shop. His memories lead back to 1935, when his father first opened Terranova, and forward through the Spanish Civil War’s legacy, Franco’s dictatorship, and the turbulent years of political resistance. Among the bookstore’s visitors are idealists, rebels, writers, and people fleeing persecution, each carrying a story of their own. Blending literary allusions, political history, and poetic storytelling, Manuel Rivas creates a moving tribute to books as vessels of memory and instruments of resistance. As Terranova faces its final hours, the novel asks what we lose when the places that protect ideas and shelter outsiders disappear.

Kibogo

Scholastique Mukasonga

When drought devastates a Rwandan village during the 1940s, its people turn to an ancient legend: Kibogo, a mythical prince who sacrificed himself to bring rain to his suffering people. But the villagers now live under Belgian colonial rule, where Christian missionaries insist that salvation can come only through their faith. As famine deepens, traditional beliefs collide with European Christianity, and the boundaries between religious devotion, political power, and superstition become increasingly blurred. A young seminarian begins reinterpreting biblical stories through Rwandan mythology, while an elderly priestess preserves the spiritual traditions that missionaries seek to erase. Told through four interconnected stories, Scholastique Mukasonga’s novel combines folklore, sharp satire, and historical reflection to explore how a community protects its identity under colonial domination. Both playful and profound, Kibogo celebrates the resilience of oral storytelling and asks who has the authority to define truth, faith, and the stories a people pass on to future generations.

Yñiga

Yñiga Calinauan leads a quiet, unremarkable life in Manila until a retired army general accused of murdering peasants and political activists is arrested across the street from her home. Days later, her neighbourhood is burned to the ground, in what some suspect is retaliation. Forced to flee, Yñiga returns to M—, the small fishing town where she grew up, hoping to recover the peaceful existence she has lost. But the violence she thought she had escaped follows her, drawing her into a history of political repression and family trauma that she can no longer ignore. As the boundaries between her past and present begin to collapse, Yñiga must confront the legacy of her activist father, who disappeared years earlier, and the unresolved wounds that continue to shape her family. Blending political thriller, dark humour, and literary fiction, Glenn Diaz’s novel examines the enduring consequences of state violence in the Philippines. Against a landscape haunted by disappearances and historical injustice, it explores the possibility of resistance—not only through dramatic acts of rebellion, but also through the determination to remember, endure, and refuse silence.

Philippines 2022

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

Shehan Karunatilaka

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida follows Maali, a war photographer and gambler who awakens after his death in a mysterious afterlife. Set against the backdrop of Sri Lanka’s violent civil conflict in the 1980s, the novel gives Maali seven moons—or seven days—to discover who killed him and to help the people he loves find a collection of photographs that could expose atrocities committed during the war. As he navigates a bureaucratic and chaotic realm of the dead, he encounters other spirits and gradually confronts the dangers he faced while alive. Karunatilaka combines supernatural fiction, dark humour, and political satire to examine violence, corruption, and the struggle to preserve truth in a society marked by fear. The novel explores the responsibilities of witnessing, the power of evidence, and the difficulty of achieving justice when the dead have been denied a voice.

Lack of Light

Nino Haratischwili

The Lack of Light follows four women—Nene, Ira, Dina, and Keto—whose friendship begins in a Tbilisi courtyard during the final years of the Soviet Union. As they grow up, Georgia undergoes dramatic political and social transformations, including independence, civil conflict, and the rise of criminal networks. Each woman pursues a different future, but their lives remain bound together by shared memories, personal loyalties, and the consequences of choices made during their youth. Years later, a photographic exhibition devoted to Dina prompts Keto to revisit their intertwined histories and reconsider the events that shaped their friendship. Haratischwili portrays a generation coming of age amid uncertainty, where private hopes collide with political violence and social instability. The novel explores friendship, memory, loss, and the lasting impact of a society struggling to define itself after the collapse of an empire.

The Book of Everlasting Things

The Book of Everlasting Things

Aanchal Malhotra

Set in Lahore during the final years of British rule in India, The Book of Everlasting Things tells the story of Samir Vij, a Hindu perfumer, and Firdaus Khan, a Muslim calligrapher. Their shared appreciation for beauty, craftsmanship, and traditional arts develops into a deep love as they imagine a future together. However, the Partition of India in 1947 transforms their world, dividing communities and forcing them onto opposite sides of a newly created border. Samir becomes an Indian citizen, while Firdaus becomes Pakistani, making their relationship increasingly difficult to sustain. Spanning decades and continents, the novel explores the ways political upheaval reshapes private lives and cultural traditions. Through the evocative worlds of perfume-making and calligraphy, Malhotra examines love, memory, belonging, and the enduring power of art to preserve what history threatens to destroy.

India Pakistan 2022

As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow

As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow

Set during the Syrian revolution and the ensuing civil war, As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow follows Salama, a young pharmacy student who becomes a medical volunteer in a hospital in Homs. Once hopeful about her future, she now witnesses the devastating effects of violence while struggling with the trauma of losing loved ones and the responsibility of protecting those who remain. Haunted by an imagined companion named Khawf, whose presence reflects her fear and inner conflict, Salama faces an agonising choice: stay in Syria to help her community or flee the country in search of safety. Her growing relationship with Kenan, a young man who dreams of a future beyond the war, offers a fragile source of hope. Katouh explores courage, grief, love, and the moral dilemmas faced by ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances.

The Hacienda

Set in Mexico in the aftermath of the War of Independence, The Hacienda follows Beatriz, a young woman whose father was executed and whose family home was destroyed during political upheaval. When wealthy landowner Don Rodolfo Solórzano proposes marriage, she accepts, hoping to secure a safe home and a fresh start. However, after moving to his remote estate, Hacienda San Isidro, Beatriz begins experiencing terrifying visions and unexplained disturbances. As she investigates the property’s dark history, she seeks help from Padre Andrés, a young priest hiding secrets of his own. Blending Gothic horror, historical fiction, and forbidden romance, Isabel Cañas explores women’s vulnerability within patriarchal society, the lingering effects of colonialism, and the struggle for independence in a world shaped by power and superstition.

Woman of Endurance

Woman of Endurance

Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa

Set in nineteenth-century Puerto Rico, A Woman of Endurance follows Pola, an African woman kidnapped from her homeland and forced into slavery on a sugar plantation. Subjected to horrific violence and forced to bear children who are taken from her and sold, she gradually loses her faith and trust in others. After escaping and being transferred to another plantation, Pola encounters a community of enslaved women who offer her compassion, friendship, and the possibility of healing. As she develops a bond with an orphaned girl and begins to trust those around her, she slowly reclaims her sense of humanity and reconnects with her Yoruba spiritual heritage. Through Pola’s journey, Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa explores the brutality of slavery, the resilience of women, and the power of solidarity, cultural identity, and hope in the face of oppression.

Puerto Rico 2022

Small Things Like These

Small Things Like These

It is 1985 in a small Irish town, and coal merchant Bill Furlong is preparing for the busiest weeks of the year. A devoted husband and father of five daughters, he has built a modest but stable life through hard work. Yet as Christmas approaches, a delivery to the local convent reveals something deeply troubling: girls are being confined there under the authority of the Catholic Church, their suffering concealed behind respectable walls. The discovery forces Bill to confront uncomfortable memories of his own childhood and the kindness that once helped him survive. In a community where the Church holds enormous power and silence protects those in authority, speaking out could jeopardise his livelihood and his family’s security. With remarkable economy and emotional depth, Small Things Like These explores complicity, moral courage, and the quiet choices that define a person’s character. It is a powerful story about the cost of doing what is right when looking away would be easier.

Nights of Plague

Nights of Plague

In 1901, a deadly plague reaches Mingheria, a fictional island in the eastern Mediterranean and the twenty-ninth province of the declining Ottoman Empire. Home to both Muslim and Greek Orthodox communities, the island is already divided by religious tensions and political rivalries. As the epidemic spreads, the Ottoman authorities send experts to impose quarantine measures, but suspicion, resistance, and competing loyalties threaten to undermine every attempt to contain the disease. When a mysterious murder complicates the crisis, the island descends into a struggle involving religious leaders, government officials, scientists, and ordinary people desperate to survive. As the Ottoman administration loses control, the epidemic becomes a catalyst for rebellion and the emergence of a new national identity. Blending historical epic, detective story, and political satire, Nights of Plague explores how fear reshapes societies and how crises expose the fragility of authority. Through an imagined history of an Ottoman island, Pamuk examines nationalism, religious conflict, scientific reasoning, and the human tendency to choose ideology over evidence.

1 … 10 11 12 13 14 … 30