Top new historical-fiction books out this week: 31 Aug - 6 Sep 2025
Last updated:
September 6, 2025
This week featuring new releases by Andrea Catalano, Rebecca Ross, Elodie Harper, Rabih Alameddine, Eliana Ramage, Joan Silber, Julie Klassen, Sarah McCoy, K.J. Charles, Mariah Fredericks and many more.
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The First Witch of Boston by Andrea Catalano
A gripping and intimate novel based on the true story of Margaret Jones, the first woman to be found guilty of witchcraft in seventeenth-century Massachusetts.Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1646. Thomas and Margaret Jones arrive from England to build a life in the New World. Though of differing temperaments, cautious Thomas and fiery Margaret, a healer, are bound by a love that has lasted decades...romance · historical-fiction · fiction · historical · witches-wizards · fantasy · spooky · season-autumn · female-mc · gothic -
![Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross]()
Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross
Born in the firelit domain of the under realm, Matilda is the youngest goddess of her clan, blessed with humble messenger magic. But in a land where gods often kill each other to steal power and alliances break as quickly as they are forged, Matilda must come of age sooner than most...romance · fantasy · young-adult · fiction · magic · historical-fiction · coming-of-age · epic · paranormal · book -
![Boudicca's Daughter by Elodie Harper]()
Boudicca's Daughter by Elodie Harper
Deploying the same gripping plot dynamics and unforgettable sense of time and place that she used in the bestselling Wolf Den trilogy, Harper tells the thrilling story of the child of one of Ancient Rome's most implacable foes, Boudicca.There is more than one way for a woman to fight. From the author of the bestselling Wolf Den Trilogy...historical-fiction · fiction · myths · historical · fantasy · retellings · ancient-civilization · roman-empire · family · female-mc -
![The True True Story of Raja the Gullible by Rabih Alameddine]()
The True True Story of Raja the Gullible by Rabih Alameddine
In a tiny Beirut apartment, sixty-three-year-old Raja and his mother live side by side. A beloved high school philosophy teacher and “the neighborhood homosexual,” Raja relishes books, meditative walks, order, and solitude. Zalfa, his octogenarian mother, views her son’s desire for privacy as a personal affront...asia · west-asia · lebanon · fiction · lgbtq · literary-fiction · audiobook · historical-fiction · contemporary · family -
![To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage]()
To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage
One young woman’s relentless quest to become the first Cherokee astronaut will irrevocably alter the fates of the people she loves most in this tour de force of a debut about ambition, belonging, and family. My mother took my sister and me, and she drove through the night to a place she felt a claim to, a place on earth she thought we might be safe. I stopped asking questions...fiction · contemporary · indigenous-mc · literary-fiction · lgbtq · space · audiobook · historical-fiction · wlw · poc-mc -
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![Mercy by Joan Silber]()
Mercy by Joan Silber
The rich and nuanced story of a moment of fear and abandonment that reverberates across decades and changes the course of many lives, by beloved PEN/Faulkner and National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author Joan SilberIn the gritty East Village of 1970s New York, Ivan and his best friend, Eddie, a popular local bartender, are dabbling in drugs following a short tour of Europe... -
![A Seaview Christmas by Julie Klassen]()
A Seaview Christmas by Julie Klassen
With a promise to her youngest sister, Sarah Summers declares that this year's Christmas at Sea View will exceed all expectations. But the arrival of Callum Henshall--dashing Scottish widower and returning guest--blows a flurry of doubts into her mind. Sarah had discouraged his attentions before and is once again torn between attraction and duty...romance · historical-fiction · christian · industrial-era · regency · fiction · historical · audiobook · family · spirituality -
![Whatever Happened to Lori Lovely? by Sarah McCoy]()
Whatever Happened to Lori Lovely? by Sarah McCoy
In 1969 twenty-three-year-old starlet Lori Lovely, the apple of Hollywood’s eye, shocks the world by ditching a promising film career to take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience as a Benedictine nun. Gossip columnists and scandal sheets can’t get enough of the story... -
![Lackaday House by K.J. Charles]()
Lackaday House by K.J. Charles
From Publisher's Marketplace: "Author of THE SECRET LIVES OF COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, KJ Charles's LACKADAY HOUSE, an Edwardian Gothic m/m romance with cursed family, misty moors, and people running from houses, to Mary Altman at Sourcebooks, in an exclusive submission, in a three book deal, for publication in Fall 2025...romance · historical-fiction · lgbtq · historical · fiction · mlm · mystery · fantasy · book · adult -
![The Girl in the Green Dress by Mariah Fredericks]()
The Girl in the Green Dress by Mariah Fredericks
From the author of The Lindbergh Nanny comes an evocative mystery about the 1920 murder of the gambler Joseph Elwell, featuring New Yorker writer Morris Markey and Zelda Fitzgerald.At the dawn of the Jazz Age, Morris Markey arrives in New York to become a writer. Having served in France, he needs to be in a place so distracting he cannot hear himself think...mystery · historical-fiction · fiction · historical · female-author · female-mc · 20th-century · book · adult -
![Making History by K.J. Parker]()
Making History by K.J. Parker
In K. J. Parker's new whip-smart dark fantasy, a group of scholars must do the impossible for a ruthless king. The cost of refusal, of course, is death.History isn't truth, it's propaganda.Seeking war with his neighbor, the tyrannical ruler of Aelia convenes several of his kingdom's professors for a chat...fantasy · fiction · historical-fiction · historical · dark-academia · action-adventure · dystopia · dark · horror · urban-fantasy -
![Grave Flowers by Autumn Krause]()
Grave Flowers by Autumn Krause
A twisty, dark royalcore fantasy that takes the courtly intrigue of Hamlet and infuses it with the vicious ambition of the Boleyn family. For readers who love Holly Black and Sarah J. Maas...romance · fantasy · gothic · young-adult · historical-fiction · historical · dark · dark-fantasy · retellings · high-fantasy -
![The Rules of Falling for You by Mollie Rushmeyer]()
The Rules of Falling for You by Mollie Rushmeyer
The perfect match can't be far--certainly not at a Regency-themed singles retreat--or so podcaster Zoe Dufour believes. After years of creating content for her relationship podcast inspired by Regency etiquette and era-appropriate rules for romance, she knows her listeners have anticipated this retreat... -
![Buckeye by Patrick Ryan]()
Buckeye by Patrick Ryan
“Wise and heartbreaking” (Ann Napolitano), this captivating epic weaves the intimate lives of two Midwestern families across generations, from World War II to the late twentieth century...historical-fiction · fiction · historical · literary-fiction · 20th-century · ww2 · family · book · adult -
![Bees in June by Elizabeth Bass Parman]()
Bees in June by Elizabeth Bass Parman
Set against the optimism and excitement of the first moon landing in the summer of 1969, a feat many said was impossible, one woman struggles to achieve something she thinks is impossible--living a happy and fulfilling life.Rennie King's world isn't at all what she expected when she married the hotshot baseball player from her small town of Spark, Tennessee...romance · historical-fiction · magical-realism · audiobook · fiction · family · fantasy · magic · womens-fiction · cozy -
![Demon King/The Parting of the Orchid and Cang by Jiu Lu Fei Xiang, 九鹭非香]()
Demon King/The Parting of the Orchid and Cang by Jiu Lu Fei Xiang, 九鹭非香
After hatching endless plots and suffering innumerable hardships, the demons of the Demonic Realm finally managed to resurrect the Ancient Demon King...romance · fantasy · fiction · humor · xianxia · ancient-china · ancient-civilization · mlm · slow-burn · forced-proximity -
![The Gentlemen’s Guild for Cursed Adventurers by R. Lindsay Carter]()
The Gentlemen’s Guild for Cursed Adventurers by R. Lindsay Carter
New York, 1915A man turning to stone.A bloodthirsty letter opener.And … a chicken?Welcome to the Gentlemen’s Guild for Cursed Adventurers, a place where all manner of oddly afflicted men are members and call the grand house of Birchwald their home. Here, cursed gentlemen can retire from polite society, safe from judgement, and under the care of the Guild’s enigmatic president, Malcolm Drury...romance · supernatural · magical-realism · historical · fiction · historical-fiction · fantasy · book · adult -
![A Gaze So Longing by River Flynn]()
A Gaze So Longing by River Flynn
Favian still thinks of the kiss he almost shared with Prince Leonardo five years ago. A servant in a palace ruled by an abusive king, Favian’s life is governed by monotony and desolation.When the prince returns to the palace after five years at war, Favian’s life is transformed, and he soon has to admit that the feelings his younger self developed for the prince never really went away...romance · lgbtq · mlm · fantasy · early-modern · historical-fiction · fiction · historical · book · adult -
![The Amber Heart by Dick Ferguson]()
The Amber Heart by Dick Ferguson
In the darkest shadows of World War II, an impossible love sparks a desperate flight for freedom.Oberleutnant Friedrich Schäfer is a reluctant German officer, a man who finds solace in music and books, secretly horrified by the regime he serves. Janusz Kowalski, known as “Sokół,” is a captured Polish Resistance fighter, his spirit unbroken despite the brutality of the occupation...romance · anthologies · lgbtq · ww2 · historical-fiction · 20th-century · fiction · historical · adult -
