Top new historical-fiction books out this week: 11 Jan - 17 Jan 2026
Last updated:
January 17, 2026
This week featuring new releases by Isabel Ibañez, Vanessa Riley, Emma R. Alban, Madeleine Dunnigan, Vanessa Lawrence, A.D. Bell and many more.
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Graceless Heart by Isabel Ibañez
A lush, atmospheric and achingly magical standalone adult fantasy romance set in Renaissance Italy from a #1 New York Times bestselling author.In 15th-century Volterra, sculptress Ravenna Maffei enters a competition hosted by a secretive, immortal family who offer an invaluable boon to the victor...romance · fantasy · historical-fiction · historical · fiction · paranormal · new-adult · book · adult -
![Fire Sword and Sea: A Novel by Vanessa Riley]()
Fire Sword and Sea: A Novel by Vanessa Riley
The real Pirates of the Caribbean were Black, and women! From Vanessa Riley, acclaimed author of Queen of Exiles, comes a sweeping, immersive saga based on the life of the legendary seventeenth-century pirate Jacquotte Delehaye.The Caribbean Sea, 1675. Jacquotte Delahaye is the mixed-race daughter of a wealthy tavern owner on the island of Tortuga...historical-fiction · historical · fiction · outlaws · nautical · lgbtq · poc-author · black-mc · female-mc · action-adventure -
![Like in Love with You by Emma R. Alban]()
Like in Love with You by Emma R. Alban
Mean Girls meets Northanger Abbey in this brand new, sapphic, rivals-to-lovers Regency Romance by USA Today bestselling author Emma R. Alban!When country-bred Catherine Pine relocates to Bath in 1817, she and her mother come face-to-face with her mother’s arch nemesis, Lady Tisend, and her daughter, the wildly popular and gorgeous Lady Rosalie. Though once her very best friend, Mrs...romance · wlw · historical-fiction · lgbtq · historical · fiction · lesbian-mc · audiobook · industrial-era · regency -
![Jean by Madeleine Dunnigan]()
Jean by Madeleine Dunnigan
Seventeen–year–old Jean, a troubled Jewish boy caught in the countercultural swirl of 1970s London, arrives at Compton Manor, a rural alternative boarding school for boys with “problems.” Though he is an outcast among these outcasts, he is befriended by Tom, a much wealthier, more popular classmate, and it seems as if Jean’s world might change... -
![Sheer by Vanessa Lawrence]()
Sheer by Vanessa Lawrence
An electrifying, propulsive novel about the rise and fall of a controversial beauty mogul and the moral gray areas at the intersections of beauty, power, and ambitionIt’s 2015 and Maxine Thomas, the founder and creative director of the cult makeup company Reveal, has just been suspended by her own Board for a scandalous transgression...fiction · historical-fiction · lgbtq · contemporary · literary-fiction · urban · female-mc · friendship · book · adult -
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![The Bookbinder's Secret by A.D. Bell]()
The Bookbinder's Secret by A.D. Bell
Every book tells a story. This one tells a secret. A young bookbinder begins a hunt for the truth when a confession hidden beneath the binding of a burned book reveals a story of forbidden love, lost fortune, and murder. Lilian ("Lily") Delaney, apprentice to a master bookbinder in Oxford in 1901, chafes at the confines of her life...
