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Escape from the real world for a while with these 15 new historical fiction novels to read in 2021. From murder mysteries to tales based on incredible true stories, these books take us back in time to entertain us, inspire us and even teach us. Whether you’re looking for a glitzy flapper adventure or a gritty tale of survival, I think you’ll find something on my list of 15 of 2021’s must-read historical fiction novels.

I only read three out of the 12 books on my 2020 reading list. Pathetic, I know! I am easily distracted and other books grabbed my attention before I could get to all of them. Recently, I finished A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier and now I’m in the mood for more historical fiction novels.

Here are 15 new historical novels I hope to read this year. I’ve divided them into subgenres so you might find one based on your interests; naturally, some may fall into more than one category.

New Historical Fiction Novels to Read in 2021

Historical fiction novels based on real people

Island Queen by Vanessa Riley

If there’s anything I like more than a good historical fiction novel it’s a good novel based on a true story. Island Queen is based on the life of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, who was born into slavery on the island Monserrat in 1756, but rose to power and became one of the wealthiest landowners in the West Indies. (Available July 6)

Leonora in the Morning Light by Michaela Carter

Based on true events, Leonora in the Morning Light is a coming-of-age tale about the Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington. It follows a young Leonora in the late 1930s as she falls in love with Max Ernst and discovers art in Paris, meeting important figures in the Surrealist movement along the way. Leonora and Max are torn apart at the start of the war; however, hope lies in art collector Peggy Guggenheim, who helps artists escape to America. (Available April 6)

Find Me In Havana by Serena Burdick

My husband’s family is Cuban, so of course, I’m interested in knowing about the history and culture of Cuba. Find Me In Havana is based on the life of Cuban singer and actress Estelita Rodriguez. When Estelita dies mysteriously at 38 years old, her daughter begins to learn more about the life her mother left behind in Cuba and the sacrifices she made to achieve the American dream. Find Me in Havana includes exclusive interviews with Estelita’s daughter, Nina Lopez. (Available January 12)

The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba by Chanel Cleeton

This is another novel based on Cuban history. It’s 1896 and Grace Harrington is working for William Randolph Hearst’s newspaper when she discovers a story that could make her career. Evangelina Cisneros is an 18-year-old woman who has been unjustly imprisoned in a women’s jail in Havana. When her image is printed on the front page of Hearst’s paper, she starts to get the help she needs to escape Spanish oppression in Cuba. (Available May 4)

WWII historical fiction novels 2021

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

In this novel set in 1940, we meet three very different women working to crack German military codes and defeat the Nazis at a country estate called Bletchley Park. One is a socialite who receives roses from a Greek prince, another a self-made woman and the third a shy, brilliant spinster. Loss and secrets tear the code-breaking clique apart. Seven years later, a mysterious letter reunites the former friends and they’re forced to face their past. (Available March 9)

The Girl From the Channel Islands by Jenny Lecoat

In this WWII novel, a Jewish girl named Hedy Bercu is unable to flee the Channel Islands, where Allied forces fail to counterattack after the German invasion. Now the island inhabitants and occupying forces coexist, and Hedy is forced to hide in plain sight. She works as a translator for the Germans while secretly working against them, and wouldn’t you know it, befriends a German officer who also feels trapped on the Islands. (Available February 2)

The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan

This novel combines my love of baking competitions shows with historical fiction. The Kitchen Front takes place two years into WWII when food rationing was in effect. To support the effort, a BBC radio program called The Kitchen Front holds a cooking contest, with the grand prize being a job as the program’s first-ever female co-host. The book looks at four different women and how winning the contest would change each of their lives. (Available February 23)

Mystery historical fiction novels 2021

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

I have high hopes for The Lost Apothecary because Newsweek and Oprah.com named it one of the the most anticipated novels of 2021. It’s set in 18th-century London, and centers on a secretive apothecary shop that sells poison for women to use against oppressive men—I have to award a few bonus points for subject matter. Fast forward to present-day London: an aspiring historian with a rocky marriage comes across a clue that may solve a 200-year-old mystery linked to the apothecary shop. And spoiler alert (via the Amazon description): not everyone will survive. Dun dun duuuun! (Available March 2)

The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O’Donnell

I like to get lost in Victorian mysteries every once in a while. This is another book that landed on various “most anticipated” lists. In 1893 London, Inspector Cutter is investigating the case of a seamstress who jumps from a window and has a cryptic message stitched into her skin. Somehow, she’s connected to string of missing girls in the area. Aiding Cutter is Gideon, who is in love with one of the missing girls, and an ambitious journalist named Olivia. (Available January 12)

Our Woman In Moscow by Beatriz Williams

This tale of Cold War espionage is by one of my favorite historical fiction writers, Beatriz Williams. It’s 1948 and Iris Digby, her diplomat husband and their two children have vanished from their London home. Iris’s twin sister Ruth hasn’t seen her since the summer of 1940, but receives a postcard from Iris four years after her disappearance. Now it’s up to Ruth to make her way to Moscow and try to bring the Digbys home. (Available June 1)

Multi-period historical fiction novels

The Women of Chateau Lafayette by Stephanie Dray

This historical novel showcases the strength and resilience of three women across three different time periods. The first, Adrienne Lafayette, and her husband, the Marquis de Lafayette, risk death during a revolution in France. Then, we meet Beatrice Chanler, a New York socialite in 1914. Chanler has seen the consequences of the war in France and wants to fight for what’s right. Lastly, in 1940, a French schoolteacher named Marthe Simone tries her best to avoid acknowledging the war, that is, until the Nazi occupation invades her home. (Available March 30)

Wild Women and the Blues by Denny S. Bryce

Hot jazz, juicy secrets and 1920s glamour—my kind of novel! In Chicago 1925, a young sharecropper’s daughter named Honoree Dalcour is working her way to better life as a chorus girl at the ritzy Dreamland Cafe. Her story interweaves with that of grieving film student Sawyer Hayes in 2015, who seeks answers for his thesis from a 110-year-old Honoree. (Available March 30)

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

I’m fascinated by early aviation stories, so Great Circle is on my reading list for 2021. In this novel, two infant siblings are rescued from a sinking ocean liner in 1914 and raised in Montana by their uncle. The adventurous half of the duo, Marian, sees two pilots in town with their biplanes one day and becomes infatuated with flight. Eventually she’s up in the air and sets the goal of flying over the North and South poles. In present-day Hollywood, we meet movie star Hadley Baxter. Baxter is desperate to distance herself from a certain romance franchise by portraying Marian in an upcoming biopic. (Available May 4)

Historical fiction survival stories

Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson

Yellow Wife sounds like one of those books that will leave a deep, lasting impression on me. The main character is Pheby Delores Brown, who was born on a plantation in Charles City, Virginia. Pheby’s mother is the estate’s medicine woman and Pheby is well-liked by the Master’s sister; however, those connections shelter her from much of the cruelty endured by others on the plantation. Pheby is promised freedom once she turns 18; however, it doesn’t exactly work out the way she hopes. (Available January 12)

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

This survival story set during the Great Depression has received a lot of attention and advance praise. The Four Winds introduces us to a woman named Elsa Wolcott living in Texas in the early 1920s. To save herself from a life alone and secure a future, she marries a man she’s barely just met. Needless to say, their marriage is far from perfect. The surge of unemployment, drought and dust storms in the Great Plains only adds to the stress and uncertainty. Elsa is forced to decide whether she’ll stick it out or risk heading west to save her family. (Available February 2)

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