New to Historical Fiction?
Start here. Three guides to get you reading the right book from the very first page.
📚 What Is Historical Fiction?
Learn what makes a great historical novel, how the genre works, and why readers love it.
Read the Guide →🎯 For Beginners
Not sure where to start? Our curated guide helps newcomers find the perfect first historical fiction read.
Get Started →⭐ Best of All Time
Explore the greatest historical fiction novels ever written, spanning every era and corner of the world.
See the List →Explore by Time Period
Every era of history has its own stories. Find the period that captivates you.
🪖 World War I
The Great War’s trenches, sacrifice and the generation that lived through it.
Explore →✈️ World War II
The most-written era in historical fiction. Resistance, courage and survival.
Explore →🎩 Victorian Era
Industrial revolution, empire, social upheaval and the birth of the modern world.
Explore →Featured Authors
Discover the masters of historical fiction and explore their complete bibliographies and reading orders.
Popular Series Reading Orders
Get the complete reading order for the most beloved historical fiction series.
The Last Kingdom
See Reading Order →Outlander
See Reading Order →Wolf Hall Trilogy
See Reading Order →Sharpe Series
See Reading Order →Kingsbridge Series
See Reading Order →Shardlake Series
See Reading Order →Curated Reading Lists
Not sure what to read next? Browse our handpicked lists by theme, era and mood.
⚔️ Best Medieval Historical Fiction
Knights, crusades, plague and political intrigue across the Middle Ages.
See the List →🏛️ Best Ancient Rome Books
From the Republic to the fall of the Empire, the greatest Roman fiction ever written.
See the List →✈️ Best WWII Historical Fiction
Resistance fighters, spies, soldiers and survivors. The finest stories from the Second World War.
See the List →👸 Best Female Lead Historical Fiction
Strong, complex women at the centre of history’s most gripping stories.
See the List →Latest Posts
Southern Victory Series Reading Order: Complete Guide
The Southern Victory series is the most ambitious alternate history series ever written in the English language. Across eleven novels and nearly a decade of publishing, Harry Turtledove asks what would have happened if the Confederacy had won its independence in 1862, and then relentlessly follows that premise through nine decades of an America that…
Naomi Novik: Complete Guide to Books & Series
Naomi Novik is the author who asked one of the most delightful questions in alternate history fiction: what if the Napoleonic Wars were fought with dragons? The answer, across nine novels of the Temeraire series, made her one of the most beloved names in fantasy and alternate history. Her work combines rigorous historical research with…
Temeraire Series Reading Order: Complete Guide
The Temeraire series answers one of the best questions in alternate history: what would the Napoleonic Wars look like if every major power had an air force made of dragons? Naomi Novik’s answer, across nine novels, is so thoroughly imagined and so warmly written that it has earned a devoted following since the first book…
Best Arthurian Historical Fiction: Dark Age Britain Brought to Life
No story in the English language has inspired more retellings than the legend of King Arthur. From the earliest Welsh poems to the most recent bestseller, writers have returned again and again to post-Roman Britain, to a warlord king holding back the Saxon tide, to Merlin’s prophecies in the firelight, to the tragedy of Camelot’s…
Harry Turtledove: Complete Guide to Books & Series
Harry Turtledove is the undisputed master of alternate history fiction, a historian-turned-novelist who has spent four decades asking one deceptively simple question: what if history had gone differently? Dubbed “The Master of Alternate History” by Publishers Weekly, he has built a body of work unlike anything else in historical fiction, one that uses the past…
Best Alternate History Books: The Ultimate Reading Guide
Alternate history asks the most irresistible question in fiction: what if? What if the Allies had lost World War II? What if the Confederacy had won at Gettysburg? What if a single assassination, a single battle, a single decision had gone the other way? The best alternate history novels are not escapist fantasy. They are…