The Best 30 Historical Books I Want to Read in 2020

This year I had the pleasure of reading some amazing historical novels including Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and White Chrysanthemum.  Historical books are my favorite genre, and there are so many out there!  In 2019, I set the goal to read 26 books, and I exceeded that goal and read over 30.  (Follow me on Goodreads if you’d like to see all of the titles; I’d love to follow you, too.)  This year, I’m setting a goal to read 40 novels, including the 30 best historical novels I want to read in 2020.

The Best 30 Historical Books I Want to Read in 2020

Here are the historical books I’m hoping to read in 2020 (I put in a few extras in case some of the books aren’t available at our local library):

Fiction

Historical Fiction

• These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner
• The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
• If You Leave Me by Crystal Hana Kim
• Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker by Jennifer Chiaverini
• The Quintland Sisters by Shelley Wood
• The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
• The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
• This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
• The Witches of St. Petersburg by Imogen Edwards-Jones

World War I Fiction

• The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason
• The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

World War II Fiction

• The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
• The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer
• Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
• Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly*
• The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer
• City of Thieves by David Benioff
• The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
• Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
• Fall of Giants by Ken Follett*
• The Book of Aron by Jim Shepherd
• The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
• The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalin
• The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
• A Sparrow in Terezin by Kristy Cambron
• We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter
• The Star and the Shamrock by Jean Grainger
• News of Our Loved Ones by Abigail DeWitt

Non-Fiction

• My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray
• America’s First Daughter by Stephanie Dray
• Jefferson’s Daughters by Catherine Kerrison
• Asperger’s Children by Edith Sheffer
• Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas
• The Radium Girls by Kate Moor
• Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
• Things We Couldn’t Say by Diet Eman

Do you read historical fiction?  If so, I’d love to hear which books you read and loved in 2019 and what you hope to read in 2020!