New Must Read Historical Fiction in 2025

For fans of slow-burn, witty Regency romance.

Lord Christopher Eden would happily remain in his small, quiet life, but he’s forced to marry when his lawyer informs him that he has to wed before his next birthday to keep his inheritance. This is how valet James Harding enters his life as they set off during an already-in-progress Season to find Eden a wife. But maybe neither Harding nor Eden needs a wife.

For bibliophiles, fans of historical fiction featuring real people, and the Harlem Renaissance.

W.E.B. Du Bois hired Jessie Redmon Fauset as editor of the new magazine, The Crisis. Fauset finds new writers, including Langston Hughes and Nella Larsen, the latter of whom quickly becomes her best friend. When The Crisis becomes a hit, Fauset should be on top of the world. But she’s Du Bois’s lover, despite him being married and being her boss, and rumors are swirling.

For fans of epic stories told over decades and politics changing the course of a love story.

In Japanese-occupied Shanghai, Suchi and Haiwen met as young children in the 30s. But by the late 40s, Haiwen enlisted in the Nationalist Army before he could propose to Suchi. From there, their lives took them to different countries, and they only met once thereafter—that is, until 2008, when they both ran into each other in an LA market. It’s been 60 years, and they’ve lived entire lives with other people, but their connection remains.

For fans of Private Investigator duos and 1940s New York.

First, a note on the series, which is one of my current favorite historical mysteries. It starts with Fortune Favors the Dead, and while you won’t be lost starting with this book, it does begin immediately after the ending of Murder Crossed Her Mind.

Lillian Pentecost is a big-time private investigator who hires Willowjean “Will” Parker, a runaway working at the circus. Pentecost has multiple sclerosis and wants help with her caseload, so she trains Parker, who narrates for readers the great cases they’ve had. In Dead in the Frame, Pentecost has been arrested and accused of murder and is in The Women’s House of Detention, meaning Parker has to work alone to free her boss.

For fans of multiple points of view, multiple timelines, and someone learning about their estranged family’s history.

Nikki Lovejoy-Berry lives in DC and works as a real estate agent when her grandmother, Mother Rita, calls Nikki to help her in North Carolina. For Nikki, this trip brings up a lot of questions. Her mom and grandmother are estranged, and no one has ever told Nikki why, but now she gets to spend time with her grandmother and see where her mother grew up. But as Nikki learns about her family history, she realizes she’s needed to help save it all together.

For fans of the Belle Époque and fighting society’s rules.

In 1889, Paris, Aurora Montalban Wright’s brothers cut her from her trust (rude!), which she desperately needed to fund her backstreet women’s clinic. Apollo César Sinclair Robles is a duke trying to use his power to help vulnerable people. As Aurora’s lover, he wants to protect her and thinks she’d be his perfect wife. But Aurora isn’t ready to give up her independence quite yet.

Each book in this series is a standalone, but if you’d like to start at the beginning of this wonderful historical romance series, pick up A Caribbean Heiress in Paris.

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