15 New Historical Fiction Books to Obsess Over in 2025

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Best Historical Fiction Novels for Your New 2025 Reading List

These are all the new historical fiction books to keep an eye on in 2025 if you’re trying to add some new 2025 releases into your reading list. Other readers and reading guides I trust say these will be the best books of the year!

The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

I love Silvia Moreno-Garcia and how much research she puts into her books (check out the author interview here!). Mexican Gothic is still one of my favorite historical gothic horror novels.

The Bewitching will be perfect for witchy horror readers who like following stories of strong, smart women! There are many Easter eggs of famous horror writers, which is a fun little add-on.

The multiple timelines (1998 and 1934 Massachusetts) and early 1900s Mexico sounds so compelling. And the chilling multigenerational saga description sounds right up my alley. It’s giving dark academia in the best way.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

Three women in three different eras encounter danger and witchcraft in this eerie multigenerational horror saga from the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic.

“Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches”: That was how Nana Alba always began the stories she told her great-granddaughter Minerva—stories that have stayed with Minerva all her life. Perhaps that’s why Minerva has become a graduate student focused on the history of horror literature and is researching the life of Beatrice Tremblay, an obscure author of macabre tales.

In the course of assembling her thesis, Minerva uncovers information that reveals that Tremblay’s most famous novel, The Vanishing, was inspired by a true story: Decades earlier, during the Great Depression, Tremblay attended the same university where Minerva is now studying and became obsessed with her beautiful and otherworldly roommate, who then disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

As Minerva descends ever deeper into Tremblay’s manuscript, she begins to sense that the malign force that stalked Tremblay and the missing girl might still walk the halls of the campus.

These disturbing events also echo the stories Nana Alba told about her girlhood in 1900s Mexico, where she had a terrifying encounter with a witch.

Minerva suspects that the same shadow that darkened the lives of her great-grandmother and Beatrice Tremblay is now threatening her own in 1990s Massachusetts.

An academic career can be a punishing pursuit, but it might turn outright deadly when witchcraft is involved.

The Bewitching will be published on July 15, 2025, from Del Rey.

Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson

Thank you to @libro.fm for the complimentary book!

I read this book already for book club, and oh. my. GOODNESS. What a special, profound read! I loved Black Cake, and I knew this one would be just as good.

This is another multigenerational epic, and Charmaine Wilkerson does some really interesting things with the POV and structure with the different timelines.

We mainly follow Ebby Freeman as a young adult, but we learn that when she was ten years old, her brother was shot in her home.

The crime was never solved, but one part of the mystery haunts Ebby to this day: the shattered pieces of a centuries-old heirloom jar she and her family affectioned called Old Mo.

How is Old Mo connected to her brother’s murder? And how does this part of her family history change her future forever?

Multiple POVs and timelines; genre bendy; family drama; and a story of forgiveness and redemption that handles trauma, racism, and grief with care—this book is full of emotion and deep love. Sensitive readers beware: This book is not for the faint of heart.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

The daughter of an affluent Black family pieces together the connection between a childhood tragedy and a beloved heirloom in this moving novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Black Cake, a Read with Jenna Book Club Pick

When ten-year-old Ebby Freeman heard the gunshot, time stopped. And when she saw her brother, Baz, lying on the floor surrounded by the shattered pieces of a centuries-old jar, life as Ebby knew it shattered as well.

The crime was never solved—and because the Freemans were one of the only Black families in a particularly well-to-do enclave of New England—the case has had an enduring, voyeuristic pull for the public. The last thing the Freemans want is another media frenzy splashing their family across the papers, but when Ebby’s high profile romance falls apart without any explanation, that’s exactly what they get.

So Ebby flees to France, only for her past to follow her there. And as she tries to process what’s happened, she begins to think about the other loss her family suffered on that day eighteen years ago—the stoneware jar that had been in their family for generations, brought North by an enslaved ancestor. But little does she know that the handcrafted piece of pottery held more than just her family’s history—it might also hold the key to unlocking her own future.

In this sweeping, evocative novel, Charmaine Wilkerson brings to life a multi-generational epic that examines how the past informs our present.

Good Dirt was published on January 28, 2025, from Ballantine Books.

My Name Is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende is known for her complex storytelling and rich, captivating prose within the magical realism genre. I can’t wait to dive into this one!

My Name Is Emilia del Valle starts in San Francisco in 1866, when an Irish nun is left pregnant and abandoned after a love affair with a Chilean aristocrat.

Her daughter goes on become an independent young woman and writer, and she eventually becomes an editor at The San Francisco Examiner, covering a civil war in Chile. From what I’ve gathered, this is a book about self-discovery and fate and an ode to story in many ways. It sounds riveting!

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

In this spellbinding historical novel from the New York Times bestselling author of A Long Petal of the Sea and The Wind Knows My Name, a young writer journeys to South America to uncover the truth about her father—and herself.

In San Francisco 1866, an Irish nun, left pregnant and abandoned following a torrid relationship with a Chilean aristocrat, gives birth to a daughter named Emilia Del Valle. Raised by a loving stepfather, Emilia grows into an independent thinker and a self-sufficient young woman.

To pursue her passion for writing, she is willing to defy societal norms. At the age of sixteen, she begins to publish pulp fiction under a man’s pen name.

When these fictional worlds can’t contain her sense of adventure any longer, she turns to journalism, convincing an editor at the San Francisco Examiner to hire her. There she is paired with another talented reporter, Eric Whelan.

As she proves herself, her restlessness returns, until an opportunity arises to cover a brewing civil war in Chile. She seizes it, along with Eric, and while there, begins to uncover the truth about her father and the country that represents her roots.

But as the war escalates, Emilia finds herself in danger and at a crossroads, questioning both her identity and her destiny.

A riveting tale of self-discovery and love from one of the most masterful storytellers of our time, My Name Is Emilia del Valle introduces a character who will never let hold of your heart.

My Name Is Emilia del Valle will be published on May 6, 2025, from Ballantine Books.

The Eights by Joanna Miller

The Eights is on my most anticipated 2025 books list, and it’s not hard to see why. I adore a sisterhood and female friendship story, especially when it’s about young women working toward equality and following their dreams.

This historical fiction book takes place at Oxford in the 1920s, when the school admits female students for the first time.

These women have to deal with misogyny, influenza, and the aftermath of the Great War, which affects their lives in very specific ways.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

They knew they were changing history.
They didn’t know they would change each other.

Following the unlikely friendship of four of the first ever women to matriculate at Oxford University in the aftermath of the First World War, a captivating debut novel about sisterhood, self-determination and the many forms courage can take.

Oxford, 1920. For the first time in its 1000-year history, the world’s most famous university has admitted female students.

Giddy with dreams of equality, education and emancipation, four young women move into neighbouring rooms.

Beatrice, Dora, Marianne and Otto (collectively known as The Eights) have come here from all walks of life, and they are thrown into an unlikely, life-affirming friendship.

Dora was never meant to go to university, but, after losing both her brother and her fiancé on the battlefield, has arrived in their place.

Politically-minded Beatrice, daughter of a famous suffragette, sees Oxford as a chance to make her own way—and some friends her own age.

Otto was a nurse during the war but is excited to return to her socialite lifestyle in Oxford—where she hopes to find distraction from the memories that haunt her.

And finally Marianne, the quiet, clever daughter of a village pastor, who has a shocking secret she must hide from everyone, even her new friends, if she is to succeed.

But Oxford’s dreaming spires cast a dark shadow: in 1920, misogyny is still rife, influenza is still a threat, and the ghosts of the Great War are still very real indeed.

And as the group navigate this tumultuous moment in time, their friendship will become more important than ever.

The Eights will be published on April 15, 2025, from G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine

This is another Civil War historical fiction novel, and it sounds so good. This is a coming-of-age story about Junie, a sixteen-year-old enslaved girl in Alabama living on a plantation with Violet, the plantation owner’s daughter who teaches Junie to read.

There are some supernatural elements—Junie awakens her sister’s ghost!—and I think it’s going to add a really interesting element to the story.

This one sounds like it has all the great things you look for in a story: beautiful prose and narrative description, a strong female protagonist, themes of hope amidst the horrors of the American South, female friendship, emotional and generational trauma, and more.

I think this will be an incredible book club book for 2025. And by the way, if you’re hoping to start a book club this year, make sure to check out the Mollie Reads Book Club Kit!

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

A young girl must face a life-altering decision after awakening her sister’s ghost, navigating truths about love, friendship, and power as the Civil War looms.

Sixteen years old and enslaved since she was born, Junie has spent her life on Bellereine Plantation in Alabama, cooking and cleaning alongside her family, and tending to the white master’s daughter, Violet.

Her daydreams are filled with poetry and faraway worlds, while she spends her nights secretly roaming through the forest, consumed with grief over the sudden death of her older sister, Minnie.

When wealthy guests arrive from New Orleans, hinting at marriage for Violet and upending Junie’s life, she commits a desperate act—one that rouses Minnie’s spirit from the grave, tethered to this world unless Junie can free her.

She enlists the aid of Caleb, the guests’ coachman, and their friendship soon becomes something more. Yet as long-held truths begin to crumble, she realizes Bellereine is harboring dark and horrifying secrets that can no longer be ignored.

With time ticking down, Junie begins to push against the harsh current that has controlled her entire life.

As she grapples with an increasingly unfamiliar world in which she has little control, she is forced to ask herself: When we choose love and liberation, what must we leave behind?

Junie was published on February 4, 2025, from Ballantine Books.

The Vanishing of Josephine Reynolds by Jennifer Moorman

The Vanishing of Josephine Reynolds is on my list because I loved Moorman’s The Magic All Around so much.

This book sounds like the ’90s and early 2000s Disney “wish” movies, but for grown-ups (and with darker themes like grief). We’re talking Wish Upon a Star, 13 Going on 30, etc.

Honestly, it’s giving This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub vibes with the time travel, throwaway wish moment, and grief. I loved that book so much, so I am here for this one.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

Can an entire life be erased by one thoughtless wish that changes a single moment?

Josephine Reynolds never imagined she’d be a widow in her midthirties. Grieving and barely able to contemplate one more night alone, she carelessly wishes she’d never been born.

At the exact same moment, her inbox dings with an it’s a link from her sister that lists local foreclosures, and, to her immense surprise, she sees her great-grandmother’s house listed and immediately conspires to reclaim it.

But as Josephine restores her great-grandmother’s home to its original glory, she comes to realize not everything is as it seems.

Replacing the modern front door with the original hand-carved and solid wood one, she notices minuscule words carved into the edging.

As she speaks the words aloud and opens the front door with its original key, Josephine finds herself transported back almost one hundred years ago to a 1920s party thrown by her great-grandmother Alma.

A shocked Josephine fears she is losing her mind. Has her grief caused her to lose touch with reality?

But it quickly becomes clear that her life and future—thanks to her throwaway wish—hinge on one single moment that happened almost one hundred years ago.

The two parallel timelines start blending together, and Josephine witnesses her present life disappearing right before her eyes.

She can only hope it’s not too late to save her own future.

The Vanishing of Josephine Reynolds was published on January 14, 2025, from Harper Muse.

The Dark Library by Mary Anna Evans

Dark gothic historical fiction fans, listen up!

This one looks like it checks aaaalll the boxes: family secrets, a library of rare books in a house that may be a character in and of itself, brave women, suspense, mystery, small-town gossip. Sign me up!

This gothic mystery takes place in a small college town in New York during WWII.

Mystery, secret histories, murder . . . it seems like a great dark academia/historical fiction read for 2025.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

Can a family’s dark history repeat itself?

Estella Ecker has returned to Rockfall House, the last place on earth she wants to be.

Years after she ran away from her overbearing father, she has been forced back home to walk in his footsteps, teaching at the college he dominated and living in the fabulous home where he entertained artists and scholars for decades―and perhaps she owns it now, because her mercurial mother has disappeared.

At the center of everything―the whispers, the rumors, the secrets―is her father’s library of rare books, which she had been forbidden to touch while he was alive to stop her.

Everyone in town is watching Estella, with her dead father’s name on their lips, and no one seems to care about her missing mother.

Who were her parents, really, and is the answer hidden somewhere in the depths of Rockfall House? And who will Estella be, if she gathers enough courage to find that answer? What she will discover is that no one can escape the secrets hidden in this dark library.

Suspenseful and unsettling but ultimately triumphant, The Dark Library by acclaimed author Mary Anna Evans is a compelling tale of mystery, family secrets, and the quest for truth.

The Dark Library will be published on June 24, 2025, from Poisoned Pen Press.

The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick

This historical fiction book sounds like the perfect read for this moment in time living in America.

Set in the 1960s, we follow a group of suburban housewives who read The Feminine Mystique in their book club, which results in varying levels of transformation among the women.

I mean, what a compelling premise! And as we all know, I love a book about books and the love of books!

Their secrets, longing, and unfulfilled potential stirs up some drama, and I can’t wait to read this book and see how these women discover themselves and come into their own power.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

Four dissatisfied sixties-era housewives form a book club turned sisterhood that will hold fast amid the turmoil of a rapidly changing world and alter the course of each of their lives.

By early 1960s standards, Margaret Ryan, Viv Buschetti, and Bitsy Cobb, suburban housewives in a brand-new “planned community” in Northern Virginia, appear to have it all.

The fact that “all” doesn’t feel like enough leaves them feeling confused and guilty, certain the fault must lie with them.

Things begin to change when they form a book club with Charlotte Gustafson—the eccentric and artsy “new neighbor” from Manhattan—and read Betty Friedan’s just-released book, The Feminine Mystique.

Controversial and groundbreaking, the book struck a chord with an entire generation of women, helping them realize that they weren’t alone in their dissatisfactions, or their longings, lifting their eyes to new horizons of possibility and achievement.

Margaret, Charlotte, Bitsy, and Viv are among them. But is it really the book that alters the lives of these four very different women?

Or is it the bond of sisterhood that helps them find courage to confront the past, navigate turmoil in a rapidly changing world, and see themselves in a new and limitless light?

The Book Club for Troublesome Women will be published on April 22, 2025, from Harper Muse.

The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue

Another Emma Donoghue book! It’s almost here! This historical fiction novel is about the Paris Montparnasse train station disaster of 1895.

A train ride through the French countryside with an interesting group of passengers who are a blend of fact and fiction!? Yes, please!

I’ve heard that it can take a little bit of time to keep the characters straight, but it’s worth it! I’ve also heard the various class levels and intriguing motivations for the train ride also keeps readers turning pages.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

Emma Donoghue, the “soul-stirring” (Oprah Daily) nationally bestselling author of Room, returns with a sweeping historical novel about an infamous 1895 disaster at the Paris Montparnasse train station.

Based on an 1895 disaster that went down in history when it was captured in a series of surreal, extraordinary photographs, The Paris Express is a propulsive novel set on a train packed with a fascinating cast of characters who hail from as close as Brittany and as far as Russia, Ireland, Algeria, Pennsylvania, and Cambodia.

Members of parliament hurry back to Paris to vote; a medical student suspects a girl may be dying; a secretary tries to convince her boss of the potential of moving pictures; two of the train’s crew build a life away from their wives; a young anarchist makes a terrifying plan, and much more.

From an author whose “writing is superb alchemy” (Audrey Niffenegger, New York Times bestselling author), The Paris Express is an evocative masterpiece that effortlessly captures the politics, glamour, chaos, and speed that marked the end of the 19th century.

The Paris Express will be published on March 18, 2025, from Summit Books.

The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry

I love, love Patti Callahan Henry! Her book The Secret Book of Flora Lea was one of my best fiction books of 2024. And this one seems to be another literary historical mystery about the love of story, and I just can’t wait to read it!

It’s a book about motherhood, family legacy and uncovered secrets. We follow eight-year-old Clara in 1927 when her mother disappears in South Carolina.

Her mother was a well-known author, and by 1952, Clara follows in her mother’s literary footsteps and works as an illustrator while raising her daughter, Wynnie.

I’m so excited to see how this story unfolds! I know it’s about acceptance, forgiveness, and being brave enough to find the truth.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

Inspired by a true literary mystery, New York Times bestselling author of the mesmerizing The Secret Book of Flora Lea returns with the sweeping story of a legendary book, a lost mother, and a daughter’s search for them both.

In 1927, eight-year-old Clara Harrington’s magical childhood shatters when her mother, renowned author, Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham, disappears off the coast of South Carolina.

Bronwyn stunned the world with a book written in an invented language that became a national sensation when she was just twelve years old.

Her departure leaves behind not only a devoted husband and heartbroken daughter, but also the hope of ever translating the sequel to her landmark work.

As the headlines focus on the missing author, Clara yearns for something far deeper and more her beautiful mother.

By 1952, Clara is an illustrator raising her own daughter, Wynnie. When a stranger named Charlie Jameson contacts her from London claiming to have discovered a handwritten dictionary of her mother’s lost language. Clara is skeptical.

Compelled by the tragedy of her mother’s vanishing, she crosses the Atlantic with Wynnie only to arrive during one of London’s most deadly natural disasters—the Great Smog.

With asthmatic Wynnie in peril, they escape the city with Charlie and find refuge in the Jameson’s family retreat nestled in the Lake District.

It is there that Clara must find the courage to uncover the truth about her mother and the story she left behind.

Told in Patti Callahan Henry’s lyrical, enchanting prose, The Story She Left Behind is a captivating novel of mystery and family legacy that captures the profound longing for a mother and the evergreen allure of secrets.

The Story She Left Behind will be published on March 18, 2025, from Atria Books.

The Boxcar Librarian by Brianna Labuskes

The Boxcar Librarian has received so many positive reviews so far! This is a Depression-era mystery novel set in Montana.

We follow three women’s journeys and three different timelines that merge together. I love that it’s an editor story! Millie Lang, editor at Works Progress Administration, finds herself in Montana working on a series of travel books.

More than a decade earlier, Alice Monroe, a mysterious librarian in the town, creates the Boxcar Library, designed to deliver books to isolated mining towns. She finds a staff librarian for the train car, Colette Durand, who eventually disappears.

This looks like an absolutely unputdownable story, and I can’t wait to hear what other historical fiction lovers think.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

Inspired by true events, a thrilling Depression-era novel from the author of The Librarian of Burned Books about a woman’s quest to uncover a mystery surrounding a local librarian and the Boxcar Library—a converted mining train that brought books to isolated rural towns in Montana.

When Works Progress Administration (WPA) editor Millie Lang finds herself on the wrong end of a potential political scandal, she’s shipped off to Montana to work on the state’s American Guide Series—travel books intended to put the nation’s destitute writers to work.

Millie arrives to an eclectic staff claiming their missed deadlines are due to sabotage, possibly from the state’s powerful Copper Kings who don’t want their long and bloody history with union organizers aired for the rest of the country to read.

But Millie begins to suspect that the answer might instead lie with the town’s mysterious librarian, Alice Monroe.

More than a decade earlier, Alice Monroe created the Boxcar Library in order to deliver books to isolated mining towns where men longed for entertainment and connection.

Alice thought she found the perfect librarian to staff the train car in Colette Durand, a miner’s daughter with a shotgun and too many secrets behind her eyes. 

Now, no one in Missoula will tell Millie why both Alice and Colette went out on the inaugural journey of the Boxcar Library, but only Alice returned.

The three women’s stories dramatically converge in the search to uncover what someone is so desperately trying to what happened to Colette Durand.

Inspired by the fascinating, true history of Missoula’s Boxcar Library, the novel blends the story of the strong, courageous women who survived and thrived in the rough and rowdy West with that of the power of standing together to fight for workers’ lives.

And through it all shines the capacity of books to provide connection and light to those who need it most.

The Boxcar Librarian will be published March 4, 2025, from William Morrow.

The Girl from Greenwich Street by Lauren Willig

Okay, Hamilton fans! This one’s for you! This novel is about America’s first sensational murder trial, and according to early readers, it’s evident right away how much research Willig put in!

We follow Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr as the defense lawyers, and the victim Elma’s family, and the accused.

It sounds atmospheric, fascinating, and perfect for readers who’ve really spent time wondering what really happened in 1799.

Apparently there’s diary entries, court documents, and biographies of the three attorneys, so I’m hoping it’s quite immersive.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

Based on the true story of a famous trial, this novel is Law and 1800, as Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr investigate the shocking murder of a young woman who everyone—and no one—seemed to know.

At the start of a new century, a shocking murder transfixes Manhattan, forcing bitter rivals Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr to work together to save a man from the gallows. 

Just before Christmas 1799, Elma Sands slips out of her Quaker cousin’s boarding house—and doesn’t come home. Has she eloped? Run away? No one knows—until her body appears in the Manhattan Well.

Her family insists they know who killed her. Handbills circulate around the city accusing a carpenter named Levi Weeks of seducing and murdering Elma. 

But privately, quietly, Levi’s wealthy brother calls in a special favor. . . .

Aaron Burr’s legal practice can’t finance both his expensive tastes and his ambition to win the 1800 New York elections. To defend Levi Weeks is a double a hefty fee plus a chance to grab headlines.

Alexander Hamilton has his own political aspirations; he isn’t going to let Burr monopolize the public’s attention. If Burr is defending Levi Weeks, then Hamilton will too. As the trial and the election draw near, Burr and Hamilton race against time to save a man’s life—and destroy each other.

Part murder mystery, part thriller, part true crime, The Girl From Greenwich Street revisits a dark corner of history—with a surprising twist ending that reveals the true story of the woman at the center of the tale.

The Girl From Greenwich Street will be published on March 4, 2025, from William Morrow.

Homeseeking by Karissa Chen

This is an epic historical fiction novel about the elasticity of love over time, sacrifice, family, and loyalty.

It’s a sweeping family saga covering 60 years of childhood friends, first in the WWII International Settlement Shanghai as kids, and then the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War decades later.

It looks heartbreaking, ambitious, and moving, and I’m sure Chen’s depiction of twentieth-century China touches on many aspects of how war and a communist takeover deeply impacted people.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

An epic and intimate tale of one couple across sixty years as world events pull them together and apart, illuminating the Chinese diaspora and exploring what it means to find home far from your homeland.

A single choice can define an entire life.

Haiwen is buying bananas at a 99 Ranch Market in Los Angeles when he looks up and sees Suchi, his Suchi, for the first time in sixty years. To recently widowed Haiwen it feels like a second chance, but Suchi has only survived by refusing to look back.

Suchi was seven when she first met Haiwen in their Shanghai neighborhood, drawn by the sound of his violin.

Their childhood friendship blossomed into soul-deep love, but when Haiwen secretly enlisted in the Nationalist army in 1947 to save his brother from the draft, she was left with just his violin and a note: Forgive me.

Homeseeking follows the separated lovers through six decades of tumultuous Chinese history as war, famine, and opportunity take them separately to the song halls of Hong Kong, the military encampments of Taiwan, the bustling streets of New York, and sunny California, telling Haiwen’s story from the present to the past while tracing Suchi’s from her childhood to the present, meeting in the crucible of their lives.

Throughout, Haiwen holds his memories close while Suchi forces herself to look only forward, neither losing sight of the home they hold in their hearts.

At once epic and intimate, Homeseeking is a story of family, sacrifice, and loyalty, and of the power of love to endure beyond distance, beyond time.

Homeseeking was published on January 7, 2025, from G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

The Lotus Shoes by Jane Yang

This is a story about late 19th Century China and the tensions of Western influence with tradition.

This is another debut historical fiction book for 2025, and I’ve heard it doesn’t read like a debut at all—masterful storytelling, rich narration, and completely immersive.

I love being able to follow the stories of two women whose lives and backgrounds are different and yet interconnected. I can’t wait to get to this one.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

An empowering, uplifting tale of two women from opposite sides of society, and their extraordinary journey of sisterhood, betrayal, love and triumph.

1800s China. Tightly bound feet, or “golden lilies,” are the mark of an honorable woman, eclipsing beauty, a rich dowry and even bloodline in the marriage stakes.

When Little Flower is sold as a maidservant—a muizai—to Linjing, a daughter of the prominent Fong family, she clings to the hope that one day her golden lilies will lead her out of slavery.

Not only does Little Flower have bound feet, uncommon for a muizai, but she is extraordinarily gifted at embroidery, a skill associated with the highest class of a lady. Resentful of her talents, Linjing does everything in her power to thwart Little Flower’s escape.

But when scandal strikes the Fongs, both women are cast out to the Celibate Sisterhood, where Little Flower’s artistic prowess catches the eye of a nobleman.

His attention threatens not only her improved status, but her life—the Sisterhood punishes disobedience with death. And if Linjing finds out, will she sabotage Little Flower to reclaim her power, or will she protect her?

The Lotus Shoes was published on January 7, 2025, from HarperCollins.

The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes by Chanel Cleeton

Oh, how I love books about mysterious books! This historical fiction novel is about three women in different times: London, 2024; Havana, 1966; and Boston, 1900.

The three women’s lives are all interconnected because of a book written in Cuban in the early 1900s. There’s only one printed copy of the book, and someone is looking for it before it goes up for auction.

This looks compelling, and I’m excited to learn more about Cuban history.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

A mysterious book with a legacy spanning from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day unites three women in this unforgettable novel from New York Times bestselling author Chanel Cleeton.

London, 2024: When American expat Margo Reynolds is hired to source a book that’s more than one hundred and twenty years old, she thinks her greatest challenge is going to be that there’s only one copy in existence.

However, it quickly becomes clear that her client isn’t the only person determined to procure the book at any cost.

Thrust into a deadly quest, Margo teams up with an unlikely ally—the man she loved and lost—and is forced to confront the ghosts of her own past as the lingering feelings that simmer between them ignite.

Havana, 1966: Pilar Castillo’s days are spent working as a librarian in Havana, her nights spent hoping for her husband’s freedom after his unjust imprisonment.

But Pilar has a secret that could jeopardize her life.

She’s fighting Fidel’s regime in her own way, and when she comes into possession of a book that was published more than sixty years earlier, she must decide how much she’s willing to risk to protect the literary works entrusted to her care.

Boston, 1900: For Cuban teacher Eva Fuentes, traveling from Havana to Harvard to participate in the largest cultural exchange between Cuba and the United States is not only a chance to represent her country at a critical time in its bid for independence, but also an opportunity to work on the book she’s writing.

When a moonlit encounter with an enigmatic stranger alters the course of Eva’s summer at Harvard, and as secrets, lies, and forbidden love rise to the surface, Eva’s life—and legacy—is irrevocably changed.

The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes will be published on July 1, 2025, from Berkley.

Best New Historical Fiction Books to Read

These are the best historical fiction books of 2025 I cannot wait to read as soon as possible. Let me know what best historical fiction book of 2025 you have your eyes on!