My top 10 historical novels for 2024
What makes a great historical novel? One that I sneak into my bag to read at stations, on trains or in waiting rooms. That allows me to drop through a wormhole in time to live vicariously in a past era and understand the dilemmas of past generations. That I recommend unreservedly to friends, family and book clubs.
These ten books fall into that category. I read these books in paperback format in 2024, although some were published in prior years. Listed roughly in order of how eagerly I would pick them up again to re-read.
The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn
Quirky aristocrat Cristabel and her siblings navigate country society, bereavement, wartime resistance and unrequited longing in jaunty yet heartrending historical saga.
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
Driven aviator Marian defies childhood trauma to fly Alaska contraband, deliver Spitfires & circumnavigate via Antarctica in sprawling 20th century drama as uncovered by troubled actress playing her in a movie.
Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford
Five wartime London children are followed for five decades, tracing how family, personality and life incidents shape where we end up. Beautiful prose, and intricate intersecting stories of characters we (mostly) love.
Mermaid & Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar
Flamboyant socialite Angelica is intrigued by a magical mermaid acquired by reticent Deptford merchant Jonah in bawdy 18thC London.
The Silence in Between by Josie Ferguson
Wartime trauma reverberates down the generations as teenage Elly tries to cross covertly from East Berlin to West in 1961 to find her baby brother and win her troubled mother's love.
Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan
How do you make moral choices in a community controlled by militants? Tamil medical student Sashi tries to do good as her brothers and friends are consumed by civil war in Sri Lanka.
The Ghost Ship by Kate Mosse
Huguenot fugitive Louise commands a pirate ship disguised as a man, to liberate enslaved prisoners and escape from the consequences of her own dark secret.
Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson
The criminal underworld meets high society in a dark murder mystery in lawless 1920s London peopled with a generous cast of quirky characters.
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O Farrell
Immersed in the sumptuous yet suffocating world of the Medicis where women are traded and caged like tigers, teenage bride Lucrezia wonders whether her husband plans to kill her.
The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams
Peggy dreams of escape while working in the bookbindery in Oxford and living on a narrowboat. The Great War envelops the city, offering her difficult choices for life and love.
Which of these novels have you read? Do share your impressions by email or on my social channels on BlueSky and Instagram