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Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving and EASY Xmas Shopping!
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Here's a list of Historical Fiction ideas for small gifts. I did a little research and found there’s a lot to choose from, from the heavily accurate to the “sanitized” and “fantasized”.
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I've read many of these, and since you’re a dedicated reader, I’ll bet you have too.
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Documentary-style historical fiction is strongly historical, emphasizing accuracy. Fiction is present, but usually in minor characters and events. Here are some examples:
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- Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel — Follows Thomas Cromwell with careful attention to Tudor politics and primary sources.
- The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah — While its main characters are fictional, the events of the French Resistance are rendered with documentary care.
- All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr — Deeply grounded in WWII history and technology, especially French occupation and German military training.
- The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory — Uses historical figures and real court events, dramatized but largely factual in timeline and setting.
Semi-historical fiction: here, invented characters play out a story in historic periods and settings. The facts of the era are respected, but the plot is driven by imagination.
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- Cold Mountain (Charles Frazier)--Civil War backdrop, but characters and plot are largely fictional.
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Shaffer & Barrows)
Grounded in post-WWII Guernsey history; story and characters fictionalized.
- Once Upon a Wardrobe (Patti Callahan) Uses real people (C.S. Lewis) but frames them in a fictional story with imagined conversations.
- The Mountain Women Series (Carol Ervin, aka Me): imagined characters move in a historically-accurate setting.
Loosely historical or historical-inspired fiction: These stories may bend timelines, mix invented and real figures, or take major creative liberties—but still feel rooted in a recognizable period.
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- The Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern) Not strictly historical; feels late-19th century but operates more as a fantasy with historical flavor.
- Outlander (Diana Gabaldon) Time travel + 18th-century Highlands; uses some real events but freely fictionalizes.
- The Song of Achilles (Madeline Miller) Grounded in mythic antiquity; emotional realism more important than historical detail.
- Pachinko (Min Jin Lee) Inspired by real history (Korean diaspora in Japan), but the characters and family saga are fictional.
- The Red Tent (Anita Diamant) Reimagining ancient biblical women using historical imagination.
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My preferences: I want believable stories, even fantasized ones, if they are well-written with true themes and well-developed characters. I don’t like twisted facts and events, and stories that romanticize the past.
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There's a lot of poorly written historical fiction, loose on accuracy and heavy on cliche, relying on stock characters or modern attitudes pasted onto old settings. These to me, are not believable, but millions love them.
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Here's one I'd like to read next: The Land in Winter, by Andrew Miller, shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize, winner of the 2025 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and the 2025 Winston Graham Historical Prize for Fiction. If you've read it, let me know what you thought.
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Have you read all the series?
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The Mountain Women Series
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Paperbacks are also available from Amazon and other online booksellers, like Barnes & Noble.
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The Mountain Women Series
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Thanks for reading, and thanks for your ratings and reviews!
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