Here are 100 books that Vera fans have personally recommended if you like
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Iâve loved reading novels about strong, quirky women since childhood (Nancy Drew, Ramona Quimby, Harriet the Spy, the heroines of Judy Blume novels, just for starting examples!). As I grew into writing my own stories, I also started studying womenâs history. I merged these two interests to begin writing historical novels with strong women protagonists. I love the challenge of researching to figure out the details of womenâs day-to-day livesâso many unrecorded stories!âand I love to advocate for the idea (fortunately not as revolutionary as it once was) that a woman can be the hero of her own story and that each womanâs story is important to tell.
I loved this book for being historical fiction at its finest, and I loved the main character, Mary Deerfield, for being a woman who did not fit within her own time.
Itâs 1660s Boston, and Mary is married to an abusive man. Determined not to die at his hand, she must fight against everything in her society to free herself from her marriage.
I loved how this book so insightfully explored the dynamics of an abusive relationship while also bringing to vivid life a distant time and place.Â
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER ⢠From the acclaimed author of The Flight Attendant: âHistorical fiction at its bestâŚ. The book is a thriller in structure, and a real page-turner, the ending both unexpected and satisfyingâ (Diana Gabaldon, bestselling author of the Outlander series, The Washington Post).
A young Puritan womanâfaithful, resourceful, but afraid of the demons that dog her soulâplots her escape from a violent marriage in this riveting and propulsive novel of historical suspense.
Boston, 1662. Mary Deerfield is twenty-four-years-old. Her skin is porcelain, her eyes delft blue, and in England she might have had many suitors. ButâŚ
The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.
The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.
Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn theâŚ
I am a long-time journalist and have been passionate about understanding history ever since taking a wonderful AP course in European history in high school. I have read many historical books, both fiction and nonfiction, so it makes sense that my first novel, Rebecca of Ivanhoe, is historical fiction. To be a good journalist and citizen, you have to know and understand history to inform your reporting and try to prevent the bad moments of history from repeating themselves.
This book is the fascinating story of a Sephardic Jewish emigrant in London who, in the 1660s, was permitted to scribe for a blind rabbi even though she was a woman. The narration flips between Esther Velasquezâs remarkable story and an ailing historian in the 21st century who is trying to determine the identity of the mysterious scribe known to scholars only as âaleph.â
I liked this story because it revealed a fascinating window on how women, and particularly Jewish women, were treated in 17th-century Europe.Â
WINNER OF A NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD A USA TODAY BESTSELLER "A gifted writer, astonishingly adept at nuance, narration, and the politics of passion."-Toni Morrison Set in London of the 1660s and of the early twenty-first century, The Weight of Ink is the interwoven tale of two women of remarkable intellect: Ester Velasquez, an emigrant from Amsterdam who is permitted to scribe for a blind rabbi, just before the plague hits the city; and Helen Watt, an ailing historian with a love of Jewish history. As the novel opens, Helen has been summoned by a former student to view aâŚ
I have always been fascinated by religion from an intellectual perspectiveâthe way it can be such a powerful force for both good and evil and is such a constant facet of humanity, regardless of the time or place. Iâm also interested in community and the complexity of human relationships, so itâs only natural that Iâm particularly excited about books set within religious communities. And, as much as I appreciate a true crime cult expose, I am a lover of great fiction first and foremost, so novels that explore religion with intelligence and artistry are my personal holy grail.
This immediately immersed me in another time and place. Apparently, Iâm very clear in my bookish likes, because it was recommended to me multiple times due to the combination of nuns and sapphic content. Luckily, it lived up to the recommendations!
It is very well written and extremely atmospheric, and it drew me right into its medieval world. Groff managed to create characters who feel appropriate to their era but who are also accessible to a modern reader, which is not an easy task. This helped me to become emotionally invested in the book.
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS AN OBAMA'S BOOK OF THE YEAR
'Gorgeous, sensual, addictive' SARA COLLINS 'Brightly lit' NAOMI ALDERMAN
Born from a long line of female warriors and crusaders, yet too coarse for courtly life, Marie de France is cast from the royal court and sent to Angleterre to take up her new duty as the prioress of an impoverished abbey.
Lauren Groff's modern masterpiece is about the establishment of a female utopia.
'A propulsive, captivating read' BRIT BENNETT 'Fascinating, beguiling, vivid' MARIAN KEYES 'A dazzlingly clever tale' THE TIMES 'A thrillingly vivid,âŚ
The Guardian of the Palace is the first novel in a modern fantasy series set in a New York City where magic is realâbut hidden, suppressed, and dangerous when exposed.
When an ancient magic begins to leak into the world, a small group of unlikely allies is forced to actâŚ
I have a passion for Historical Fiction. It started when I was 12 years old. Before that, I never liked any kind of history. Then, in school, we started learning about King Tut, and I was fascinated. I started having frequent dreams that he would sit and tell me stories about our life together and he believed that I was his wife, Sunni. Into adulthood, I still had these dreams, so I decided to write about the stories that he would tell. Along with exhaustive research, I learned who Sunni (Anukshanamun) was. My book is based on facts mixed with my dreams.
I am recommending this book because it shows the emotional side of three separate women who have survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. We have all heard about big tragedies, but I like books that focus on a specific historical figure that was there. This book shows these women defeat the odds and overcome tragedy simply by banding together. These types of books always give me hope and courage to face obstacles in my own life.
April 18, 1906: A massive earthquake rocks San Francisco just before daybreak, igniting a devouring inferno. Lives are lost, lives are shattered, but some rise from the ashes forever changed.
Sophie Whalen is a young Irish immigrant so desperate to get out of a New York tenement that she answers a mail-order bride ad and agrees to marry a man she knows nothing about. San Francisco widower Martin Hocking proves to be as aloof as he is mesmerizingly handsome. Sophie quickly develops deep affection for Kat, Martin's silent five-year-old daughter, but Martin's odd behavior leaves her with the uneasy feelingâŚ
I am a child of the South, hailing as I do from Warm Springs, Georgia, best known for Rooseveltâs Little White House. My family, indeed the entire community as far as I can tell, were in the thrall of conservative Christian values that had no room for people like meâgay (although I had no word for it for a long time) and physically misshapen (something to be hidden under layers of clothing). I was a boy and then teenager living on the fringes, always on the outside looking in, seeking approval or defiantly hiding to process the uniquely Southern dysfunction around me. I know these protagonists. Theyâre my people.
The Cicada Tree is a wonderful Southern Gothic magical realism mash-up leavened with humor and illuminating reflections on the human condition told in voices that drip with authentic Southernisms. Analeise Newell, this novelâs protagonist, is a complex, not-as-kind-as-she-knows-she-should-be eleven-year-old who drinks whiskey and is a piano prodigy. Her close friendship with Etta Mae, a budding coloratura soprano, sheds light on accepted racial inequities in the Deep South of the 1950s, building to (in the authorâs words) a âchain of cataclysmic events with life-altering consequences-all of it unfolding to the maddening whir of a cicada song.âÂ
WHEN AN ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD, WHISKY DRINKING, PIANO PRODIGY ENCOUNTERS A WEALTHY FAMILY POSSESSING SUPERNATURAL BEAUTY, HER ENSUING OBSESSION UNLEASHES FAMILY SECRETS AND A CATACLYSMIC PLAGUE OF CICADAS. The summer of 1956, a brood of cicadas descends upon Providence, Georgia, a natural event with supernatural repercussions, unhinging the life of Analeise Newell, an eleven-year-old piano prodigy. Amidst this emergence, dark obsessions are stirred, uncanny gifts provoked, and secrets unearthed. During a visit to Mistletoe, a plantation owned by the wealthy Mayfield family, Analeise encounters Cordelia Mayfield and her daughter Marlissa, both of whom possess an otherworldly beauty, a lineal trait regarded asâŚ
In 2015, I moved to Michiganâs Upper Peninsula, a world all its own. I live only four blocks from Lake Superior, and I canât imagine living anywhere without that lake. I pay much more attention to the weatherâthose waves really crash during Winter stormsâand Iâve become more interested in things like geology and local history since moving to such a unique place. Everything I notice eventually enters my poetry, which has become filled with water, shorelines, copper, and white deer. And best of all, our long winters give me a lot of time to read.
After I moved to the Upper Peninsula, I kept hearing about an event referred to as the Italian Hall Disaster in Calumet, Michigan, when over 70 people were killed, most of them children, in 1913.
This book features that event as part of its plot, but it really drew me in because I felt so sympathetic to its main character, Annie Clements. She cares about people, and she cares about justice, and I admired her from the start. I wanted her to succeed even as I sensed she probably would not. Sheâs one of the few characters I actually grieved for when I finished the book.
From the bestselling and award-winning author of The Sparrow comes âhistorical fiction that feels uncomfortably relevant todayâ (Kirkus Reviews) about âAmericaâs Joan of Arcââthe courageous woman who started a rebellion by leading a strike against the largest copper mining company in the world.
In July 1913, twenty-five-year-old Annie Clements has seen enough of the world to know that itâs unfair. Sheâs spent her whole life in the mining town of Calumet, Michigan, where men risk their lives for meager salariesâand have barely enough to put food on the table for their families. The women labor in the houses of theâŚ
Aury and Scott travel to the Finger Lakes in New Yorkâs wine country to get to the bottom of the mysterious happenings at the Songscape Winery. Disturbed furniture and curious noises are one thing, but when a customer winds up dead, itâs time to dig into the details and seeâŚ
Iâve devoured historical fiction ever since that first Johnny Tremain paperback, but I started writing historical fiction after a Masterâs in International Economics helped me to better understand world events. What gives those historical events relevance today are the stories we tell about the negotiation of power. I am all for revisiting the power dynamic to win better quality of life for those most marginalized. Iâve been digging into labor history for my latest work in progress and it is fascinating and inspiring. I may write about 19th-century Scottish peasants and Chicago printers, but I also want todayâs marginalized populations to see their struggles similarly celebrated.
This is a historical mystery, but so much more than a whodunit. Itâs fourth in the series, but can be read alone if you donât mind spoiling the earlier books a bit. Itâs a stand-out to me because itâs about raising oneâs voice against inhumanity, even when it seems commonplace, or necessary.
Maisie is an intuitive detective and as such, has to fight against conventional police interference, client skepticism, and male smugness. But what sheâs fighting for is the right outcome for everyone concerned, including the victim of the crime. This novel focuses on an artist ex-soldier of WWI who was using his voice to criticize the powers within government. I just love how Maisie deliberately wields her compassion in order to see the full picture of a case.
London, 1931. Nick Bassington-Hope, veteran of the Great War and controversial artist, is suddenly found dead. His death from a fall, the night before a much-anticipated exhibition of his work, is recorded as 'accidental'. But his sister is not convinced.
Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Georgina Bassington-Hope believes her brother was murdered, and she turns to Maisie Dobbs for help. Maisie's investigation takes her from the desolate beaches of Kent to the dark underbelly of London's art world. Still fragile after her war-related breakdown, Maisie's immersion in her work could lead her to lose more than she bargained for,âŚ
Iâve devoured historical fiction ever since that first Johnny Tremain paperback, but I started writing historical fiction after a Masterâs in International Economics helped me to better understand world events. What gives those historical events relevance today are the stories we tell about the negotiation of power. I am all for revisiting the power dynamic to win better quality of life for those most marginalized. Iâve been digging into labor history for my latest work in progress and it is fascinating and inspiring. I may write about 19th-century Scottish peasants and Chicago printers, but I also want todayâs marginalized populations to see their struggles similarly celebrated.
Pre-revolution America is not usually my era for historical fiction but when I tell you that this novel grabs you with visceral detail, I mean it. Smells, textures, glaresâeverything is so vividly told! The resistance in this novel is really simple survival, as the whole New England village seems to have it in for our heroine Ruth. But she stubbornly holds out, trying to forge a path forward for herself. We get treated to some local politics, some ship lore, run-ins with Indigenous Nations (some good, some bad) and local brigands, and always anchored in Ruthâs evolving notions of right and wrong. The ending was also delicious. Think Last of the Mohicansmeets Cold Mountain, but with a surprise for our heroine.
Out Front the Following Sea is a historical epic of one womanâs survival in a time when the wilderness is still wild, heresy is publicly punishable, and being independent is worse than scornedâit is a death sentence. At the onset of King Williamâs War between French and English settlers in 1689 New England, Ruth Miner is accused of witchcraft for the murder of her parents and must flee the brutality of her town. She stows away on the ship of the only other person who knows her innocence: an audacious sailorâOwenâbound to her by years of attraction, friendship, and sharedâŚ
Iâve lived in California all my life and am a fourth-generation Northern Californian. The characters in my book, which is based on my family, lived through the 1906 earthquake, although itâs not central to that story. That earthquake and fire was one of the most memorable events in my beautiful home stateâs history. Many books have been written about it, so Iâve decided to list my favorite novels you might not have heard of. They all include excellent descriptions of the earthquake and its aftermath, and they create strong, empathetic female characters. Enjoy!
Lots of books focus on the 1906 earthquake itself, but I like that in this one the quake is almost ancillary. The story is about a young penniless woman who comes to live with a wealthy aunt in San Francisco. She experiences betrayal, madness, and murder, then is locked away from the world. The earthquake actually frees her. She meets a journalist who offers to help her get revenge and claim whatâs hers. I enjoyed the fresh take on the 1906 quake and loved the characters. The cover is gorgeous, too!
âThis is a spellbinding page-turner of a book.â âKristin Hannah, New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale.
A mesmerizing novel of dark family secrets and a young womanâs rise and revenge set against the backdrop of the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
The eve of destruction. After her motherâs death, penniless May Kimble lives a lonely life until an aunt she didnât know existed summons her to San Francisco. There sheâs welcomed into the wealthy Sullivan family and their social circle.
Initially overwhelmed by the opulence of her new life, May soon senses that dark mysteries lurk in theâŚ
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa storiesâall reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argueâŚ
Iâve lived in California all my life and am a fourth-generation Northern Californian. The characters in my book, which is based on my family, lived through the 1906 earthquake, although itâs not central to that story. That earthquake and fire was one of the most memorable events in my beautiful home stateâs history. Many books have been written about it, so Iâve decided to list my favorite novels you might not have heard of. They all include excellent descriptions of the earthquake and its aftermath, and they create strong, empathetic female characters. Enjoy!
After the earthquake, people had to rebuild. This one features a female architect who trained under Julia Morgan, rebuilding a luxury hotel that once belonged to her family. The tension rises she competes with a male architect to have the first finished hotel. This book is filled with great descriptions of the setting and events surrounding the quake. It is filled with people reimagining themselves and their city after tragedy and loss.
"Vividly evocative of the time and place...[Ware] deftly blends history and romance in a page-turning story."âLibrary Journal
Early in 1906, the ground in San Francisco shook buildings and lives from their comfortable foundations.
Amidst rubble, corruption, and deceit, two womenâyoung architects in a city and field ruled by menâfind themselves racing the clock and each other during the rebuilding of competing hotels in the City by the Bay.
Based on meticulous research, A Race to Splendor tells the story of the audacious people of one of the world's great cities rebuilding and reinventing themselves after immense human tragedy. Filled withâŚ
