Time travelers, gather ’round!
 
If you’re in the market for a temporary reprieve from our current era of history—perfectly understandable—today’s collection is for you.
 
After noticing some emerging trends in recent historical novels, we developed this era-specific reading guide. Target audience: readers looking to transport themselves to another time and place. The categories below range from the familiar (Tudor England) to the rather specific (the Great Famine in Ireland) to the oddly recent (the years 2007 and 2008).
 
Bear in mind that this is a sampling with several caveats. These books have all been selected by Goodreads editors, with an eye toward interesting concepts rather than comprehensive cataloging. You won’t find an exhaustive list of titles, but you will find a gleeful disregard for genre fidelity. The historical fiction presented here includes plenty of cross-genre playfulness: YA romance, historical horror, murder mysteries, magical realism, and even some space-age fantasy. Consider it our eras tour.
 
Most of the books here were published relatively recently or are forthcoming this year, but we’ve doubled back to certain older classics when appropriate. You’ll find some familiar names below (Louise Erdrich, Patrick O’Brian, Taylor Jenkins Reid), but also several intriguing debut novels. Browse around for at least one interesting riff on the haunted house story, too. 
 
Click on the book cover images for more details about each book, and feel free to use the Want to Read button to add to your digital shelf.