Homegoing
Yaa Gyasi
Linked stories follow two half-sisters’ lineages across centuries of African and American history.
Early modern · Victorian / Gilded Age · Family saga · Literary
Early modern · Literary · ~1500–1789
Literary historical fiction books: Early modern
Looking for historical fiction in the literary lane set during the Early modern (~1500–1789)? Literary historical fiction books: Early modern collects historical novels that match both filters—Tudors, exploration, Reformation, revolutions brewing. Character- and prose-forward novels set in the past HisFic is a free historical fiction discovery app: open a full reading journey with the same era and story-type filters, then add region, themes, or audience. Shelves mix curated historical fiction picks with Open Library titles so even thin combinations still have books to explore.
Shelf · 18 titles
Curated HisFic picks first, plus Open Library fills for this era + story type.
Bring Up the Bodies
Hilary Mantel
Thomas Cromwell, now Master Secretary, engineers the fall of Anne Boleyn as Henry VIII turns toward Jane Seymour. The middle novel of Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy is court politics at close range—cool, lethal, and intimate.
Early modern · Biographical · Literary
Wolf Hall
Hilary Mantel
Thomas Cromwell rises through Tudor England’s deadly court, told in close, modern-feeling prose.
Early modern · Biographical · Literary
Hamnet
Maggie O'Farrell
The plague, a marriage, and the death of Shakespeare’s son—told with intimate, luminous focus.
Early modern · Literary · Biographical
Year of Wonders
Geraldine Brooks
A Derbyshire village quarantines itself during the plague—and a servant girl finds her strength.
Early modern · Literary
News of the Dead
James Robertson
A Highland glen’s stories across centuries of saints, strangers, and secrets (Walter Scott Prize 2022).
Medieval · Early modern · Literary · Time-slip
The Cattle Killing
John Edgar Wideman
Linked narratives of plague, prophecy, and Black life across centuries (SAH Prize 1997).
Early modern · Late 20th century · Literary · Time-slip
The East Indian
Brinda Charry
A boy from India arrives in colonial Virginia—America’s earliest Asian immigrant story (SAH Prize 2025).
Early modern · Literary · Adventure & epic
The Gallows Pole
Ben Myers
Coin-clippers in 18th-century Yorkshire defy king and crown (Walter Scott Prize 2018).
Early modern · Literary · Adventure & epic
The Mirror & the Light
Hilary Mantel
The final act of Thomas Cromwell’s rise and ruin (Walter Scott Prize 2021).
Early modern · Biographical · Literary
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Tracy Chevalier
A servant in Vermeer’s household becomes entangled in the making of a famous portrait.
Early modern · Biographical · Literary
The Marriage Portrait
Maggie O'Farrell
Lucrezia de’ Medici is married at fifteen to the Duke of Ferrara, then isolated in a court where a duchess can be painted, praised, and quietly discarded. O’Farrell turns a famous rumor—that Lucrezia was murdered—into close, tense biographical historical fiction of Renaissance Italy.
Early modern · Biographical · Literary
The Miniaturist
Jessie Burton
A young wife in 1680s Amsterdam receives a cabinet house—and cryptic dolls that seem to know too much.
Early modern · Mystery · Literary
The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt by Day
Scott O’Dell
Fiction · Reformation in fiction · Juvenile fiction · Historical fiction
Early modern · Literary · Open Library
Outlander
Diana Gabaldon
Man-woman relationships, fiction · Historical fiction · Culloden, Battle of, Scotland, 1746 · Jacobite Rebellion, 1745-1746 in fiction
Late 20th century · Romance · Military & war · Open Library
The Wind Dancer
Iris Johansen
Statues · Fiction · Renaissance · American Suspense fiction
Early modern · Romance · Open Library
Shanna
Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
Fiction, Romance, Historical, Fiction in English · Love stories · Passion · Large type books
Romance · Open Library
Quicksilver
Neal Stephenson
Scientists · Fiction · Adventure stories · Alchemists
Adventure & epic · Open Library
Other story types in Early modern
Looking for a broader list? See Early modern historical fiction or literary historical fiction.