Historical fiction · ~1920–1939

Interwar historical fiction books

Interwar historical fiction (~1920–1939): Jazz Age, Depression, rise of fascism. Interwar fiction covers the Jazz Age, Depression, and the rise of fascism—fertile ground for literary and biographical historical novels.

Plan this era as a journey Bestsellers & decade ratings

Curated on HisFic (7)

Hand-picked titles from HisFic's catalog tagged for this era.

All the Light We Cannot See
Anthony Doerr
A blind French girl and a German boy’s paths converge in occupied Saint-Malo during World War II.
World War II era · Interwar · Literary · Adventure & epic
A Gentleman in Moscow
Amor Towles
Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced to house arrest in Moscow’s Metropol Hotel as the Soviet century remakes the world outside. Over three decades he builds a life of friendship, purpose, and quiet resistance within the hotel’s walls.
Interwar · World War II era · Literary
The Four Winds
Kristin Hannah
Elsa Martinelli’s Texas farm is stripped by drought and dust until she takes her children west, joining the migrant camps of Depression-era California. Hannah’s Dust Bowl novel is historical fiction of grit, motherhood, and the cost of starting over.
Interwar · Literary · Family saga
Memoirs of a Geisha
Arthur Golden
A girl sold into Kyoto’s geisha world navigates art, rivalry, and war.
Interwar · World War II era · Literary · Family saga
Remember Ben Clayton
Stephen Harrigan
A sculptor memorializes a rancher’s son killed in WWI (SAH Prize 2013).
World War I era · Interwar · Literary
The Matchbox Girl
Alice Jolly
A nonverbal girl’s life in Nazi-era Austria, told with unusual power (Walter Scott Prize 2026).
Interwar · World War II era · Literary
The Paris Wife
Paula McLain
Hadley Richardson’s marriage to Ernest Hemingway unfolds in Jazz Age Paris among the Lost Generation.
Interwar · Biographical · Literary