Best New Historical Fiction - December 2025
Canticle by Janet Rich Edwards
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Release Date: December 2, 2025
Synopsis:
A masterful debut novel following a spirited young woman's explorations of faith, agency, and love in thirteenth-century Bruges.
Aleys is sixteen years old and unusual: stubborn, bright, and prone to religious visions. She and her only friend, Finn, a young scholar, have been learning Latin together in secret--but just as she thinks their connection might become something more, everything unravels. When her father promises her in marriage to a merchant she doesn't love, she runs away from home, finding shelter among the beguines, a fiercely independent community of religious women who refuse to answer to the Church.
Among these hardworking and strong-willed women, Aleys glimpses for the first time the joys of belonging: a life of song, meaning, and friendship in the markets and along the canals of Bruges. But forces both mystical and political are at work. Illegal translations of scripture, the women's independence, and a sudden rash of miracles all draw the attention of an ambitious bishop--and bring Aleys and those around her into ever-increasing danger, a danger that will push Aleys to a new understanding of love and sacrifice.
Grounded in the little-told stories of medieval women--mystics, saints, anchoresses, and beguines--and introducing a major new talent, Canticle is a luminous work of historical fiction, vividly evoking a world on the verge of transformation.
Why We Recommend It!
Vivid, lyrical, and fiercely human, Canticle by Janet Rich Edwards follows young Aleys as she navigates faith, forbidden knowledge, and the independence of the beguine community in 13th-century Bruges, illuminating a world where devotion, love, and courage collide.
Asa James By Jodi Lew-Smith
Publisher: Koehler Books
Release Date: December 16, 2025
Synopsis:
1875 Vermont. Asa James hasn't exactly sucked on the silver spoon. No one chooses to grow up on a rural poor farm, but a mixed-race orphan with Asa's scarred face has little choice.
Determined to be a naturalist and scientific thinker in the vein of Charles Darwin, instead he finds himself thrust alone into the wider world, taking a tutor's position at a mountaintop mansion. There, the widow Caro Rockwell is glossy and sardonic, someone so far outside Asa's experience that she could well be another species. But soon he glimpses the broken woman inside the shell. Amid a series of eerie events, they form a friendship that grows into a sweet and tender sort of love.
His heart has what it wants. But then, from within the many dark recesses of Mansfield Hall, a shameful secret is discovered that will force Asa into making a terrible choice.
Why We Recommend It!
Rich with heart, mystery, and tender romance, Asa James by Jodi Lew-Smith follows a scarred, determined orphan in 1875 Vermont as he navigates love, secrets, and self-discovery amid the eerie beauty of a mountaintop mansion.
Sharpe’s Storm by Bernard Cornwell
Publisher: Harper
Release Date: December 2, 2025
Synopsis:
A gripping novel featuring the legendary Richard Sharpe from Bernard Cornwell, the internationally bestselling master of historical fiction widely recognized as “the most prolific and successful historical novelist in the world today” (Wall Street Journal).
The year is 1813. France is a battlefield, and winter shows no mercy. Amid brutal conditions, Major Richard Sharpe finds himself saddled with an unexpected burden: Rear-Admiral Sir Joel Chase, dispatched by the Admiralty with sealed orders, unshakable confidence, and a frankly terrifying enthusiasm for combat.
Sharpe’s mission from Wellington is clear, yet anything but simple: Keep Sir Joel alive.
Sir Joel could hold the key to defeating Napoleon once and for all. But to pull off his audacious plan, he needs someone who knows how to fight dirty, think fast, and survive the impossible.
He needs Sharpe…
Why We Recommend It!
Packed with relentless action, sharp strategy, and nail-biting suspense, Sharpe’s Storm by Bernard Cornwell thrusts readers into the brutal Napoleonic Wars, where Richard Sharpe must navigate deadly battlefields, cunning enemies, and high-stakes missions to keep a daring admiral—and history itself—alive.
The Once and Future Queen by Paula Lafferty
Publisher: Erewhon Books
Release Date: December 16, 2025
Synopsis:
Vera always knew she didn’t fit in. When she learns that she is meant to be in another time, she leaps at the chance to embrace a new life in a world of valor, intrigue, and unexpected magic in this bold and romantic retelling of Arthurian legend . . .
22-year-old Vera is at a crossroads: waiting tables, grieving her previous relationship, and jogging aimlessly each morning as if toward an uncertain future. Then an odd man shows up at her workplace, insisting that she was once the legendary Queen Guinevere of Camelot, and that her lost memories hold the key to changing both the past and the present. Somehow, it all feels like the direction she’s been looking for. But when she asks the mysterious man to tell her more about Lancelot, Arthur, and a faithless queen, he can only say that much of what she’s heard about Camelot is wrong. The truth, he claims, is something she must see for herself.
After jumping through a portal in Glastonbury’s historic center, Vera is not prepared for what she finds. Magic is everywhere, but a curse on the kingdom means it dwindles every day. She has no idea how to perform a queen’s duties. Her fast friendship with Lancelot sets gossip flowing, and the stranger she must call “husband” often refuses to meet her eye. Arthur is a puzzle: cold, forbidding, and, while angry to her face, keeps leaving secret tokens of tenderness in her chambers. Worst of all, Vera’s memories—and the answers locked within them—show no signs of returning. If Vera is truly destined to save Camelot, she’ll have to trust her instincts. And her king will have to trust her . . .
Why We Recommend It!
Brimming with magic, wit, and swoony adventure, The Once and Future Queen by Paula Lafferty whisks readers from modern-day Glastonbury into a fresh, feminist reimagining of Camelot, where a bewildered but big-hearted Vera must rediscover her past to save a kingdom—and maybe her own heart.
Dark Sisters by Kristi DeMeester
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Release Date: December 9, 2025
Synopsis:
Three women. Three centuries. One legacy of fury, love, and a power that refuses to die
In this fiercely captivating novel, horror meets historical fiction when a curse bridges generations, binding the fates of three women. Anne Bolton, a healer facing persecution for witchcraft, bargains with a dark entity for protection—but the fire she unleashes will reverberate for centuries. Mary Shephard, a picture perfect wife in a suffocating community, falls for Sharon and begins a forbidden affair that could destroy them both. And Camilla Burson, the rebellious daughter of a preacher, defies conformist expectations to uncover an ancient power as her father’s flock spirals into crisis.
Why We Recommend It!
Braiding witchcraft, forbidden desire, and generational rage across three centuries, Dark Sisters by Kristi DeMeester ignites a visceral blend of horror and historical fiction in which three defiant women confront the curses, cults, and patriarchal violence determined to silence them.
