Best New Historical Fiction - January 2026
Fire Sword & Sea by Vanessa Riley
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: January 13, 2026
Synopsis:
The Caribbean Sea, 1675. Jacquotte Delahaye is the mixed-race daughter of a wealthy tavern owner on the island of Tortuga. Instead of marriage, Jacquotte dreams of joining the seafarers and smugglers whose tall-masted ships cluster in the turquoise waters around Tortuga. She falls in love with a pirate, but when he returns to the sea, Jacquotte decides to make her own way. In Haiti she becomes Jacques, a dockworker, earning the respect of those around her while hiding her gender.
Jacquotte discovers that secret identities are fairly common in the chaotic world of seafaring, which is full of outsiders and misfits. She forms a deep bond with Bahati, an African-born woman who has escaped slavery and also disguises herself as a man to navigate the world. They join forces with Dirkje De Wulf, a fearless adventurer who also lives as a man at sea. As Jacques, Jacquotte falls in love with Lizzôa d'Erville, a beautiful courtesan who deals in secrets and sex. While others see their work clothes as a disguise, Lizzôa’s true self is as a woman.
For the next twenty years, Jacquotte raids the Caribbean, making enemies and amassing a fortune in stolen gold. When her fellow pirates decide to increase their profits by entering the slave trade, Jacquotte turns away from piracy and the pursuit of riches. Risking her life in one deadly skirmish after another, she instead begins to plot a war of liberation.
Why We Recommend It!
A swashbuckling feminist epic, Fire Sword & Sea by Vanessa Riley charts a legendary pirate’s daring reinvention and her fight to liberate the oppressed across the Caribbean.
The Last of Earth by Deepa Anappara
Publisher: Random House
Release Date: January 13, 2026
Synopsis:
1869. Tibet is closed to Europeans, an infuriating obstruction for the rapidly expanding British Empire. In response, Britain begins training Indians—permitted to cross borders that white men may not—to undertake illicit, dangerous surveying expeditions into Tibet.
Balram is one such surveyor-spy, an Indian schoolteacher who, for several years, has worked for the British, often alongside his dearest friend, Gyan. But Gyan went missing on his last expedition and is rumored to be imprisoned within Tibet. Desperate to rescue his friend, Balram agrees to guide an English captain on a foolhardy mission: After years of paying others to do the exploring, the captain, disguised as a monk, wants to personally chart a river that runs through southern Tibet. Their path will cross fatefully with that of another Westerner in disguise, fifty-year-old Katherine. Denied a fellowship in the all-male Royal Geographical Society in London, she intends to be the first European woman to reach Lhasa.
As Balram and Katherine make their way into Tibet, they will face storms and bandits, snow leopards and soldiers, fevers and frostbite. What’s more, they will have to battle their own doubts, ambitions, grief, and pasts in order to survive the treacherous landscape.
A polyphonic novel about the various ways humans try to leave a mark on the world—from the enduring nature of family and friendship to the egomania and obsessions of the colonial enterprise—The Last of Earth confirms Deepa Anappara as one of our greatest and most ambitious storytellers.
Why We Recommend It!
A sweeping and suspenseful expedition, The Last of Earth by Deepa Anappara journeys into forbidden Tibet to reveal the human cost of ambition, empire, and our hunger to leave a mark.
The Star Society by Gabriella Saab
Publisher: Harper Muse
Release Date: January 6, 2026
Synopsis:
Inspired by the indomitable spirit of Audrey Hepburn, this gripping story follows two extraordinary sisters as they reunite after World War II, embarking on a journey of justice, survival, and secrets amid the backdrop of the Red Scare in Hollywood.
A new name, a new country, and a coveted title as Hollywood's newest rising star: by 1946, actress Ada Worthington-Fox has discarded the life she left in war-torn Arnhem, where she worked for the Dutch resistance before Gestapo imprisonment prompted her to flee after release. But that life is thrust back into the spotlight when Ingrid--the sister she believed dead--shows up on her doorstep.
Politically-minded Ingrid escaped the Nazi invasion of Arnhem and fled to Washington, DC, where she became a private investigator. Now, she has been sent to root out Communist influences in Hollywood. Her target: Ada Worthington-Fox, the sister she long thought lost to her. Ingrid must hide her true purpose as she shields Ada from sneaky reporters, damaging rumors, and increasing threats, all while fighting to uncover which side her sister is truly on before Ingrid's efforts to help her are too late.
Yet, Ada has her own mission: locating the Gestapo agent who terrorized her hometown and bringing him to justice. But delving into her past would risk alerting the press to a life too personal to expose. As the rising fear of Communism threatens everyone, she turns to her sister, believing Ingrid's ties to Washington may be her only hope for success.
But the connections between Ada's elusive Nazi and Ingrid's Communist witch hunt might be stronger than they realize. Both sisters share the darkest secret of all, one that risks their very lives if ever exposed. As they come closer to identifying Ada's target and as Ingrid's investigation intensifies, they will need to decide what is more important: justice or safety, keeping silent or taking a stand, and, above all, if their loyalty to one another is worth risking the post-war lives they've fought to build.
A thrilling historical novel that transports readers from the shadows of the Dutch resistance to the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.
Why We Recommend It!
A riveting post-war drama, The Star Society by Gabriella Saab follows two sisters—bound by secrets and divided by duty—as the Red Scare threatens everything they’ve rebuilt.
When We Were Brilliant by Lynn Cullen
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: January 20, 2026
Synopsis:
They were an unlikely pair—a blond bombshell and a photographer determined to be taken seriously—but Marilyn Monroe and Eve Arnold would make a deal that would change their lives in this dazzling new novel from the national bestselling author of Mrs. Poe and The Woman with the Cure.
In 1952, Norma Jeane Baker follows documentary photographer Eve Arnold into a powder room on the night they first meet. She has a proposition for her. Norma Jeane created Marilyn Monroe to be photographed, and she wants Eve to do it. Eve is better than anyone she’s seen at revealing a person’s inner truth. Together they can help each other. Together, she says, they can make something brilliant.
Skeptical of this cipher of a young woman, Eve demurs. She’s looking for more serious subjects than this ambitious starlet. But she keeps getting drawn back into Marilyn’s orbit, and the women come to recognize something in each other—something fundamental. Nothing will get in the way of what they want, and when Marilyn’s star takes off to teetering heights, neither will ever be the same.
A lavish and transporting novel, When We Were Brilliant captures the halcyon days of an icon and the grit of women determining their own futures as it explores the exceptional and complicated friendship between Marilyn Monroe and Eve Arnold.
Why We Recommend It!
A luminous reimagining of an American icon, When We Were Brilliant by Lynn Cullen explores the life-changing bond between Marilyn Monroe and the photographer who helped reveal her truth.
The Water Lilies of Mishipeshu by Karla Cruise
Publisher: History Through Fiction
Release Date: January 27, 2026
Synopsis:
A hidden botanical manuscript sparks a centuries-long battle between profit and preservation, leaving a trail of murder, madness and encounters with the supernatural.
In the midst of war and cultural upheaval, Marguerite, a half-French, half-Native American woman, and her British lieutenant lover create a botanical manuscript at a wilderness outpost. This manuscript holds the secrets of an ancient medicine society, including a dangerous recipe for a hallucinogen that can grant prophetic powers or kill. As foreign invaders sweep across the land, generations work to preserve and conceal this "lost" manuscript.
The story unfolds over centuries, from the burning of a local fort by Native American tribes to the rise of White settlers and industrialists. Despite attempts to erase indigenous culture, the manuscript endures, hidden away until a young graduate student discovers it by chance. Her find sparks a race against time to protect the manuscript from a powerful pharmaceutical company. Join her on a thrilling subterranean adventure with an ecology student as they strive to restore the land and return the manuscript to its rightful owners.
In a tale woven with history, myth, and the enduring power of nature, Mishipeshu, the Algonquin goddess, reappears to foretell the world's destruction and rebirth. Will the manuscript's secrets bring harmony or chaos? Discover the answer in The Water Lilies of Mishipeshu.
Why We Recommend It!
A lush, time-spanning adventure, The Water Lilies of Mishipeshu by Karla Cruise features a sacred manuscript—steeped in medicine, myth, and power—that sparks a battle between cultural survival and corporate greed.
