Best New Historical Fiction - May 2026
The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Release Date: May 6, 2026
Synopsis:
Oxford, Mississippi, 1933.
Abandoned by her mother one Christmas Eve, eleven-year-old Meg Lefleur has learned the hard way to rely on no one. Now one of the unadoptable "big girls" at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, she fights each day to keep her spirit unbowed.
Birdie Calhoun, unmarried and outspoken, has come to Oxford to ask her socialite sister to help the struggling family she's left behind. But as the Depression tightens its grip, Birdie discovers her sister's seemingly charmed life is a tapestry of lies.
Then, Birdie encounters Charlie, a woman running low on luck with little left to lose. When their fates--and Meg's--converge, Charlie comes up with an audacious plan for them to take control of their lives. But in a place and time where hypocrisy is rife and women's freedom is fragile, even the smallest act of defiance can have dangerous consequences.
The Calamity Club will make you laugh, cry, and cheer--an epic testament to underestimated women who know that calamity can be the spark of new beginnings. This is Kathryn Stockett at her most confident, heartfelt, and hilarious--the triumphant return of one of the most beloved storytellers of our time.
Why We Recommend It!
A heartfelt and spirited Depression-era tale, The Calamity Club celebrates resilience, friendship, and the power of underestimated women, blending humor and heartbreak in a richly atmospheric story of survival and second chances.
Three Queensby Rebecca Connolly
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Release Date: May 5, 2026
Synopsis:
Abigail Adams, Queen Charlotte, and Marie-Antoinette—three women form an unlikely sisterhood, navigating revolutions, royal pressures, and personal losses as they shape their own legacies.
After the end of the American Revolutionary War, Abigail Adams crosses the Atlantic to reunite with her husband, John, after five long years apart. But she is unprepared for the glittering courts of England and France that are so different from her experience in the newly established United States. Undeterred, Abigail sets her sights on befriending the queens of Europe, believing their support is key to her nation’s future.
In England, Queen Charlotte carries the weight of an empire on her shoulders. Her husband, King George III, battles a private madness, while political tensions rise and her eldest son schemes for power. Charlotte struggles to maintain order and propriety—while clinging to the solace she finds in her correspondence with her friend Marie Antoinette in France.
Revolution has gripped France, and Marie Antoinette must watch as her world crumbles. Vilified by the public and neglected by a king who refuses to see the storm coming, she faces growing unrest with dwindling allies. As tragedy strikes her family, she reaches out to her friends—Charlotte and Abigail—in a last attempt to find a path forward, possibly even escape.
The paths of these three women cross in unexpected ways in public, in private, and through letters. They forge a quiet sisterhood across borders and upheaval, each one facing love and loss, sweetness and strife, revolution and regrets.
Why We Recommend It!
An imaginative and compelling portrait of three extraordinary women, Three Queens explores friendship, duty, and endurance across borders and revolutions, offering a fresh lens on familiar figures who shaped an era of upheaval.
The Hope Keeperby Heather Webb
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Release Date: April 19, 2026
Synopsis:
1919, Washington D.C. Elisabeth Beaumont comes from a renowned jeweler family, but after the untimely death of her twin brother, she's left on her own to run the failing family business. Desperate for work, she approaches the affluent crowd her brother Julien once courted to expand Beaumont Jewelers. Their ringleader is wealthy socialite Evalyn McLean, owner of the world's most infamous gemstone, rumored to curse all who travel within its orbit.
The Hope Diamond.
As Elisabeth is swept into Evalyn's toxic world of dark opulence, the lines defining who she is and where she belongs begin to blur, leading Elisabeth to question all she once believed. She's no longer certain she wants to take over the family business and be beholden to the wealthy elite of D.C. But she can't fathom leaving her father in the lurch. There's also Evalyn to consider, and the Hope Diamond, which beckons Elisabeth to admire it, touch it, care for it, despite every warning she's been told.
When tragedy strikes one night, not only is Elisabeth's fragile friendship with Evalyn put to the test, but her carefully constructed glamorous new life comes crashing down. Now Elisabeth must face the truth about her brother's death and decide what matters most.
Why We Recommend It!
A glittering and emotionally charged novel, The Hope Keeper examines ambition, identity, and the seductive dangers of wealth through the legend of the Hope Diamond, illuminating the fragile line between desire and ruin.
Eight Pointed Cross by Marthese Fenech
Publisher: Rising Action
Release Date: May 12, 2026
Synopsis:
The violent clash between the Ottoman Empire and the Knights of St John on the island fortress of Malta serves as the backdrop to Eight-Pointed Cross. Young siblings Domenicus and Katrina Montesa live under constant threat of raids by the Ottoman Turks, the staunchest enemies of the Christian knights. All the while, hundreds of leagues away in Istanbul, Demir’s dream of becoming an imperial horseman in the Sultan’s cavalry is his only salvation against relentless torment by his cruel brother.
The Turkish invasion of Malta and the island’s bloody defence will forever change the lives of the three protagonists, whose fates are intertwined not only with each other, but with nobles and peasants, knights and corsairs, tyrants and galley slaves, on both sides of the conflict as the novel sweeps across the Mediterranean world of the sixteenth century – from Malta, a barren Christian outpost, to Istanbul, the glittering seat of Islam, from filthy prison cells to lush palace gardens.
Against soaring cliffs and open sea-lanes, the men and women of Eight-Pointed Cross face corruption and oppression, broken vows and betrayal, as two great empires collide. Surviving this battle-soaked world of swords and scimitars will test the limits of every character’s courage, loyalty, and love.
Why We Recommend It!
An epic and immersive historical adventure, Eight-Pointed Cross captures the brutality and grandeur of the sixteenth-century Mediterranean, weaving courage, betrayal, and divided loyalties into a sweeping tale of clashing empires.
Jungle of Ashesby Brynn Barineau
Publisher: History Through Fiction
Release Date: May 19, 2026
Synopsis:
A sweeping tale of ambition, resistance, and impossible love set in Henry Ford's ill-fated rubber empire in the Amazon.
In 1928, industrial titan Henry Ford set out to conquer the Brazilian rainforest, determined to grow his own rubber and free his company from British control. The result was Fordlandia-a factory-town dream of American order imposed on the chaos of the jungle. But behind the promise of progress lies exploitation, cultural conflict, and ecological disaster.
Seventeen-year-old Joanna Rogge is uprooted from Michigan when her father is appointed assistant manager of the Ford Company's Amazonian plantation. Eager to escape the confining expectations of American society, Joanna finds herself both fascinated and disturbed by the rainforest-and by Rafael Caetano, a skilled Brazilian mechanic with ambitions of his own.
As conditions in Fordlandia deteriorate-diseased crops, rising fevers, and mounting tensions between management and labor-Joanna and Rafael are drawn together in a fragile romance that defies class, culture, and the company's rigid rules. When political revolution and corporate control collide, they must choose between duty and desire, safety and truth, survival and love.
Set during a period of tremendous upheaval, Jungle of Ashes tells the story of a doomed utopia through the eyes of two unforgettable characters. It is a powerful novel about the cost of empire, the resilience of the human spirit, and a love that endures even when the world around it falls apart.
Why We Recommend It!
A vivid and ambitious story of empire undone, Jungle of Ashes explores exploitation, resistance, and forbidden love amid the collapse of Fordlandia, revealing the human cost of dreams built on control and conquest.
