Historical fiction books set in United States of America (34)


Find more books set in United States of America by genre:
1.

The Great Gatsby by Francis Scott Fitzgerald EN

Rating: 4 (70 votes)
Description:
Fitzgerald's classic tale of jazz-era New York and the mysterious, party-throwing millionaire Jay Gatsby. It's 1922 and New York is electric. A hotbed of jazz, glamour and scandal. The playground of the super-rich. And the new home of Nick Carraway, a Mid-Western man chasing his American dream. For eighty dollars a month, Carraway finds himself the unlikely neighbour of his beautiful cousin Daisy Buchannan and a mysterious millionaire - Jay Gatsby. From the shadow of Gatsby's mansion, Carraway is drawn into the glittering, captivating world of the wealthy - their parties, their love affairs, a... continue

2.

The Trees by Percival Everett EN

Rating: 5 (2 votes)
Description:
The Trees is a page-turner that opens with a series of brutal murders in the rural town of Money, Mississippi. The murders present a puzzle, for at each crime scene there is a second dead body: that of a man who resembles Emmett Till, a young black boy lynched in the same town 65 years before. The detectives suspect that these are killings of retribution, but soon discover that similar murders are taking place all over the country. In this bold, provocative book, Everett takes direct aim at racism and police violence, and does so in a fast-paced style that ensures the reader can't look away.


4.

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich EN

Rating: 5 (2 votes)
Description:
A novel based on the life of "Erdrich's grandfather, who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, D.C."--Dust jacket flap.

5.

The Birds of Opulence by Crystal Wilkinson EN

0 Ratings
Description:
From the critically acclaimed, award-winning author of Blackberries, Blackberries and Water Street comes an astonishing new novel. A lyrical exploration of love and loss, The Birds of Opulence centers on several generations of women in a bucolic southern black township as they live with and sometimes surrender to madness. The Goode-Brown family, led by matriarch and pillar of the community Minnie Mae, is plagued by old secrets and embarrassment over mental illness and illegitimacy. Meanwhile, single mother Francine Clark is haunted by her dead, lightning-struck husband and forced to fight agai... continue

6.

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler EN

Rating: 4 (3 votes)
Description:
From the New York Times bestselling author of Parable of the Sower and MacArthur “Genius” Grant, Nebula, and Hugo award winner The visionary time-travel classic whose Black female hero is pulled through time to face the horrors of American slavery and explores the impacts of racism, sexism, and white supremacy then and now. “I lost an arm on my last trip home. My left arm.” Dana’s torment begins when she suddenly vanishes on her 26th birthday from California, 1976, and is dragged through time to antebellum Maryland to rescue a boy named Rufus, heir to a slaveowner’s plantation. She soon realiz... continue

7.

Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez EN

0 Ratings
Description:
The novel chronicles a love affair between a teenage Mexican American girl and a teenage African-American boy in 1930's New London, Texas, occuring right up to the 1937 New London School explosion.

8.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab EN

Rating: 5 (7 votes)
Description:
In the vein of The Time Traveler’s Wife and Life After Life, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is New York Times bestselling author V. E. Schwab’s genre-defying tour de force. A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget. France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever—and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark ... continue

9.

Small Great Things : A Novel by Jodi Picoult EN

Rating: 5 (2 votes)
Description:
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • With richly layered characters and a gripping moral dilemma that will lead readers to question everything they know about privilege, power, and race, Small Great Things is the stunning new page-turner from Jodi Picoult. SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE “[Picoult] offers a thought-provoking examination of racism in America today, both overt and subtle. Her many readers will find much to discuss in the pages of this topical, moving book.”—Booklist (starred review) Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years’ e... continue

10.

La răsărit de Eden by John Steinbeck RO

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Description:
"La rasarit de Eden" este un roman inegalabil despre dragoste şi ură, inocenţă şi depravare, lupta omului pentru supravieţuire şi impulsul lui de autodistrugere şi, mai cu seamă, despre liberul-arbitru. Inspirându-se din "Geneză", Steinbeck reia în cheie modernă mitul lui Cain şi Abel şi îl transpune în Valea Salinas din California.



13.

Slewfoot : A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom EN

Rating: 1 (1 vote)
Description:
Set in Colonial New England, Slewfoot is a tale of magic and mystery, of triumph and terror as only dark fantasist Brom can tell it. Connecticut, 1666. An ancient spirit awakens in a dark wood. The wildfolk call him Father, slayer, protector. The colonists call him Slewfoot, demon, devil. To Abitha, a recently widowed outcast, alone and vulnerable in her pious village, he is the only one she can turn to for help. Together, they ignite a battle between pagan and Puritan – one that threatens to destroy the entire village, leaving nothing but ashes and bloodshed in their wake. “If it is a devil y... continue

14.

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner EN

Rating: 5 (2 votes)
Description:
NOBEL PRIZE WINNER • One of the greatest novels of the twentieth century is the story of a family of Southern aristocrats on the brink of personal and financial ruin. The Sound and the Fury is the tragedy of the Compson family, featuring some of the most memorable characters in literature: beautiful, rebellious Caddy; the manchild Benjy; haunted, neurotic Quentin; Jason, the brutal cynic; and Dilsey, their black servant. Their lives fragmented and harrowed by history and legacy, the character’s voices and actions mesh to create what is arguably Faulkner’s masterpiece and one of the greatest no... continue

15.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller EN

Rating: 4 (3 votes)
Description:
Arthur Miller's depiction of innocent men and women destroyed by malicious rumour, The Crucible is a powerful indictment of McCarthyism and the 'frontier mentality' of Cold War America, published in Penguin Modern Classics. Arthur Miller's classic parable of mass hysteria draws a chilling parallel between the Salem witch-hunt of 1692 - 'one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history' - and the American anti-communist purges led by Senator McCarthy in the 1950s. The story of how the small community of Salem is stirred into madness by superstition, paranoia and malice, culminating... continue

16.

Child of God by Cormac McCarthy EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Description:
From the bestselling author of The Passenger and the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Road • In this taut, chilling story, Lester Ballard—a violent, dispossessed man falsely accused of rape—haunts the hill country of East Tennessee when he is released from jail. While telling his story, Cormac McCarthy depicts the most sordid aspects of life with dignity, humor, and characteristic lyrical brilliance. "Like the novelists he admires-Melville, Dostoyevsky, Faulkner-Cormac McCarthy has created an imaginative oeuvre greater and deeper than any single book. Such writers wrestle with the gods themsel... continue

17.

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Description:
The author of When the Emperor Was Divine presents the stories of six Japanese mail-order brides whose new lives in early 20th century San Francisco are marked by backbreaking migrant work, cultural struggles, children who reject their heritage and the prospect of wartime internment.

18.

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey EN

Rating: 3 (1 vote)
Description:
A bewitching tale of heartbreak and hope set in 1920s Alaska. Jack and Mabel have staked everything on making a fresh start for themselves in a homestead 'at the world's edge' in the raw Alaskan wilderness. But as the days grow shorter, Jack is losing his battle to clear the land, and Mabel can no longer contain her grief for the baby she lost many years before. The evening the first snow falls, their mood unaccountably changes. In a moment of tenderness, the pair are surprised to find themselves building a snowman - or rather a snow girl - together. The next morning, all trace of her has disa... continue


20.

Mobility by Lydia Kiesling EN

Rating: 3 (1 vote)
Description:
A propulsive novel about class, power, politics, and desire by the celebrated author of The Golden State. The year is 1998, the End of History. The Soviet Union is dissolved, the Cold War is over, and Bunny Glenn is an American teenager in Azerbaijan with her Foreign Service family. Through Bunny's eyes we watch global interests flock to the former Soviet Union during the rush for Caspian oil and pipeline access, hear rumbles of the expansion of the American security state and the buildup to the War on Terror. We follow Bunny from adolescence to middle age--from Azerbaijan to America--as the e... continue

21.

The Chinese Groove : A Novel by Kathryn Ma EN

0 Ratings
Description:
Longlisted for the Dublin Literary Prize Longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice An Amazon Editors' Pick People, A Best Book of the Year For readers of Less and The Wangs Vs. The World, a buoyant, good-hearted, and sharply written novel about a blithely optimistic immigrant with big dreams, dire prospects, and a fractured extended family in need of his help—even if they don't know it yet Eighteen-year-old Shelley, born into a much-despised branch of the Zheng family in Yunnan Province and living in the shadow of his widowed father’s grief, dreams... continue

22.

The Daughter of Molokai by Alan Brennart EN

0 Ratings
Description:
NOW A LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER | NAMED A BEST/MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK BY: USA Today • BookRiot • BookBub • LibraryReads • OC Register • Never Ending Voyage The highly anticipated sequel to Alan Brennert’s acclaimed book club favorite, and national bestseller, Moloka'i "A novel of illumination and affection." —USA Today Alan Brennert’s beloved novel Moloka'i, currently has over 600,000 copies in print. This companion tale tells the story of Ruth, the daughter that Rachel Kalama—quarantined for most of her life at the isolated leprosy settlement of Kalaupapa—was forced to give up at birth. The... continue

23.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg EN

Rating: 2 (1 vote)
Description:
Mrs. Threadgoode's tale of two high-spirited women of the 1930s, Idgie and Ruth, helps Evelyn, a 1980s woman in a sad slump of middle age, to begin to rejuvenate her own life.

24.

The Fortunes of Jaded Women : A Novel by Carolyn Huynh EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Description:
Mai Nguyen is divorced, and after an explosive disagreement a decade ago, she's estranged from her younger sisters, Minh Pham and Khuyen Lam. Though Mai's three adult daughters, Priscilla, Thuy, and Thao, are successful in their careers, the same can't be said for their love lives. Mai is convinced they might drive her to an early grave

25.

The Turtle House by Amanda Churchill EN

0 Ratings
Description:
"A heartbreakingly resonant debut, The Turtle House is a tender, big-hearted story about women, family, and the complicated history of Texas. These characters, and their tentative, flawed stumblings toward grace, will stay with me."--Elizabeth Wetmore, author of Valentine "Sweeping yet intimate, Amanda Churchill's Turtle House spans cultures and continents. Minnie and her granddaughter Lia are unforgettable protagonists, whose grit and grace will inspire you. Together, they find a way through in this gripping debut."--Vanessa Hua, author of Forbidden City Moving between late 1990s small-town T... continue


27.

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store : A Novel by James McBride EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Description:
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR/FRESH AIR, WASHINGTON POST, THE NEW YORKER, AND TIME MAGAZINE ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2023 “A murder mystery locked inside a Great American Novel . . . Charming, smart, heart-blistering, and heart-healing.” —Danez Smith, The New York Times Book Review “We all need—we all deserve—this vibrant, love-affirming novel that bounds over any difference that claims to separate us.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post From James McBride, author of the bestselling Oprah’s Book Club pick D... continue

28.

The Vanishing Half : A Novel by Brit Bennett EN

Rating: 4 (2 votes)
Description:
THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP BESTSELLER#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER'An utterly mesmerising novel..I absolutely loved this book' Bernardine Evaristo, winner of the Booker Prize 2019'Epic' Kiley Reid, O, The Oprah MagazineThe Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Ten years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she... continue

29.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo : A Novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid EN

Rating: 3 (2 votes)
Description:
The epic adventures Evelyn creates over the course of a lifetime will leave every reader mesmerized. This wildly addictive journey of a reclusive Hollywood starlet and her tumultuous Tinseltown journey comes with unexpected twists and the most satisfying of drama.

30.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens EN

Rating: 4 (3 votes)
Description:
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE—The #1 New York Times bestselling worldwide sensation with more than 18 million copies sold, hailed by The New York Times Book Review as “a painfully beautiful first novel that is at once a murder mystery, a coming-of-age narrative and a celebration of nature.” For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived fo... continue

31.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett EN

Rating: 4 (2 votes)
Description:
The #1 New York Times bestselling novel and basis for the Academy Award-winning film—a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t—nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read. Aibileen is a black maid in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, who’s always taken orders quietly, but lately she’s unable to hold her bitterness back. Her friend Minny has never held her tongue but now must somehow keep secrets about her employer that leave her speechless. White socialite Skeeter just graduated college. She’s full of ambition, but without a... continue

32.

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Description:
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY • Two estranged siblings delve into their mother’s hidden past—and how it all connects to her traditional Caribbean black cake—in this immersive family saga, “a character-driven, multigenerational story that’s meant to be savored” (Time). “Wilkerson transports you across the decades and around the globe accompanied by complex, wonderfully drawn characters.”—Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones & The Six, and Malibu Rising In development as a Hulu o... continue

33.

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Description:
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Read with Jenna Book Club Pick as Featured on Today • From the author of Daisy Jones & The Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo . . . ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, Time, Marie Claire, PopSugar, Parade, Teen Vogue, Self • “Irresistible . . . High drama at the beach, starring four sexy, surfing siblings and their deadbeat, famous-crooner dad.”—People Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of the summer. But over the course of twenty-four hours, the family drama that ensues will change their lives will change foreve... continue

34.

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell EN

Rating: 4.5 (43 votes)
Description:
Flaming epic of Civil War and Reconstruction.