Historical fiction and history books to read during Summer 2026.
We asked 10 much-loved authors to each suggest a couple of books for history lovers to enjoy over the summer.
They’ve offered an intriguing mix of historical books, new and old, ranging from the 6th century BC to the recent past, and spanning the world from Alaska and Orkney to the Holy Land and the Soviet Union. We also have two books for children to help pass the inevitable rainy days.
Edoardo Albert
Siege Warfare: The Fortress in the Early Modern World 1494–1660 by Christopher Duffy. This could have been a drily technical book, buried under the weight of the technical terms of a way of warfare that no longer exists (terreplein, ravelin, tenaille) but in fact it’s one of the most beguiling history books I’ve ever read, its learning leavened with Duffy’s crisply ironic commentary (as, for instance, when he remarks upon the inability of any of the combatants to defend Milan during the Italian Wars). An unexpected delight.
The Making of the Middle Ages: An Atlas of Europe by John Haywood. A confession: at 14, I hand-copied Tolkien’s map of Middle Earth and stuck it on my bedroom wall. So you can see that I’m a sucker for maps. Fellow cartophiles will love The Making of the Middle Ages, mostly for its glorious maps but also for its excellent commentary. There’s no better way of gaining an understanding of how Europe went from Roman Empire to competing kingdoms than through a sequence of good maps — and these are among the best.
● Edoardo Albert is a historian and novelist specialising in Anglo-Saxon and Islamic history. His The Man Who Stopped the Sultan, about how an engineer thwarted Suleiman the Magnificent’s attack on Rhodes, came out on 29 January. Bede: the Man who Invented England, published on 4 June, 2026, is about the monk who first wrote of the English as a single people.
Sharon Bennett Connolly
I am very excited to read Elly Griffiths’s The Killing Time. It’s the second in a series of time travel mysteries where a cold case team of detectives investigate really, really cold cases; as in they’re unsolved mysteries from the Victorian era. The first book in the series, The Frozen People, was excellent and really got the brain cells working. And got me wondering – is time travel really possible? Elly’s theory of how time travel could work – and how it could go wrong – seems plausible and is not overly complicated. Which makes the story even more believable. The Killing Time is going to be my treat to me when I have finished my current project, hopefully by the end of July.
My other choice is one I have just finished and can highly recommend. Scott Mariani is famous for his Ben Hope series of thrillers, set in the 21st century but very often with a historical twist. He has recently taken to writing full-on historical fiction, sending his character Will Bowman on the Third Crusade. Die for a King is the third book in the series and sees Will travel almost to the gates of Jerusalem with Richard the Lionheart, and then into the depths of Germany in a daring attempt to rescue England’s captured king. It is a wonderful adventure, thoroughly researched and very well written. The whole series is fabulous!
● Sharon Bennett Connolly is the bestselling author of several history books about the medieval period, particularly focusing on women. Her Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters from the Conquest was published on 30 March. Heroines of the Tudor World is released in paperback on 15 July and Princesses of the Later Middle Ages is out on 13 August, 2026. Sharon blogs at History… the interesting bits and she also co-hosts the A Slice of Medieval podcast.
DV Bishop
If you’ve ever been intrigued by Frida Kahlo, Wallis Simpson or Clare Booth Luce, you must read The End of the Vodka by Oscar de Muriel (published on June 26). It’s a fascinating story of spies, lies and legends, told via a thrilling dual narrative in the looming shadow of World War II. An accomplished novel that draws on real historical documents to deliver a sting in its tale.
The Wise Witch of Orkney by Anna Caig is a compelling novel about wise woman Elspet who is brought from Orkney to help the new Danish bride of King James VI give birth. But Elspet must hide her identity or risk being branded a witch by the king and sent for execution. A completely compulsive read that brings the late 16th century alive on the page.
● DV Bishop is the author of the award-winning Cesare Aldo historical thrillers, which are set in Renaissance Florence. The fifth in the series, Carnival of Lies, was published in June, 2025, and the sixth, Shadow of Madness, is released on 9 July, 2026.
Penny Boxall (children’s books recommendations)
Annet Shaap‘s Lampie certainly feels as though it belongs to another time, and it is ravishing. The eponymous Lampie looks after the lighthouse, but when a storm brings disaster and a ship is wrecked, she finds herself living in the Admiral’s Black House — along with rumoured monsters. This book, in Laura Watkinson’s 2020 English translation, has justly attracted much attention: it’s dark, funny, frightening, cosy, and everything that a fairy tale should be. I’m not sure if it’s technically historical fiction, but it has a strong scent of the 19th century to it: it’s storm-lashed, tar-washed, lit with guttering oil lamps.
City of Stolen Magic by Nazneen Ahmed Pathak is beautifully written, pacy and memorable. Set in 1855, it follows Chompa: born with a powerful magic, she’s forbidden from using it, but the disappearance of her mother and other magical people sets her on a quest to London. The magic feels real, and meanwhile the story poses very real questions about power and exploitation of resources. A story that wears its historical research lightly as it sweeps you along.
● Penny Boxall is a poet and children’s writer. Letty and the Mystery of the Golden Thread, her debut novel for nine to 12 year olds, was published in January 2025. Its sequel, Letty and the Mystery of the Word Thieves, followed on 28 May, 2026. She’s held a number of university fellowships and two UNESCO Cities of Literature residencies.
Elizabeth Fremantle
Antonia Senior – Stalin’s Apostles: The Cambridge Five and the Making of the Soviet Empire. By casting light on the realities of ideological devotion, Senior confidently dismantles the glamorous myth of The Cambridge Five. Intelligent, incisive and refreshingly unsentimental.
Emma Darwin – The Bruegel Boy. The novel focuses on Gil, muse and model to the painter Pieter Breughel, as he looks back at the political and religious upheavals of his youth. Darwin conjures the world of the past in all its otherness, making it immediate and coherent. A tender, vivid and absorbing read.
● Elizabeth Fremantle is a novelist and the award-winning author of Disobedient (HWA Gold Crown 2024). Her latest novel, Sinners, about the tragic Italian noblewoman Beatrice Cenci, published in July 2025 and will be out in paperback on 6 August, 2026.
Ben Kane
The Careful Surgeon by Shehan Hettiaratchy: a memoir by a distinguished British surgeon, this is an utterly absorbing journey into the heart of what it means to be a doctor. Equally mesmerising and moving, I came away feeling deeply grateful to human beings like Mr Hettiaratchy.
North to Alaska by Trevor Lund is the true-life account of one man’s incredible odyssey, cycling 16,000 miles from Tierra del Fuego to Alaska, alone. Self-deprecating and unassuming, Lund conjures a magic tale of endurance, suffering, joy and strength in the face of adversity. Chapeau!
● Ben Kane was inspired to start writing historical fiction by visits to Hadrian’s Wall. Since then he’s had 20 books published, with 11 of them Sunday Times Top Ten bestsellers. Most of his series have been set in the Ancient Roman era, and more recently he’s written about Richard I and the Crusades. A Land Aflame, his next, is out on 2 July, 2026, and Cannae: The Longest Day, on 24 September, both in his Hannibal series.
Lizzie Lane
On first sight, these titles are set in different eras and format. A Viking warrior in one, a princess, soon to become a queen in the other. The thing that links them is strong storytelling and both authors’ obvious love of history. It’s too hot to sleep, but these are the titles I will turn to.
Dominion of Dust by Matthew Harffy. Viking era. Hero Hunlaf on passage to the Holy Land and about to face the might of the Byzantine Empire. I’ve sailed those seas and I’ve visited Norway as a guest of my Icelandic friends. Plenty of action and, as usual, the period detail rings with authenticity. Matthew knows his subject.
The other historical I’m reading is The Lost Queen by Carol McGrath, a tale of Berengaria of Portugal. Betrothed to Richard the Lionheart, she has no sweet little wedding in a church. She has to track him down and the journey — again to the Holy Land stopping off at Sicily and Cyprus — is fraught with danger. The first book I read of Carol’s was The Handfasted Wife, which I very much enjoyed.
● Lizzie Lane is the author of around 70 books, some written as Jean Moran, Jean G Goodhind or Erica Brown. She has three books out this year: Bad Company on Coronation Close in January, Year of the Lynx, her first Celtic Chronicle, in February, and Echoes of the Past at the Orchard Cottage Hospital on 1 May.
Carol McGrath
Isola by Allegra Goodman is set in 16th-century France and is inspired by the orphaned, real-life, young aristocrat Marguerite de la Rocque de Roberval. She falls in love with her guardian’s secretary on their voyage to New France (Canada). As a punishment, they are set ashore to survive on an uninhabited island in the St Lawrence River. What follows is the remarkable story of a strong, young woman and her adventures. It becomes a mixture of a dark fairy tale and a survival against odds, castaway story. I became lost within its pages. This is a beautifully-crafted ‘lost and return’ novel, a page-turning tale of adventure and redemption. Marguerite is a determined and delightful heroine, but her uncle and guardian remains a manipulative, crafty rogue until the very end. An excellent summer read.
The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett: I have waited years for this novel and it was well worth the wait! Set in narrow-minded Oxford, Mississippi, in 1933, it is a saga-type story of complicated sisterhood, confronting poverty and economic hardship and injustice. Rest assured, the ending of this novel is satisfying and the novel is page-turning, emotional and funny. I was completely drawn to the lives of its characters. Meg is a sassy local 11-year-old placed in a dreadful orphanage where she is seriously mistreated. Smart, resilient Birdie, visiting the town, finds an unconventional way to raise money and pay off debts. Meg has the chance of a new home. Sadly, it is filled with secrets she has to keep. The book focuses on its female characters from a variety of classes and backgrounds. It is a huge hug of a novel with great heart, superb story, fabulous setting and well-drawn, interesting characters. Meg and Birdie, whose journeys are well worth following, will linger in my memory long after the book’s last page was reached. It’s my favourite read of 2026 to date.
● Carol McGrath‘s novels have retold the lives of royal women in the medieval period. For her latest book, The Queen’s Sister, she’s moved forward into Tudor times. It was released on 4 June, 2026, and is one of Alexandra Walsh’s picks — see below.
Anthony Riches
When afforded the leisure to settle down in the sunshine to immerse myself in history I often find myself in one of two moods: to revisit old friends (and their enemies; yes, I’m predictable in enjoying a bit of a punch-up) or to find new ones. You know, that ‘warm bath’ sensation of opening a much enjoyed book in order to rediscover what it was one enjoyed about it the last time, compared with the ‘oh hello’ frisson of finding something to add to the list of favourites. And as my tastes are pretty much ancient world/20th century, it can be a rich seam to mine.
When I’m looking for an ancient world to revisit (it’s strictly fiction for me, when the opportunity presents itself to relax) then I’m more than likely to turn to Christian Cameron. Believable characters, spot-on historical accuracy with no liberties taken, and edge-of-the-seat action are what he promises — and delivers — and nowhere more so than in the Long War series that begins with Killer of Men and continues into another six books taking in a sweep of ancient Greek history. Honourable mention to Steven Pressfield for Gates of Fire (the real 300, try it, you’ll thank me).
And I can recommend no new book any more highly than Invitation From A Dictator, Rory Clements‘s latest in the growing Detective Sebastian Wolff series. If you, like me, loved each and every Philip Kerr novel of pre- and post-war Germany as seen through the eyes of Bernie Gunther, than I can wholeheartedly point you at this new series for those ‘conflicted man in a wicked world’ vibes. Right, I’m off to find a deck chair and an Aperol.
● Anthony Riches has a lifelong interest in military history. He’s published 15 novels in his bestselling Empire series, set in Ancient Rome. The latest, Field of Blood, came out on 12 February. The Centurions trilogy also has a Roman background. Now he’s focusing on Ancient Greece, with the first of a new series, Swords of Troy, released on 16 July.
Alexandra Walsh
Summer is always a great time to catch up on reading and this year I’ll finally be able to read two books I’ve had on my TBR list for a while. I’ve just finished writing my new book, which features Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV and mother of the Princes in the Tower. Before this, I was writing about Elizabeth Boleyn in The Boleyn Curse. My rule is never to read other historical books in the same era as the one I’m writing in order to avoid accidental story crossover with other authors.
This is why The House of Boleyn has been waiting patiently. I love Tracy Borman’s writing, both fiction and non-fiction. Her work is accessible, detailed and evocative. I can’t wait to join the Boleyn family at Hever Castle and discover more of their secrets during their rise to power.
Carol McGrath’s new book, The Queen’s Sister, is also one I’m excited to read. I have long admired Carol’s work and learn something new with every book of hers I read. The Queen’s Sister is about Elizabeth Seymour, sister of Jane Seymour, Henry VIII’s third wife and I’m looking forward to reading a new angle on this tragic tale.
● Alexandra Walsh writes bestselling dual-timeline historical fiction and timeslip mysteries that uncover the lost voices of women, both real and imagined. The Boleyn Curse was published on 15 March, 2026.
I hope you’ve enjoyed our summer reading suggestions and have found some books you’d like to read, and that our children’s picks will help them pass the inevitable rainy days.
For more historical fiction and non-fiction reading inspiration, have a look at our round-up of historical books published in 2026. In December we’ll have our annual Christmas books feature.
Browse our previous summer reading recommendations.
Read Historia features by our contributors:
Edoardo Albert
Sharon Bennett Connolly
DV Bishop
Elizabeth Fremantle
Ben Kane
Lizzie Lane, Jean Goodhind and Jean Moran
Carol McGrath
Anthony Riches
Alexandra Walsh
Image:
Summer Sunlight (Isles of Shoals) by Childe Hassam, 1892: Israel Museum via Wikimedia (public domain)
