[Usually blog posts are written by Shirley, Berryville’s library services associate, but today we have a special treat–a guest review written by Courtney, one of our local business owners and fellow book bloggers. She’s guiding us through the world of historical Christian fiction.]
One of my favorite things about reading is learning through story. I believe reading encourages empathy and understanding of humanity with all its flaws and virtues. I also love history. Combine these two, and a reader can learn amazing and lesser-known things about true history and the way people lived in different eras. This is why one of my favorite genres is historical fiction — especially Christian or inspirational fiction because I believe its message of hope and faith to be relevant to life today.
I’m delighted to share a list of historical Christian fiction books that I have read and can highly recommend.
Series:
Lori Benton’s The Pathfinders duology
Setting: 1750s-1770s Native American involvement in the American Revolution
Why read it? Beautiful prose-like voice lends depth to an unforgettable saga of redemption.
Mary Connealy’s Trouble in Texas series*
Setting: Post-Civil War Texas
Why read it? Western rom-com at its best! Friendship, ranching, adventure, and general cowboy goings on with womenfolk and outlaws.
*Ebooks also available on Libby.
Jessica Dotta’s Price of Privilege series
Setting: Victorian England
Why read it? Vivid setting, transformative character arc, and a poignant, allegorical story of sacrifice that just might leave you in tears. (This is my absolute favorite historical series.)
Dawn Crandall’s The Everstone Chronicles series
Setting: Gilded Age New England
Why read it? All feature the heroine’s unique first person POV-mystery, heartache, and hope combined in delightful romances and family trials with a few secrets and intriguing settings.
Rachel McMillan’s Herringford and Watts Mysteries series
Setting: 1910s Toronto
Why read it? Humor, friendship, lemon curd, and lady detectives in bowler hats defying social norms and confounding the men in their lives.
Pepper Basham’s Penned in Time series
Setting: 1910s/WWI England and America
Why read it? Character-driven stories of forgiveness and romance against a backdrop of important WWI events.
Single titles:
Jocelyn Green’s The Mark of the King
Setting: 1719-22 Early French settlement of New Orleans
Why read it? Amazing and historically accurate story of fortitude and survival with a strong heroine.
Laura Frantz’s The Lacemaker**
Setting: Colonial Williamsburg on the cusp of the American Revolution
Why read it? A lady caught between two political sides, a noble rescuer-of-a-hero, themes of belonging and love, familiar patriotic secondary characters, and the Welsh vocabulary.
**Ebook also available on Libby.
Sarah E. Ladd’s The Headmistress of Rosemere
Setting: 1816 England
Why read it? Secrets, dreams, Regency propriety, romance, English moors and manors, and a fascinating girls’ school.
Joanne Bischof’s The Lady and the Lionheart
Setting: Circus in 1890s Virginia
Why read it? This emotional and vivid story of redemption, sacrifice, and unconditional love has tiny Beauty and the Beast elements. You will never think of lions or the circus the same!
Tracy Groot’s Maggie Bright
Setting: 1940 England and Dunkirk, France during the evacuation event
Why read it? Multiple lead characters offer perspective and heart on both shores during the valiant feat of humanity.
About Courtney:
Full time pizza connoisseur. Part time movie nerd. Blogs about reading and books at The Green Mockingbird. Can be found with tea or coffee and a book in hand at any hour of the day.
[Thanks so much to Courtney for writing this excellent overview of Christian historical fiction! I’m not familiar with this genre, though I love history, and have some great starting points now. 🙂 If you’re interested in any of these books and want to learn more, look them up on our online catalog. We can request any we don’t currently have through ILL.
Do you enjoy Christian historical fiction? What’s your favorite series/author/book in this genre? Have you read these books before? Tell us in the comments!
Berryville Book Buzz 
Wonderful post! I’ve read and love many of these books listed, and have a few I need to read! Thank you, Courtney for sharing your love of Christian Historical Fiction!
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It definitely gave me a good starting point for exploring the genre more! Thanks so much for commenting! 🙂
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Aww, thanks, Trisha! I’m curious: which ones have you not read?
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I have yet to read Jessica Dotta’s series, and I haven’t yet read Tracy Groot’s book “Maggie Bright”.
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Thank you for the opportunity to talk about books! I hope readers find something new to add to their growing TBRs!
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Thank you for writing such a great post! I think there’s a little something for everyone here. 🙂
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I would add The Star that Always Stays by Anna Rose Johnson to this list. It might be the closest thing to a Lucy Maud Montgomery-esque novel written for a long time.
…the only thing closer might be my own Helena Davis series. Helena Davis Decides, my debut novel, will hopefully come out in a few months, and I have already begun its sequel, Beatrice of Bumblebee Cottage. (The titles of each book in the series follow the naming conventions of a different type of feminine early twentieth century novel.) Helena Davis Decides is set 1913-1919 and my best friend and I have worked hard to make even the syntax of the thought and dialogue historically accurate (using the ngram viewer). Both Helena and I were sixteen at the start of the story, and it is the most semi-autobiographical novel I have written so far. I only mention that because, you know, people like to say a lot that you should write what you know and that the best works of literature were based on the author’s life. I’m not completely sure I agree with them, but this novel has benefited from it in some ways. (The romance is not at all autobiographical…but that doesn’t mean I haven’t written it well.) Here is the blurb for Helena Davis Decides:
The world of Helena Davis is beautiful. It is full of love and all things wholesome. All things that are full of life. It has sheltered her from all the sordid things that lay outside. She loves it dearly and is willing to work to her utmost to protect it. But as death, debt, and a looming war begin to threaten it, the choices she must make become unclear. Especially as her young heart opens to a new kind of love.
You should also read The Chautaqua Girls books by Pansy. They were actually written from the 1870s to the 1910s, but are inspiringly focused on faith without being at all preachy. They are absolutely wonderful. They focus much more on spiritual development than romance, but the romance is still there and they are quite shockingly sensational at times.
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