Stuck in a reading rut? Want to expand your reading horizons in 2026? You’re in luck! Every month this year, we will be delving deep into popular genres at the library. If you’re already a fan, find readalike suggestions for popular authors and ideas for similar genres to explore. If you’re brand new to the genre in question, you will find a helpful explanation of the hallmarks of the genre, a breakdown of its most common subgenres, and explanations of what readers find so appealing about the most popular authors writing those types of books. Let’s explore historical fiction for July as we’re making history moving to our new library!
Historical fiction is a very popular genre at the library. Some of our patrons have a favorite time period they rarely stray from (like World War II or Tudor England), while others enjoy historical fiction from many different time periods and geographic regions. I have done a couple historical fiction reader’s advisory readalike lists over the years. That’s the service we offer that provides tailor-made suggestions for people based on their own personal reading history and preferences.
Historical fiction doesn’t usually feature subgenres, with most classifications instead focusing on the setting, which is king in historical fiction. For the sake of convenience, though, we divided this booklet into multiple subgenres, with additional notes on the settings covered by each author. The 7 subgenres covered here are historical epics and sagas, famous lives historical fiction, military historical fiction, historical women, Christian historical fiction, literary historical fiction, and gothic historical fiction.
Whether you’re a complete newbie to historical fiction or a veteran historical fiction reader, there should be something new for you in the booklet.
We also have some cool historical fiction handouts and recommendation lists already uploaded on our Readers’ And Viewers’ Advisory Resources page on the right-hand sidebar under Historical Fiction.
You can also use the “historical fiction” tags and categories feature on the top left-hand side of this post to search for other historical fiction recommendations on the blog. Just click on them, and you can pore through every single post that highlights a historical fiction book.
If you are still not finding anything new and appealing to read (or you are not interested in historical fiction), as soon as the library reopens, use our Google Form or contact the library in person or by phone or email to request a reader’s advisory consultation. I will write you a personalized list of suggested authors and titles based on your reading preferences.
Also be sure to check out our Romance genre booklet, which includes quite a few historical romance suggestions.
Happy reading!
What’s your favorite genre? What new-to-you genre are you exploring in 2026? Who’s your favorite historical fiction writer? Tell us in the comments! As always, please follow this link to our online library catalog for more information on any of our items or to place them on hold. Note that Berryville items are not currently available for hold but will be once we reopen.
The following resources have been especially helpful in preparing this booklet and post:
NoveListPlus. Ebsco.
Joyce G. Saricks. Reader’s Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction. ALA: Chicago and London, 2001.
Joyce G. Saricks. Reader’s Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction. 2nd edition. ALA: Chicago, 2009.
Neal and Wyatt and Joyce G. Saricks. Reader’s Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction. 3rd edition. ALA: Chicago, 2019.
Syndetics Unbound library catalog enrichment service.
Berryville Book Buzz 