Now that 2024 is behind us, it’s clear that the year gave readers a remarkable collection of historical fiction books that didn’t just revisit the past but helped us reflect on our shared identity, memory, and resilience.
Let’s explore some of the best historical fiction books of 2024 that continue to resonate.
Children of the Celt by Richard Lemieux
Richard Lemieux’s Children of the Celt stood out not just for its scope but for its soul. Framed through the eyes of Edward, a modern-day seer guided by the spirit of an ancient ancestor, the novel traces the journeys of Celtic people across time through war, colonization, migration, and spiritual awakening.
Lemieux’s gift lies in connecting the reader to a forgotten lineage. This isn’t a history lesson; it’s an invitation to remember. At its heart, the novel reminds us that our ancestors were not simply subjects of empires. They were wanderers, thinkers, and survivors, and their stories live on in us.
The Women by Kristin Hannah
In The Women, Kristin Hannah turns her lens to the Vietnam War, following the unforgettable story of Frankie McGrath, a young Army nurse who volunteers for duty and returns home to a country that refuses to see her. Hannah’s prose is both unflinching and intimate, capturing the brutality of war alongside the emotional isolation that comes afterward.
Frankie’s transformation from a sheltered daughter to a combat-hardened woman is a journey marked by sacrifice, silence, and resilience. The novel doesn’t just chronicle the war; it reveals the hidden scars women carried long after the battles ended.
James by Percival Everett
A Pulitzer finalist and Kirkus Prize–winning Percival Everett’s James is a bold reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, told entirely from the perspective of Jim, now fully realized as James, a man of wit, dignity, and strategic brilliance.
Everett deconstructs Twain’s legacy while elevating a voice that history and literature have long sidelined. Through James’s eyes, readers see slavery’s cruelty but also the quiet revolutions of intellect, subversion, and survival. The novel is biting, funny, and deeply profound, asking what changes when the man once called a caricature is finally allowed to speak for himself.
This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud
Claire Messud’s This Strange Eventful History tells the intimate saga of a French-Algerian family displaced by war, exile, and the passage of time.
The story follows Gaston Cassar, a naval officer whose choices ripple through decades, from colonial Algeria to postwar France to a granddaughter uncovering his legacy in 2010. Messud’s language is lyrical yet precise, building a mosaic of identity, memory, and cultural fragmentation.
Looking Back to Move Forward
These stories remind us that history is made by ordinary people who endure extraordinary things. And among them, Children of the Celt continues to shine.
Lemieux gave us a spiritual chronicle of human memory, one that draws lines across empires, migrations, and belief systems to reveal something simple and profound: We are all connected.
Rediscover your story. Begin with theirs. Read Children of the Celt by Richard Lemieux.