Summertime Reads for Historical Fiction Fans

Book Summary

The French Riviera’s glamorous hotels were dazzling in the summer of 1939 as the world’s wealthiest vacationers and Hollywood movie stars arrived for the first Cannes film festival. American Annabel Faucon has also arrived on the Côte d’Azur. She left a broken heart and a dead-end job back home in New York to work for her uncle at the Grand Hotel.

Annabel is selected to keep an eye on two stars staying at the hotel for the film festival – a mysterious screenwriter and a renegade actor. However, the celebrity drama will seem less significant when Nazi guests arrive during the last summer before the outbreak of war. Annabel’s new duties include disrupting a Nazi communication system.

Book Summary

Single mom Mallory receives a devasting call that her son ingested a poisonous mushroom at summer camp. He’s alive but needs a kidney transplant. When she finds out that neither she nor her sister are a match, the hunt is on to find a donor. Her mom was adopted from an infamous Irish orphanage in 1952, so Mallory does an Ancestry.com-style DNA test, hoping to find more blood relatives.

In 1951, Hungarian refugee Hannah made a new life for herself after the war. Her husband is a British diplomat, and they’re currently stationed in glamorous Cairo. However, everything is at risk when an unexpected encounter with the manager of a spy-filled hotel leads to a passionate affair. As Cairo’s streets buzz with possible revolution, Hannah is snared in a game of intrigue between two men.

Book Summary

This novel introduces us to three generations of a family that spends summers in a seaside town on Maine’s rocky coastline.

Maren Larsen grew up in a small farming community in Minnesota, but in 1944, amid WWII, she was determined to do her part in the war effort. While working as a nurse at Walter Reed Medical Center, she’s swept off her feet by a doctor named Oliver, whose family summers yearly on the coast of Maine.

Twenty-six years later, in 1970, as the conflict with Vietnam rages, Maren and Oliver are at odds with their fiercely independent teenage daughter. Seventeen-year-old Annie has fallen for a man her parents disapprove of. By the end of the summer, the family has suffered a terrible tragedy, and Annie vows never to return to Haven Point, Maine.

In 2008, Maren’s grandaughter, Skye, arrives in Haven Point to help scatter her mother’s ashes. Skye has inherited her mother, Annie’s, view of Maine. Rather than seeing the coast’s beauty and enjoying the regattas, clambakes, and sing-alongs, Annie believes the people to be snobbish and petty. But Annie never told Skye the full story of what happened during the summer of ‘70.

Book Summary

Four adult cousins have been left a mysterious item and a VHS tape after the death of their Grandma Imogene. The cousins spent summers together as kids at Gram and Gramp’s lakehouse, but they haven’t seen each other in two years. 

Emeline, Wyatt, Geoff, and Belinda each have their own struggles and are eager to pay their respects and return back to their own lives. However, the VHS tape sends them on an unexpected adventure to Daytona Beach to learn more about their grandma’s past. Will their own secrets tear the cousins apart before they discover what she has hidden? 

This heartfelt light suspense novel alternates narrators, including sections of the book that follow Imogene’s summer of 1963. 

If you love an air of mystery in your summer reads, be sure to check out our lists of the best summer cozy mysteries and the best summer thrillers.

Book Summary

Margo had her life planned out as debutant turned wife in 1961. But when her engagement is broken off, and her family endures a scandal, her future changes dramatically.

Instead of becoming a posh housewife, she becomes an assistant to photographer Slim Aarons, who is known for vibrant pictures of high society, royalty, and Hollywood stars. Margo is thrust into a jet-setting life from Acapulco to Manhattan and interacts with the biggest names of the decades, like Jackie Kennedy, Truman Capote and his Swans, and a host of Vanderbilts.

When Margo and Slim arrive in Palm Beach, she is swept up into the city’s social circle and befriends heiress and rising designer Lilly Pulitzer. But soon, her loyalties will be tested, and secrets may be revealed.

Book Summary

During the War, Hazel left her Kansas home to become one of the “Rosie the Riveters” at Douglas Aircraft. But when the war ended, she was dismissed so a man could have her job. After her taste of a different lifestyle, she doesn’t want to return home to be a typical 1940s housewife. Instead, she takes a job for famous, but cantankerous, artist named Hanson Radcliff. 

As Hazel thrives in Laguna, she hasn’t let go of her dream of returning to work with airplanes. But along the way, her life moves on and she befriends Jimmy, a hotel bartender with the potential to become more than a friend. Her life would be a dream for many, but is it enough for her?

Book Summary

Betty Stern turned 18 in 1951 and was looking forward to her last summer at her grandparent’s Jewish summer resort before heading off to college. She had big dreams of becoming a fashion editor in NYC.

During that life-changing summer, Betty collapses at the end of the beauty pageant, which ends up being the last time the pageant is held. In 2020, a financially struggling manicurist decided to bring it back. By this time, Betty was in her late 80s, and no one knew she was the last winner or why the pageant had ended.

Book Summary

Effie Gillies has spent her whole life living on the small Scottish island of St. Kilda. She has a wild and free temperament suited to dangerous rope work along the cliffs. When the Earl of Dumfries and his son, Lord Sholto, visit the island while the island’s men are away, Effie is asked to be their tour guide. Despite being from two very different worlds, the attraction between Effie and Lord Sholto is instant. But when a storm hits and the entire island must be evacuated, everything falls apart.

This historical romance is the first of three planned for the Wild Isle trilogy. Inspired by the true history of the island community of St. Kilda, the first book is filled with the glamour and intrigue of high society in the 1930s. The second book, The Stolen Hours, was published on July 20, 2023, with the third book to follow on July 18, 2024. The first book ends on a cliffhanger, so if you need resolution in your books, you might want to wait to read until the full trilogy is released.

Book Summary

Kate feels stuck in her family’s failing restaurant in San Fransisco. She jumps at the chance to escape when her grandfather makes a cryptic plea for her to “find a beautiful stranger.” This search takes her to the Hotel del Coronado near San Diego, where the movie Some Like it Hot is being filmed.

When she’s offered a position at the glamorous hotel, it feels like a dream come true. And her life continues to get better as new romance blossoms. However, the hotel has ghosts from the past, just like Kate. Sixty years earlier, a guest died at the hotel and still haunts the halls. The life of that turn-of-the-century guest and Kate’s present intertwine in surprising ways.

Book Summary

In this novel, the main characters are Maxine, who dreams of being a journalist for the New York Times, and Vivi, who wants to be an actress in LA.

When Vivi is given a chance to be the star of the Aquacade synchronized swimming spectacular at the World’s Fair, the lives of these two big-dreaming women collide. They navigate a summer of opportunity and adversity together as friends who want to achieve much more than society expects.

Book Summary

This novel is set in the summer mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, and spans three different timelines, from the Gilded Age to the present day.

In the present day, you’ll meet Andie, the producer of a reality show called Mansion Makeover. She’s in Newport to renovate the once fabulous but now slowly crumbling Sprague Hall. However, she has more than construction problems. The mansion comes with a reclusive heiress who still lives in the house but insists that no one speaks to her and that no one touches the boathouse.

In 1958, you’ll meet Lucia, aka Lucky, Sprague, who fled Mussolini’s Italy with her grandmother. They return to her Nana’s Newport house, which she hasn’t seen since 1899. One night in the boathouse, she uncovers a shocking truth that changes everything she thought she knew.

In 1899, mining heiress Maybelle Sprague was taking singing lessons from Ellen, who had been hired to help polish Maybelle for her entrance into society. Maybelle’s stepbrother has just purchased a home among Newport’s elite and hopes to marry Maybelle off to an Italian prince. However, Ellen has a checkered past that the family doesn’t know about.

Book Summary

Wealthy aristocrat Eva is engaged to a doctor and spending her last single summer at her family’s estate in Sopron. However, she meets a Romani fiddler and artist, Aleandrao, and they quickly fall in love despite the differences in class that make them look incompatible to outsiders.

The outbreak of war separates Eva and Aleandro, but their chance meeting that summer leads to decisions that change their individual futures.

Book Summary

In the summer of 1942, at the height of WWII, 21-year-old Anne joins the Army Nurse Corps and is sent to serve in the South Pacific on the island of Bora-Bora. 

She has a fiance back home that was chosen for her from birth, and whose father has paid to ensure that he won’t be drafted. After arriving in Bora-Bora, she finds herself drawn to a soldier named Westry. Together they spend many blissful hours under the thatched roof of an abandoned beach bungalow. But they are driven apart when they witness a crime and then Westry is redeployed to Europe.

Years later, back home in Seattle, Westry is never far from Anne’s mind. When a letter arrives, she hopes that maybe they’ll finally be reunited.

Book Summary

This might just be the perfect historical fiction beach read for the summer – a family drama that brings the 60s to life in vivid, nostalgic detail.

Each year, the Levin family’s children look forward to spending their summer in Nantucket with their grandmother. But in the summer of ’69, thirteen-year-old Jessie is the only sibling who can make the trip. One of her older sisters is pregnant with twins, the other is caught up in the civil rights movement, and her older brother has recently been deployed to the war in Vietnam.

The summer proves to be an eventful one – Vietnam, Woodstock, the moon landing, the Chappaquiddick affair, Jessie struggling with her first heartbreak, and her grandmother with a few secrets of her own.

Book Summary

At the Cannes Film Festival in 1955, Grace Kelly sought refuge in a small boutique to escape the press’s flash bulbs. She became fast friends with the shop owner, Sophie Duval, and even created a plan to help Sophie’s struggling perfume business.

James Henderson, a British press photographer following Grace Kelly, also likes Sophie. The following year, James is assigned to cover Grace Kelly’s wedding to Prince Rainier of Monaco. James hopes he’ll also have the opportunity to be reunited with Sophie.

Book Summary

The successful Riva siblings are always the envy of those around them in Malibu. Their father is legendary 70s singer Mick Riva, but each of the four siblings found success of their own in pursuits, like professional surfing and photography.

The book is set in 1983 at sister Nina’s famous end-of-summer beach house party. By midnight, the party is out of control. Before dawn, Nina’s mansion has been burned to the ground.

During this unforgettable night, each sibling has secrets revealed.

Book Summary

When Alice Weiss leaves her home in Iowa to chase her dreams in NYC, she is lucky to land the job of a lifetime at Cosmopolitan magazine which is under the new leadership of its first female editor, Helen Gurley Brown.

Not everyone is happy to see Helen at the helm of the magazine, with some editors and writers resigning and others cooking up a scheme to sabotage their new boss. Alice, on the other hand, remains loyal and is determined to help her new boss succeed as she shocks America by daring to talk to women about all things off-limits.

Book Summary

This dual-timeline novel transports you to the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia. In 1901, a ship sank, and only one passenger survived. Isabella Winterbourne’s husband had been commissioned to transport a jeweled mace to the Australian Parliament. As the sole survivor of the shipwreck, Isabella must brave the elements to survive and deliver the priceless gift.

In 2011, Libby Slater leaves her life in Paris to return to her Australian hometown. Having recently lost the love of her life, she hopes that reconciling with her sister, who she hasn’t spoken to in 20 years, might help her grieving process. 

As this story intertwines between the centuries, the women learn to navigate life’s losses and hardships in search of love and happiness.

Book Summary

Emilia Winthrop lives on the stunning Summerly, an idyllic seaside estate. But Emilia is not in the main house, she’s the daughter of the year-round caretaker and a descendant of Winthrop Islands’ original settlers. In June 1946, the first summer after the war, glamorous Olive moves into the guest house. Her life couldn’t be more different than Emilia’s. While Olive was traveling the world, marrying men, and being involved in politics, Emilia was caring for her incapacitated mother. 

As Olive and Emilia’s friendship grows, Olive encourages Emilia to find more adventure in life. However, an FBI agent shows up, claiming someone is transmitting vital intelligence to the Soviets from inside the estate. 

Eight years later, Emilia is a professor at Wellesley College when Washington comes knocking again. Now the traitor she helped convict is being swapped for an American spy. She must finally confront the decisions from her past.

Book Summary

Alberta (“Bertie”) Preston is eager to jumpstart her career as a professional artist. When she receives a commission to spend the summer painting Castle Braemore, she hopes it will be her big break. But when she arrives, she finds that the once-opulent estate isn’t quite what it was before the war. The same could be said of its inhabitants, as well.

The Earl of Wakeford has been living in isolation ever since returning from WWI. He stays locked away in his room to hide his battle scars. While Bertie is eagerly welcomed by the earl’s siblings, she forms an unexpected bond with the reclusive earl. Soon, she’ll start to uncover the long-kept secrets hidden within the castle.

Book Summary

During the summer of 1936, Germany began once again to rise in power. In denial about the threat of war, the English aristocracy looked to heal relations with Germany via the age-old institution of marriage. Debutantes flocked to Berlin—among them was Viviane Alden. But unlike the women looking for romantic matches, Viviane had a different purpose. 

With camera in hand, she looks like just another pretty young tourist taking holiday photos during the summer Olympics, but in reality, she’s seeking photographic evidence that Germany is rearming. To assist her mission, she’s paired with a journalist who is closely guarding his heart.

Viviane expected to encounter hatred and injustice in Germany, but with the eyes of the world on Berlin, the country was on its best behavior. As they graciously welcome tourists with a celebratory atmosphere of goodwill, Viviane is determined to uncover the truth.

Book Summary

Mary Jane tells the story of two very different family lifestyles and a 14-year-old girl trying to decide who she really is over one eye-opening summer. Mary Jane is a quiet, book-loving girl from a traditional, conservative family in 1970s Baltimore. When she is offered a job as a nanny for a local doctor, her mom assumes their home is equally tidy and respectable.

However, the house is a huge mess and it’s about to get crazier. The doctor has welcomed a rock star and his wife to stay at the house while he tries to get sober. Mary Jane has a lot to teach them about tidiness and schedules, and all the while they are opening her eyes to the world outside her bubble. By the end of the summer, she’ll have a much better understanding of who she wants to be.