Play 2026 Book Bingo
Books Set in the 1930s
By: Angela & Melissa
Updated:
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, we may earn a referral fee from qualifying purchases.Whether you’re participating in our Decades Reading Challenge or found this post looking for the best books set in the 1930s, we know you’ll fill your TBR list with these highly-rated reads.
Literary Themes in Books About the 1930s
We’ve compiled a list of highly rated books about the Thirties, including classic literature, historical fiction, and nonfiction about fascinating topics.
The 1930s were a time of immense change and upheaval worldwide. The Great Depression and Dust Bowl ravaged economies, the rise of fascism cast a shadow over Europe, and international tensions led to World War II. But within that uncertainty lie stories of resilience, courage, and hope.
Other books feature a glimpse into life in 1930s America, including Hollywood, sports, crime, and high society. The genres range from emotional family dramas to spy thrillers, so you should find a book to suit any mood. Overall, our must-read books set in the 1930s offer a unique window into the era’s challenges and triumphs.
Must-Read Books Set in the 1930s
Becoming Madam Secretary
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
At the turn of the century, Frances Perkins arrived in NYC determined to make a difference in the world. She worked with children in the crowded tenements of Hell’s Kitchen and befriended an eclectic group of politicians, artists, and activists in Greenwich Village.
When Frances meets Franklin Delano Roosevelt, then a young lawyer, she judges him as nothing more than rich and arrogant, getting by on his good looks and a famous name. His opinion of her is not much more favorable. Neither of them can imagine that over the next twenty years, they’ll form a historic partnership that will lead them both to the White House.
The story delves into Perkins’ critical role in shaping New Deal policies, including Social Security, minimum wage laws, and labor protections. As the economy crumbles and unemployment soars during the Great Depression, Perkins navigates the male-dominated world of politics, using her intellect and determination to fight for workers’ rights, economic recovery, and social justice.
What to Expect in This Novel
This historical fiction novel details the real life of Frances Perkins, the first woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet. While the book spans several decades, the stories of her early life provide an important backdrop to her achievements during the Great Depression. The transformative time frame of the 1930s makes up about half of the novel.
Mrs. Endicott’s Splendid Adventure
Book Summary
Ellie has been married for thirty devoted years, but in 1938 her husband shocked her by asking for a divorce. Despite being blindsided, she’s eager to leave him behind and even lets him have their home, and decides it’s time for her to have a big adventure.
Her housekeeper, Mavis, and her elderly friend, Dora, are also in need of escape, so they join her in the Bentley and set out to the South of France. They make it to the inviting French fishing hamlet of Saint Benet before the Bentley breaks down. It’s such a lovely town, they decide to rent an abandoned villa in the hills and start a new life surrounded by friendly villagers. But within their picture-perfect surroundings, a growing threat of war looms on the horizon.
Thoughts on This Book
While the 1930s were a difficult decade around the world, from the Great Depression and Dust Bowl to the start of WW2, this book offers a gentler peek into life than most of the titles on our list. While some reviewers say it’s a bit predictable at times, they also appreciate that it’s a less emotionally difficult read.
The novel does include romance, but readers say the friendship storylines are more prevalent.
The Four Winds
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
98% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
As the Dust Bowl drought gripped the Great Plains, millions were out of work, crops failed, water dried up, and farmers fought to keep their land. This is the story of Elsa Martinelli, who is forced to make an agonizing choice: fight for her land in Texas or move west to California in search of a better life.
Like so many of her neighbors, Elsa courageously faced the hardships and sacrifices that came to define an entire generation during the Great Depression as they fought for the American Dream.
Our Thoughts on This Book
We love books that truly transport you to another time and place, and few books do that quite as well as The Four Winds. You feel the dirt and the direness that so many experienced.
We knew people from Oklahoma and Texas fled looking for a better life in California during the Dust Bowl years, but this novel opened our eyes to how poorly they were treated and how much they were discriminated against when they arrived, no matter how hard they were willing to work.
Additional Books To Consider
The novel vividly portrays the devastating environmental impact of over-farming, soil erosion, and prolonged drought. You’ll find additional books about this ecological disaster on our list of Books about the Dust Bowl.
The Murderess
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
96% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In October of 1931, Winnie Ruth Judd boarded a train in Phoenix and disembarked in Los Angeles. Upon arrival, her shipping trunks caught the eye of a suspicious porter, who pried them open to discover the dismembered bodies of two women inside. But by that time, Ruth had disappeared into the train station crowd.
The search for the Trunk Murderess made headlines, and the Phoenix murder house soon became a sideshow attraction. Everyone was left asking how a 26-year-old reverend’s daughter could murder her two dearest friends. The answers that unfold are a collision of jealousy, drug addiction, insanity, rage, and inescapable choices.
Inspiration for This Book
This true-crime fiction is based on the real Winnie Ruth Judd, who was accused of murdering her friends in October of 1931.
This Tender Land
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
99% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Set in 1932 during the Great Depression, This Tender Land follows four orphans who have escaped the abusive Lincoln Indian Training School in Minnesota. The kids headed down the Minnesota River to the Mississippi, passing through Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri.
They have to survive on their own in nature while being pursued by the school. With each stranger they encounter, they have to decide whether to trust them or run from them. Along the journey, they’ll discover more about themselves.
Why You Should Pick This Book
This Tender Land spent nearly six months on the New York Times bestseller list. Equal parts adventure and heart, this book is often described as a modern classic and compared to Huckleberry Finn.
Three Words for Goodbye
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Sisters Clara and Maddie are very different and don’t get along particularly well. But when their dying grandmother calls them to the family estate in East Hampton, New York, and asks them to deliver three letters for her across Europe, they can’t say no to her dying wish.
The sisters are tasked with traveling to Paris, Venice, and Vienna via the Queen Mary and the Orient Express. Adventurous budding journalist Maddie is excited to travel, but Clara would rather stay home to plan her wedding. Along the way, a shocking truth about their family brings the pair closer together.
In 1937, political tensions are rising, and Europe is increasingly volatile, so by the time the sisters complete their final task, they are both happy to be headed home on the Hindenburg.
History Behind the Book
Maddie and Clara’s journey by boat, train, and airship is inspired by famed reporter Nellie Bly’s trip around the world. The author’s note at the end of the book has some great information about Bly. You can also read all about Bly’s journey in the non-fiction title, Eighty Days.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
You probably read this classic back in high school (or at least you were supposed to), but we recommend you give this famous book another read. Chances are you’ll get even more out of it this time around!
If you aren’t familiar with the story, it’s set in Alabama in 1933 and told from the perspective of a 6-year-old girl called Scout. Her widowed father, Atticus Finch, is a crusading local lawyer who risks everything to defend a black man accused of a terrible crime.
Reader Thoughts on This Book
When we asked our readers to vote on their favorite classic novels, it was a decisive victory! A full one-third of our readers submitted To Kill a Mockingbird as one of their three all-time favorites, with the majority of those readers listing it first.
Another Classic to Consider
If you’d prefer a classic written during the 1930s, we recommend Their Eyes Were Watching God, which also addresses race in the 30s but is written by Zora Neale Hurston, a groundbreaking Black female author.
October in the Earth
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In Depression-era Kentucky, Del is the wife of the most celebrated preacher in Harlan County. She tries to lie low in her rigid life but can’t keep the status quo amid her husband’s infidelity. When a coal train comes through town, Del bravely jumps aboard in what she sees as her only chance for freedom.
As she travels across the country, she finds a new community among the other transient outcasts. Nomadic single mom Louisa quickly befriends Del and helps her learn how to live life on the rails. But the Depression is taking its toll, and desperate circumstances threaten their close bond.
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
99% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
The impoverished residents of Troublesome Creek struggle for nearly everything, but thanks to Roosevelt’s Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, they aren’t lacking books.
Book woman Cussy Mary Carter is not only Troublesome Creek’s own traveling library but also the last living female of the rare Blue People ancestry. But not everyone approves of Cussy’s family or the government Library Project. Cussy wants to bring the joy of books to the hill folks, but she has to confront prejudice and suspicion as old as the Appalachians.
Don’t Miss the Rest of This Series
The sequel, The Book Woman’s Daughter, is also set in Kentucky two decades later, in the 1950s. A third standalone companion book, titled The Mountains We Call Home, is the continuation of Cussy’s story as she is sent to prison for marrying a white man. True to her spirit, she begins sharing books with other prisoners.
Water for Elephants
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
96% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Looking to escape his circumstances, Jacob Jankowski jumps onto a passing train and suddenly finds himself thrust into the world of a circus, struggling to survive during the Great Depression.
Because Jacob is just shy of his veterinary degree, he’s put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. He becomes enamored with Marlena, the star of the equestrian show. But Marlena is married to the circus’s cruel animal trainer. Jacob also meets Rosie, an elephant that everyone had hoped would help save the circus, but who appears to be untrainable.
Consider This Before Reading
As was common with any circus of this time period, the animals are not always treated with care in this book. Be prepared for scenes highlighting the mistreatment of animals (and humans).
Another Book You May Enjoy
If you’ve already enjoyed Water for Elephants and would like another book about a traveling circus, try The Circus Train by Amita Parikh, which is set in 1938 Europe amid WW2.
Letters Across the Sea
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Spanning 1933 to 1939 and from the streets of Toronto to the shores of Hong Kong, this Canadian historical fiction novel tells the story of a little-known chapter of WWII.
With the Depression crippling Toronto, 18-year-old Molly puts aside her journalism dreams to work any job she can to help her family get by. But, as the summer of 1933 stretches on, the terrible wave of hate and anti-Semitism sweeping the globe reaches Toronto in the form of “Swastika Clubs” and “No Jews Allowed” signs. On a fateful night in August, tensions reached a boiling point between the local Irish and Jewish communities. The resulting riot (Christie Pits Riot) has devastating consequences for Molly’s family and her best friend, Hannah’s family.
Six years later, Molly is now working as a reporter for the local paper. With the war on the horizon and many people she loves in danger, Molly is forced to confront what happened on that terrible night back in 1933.
Reader Thoughts on This Book
This book has been a crowd favorite Canada pick because it combines page-turning fiction with facets of WW2 history that were unknown to those in our group, even those who were very well-read in the subject!
West With Giraffes
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
96% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
West With Giraffes is a charming tale of adventure that takes you on the ride of a lifetime from the East Coast of the US to the West, alongside a rowdy 17-year-old, a grumpy older man, and two giraffes. The year is 1938, and no American zoo has successfully housed giraffes before. The female zoo director of the San Diego Zoo believes she can do it. The giraffes have just survived a hurricane en route to the East Coast, and Riley Jones, the zoo’s curmudgeonly head keeper, is responsible for safely transporting the giraffes from New York City to San Diego.
America is still in the throes of the Great Depression, and the Dust Bowl conditions continue to ravage the drought-stricken Southern Plains states. A coast-to-coast trek with giant animals is no easy feat. Jones begrudgingly teams up with a starving teenager named Woody to help him make the journey. The adventures along the way include run-ins with circus con artists, being tailed by a female photographer looking for a big scoop, an emotional visit to Woody’s hometown, and so much more.
At its heart, this is a coming-of-age story. Now, at the age of 105, Woody recounts his 12-day cross-country trip with Jones and the giraffes and how it shaped his life.
Why You Should Pick This Book
After we both gave this book 5 stars, we recommended it to readers across a variety of ages. Everyone else has loved it too! In fact, Angela’s husband recently listened to the audiobook, and her 10 and 11-year-old sons begged to listen with him. It’s now a family favorite!
From the insights it gives into life across America in the late 1930s to the growing relationships between characters, including the humans and the giraffes, we can’t recommend this book highly enough!
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
94% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
This is the non-fiction story of nine working-class boys – sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers – who beat all the odds to become the American rowing team. They weren’t expected to win at home, let alone defeat others on the international stage. Out of the depths of the Depression, these unlikely young men shocked the world by defeating the German team at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
In writing this story, Brown drew upon the boys’ own journals and vivid memories to paint a portrait of an era.
Another 1930s Non-Fiction Option
If you enjoy sports-related non-fiction, you may also like Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand. It tells the incredible story of a racehorse with crooked legs who was written off until three unlikely men changed his fortunes in 1938.
Before We Were Yours
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
This book is based on the true story of Georgia Tann’s “adoption” agency that claimed to help orphans but instead kidnapped poor children and trafficked them to wealthy families.
Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings have a wonderful life on the Mississippi River aboard their family’s shanty boat. But on a stormy night when their father has to take their mother to the hospital, Rill is left in charge. Unfortunately, strangers arrive, and the kids are thrown into the Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage. They are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents – but quickly realize the dark truth.
In present-day South Carolina, Avery Stafford returns home to help her father during a health crisis. When she stumbles upon the possibility that her grandmother may be harboring a dark family secret, Avery becomes obsessed with her mission to uncover the truth.
Our Thoughts on This Book
Melissa read this heartbreaking tale and hated that it was based on true events. It was worth reading, but she recommends grabbing your tissues and keeping them handy!
Book Summary
In 1932 Berlin, Bertie worked for the renowned Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld at the Institute of Sexual Science. As a trans man, working to improve queer rights was especially important to him. Before Hitler’s rise to power, he was free to spend carefree nights at the Eldorado Club. Everything changed when Nazis raided the Institute, shuttered the Eldorado, and began rounding queer people up.
Bertie barely escaped from Berlin, but he and his girlfriend, Sofie, were able to move to a farm, where they assumed the identities of an elderly couple and lived in isolation for more than a decade. As the war was finally winding down, they faced a new threat. The Allied forces, who were liberating others, were arresting queer prisoners. Bertie’s only hope is to flee to the US.
About the Book
This extremely high-rated novel was a Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for both Debut Novel and Reader’s Favorite Historical Fiction in 2025. While it is a work of fiction, it is inspired by true history and artifacts the author found in his research. Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld was a real Jewish German physician and LGBTQ advocate whose Institute was raided in 1933.
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
93% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
This novel begins in 1985 Alabama as gray-headed Mrs. Threadgoode recounts her younger years to middle-aged Evelyn. Her stories transport you back to the 1930s when her friends Idgie and Ruth opened a cafe in tiny Whistle Stop, Alabama. While serving up good coffee and barbecue, the café was a place for friendship … and the occasional murder.
About This Book
While many people have seen the movie adaptation of this novel, as is often the case, the story in the book unfolds differently, and most agree that the book is better. Because the book is partially set in segregated 1930s Alabama, there is some unfortunate but historically accurate language.
The sequel, The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop, also goes back and forth in time between the 1930s and the present day.
The Color Purple
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
The Color Purple portrays the lives of African American women in the Deep South throughout the first half of the twentieth century, though most of the story takes place in the 1930s between the two world wars. Separated when they were young, sisters Celie and Nettie maintain their relationship through a series of letters spanning twenty years.
This classic book broke the silence around domestic and sexual abuse, while taking readers on a journey of love and redemption.
Grace of the Empire State
Book Summary
When the patriarch of the O’Connell family died in a workplace accident within months of the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Grace’s family lost nearly everything. But she was at least making money as a dancer while her twin brother had a well-paying, but dangerous, job on the beams of the Empire State Building.
Life threw them another twist when Grace’s club closed, leaving her without income, and her brother was injured on the job. And if he can’t work, his entire four-person crew would be out of a job.
But Patrick has an idea. Could Grace use her time in the circus to take his role on the beams? She’ll have to pretend to be him, but they are twins…Could it work?
Why This Was One of Our Favorites
We’ve both been lucky enough to visit the top of the Empire State Building and see photos of the construction process, but reading this book gave us new perspectives on both the Empire State Building and this pivotal time in NYC history.
We were both very impressed with this debut novel, and Angela, who is a huge fan of musical theater, hasn’t stopped thinking about how wonderful it would be to see a stage production that combines the ballet of Grace’s past with the intricate choreography of the steelworkers for whom every move is a matter of life and death precision.
In the Garden of Beasts
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
90% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
William Dodd, a professor from Chicago, is named America’s ambassador to Germany at the rise of the Third Reich. His family joins him in Berlin, and his outgoing daughter, Martha, is immediately drawn into the parties, pomp, and handsome young men of the Third Reich.
While Martha becomes enamored with the “New Germany,” her father grows increasingly concerned by what he witnesses all around him as Adolf’s true character and ambition become clearer. By the end of 1933, however, even Martha finds herself living in terror.
Our Thoughts on This Book
We’ve read a lot of books about WWII, but many have left us questioning how the world did not recognize the darkening atmosphere in Germany for so long. This book shines a light on that question from an eyewitness perspective.
If you enjoy history and non-fiction, Erik Larson’s books are a wonderful choice because of his detailed research; however, keep in mind that his writing style moves slowly and deliberately.
The Girl Who Knew Too Much
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In The Girl Who Knew Too Much, a reporter finds an actress at the bottom of the Burning Cove Hotel pool. The actress had a red-hot secret about an up-and-coming leading man, and Irene was hoping to get the scoop. Now, instead of gossip, she’s investigating a murder.
To find out what really happened, Irene needs the help of Oliver, a world-famous magician who has been out of the spotlight since a mysterious injury. He now owns the hotel and can’t let the scandal ruin its reputation.
About this Series
If you’re in the mood for a lighter read this month and love an entertaining mystery with romance elements, we think you’ll really enjoy this series. The books are all set in an idyllic 1930s California town, Burning Cove, that Hollywood moguls use as a retreat.
The Queens of Crime
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
99% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In 1930, five of the greatest female crime writers of the era came together to form a secret society. Tired of being treated as second-class citizens by their male counterparts in the legendary Detection Club, these women call themselves the Queens of Crime, and they are determined to solve an actual murder reminiscent of the locked-room murders they are famous for writing about.
Led by Dorothy L. Sayers (whose husband is a member of the Detection Club), the Queens of Crime also includes Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham, and Baroness Emma Orczy.
May Daniels, an English nurse, was visiting France with her friend when she seemingly vanished from a train station. Her body was discovered in the nearby woods months later. The police believe she was strangled, but how did the killer manage to sneak her body out of the crowded station without anyone noticing, and why was there so much blood at the crime scene?
The Queens of Crime take it upon themselves to solve this highly publicized murder, but it seems that the killer is targeting Sayers and threatening to expose a dark secret from her past.
Inspiration for This Book
While the Queens of Crime secret society is fictional, this book, featuring well-known real-life authors, was inspired by a true story in the life of Dorothy Sayers.
Another Book to Consider
If you’ve already read Queens of Crime, consider The Mitford Affair about the six Mitford sisters and their impact on society life in 1930s England.
The River Knows Your Name
Book Summary
In 1934 Mississippi, a young widow named Becca struggles to raise her toddler alone, fleeing her wealthy in-laws’ grip and navigating Depression–era hardship along the river’s edge. She’s determined to survive—to give her child a better life, even if it means forging unconventional choices.
Fast-forward to 1972, when 42-year-old Nell starts unraveling the family secret she found in the pages of a Jane Eyre found on her mother’s bookshelf. For nearly 30 years, she’s kept the secret she found – a birth record that names a stranger as the mother of her sister, Evie.
Nell only has hazy memories of their early life in Mississippi, and her reclusive mother, Hazel, never speaks about it.
The Last Train to Key West
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
94% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Three women’s stories intertwine in the Florida Keys as a powerful hurricane approaches over the Labor Day weekend of 1935.
Key West native Helen Berner yearns to escape her abusive husband. Elizabeth Preston has traveled down from New York in search of a veteran of the Great War. Mirta Perez’s family suffered great losses in the Cuban Revolution of 1933, and now they have arranged her marriage to a man in a dangerous business, followed by a honeymoon in Key West.
The approaching storm is not the only danger that these women face as their paths unexpectedly cross.
Consider This Before Reading
While this is listed as the third book in the Perez Family series, it reads as a standalone. Some of our readers have reported not loving the audiobook narrator, so consider listening to a sample before choosing this format.
Orphan Train
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
99% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
During the 80 years leading up to the Great Depression, so-called Orphan Trains transported children from cities on the East Coast to the farmlands of the Midwest. The fates of the children on board – whether they would end up with loving families or end up with a childhood of hard labor – were determined by pure luck.
Vivian, now 91, was one of those children, and the memories of her childhood are tucked away in trunks in her attic. Eighteen-year-old Molly is aging out of the foster care system and is assigned community service helping the elderly Vivian clean out her home. She will soon learn that the two have much more in common than she ever expected.
Our Thoughts on This Book
Melissa read Orphan Train a few years back and was shocked to learn about the Children’s Aid Society trains. While some have criticized the book as seeming like a young adult novel, Melissa enjoyed the story and characters.
Beneath a Starless Sky
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Jewish ballet dancer Lilli hopes to leave Germany behind to escape the growing Nazi party, but before she can leave for Hollywood, she has a whirlwind romance with German Army Captain Marco Zeiller. After her heart is broken, she resumes her plan and makes it to Hollywood, where she’s able to dance with Fred Astaire.
He introduces her to high society, including Prince Edward, and life is glamorous and exciting for a while. But when Lilli is injured, ending her career, Nazi sympathizer Prince Edward and his mistress, Wallis Simpson, have new plans for Lilli. With war looming, Marco reenters Lilli’s life and tests her loyalties one by one.
The Lindbergh Nanny
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
94% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In 1932, Charles Lindbergh was America’s golden boy. He had broken barriers by flying across the Atlantic and had a lovely, wealthy wife. The family made headlines in a new way when their toddler, Charles Jr., was kidnapped from the family home in New Jersey.
The boy’s nanny, a Scottish immigrant named Betty Gow, found comfort in caring for the boy after a hard romantic break-up. When Charles Jr. disappeared, the media and public made Betty, aka the Lindbergh Nanny, the prime suspect. Betty was determined to find the truth, both to clear her name and to protect the child she adored.
The Green Mile
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Cold Mountain Penitentiary is home to the Depression-worn men of E Block. All of them are convicted killers awaiting their time to walk the Green Mile – the path that leads to the electric chair known as “Old Sparky.”
Death row guard Paul Edgecombe has walked the mile with a lot of convicts, but he’s never met anyone else like John Coffey – a giant man with the mind of a child who has been condemned for a terrifyingly violent crime.
Read + Watch
This book inspired the 2000 Academy Award-nominated movie by the same name.
Florence Adler Swims Forever
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
93% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Each summer, the Adler family rents out their Atlantic City home to vacationers and moves into the cramped apartment above their Jewish bakery. Their daughters are now young adults, with Florence home from college and Fannie on bed rest during pregnancy following the loss of a baby. Florence plans to spend the summer training for her plan to swim the English Channel.
The small space becomes even more crowded when the father, Joseph, takes in a woman he helped emigrate from Nazi Germany. When a tragedy strikes, mom Esther begins a web of lies to protect her daughter, Fannie, but will it really help in the long run?
Our Thoughts on This Book
This book has more grief than Melissa expected when picking it up, so don’t judge it as a light read by the swimming theme.
Sea of Memories
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
When Scottish teen Ella gets a chance to spend the summer of 1937 on the French Île de Ré, it changes the trajectory of her life. She meets the charming Christophe, and they spend their days exploring the many beaches of the island. For the first time, Ella feels truly free.
However, with the start of WW2, Ella must return to Scotland. She jumps into volunteering for the war effort, but feels herself drifting further away from the person she was on the Île de Ré. Will she ever be able to recapture that magic in her life?
What to Expect in This Book
Sea of Memories also has a minor present-day timeline with Ella in a nursing home and recounting her life story to her granddaughter, Kendra. The book is more romance-themed than war story and includes detailed descriptions of each setting.
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
94% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Chiyo Sakamoto is a young girl taken from her Japanese fishing village at the age of 9 and sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. The city of Kyoto in the 1930s is a world in which appearances are paramount, where a girl’s virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder, where women are trained to attract the most powerful men, and where love is scorned as an illusion.
About the Book
Memoirs of a Geisha is one of the best-selling books set in Japan of the last few decades, but keep in mind that this is a novel written by an American author that never gained the same level of popularity in Japan.
For additional historical context, check out the timeline of major world events included at the end of the post.
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Book Recommendations for Other Decades
In addition to our recommendations organized by decade below, you can browse all of our historical fiction book lists.
- Books Set in the 1930s
- Books Set in the 1920s
- Books Set in the 1900s and 1910s
- Books that Span Multiple Decades
- 24 Books Set in the 1880s and 1890s
- Books Set in the 2010s
- Books Set in the 2000s
- Books Set in the 1990s
- Books Set in the 1980s
- Books Set in the 1970s
- Books Set in the 1960s
- Books Set in the 1950s
- Books Set in the 1940s
Major World Events of the 1930s
We compiled this list of major events of the 1930s to provide some historical context for your reading. We hope you enjoy learning a bit more about this period in history.
- Following the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the majority of the 1930s would be defined by the Great Depression. In 1933, nearly 25% of the US population was unemployed.
- Beginning in 1931, the US suffered the worst drought in its history, leading to the Dust Bowl years. Strong winds stripped the topsoil from the ground, devastating farms throughout the Great Plains. This forced many to move in search of work and better living conditions.
- The Empire State Building was completed in 1931.
- During the 1930s, many bank robbers and murderers gained celebrity status – a strange phenomenon unique to this decade.
- The Third Reich rose to power in 1933 and began instituting a series of measures to persecute Jewish citizens. Throughout the decade, Hitler undermined the post-WWI international order, withdrawing from the League of Nations and building up the German army. When Germany attacked Poland in 1939, it marked the start of World War II.
- The 21st Amendment was passed in 1933, repealing the 18th Amendment and ending prohibition.
- Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary (aka “The Rock”) opens near San Francisco. It is used to hold some of the most dangerous and well-known US criminals.
- Penguin Books published its first paperbacks in 1935, making affordable literature accessible to the masses.
- The US Social Security Act was enacted in 1935.
- The 1936 Olympics were held in Berlin, Germany, amid a very tense political atmosphere. Hitler viewed the games as an opportunity to prove his theory of Aryan racial superiority. However, he was humiliated when African-American sprinter and long jumper Jesse Owens won four gold medals for the US.
- The Spanish Civil War began in 1936 and continued until 1939, when Franco conquered Madrid.
- Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932. Sadly, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 during an attempt to circumnavigate the globe.
- In 1937, the Hindenburg, a German Zeppelin airship, was scheduled to make 10 round-trip flights between Europe and the US. On the first of these flights, the Hindenburg caught fire while attempting to land in New Jersey, killing 35 of the 97 people aboard.
- In 1938, Seabiscuit beat War Admiral in what came to be called the “Race of the Century.”
- The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland, premiered in 1939.
I am amazed at how many of the books on this list I have read! I guess that is why I like the Decades Challenge, I enjoy historical fiction. And I have been participating in this since I joined the Book Girls.
However, I do see many books that still interest me. Thanks for doing what you do.
I finished reading The Mitford Affair about the intriguing sisters I had never heard of. That led me to The Mayfair Bookshop, about the bookshop that Nancy Mitford worked in, also set in the 1930s. Today I finished reading an engrossing historical fiction novel called The Kennedy Debutante. This book, by Kerri Maher, is about Kathleen (Kick) Kennedy and her life in England before and during the war years. It might be a good addition to next year’s 1930s list. And guess what, Kick was friends and very briefly related to Deborah Mitford who is featured in the story
We enjoyed the Kennedy Debutante as well! We actually have it on our 1940s book list, since Kick chose to remain in London (separated from her family) when WWII began and joined the Red Cross in 1940. But, since the book begins in the late 1930s, it’s also a great choice for the 30s as well.
There are so many good books on this list. I’ve already read some of them. Others I have on my bookshelf that I’m looking to read. I may choose 100 Summers or Finding Dorothy. Maybe both!
A book that I read last December and really really enjoyed was called When the Dancing Stopped: The Real Story of the Morro Castle Disaster and its Deadly Wake by Brian Hicks. It’s about a luxury cruise ship that burned down mysteriously in 1934. The night before, the captain died suddenly. Several years later, the ship’s chief radio operator was arrested for murdering two people, with suspicion of attempted murder of a third. It was really interesting, and the author made the whole story (this is nonfiction) very interesting and reasonably fast paced. It really drew me in and had me fascinated, in all honesty I’ve been obsessed with the Morro Castle ever since, no one has ever heard of it because of all the other historically significant events at the time (Lindberg baby, WWII, etc), but I still find it strange that absolutely no one I talked to had ever heard of it. I had my coworkers invested in the story as well, I would read on my breaks and they ask me “if they got the guy who burned down the boat yet!” P.S. I’ve loved the books so far! This is my first year participating in a challenge and I’m enjoying it a ton!
That sounds fascinating! Thanks so much for sharing, we made a note to consider it when we update the list next year!
So far I have almost missed my train stop TWICE because the books that you recommended were so engrossing. Your descriptions are accurate enough that I have thoroughly enjoyed every book that I have read so far for the decades challenge. Thank you!
You’re so welcome! While we hope you never miss your stop, we LOVE hearing this!
Thank you for continuing to update these lists! I’ve been participating but not doing a great job of logging. I’ll remedy that today!
I haven’t been officially participating in your decades challenge but love looking over your lists. I’ve read several on this list and liked them. Great list! A few I hadn’t read are now on my To Read list.
I recently finished This Tender Land by WIlliam Kent Krueger and loved it. It’s set in 1932. Here’s the description from my library’s catalog:
The acclaimed author of Ordinary Grace crafts a powerful novel about an orphan’s life-changing adventure traveling down America’s great rivers during the Great Depression, seeking both a place to call home and a sense of purpose in a world sinking into despair”– Provided by publisher.
1932, Minnesota. The Lincoln School is a pitiless place where hundreds of Native American children, forcibly separated from their parents, are sent to be educated. It is also home to an orphan named Odie O’Banion, a lively boy whose exploits earn him the superintendent’s wrath. Forced to flee, he and his brother Albert, their best friend Mose, and a little girl named Emmy steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi and a place to call their own. — adapted from jacket
Thank you so much, Karen! This sounds like an excellent book that we’re adding to our personal reading lists. Plus, it fits really well into more than one future list we have coming up AND I’m going to add it to our list of books to read if you loved Where the Crawdads Sing! Thanks so much for passing along such a great recommendation!