Play 2026 Book Bingo
Books Set in the 1920s
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 you’ve stumbled upon this post looking for books about the Roaring Twenties, we know you’ll love these novels and non-fiction reads.
Literary Themes in Books About the 1920s
We’ve compiled a great list with some of the best historical fiction novels set in the 1920s, as well as several non-fiction 1920s books centered around fascinating, lesser-known events.
The 1920s literature themes represented in our book recommendations reflect a decade that began with a roar and ended with a crash. Among the historical fiction on the list, you’ll find many vibrant Jazz Age books that capture the essence of the Roaring Twenties and the Prohibition era. However, you’ll also find 1920s novels about individuals and families still struggling to recover from the impacts of WWI.
If your favorite genres include thrillers or cozy mysteries, be sure to check out our separate list of Mystery Novels Set in the 1920s!
Must Read 1920s Books
Daughter of Egypt
Book Summary
In the 1920s, Lord Carnarvon of Highclere Castle and his associate, archaeologist Howard Carter, discovered Tutankhamun’s treasure-filled tomb, capturing the world’s attention and unleashing a fascination with the ancient world.
What people didn’t know, however, was that without the pioneering spirit of Carnarvon’s daughter, Lady Evelyn Herbert, the tomb might have never been found.
When she was young, Evelyn learned the story of Hatshepsut, a woman who ruled Egypt under the guise of a man. Despite her success at bringing peace and prosperity to her country, her male successor insisted upon erasing her name from history. Evelyn became determined to find the tomb of Egypt’s first female ruler, but doing so exposed her to danger and pitted her against archaeologists who refused to believe it could be found.
Just when it appears that success might be in reach, Evelyn will have to make an agonizing choice between loyalty to her father and Carter and realizing her own dreams.
Historical Context
This novel weaves together a dual timeline story about real historical figures, including Hatshepsut, a female Egyptian Pharaoh, and Lady Evelyn Herbert, the real-life aristocratic woman who helped discover King Tut’s tomb. While Benedict has fictionalized the thoughts and specific actions of these two female main characters, the novel is based on detailed historical research.
The novel is said to accurately depict the excitement and historical context surrounding the 1920s discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, and also explores the real historical mystery of why Hatshepsut’s legacy was erased.
The Trade Off
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Bea Abramovitz is not your average young woman in 1920s Manhattan. She lives in a Lower East Side tenement with her twin brother and parents, who escaped pogroms in Russia in search of a safer life.
Bea has an incredible aptitude for math and loves studying the stock market in the papers. She dreams of using her skills as a stockbroker, but that’s unheard of for a woman in the 1920s. To complicate matters, she’s Jewish and not wealthy, which are both strikes against her on 1920s Wall Street. However, Bea’s perseverance is as strong as her aptitude for numbers, and she finds a creative way to be involved. But Wall Street is on a collision course with the Great Depression.
Why You’ll Love It
This fictional story transports you to 1920s Wall Street and provides a unique look at Black Tuesday, the stock market crash of 1929. The author said she loosely based the story on a real female stockbroker and trailblazer.
Despite reading many books set in the 1920s, this is the first one the Book Girls have read that offers such a personal view of the market’s rise and fall at this time. We were enthralled by the workings of the stock market in that period and loved Bea’s creativity and gumption in finding ways to follow her dreams, no matter how many times she was rejected.
Time’s Undoing
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
98% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In 1929, Robert moved to Birmingham, Alabama, for a new job opportunity as a master carpenter. The city was booming, and his young family enjoyed the busy markets and nightlife. However, his success and snazzy car, combined with his light-skinned wife, make him concerned about attention from the Klan, which is also booming in the region.
Ninety years later, Meghan is the youngest reporter for the Detroit Free Press. She decides to use her position to investigate the murder of her great-grandfather. His body was never found, and no one knows what happened to him. Spurred by the Black Lives Matter movement, Meghan travels to Birmingham to uncover the past. However, revealing secrets that span cities and decades may put her own life at risk.
What to Expect in This Book
Time’s Undoing is based on true events. While the topics and some events are difficult, the book is also an uplifting story about the community of friends and supporters that rallied together to help with Meghan’s search and to fight together for change.
Another Book Recommendation
For a different look at the unfortunate history involving the Ku Klux Klan, consider The Revisioners by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, which covers multiple generations of one family from slavery in 1855, a former slave’s life in 1925, and the generational impact on a descendant in 2017.
The Harvey Girls
Book Summary
Although Charlotte was born into a prominent Boston family, by 1926, she was desperate to escape a brutal husband and set off for the Southwest, hoping to disappear. Billie had a very different upbringing as the oldest of 9 Scottish siblings in Nebraska. Even though she left school in sixth grade to work full-time, the family couldn’t stay financially afloat.
Desperate for fresh starts, the women join the Harvey Girls, waitresses who served in America’s first hospitality chain on the Santa Fe Railroad, and they are randomly assigned as roommates. Neither girl appreciates the other, but they stay busy with 12-hour days learning the art of fine service in Topeka, Kansas, all while each trying to keep a big secret. After training, both are assigned to work at the El Tovar hotel at the Grand Canyon, where their lives get even more complicated.
Reader Thoughts on This Book
One of our readers suggested this book and said, “I loved this story of two very different young women, Charlotte and Billie, who became Harvey Girls. Not only do you learn about the lives of the Harvey Girls, but you also learn about rail travel in the 1920’s and about tourism in the Grand Canyon. This is a side of the 1920s that was new to me, although I knew a little about the Harvey Houses from living in Lubbock. Excellent historical fiction!”
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In 1920, after a seven-decade crusade for the right of women to vote, thirty-five states had ratified the Nineteenth Amendment, twelve had rejected or refused to vote, and one last state, Tennessee, was needed.
The suffragists face vicious opposition from politicians, clergy, corporations, racists who don’t want black women to vote, and even the “Antis,” the women who opposed giving women the right to vote, fearing the nation’s moral collapse.
What to Expect in This Book
Following a handful of remarkable women who led the charge, this is the non-fiction history of how America’s women won their own freedom. In a period when some are yet again challenging voting rights for women, this story is more important than ever.
Book Summary
Misia Sert was a brilliant pianist and one of the most influential patrons in Parisian artistic circles. She is married to renowned muralist José María “Jojo” Sert, who prizes his wife’s iconoclastic vision and independence. And her closest confidante was none other than the iconic Coco Chanel. Together, these two women are unstoppable: bold, unconventional, and fiercely loyal to each other.
But even the most powerful women have their vulnerabilities, and when a captivating newcomer enters their world, a Russian émigré sculptress with ambitions that reach further than anyone suspects, Misia’s carefully built life is suddenly on uncertain ground.
Historical Context
Misia Sert was born in 1872 in the Russian Empire. In 1892, she played in her first public concert as a pianist. Art was in her blood; her father was a renowned Polish sculptor and art professor.
In Paris, she hosted salons in her homes and was well-known for both financial and creative contributions to many forms of art. While this book covers a small period of her life in the 1920s, we recommend reading her full Wikipedia entry after enjoying the book, as she had a fascinating life from beginning to end.
Book Summary
Coal miners were exposed to horrific working conditions, and in 1920, they began to fight back against their inhuman treatment in what became known as the West Virginia Mine Wars or Coal Wars.
The conflicts peaked in 1921 in the Battle of Blair Mountain, the largest armed conflict on American soil since the Civil War. Over ten thousand coal workers fought to be treated like humans against the mine owners, state militia, and the United States government in the largest labor uprising in American history.
The historical story is told from multiple perspectives, including “Doc Moo” Muhanna, a Lebanese-American doctor, and Frank Hugham, a Black World War One veteran and coal miner. You’ll also meet Mother Jones, an Irish-born labor organizer once known as “The Most Dangerous Woman in America.”
What to Know Before Reading
The Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest labor uprising in United States history. The character of “Doc Moo” was inspired by the author’s own great-grandfather. While this is a challenging read at many points, it’s also a rich look at friendship and the power of community.
NOTE: This book contains violence in many forms, which is accurate to the reality of mining and the mine wars.
The Second Life of Mirielle West
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Mirielle West lives a glamorous life in LA as the wife of a silent film star. When a doctor sees a small spot on her hand, she’s quickly whisked across the country to what feels like a different world. She hopes to have only a brief visit to the Louisiana Leper Home, but when she arrives, there is barbed wire, a curfew, and little chance of ever returning to her everyday life.
As Mirelle is assigned work inside the home, she must come to terms with both the illness and its perception in the outside world.
Thoughts on This Book
Based on the true story of Carville leprosarium in Louisiana, this historical fiction pick will introduce you to a little-known slice of American history. Reviewers say that the audio version of the book is excellent.
The Whisper Sister
Book Summary
Minnie arrived in New York from Ukraine via Ellis Island when she was twelve. She quickly learned that the promises of prosperity in America were not as advertised. She sleeps on a mattress in the kitchen and doesn’t understand anything at school.
She and her brother work hard to learn English and fit in, and when her dad opens a soda shop, the dream of citizenship seems possible again. But, the shop isn’t what it seems. It’s a cover for her dad’s speakeasy.
After a tragedy, Minnie takes over the bar, but are the risks worth the chance of reaching the American Dream?
Reader Thoughts on This Book
Readers say this book fully transports you to Prohibition-era New York with both glitzy clubs and a dark underbelly while providing a realistic depiction of immigrant life in the 1920s.
NOTE: This novel includes a scene of sexual assault and other hard topics.
The House of Doors
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
95% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Lawyer Lesley and her husband Robert, a veteran, live at Cassowary House on the Straits Settlement of Penang, Malaysia. When Robert’s old friend, writer “Willie” Somerset Maugham, arrives for a visit, it threatens to upend all of their lives.
Novelist Maugham is exhausted by his marriage of convenience that helps conceal his homosexuality. Additionally, he’s lost his savings, his career is in a slump, and his health is failing. He hopes his time at Cassowary House will inspire his next book. He soon discovers that the lives of Lesley and Robert are much more complicated than they look from the outside. From connections to a Chinese revolutionary to the trial of an Englishwoman charged with murder, Maugham now has plenty to write about.
About This Book
This literary historical fiction read was longlisted for the Booker Prize. It is based on a true story and features famed novelist Somerset Maugham in an important role, but keep in mind that the story is more about Lesley & Robert.
If you prefer reading classics, Maugham’s novel The Painted Veil is also set in the 1920s.
Harlem Rhapsody
Book Summary
While much of the country was experiencing social unrest in 1919, Harlem felt different. This corner of New York was filled with Black pride, as evidenced in the music, theater, fashion, and arts. Positioned right in the heart of this renaissance is a literary editor for a preeminent Negro magazine named Jessie Redmon Fauset.
The magazine’s founder and editor, W.E.B. Du Bois, tasked Jessie with discovering promising young writers whose words could change the world. Jessie wastes no time finding 16-year-old Countee Cullen and 17-year-old Langston Hughes. She also discovers Nella Larson, who becomes one of Jessie’s best friends.
In the 1920s, subscriptions to the already notable magazine soared, and every Black writer in the country vied for the opportunity to be published in The Crisis. Jessie’s career is taking off, but her relationship with her married boss, W.E.B., threatens to jeopardize it all. At a time when she faces both overwhelming sexism and racism, Jessie will have to find a way to balance her drive and her desires if she hopes to preserve her legacy and achieve her ambitious dreams.
Our Thoughts on This Book
Victoria Christopher Murray has co-authored two of our favorite books from recent years, The Personal Librarian and The First Ladies, so Melissa couldn’t wait to dig into Harlem Rhapsody, but didn’t initially walk away from this one at the top of her list because it felt a bit longer than necessary. However, when thinking back on the books she’s most glad she picked up in the first half of the year, this one easily makes the list because she learned so much about many important literary figures.
This historical fiction novel is based on the real life of Jessie Redmon Fauset. Those interested in digging deeper into the true stories and literary works behind this novel will be excited to learn that every edition of The Crisis is available online. Whether you want to simply browse the covers or read the pieces referenced in the novel, you’ll find them a great supplement to the book.
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Four years after Rudy lost his eldest brother, a British soldier, to the battlefields of France, Rudy’s family is still torn apart by grief and secrets in the aftermath of WWI.
When Mariette arrives, claiming to be Edgar’s widow and the mother of his child, Rudy urges her to stay in hopes that she’ll shed light on unanswered questions. But Mariette’s revelations lead to more questions than answers as suspicions threaten to further divide Rudy’s family. Rudy sets out on a quest for the truth that takes him from England to France and beyond.
Our Thoughts on This Book
Melissa read this book and gave it a 4-star rating, noting that it is slow in places. However, each time you think it’s dragging, there will be a sudden twist. Those twists continue all the way through. It’s a great pick for fans of Downton Abbey.
The Light of Luna Park
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
94% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
This dual-timeline novel tells the little-known history of Coney Island and America’s first infant incubators.
In 1926, Althea Anderson was a nurse at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. Her heart breaks each time they cannot save another premature baby’s life.
After reading an article detailing the significantly improved survival rates of babies being treated in an incubator sideshow exhibit at Luna Park on Coney Island, Althea inquires of the doctors at Bellevue, who dismiss it as unconventional medicine. Not wanting to see another baby die that could be saved, Althea is forced to make a very difficult choice.
Twenty-five years later, Stella feels like her life is falling apart – her mother recently passed away, she quit the job she loved, and her marriage is struggling. When she discovers a letter, it calls into question everything she thought she knew about herself and her mother.
Historical Context
This historical fiction book is based on the fascinating history of neonatal incubators, which were used in boardwalk sideshows beginning in the late 1800s before finally becoming accepted as a legitimate medical intervention many decades later.
After debuting at the 1896 World’s Fair in Berlin, the incubator exhibit at New York’s Coney Island opened in 1903 and ran until 1943, when more hospitals finally began to adopt the technology. Throughout that time, the carnival exhibit, as well as a similar one in Atlantic City, is estimated to have had an 85% success rate and saved as many as 6,500 babies from all over the country.
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
95% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Just before 1920, American Sylvia Beach opened an English-language bookstore called Shakespeare and Company on a quiet street in Paris. Soon, that bookstore became a second home to prominent writers like Ernest Hemingway and James Joyce.
When Joyce’s controversial novel, Ulysses, is banned, Beach decides to take a huge risk and publish it under the name of her bookstore in 1922. The book became one of the most infamous and influential books of the century, but that success ultimately threatened the future of Shakespeare and Company.
What to Expect in This Book
This book is based on the true story of the publication of Ulysses and contains many interesting historical details, including comparisons between life in Paris and the US during the 1920s and into the 1930s.
It’s described as a slow-moving but absorbing biographical novel that’s perfect for book lovers who enjoy reading about books. Another important aspect of the book is Sylvia’s loving partnership with French bookseller Adrienne Monnier during a time period when same-sex relationships were far less accepted, even in progressive Paris.
The Forty Elephants
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
95% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
This historical fiction is based on the true story of Alice Diamon and the Forty Elephants.
London was full of criminal activity between the World Wars in the 1920s. Alice’s family has run the Mint, her gritty neighborhood, for decades. However, with her father in jail again and her brother in debt to dangerous criminals, it’s now up to Alice to provide for the family.
Alice received the opportunity to join Mary Carr and her notorious group of lady shoplifters called The Forty Elephants. As she learns to steal from posh department stores, she sees a different kind of life outside the Mint. Soon, she wants more and more, no matter the cost.
Dreamland Burning
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
95% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
This YA dual timeline read is a fictionalized account of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Rowan is a present-day 17-year-old about to start her important summer internship when workers discover a skeleton on her property during the renovation of a building.
Her story alternates with William Tillman, a 17-year-old in 1921, whose misguided attempt to “protect” a girl he had a crush on triggered more death, destruction, and division than he could have predicted.
Historical Context + Additional Recommendations
For decades, the story of what happened in Tulsa in 1921 was buried. Despite living 20 minutes from the site, Melissa was never taught about it in school. So she was horrified 10 years ago when she learned about what was then referred to by a less accurate name, the Tulsa Race Riot. She asked around at that time (~2010), and few locals knew about it. So Melissa turned to books to learn more and highly recommends Hannibal B. Johnson’s Black Wall Street if you’d like a well-researched non-fiction read, and we also suggest Black Birds in the Sky for a YA non-fiction option.
Johnson’s follow-up, Black Wall Street 100, covers what has happened since 1921.
Watch the sidewalk if you’re ever in Tulsa near the ballpark downtown. You’ll see location markers with the names of businesses and business owners who had their livelihood destroyed. The markers indicate who rebuilt and who never reopened and give a good sense of the impact to the formerly successful community members.
The Masterpiece
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
For most New Yorkers, Grand Central Terminal is a masterpiece of architectural design, but for Clara and Virginia, it represents something entirely different.
For Clara, teaching at the Grand Central School of Art in 1928 was the stepping stone to her future. In a time when there was public disdain for women artists, Clara is determined to realize her dream of creating cover art for Vogue. But she and her friends will soon be blindsided by the looming Great Depression that may destroy the entire art scene.
By 1974, Grand Central had declined to a dangerous place full of pickpockets and drug dealers, and it was at the center of a lawsuit that would decide if the terminal should be preserved or demolished. Virginia, who had recently taken a job in the Grand Central information booth, stumbles upon an abandoned art school within the terminal and discovers a striking watercolor that opens her eyes to the elegance beneath the decay. She sets out to find the artist and finds herself drawn into the battle to save Grand Central.
Why We Think You’ll Love It
We both LOVE New York City, the beauty of Grand Central Station, and art, so it’s like Fiona Davis wrote this book for us. We enjoyed the combination of history, mystery, and even a little romance. The characters are based on real people, and it was interesting to walk in the shoes of a female artist in the 1920s. We think those who enjoy reading about art history, 20s Manhattan, or women’s equality will all love this one.
The Roaring Days of Zora Lily
Book Summary
Zora lives in poverty and spends her days caring for her younger siblings. To make extra money for her family, she works as a seamstress, repairing holes and adjusting hems. But as she works, she dreams of living a more glamorous life as a designer like Coco Chanel or Jeanne Lanvin.
Despite Prohibition, Zora’s friend Rose finds a job at an underground speakeasy. When Zora joins her one night, she’s in awe of the sparkling gowns and couples dancing freely. At the club, she meets Harley, a businessman with a life very different than her own. While Harley can provide Zora with a dream life, will her duty to her family allow her to embrace her true ambition?
What to Expect in This Novel
The first and last chapters of this novel take place in the present day at the Smithsonian, as a curator has discovered a label reading “Zora Lily” in a gown initially believed to have been made by a well-known designer. However, the bulk of the book is Zora’s story in the 1920s, and it does not alternate timelines beyond the beginning and end.
Call Your Daughter Home
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
95% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Set in Branchville, South Carolina, in 1924 – shortly after the Boll Weevil Infestation that devastated southern cotton fields – this historical fiction novel tells the story of motherhood and womanhood. The story centers on three women at a crossroads: Gertrude, Retta, and Annie.
Gertrude, a mother of four, must make a difficult decision to save her daughters. Retta is a first-generation freed slave who comes to Gertrude’s aid. And Annie, the matriarch of the influential Coles family, offers Gertrude a job.
Despite having seemingly nothing in common, these three women unite to stand up to injustices long plaguing the small town. This book is a timeless story about the power of family, community, and the ferocity of motherhood.
What to Know Before Reading
Warning: Be aware that this book includes some potentially triggering topics, including domestic abuse and child sexual abuse. Additionally, this book includes some racially insensitive language reflective of the era in which it’s set.
The Letter Tree
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Laura is the heiress to the Bradshaw Shoe Company, but since her mother’s passing, her father has become extremely overprotective and doesn’t seem to care about her future dreams. He’s only focused on eliminating the competition in town – the Campbell Shoe Company. Laura’s only joy is the mysterious friend with whom she’s been exchanging letters.
Isaac is the Campbell Shoe fortune heir, making him the most eligible bachelor in town. However, he has no interest in the girls throwing themselves at him. Instead, his mind is on the woman he has been exchanging letters with through an oak tree in the Buffalo Zoo.
He is convinced there is more to the longstanding Bradshaw-Campbell feud than meets the eye. Will the truth bridge the divide between him and the woman whose words have captured his heart?
What to Expect in This Book
Fans of historical fiction and the classic rom-com You’ve Got Mail should enjoy this one!
The Letter Tree is also an excellent choice for those who prefer a clean read, as it’s free from adult language. While it was released by a Christian publisher, reviewers say you should expect an engaging historical romance with additional themes of friendship and female empowerment. They say you may be disappointed by the lack of a faith plotline if you’re specifically looking for a Christian read.
The Radium Girls
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
98% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
The newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty and the wonder drug of the medical community. From body lotion to tonic water, the popular new element shines bright in the otherwise dark years of World War I.
Across the US, hundreds of girls toiled in the glowing dust of the radium-dial factories. The glittering chemical covered their bodies from head to toe; they lit up the night like industrious fireflies.
With such a coveted job, these “shining girls” are the luckiest alive — until they begin to fall mysteriously ill. This shocking non-fiction book explores the radium craze and its lasting aftermath.
Our Thoughts on This Book
We have both read this book, and both highly recommend it! It is heartbreaking and, at times, hard to read because of the terrible illnesses that the women suffer. Still, it’s a riveting account of a little-known and important piece of American history.
The Light Between Oceans
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
94% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
After fighting on the Western Front in WWI, Tom Sherbourne returns home and takes a job as a lighthouse keeper on an isolated island. It’s a half-day journey from the west coast of Australia, and supply boats only come once a season. During their years on the island, Tom and his wife, Isabel, suffer two miscarriages and a stillbirth.
Then, a boat washes up onshore carrying a dead man and a crying baby. Against Tom’s judgment, the couple claims the baby is their own and raises her on the island. Two years later, when they return to mainland Australia, they must face the reality of their choice.
Our Thoughts on This Book
We’ve both read this novel and were drawn in by the beautiful writing, the compelling characters, and the moral complexities of good people making bad decisions with the best intentions.
Beautiful Little Fools
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
98% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Revisit the glittering Jazz Age with this atmospheric novel that reimagines The Great Gatsby from the perspective of three alternating female voices. When Jay Gatsby was found shot dead in his swimming pool in August of 1922, and a local mechanic was found dead in the woods nearby, the police viewed it as an open-and-shut case of murder/suicide.
But then a diamond hairpin is found in the bushes around the pool, and three women suddenly become suspects – Daisy Buchanan, who once thought she’d marry Gatsby; Jordan Baker, who has a secret that could derail both her golf career and her friendship with Daisy; and Catherine McCoy, a suffragette who’s fighting for women’s rights and to protect her own sister from a terrible marriage.
This is a tale of money and power, marriage and friendship, love and desire, and ultimately murder.
You Might Like This Book If…
Reviewers say this entertaining retelling of The Great Gatsby is perfect for fans of Big Little Lies.
Killers of the Flower Moon
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
95% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Killers of the Flower Moon is a non-fiction tale featuring a plot that seems like it has to be fiction.
Finding oil within their land, the Osage Indian Nation became the richest people per capita in the world. The wealth attracted a whole host of bad characters, leading to murders and other vicious crimes.
This tale also represents the first time we really see J. Edgar Hoover show up in the history books, as a young FBI director leading the first major homicide investigation in the organization’s history.
One of our favorite actors-slash-narrators, Will Patton (Coach Yoast from the film Remember the Titans), does a fantastic job on this audiobook.
About the Adaptation
This book is a great companion to the 2023 Martin Scorsese film by the same name, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Al Pacino, and Lily Gladstone. Scorsese worked closely with the Osage Tribe and filmed in Oklahoma to authentically share this tragic piece of history.
One Summer: America 1927
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In this non-fiction read, Bill Bryson dives deep into the events of the summer of 1927. The summer began with Charles Lindbergh becoming the first man to cross the Atlantic by plane nonstop, instantly making him one of the most famous people on the planet.
Back in the US, Babe Ruth began his run to the home run record, and the first “talking picture” changed the movies forever. While the tabloids spent the summer covering the murder trial of a Queens housewife who murdered her husband, gangster Al Capone tightened his grip on the illegal booze business through his reign of terror. A massive storm flooded the South while President Calvin Coolidge took a three-month vacation. Four of the most powerful bankers on Earth met in secret and made a decision that would lead to future crashes and depression.
All these events marked a summer that would have a lasting mark on the twentieth century.
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
99% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
This is the true story of Anne Hobbs, who arrived in harsh and beautiful Alaska in 1927, at the young age of nineteen. She quickly discovered that running a ramshackle schoolhouse would expose her to more than just the elements.
After she allowed Native American children into her class and fell in love with a half-Inuit man, she learned the meanings of prejudice and perseverance, irrational hatred, and unconditional love.
“People get as mean as the weather,” she discovered, but they were also capable of great good.
What to Expect in This Read
Reviewers say that this YA memoir reads like fiction, which is a sign of a great story!
Though it can be difficult to read, the language and attitudes toward Indigenous people in this memoir reflect the racism Anne Hobbs experienced.
In the Field
Book Summary
Kate fell in love with science in 1920 after convincing her mother to send her to college. When the girl of her dreams rebuffs her, she finds solace in biology. She’s most interested in the new field of genetics, which hopes to explain why people become who they are.
However, as a woman in an emerging scientific field, she faces discrimination, competition, and scientific theft. Will Kate have what it takes and be willing to make the sacrifices necessary to succeed in genetics?
Historical Context
The character of Kate is loosely based on pioneering geneticist Barbara McClintock. This is a great pick if you love more detailed scientific discussions of genes and chromosomes, but the novel may feel dry if that isn’t your thing.
The Mystery of Mrs. Christie
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
96% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
On a frigid night in December of 1926, mystery writer Agatha Christie went missing for 11 days. A more extensive search was launched after investigators found her car, which only contained her fur coat, near a pond. The only clues were some tire tracks nearby. Both her husband and daughter were questioned, but claimed not to know her whereabouts.
More About This Book
The questions about where Agatha Christie went and what she was doing have persisted for nearly a century. In this historical fiction novel, Benedict imagines what may have occurred in a story filled with twists fitting of a Christie mystery. Author Nina de Gramont also wrote an alternative fictionalized account of this same time period titled The Christie Affair.
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In the 1920s, Prohibition created more problems than it solved, especially in the heart of Texas. Tired soldier Thatcher Hutton finds himself in trouble when he returns to Texas because a local woman goes missing the same day he arrives. Meanwhile, Laurel Plummer is willing to do anything to improve life for herself and her young daughter. This includes helping her father-in-law expand his moonshine production.
Soon, Thatcher and Laurel find themselves on different sides of prohibition, but being at odds is hard when you’re also drawn to each other.
What to Expect in This Book
This is a slow-burning suspense, true to Sandra Brown’s style despite it being a rare historical fiction from her.
Warning: Book contains some graphic crimes, including a rape scene.
You are welcome to choose any book that you’d like to read for the challenge, but we hope that this list of books has given you a good starting point.
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Printable Version of This Book List
Readers who support The Book Girls’ Guide through our Buy Me a Coffee (BMAC) membership site can access printable versions of the reading challenge book lists. As we update each book list throughout the year – following the monthly reading challenge schedule – each list will be available in a single-page printable format for our BMAC members.
We offer two membership levels. Both our BFF members and our Inner Circle members get access to the single-page printables for the year-long reading challenges. Visit our Buy Me a Coffee membership page for a full list of benefits for each level.
Our BMAC members help cover the cost of running the challenges so we can keep them free for everyone!
Bonus Content- Major World Events of the 1920s
We compiled this list of major events of the 1920s to provide some historical context for your reading. We hope you enjoy learning a bit more about this period in history.
- American troops returned home at the end of WWI, but for many, their experiences in Europe made them want to provide their families with some of the finer things in life.
- For the first time in the 1920s, more Americans lived in cities than on farms. For young people in America’s big cities, the 1920s were a roaring decade, but many other Americans were uncomfortable with this new urban lifestyle, leading to what some historians have called a “cultural civil war.”
- Two amendments to the US Constitution helped define the 1920s. The 18th Amendment, which was ratified at the end of 1919, ushered in the Prohibition Era of the Roaring Twenties, and the 19th Amendment, ratified in August of 1920, gave women the right to vote.
- The Anti-Communist “Red Scare” of 1919 and 1920 led to the National Origins Act of 1924, a very restrictive immigration law that set quotas and excluded people from some countries in favor of others.
- A familiar symbol of the Roaring Twenties, flappers were young women with bobbed hair and short skirts who drank, smoked, and were more sexually free than women in previous generations.
- Following the first commercially licensed radio broadcast in 1920, radio quickly became a family experience with everyone gathering around to listen to the news, comedy shows, and music. By 1926, there were over 700 commercial radio stations.
- The Great Migration of African Americans from the South to northern cities led to rising social tensions in the 1920s. With this Great Migration came increased visibility of Black culture, including jazz and blues music.
- Radio stations and phonograph records also helped usher in the Jazz Age. Across the country, Jazz bands played in dance halls, and young people danced the Charleston.
- The 1920s were a time of rising crime. In 1924, J. Edgar Hoover was appointed the head of the FBI to reform the Bureau, and the FBI investigated Al Capone and other famous gangsters of the era. The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago in 1929 was the culmination of the gang war between Al Capone and Bugs Moran.
- At the beginning of the decade, cars were considered luxuries, but by the end, they were necessities. By 1929, there was one car on the road for every five Americans, leading to a rise in businesses like service stations and motels.
- Charles Lindbergh completed the first solo transatlantic flight across the Atlantic in the Spirit of St. Louis in 1927.
- Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse appeared for the first time in Steamboat Willie in 1928.
- The Wall Street Crash of 1929 started the period of the Great Depression in the United States.
Book Recommendations for Other Decades
In addition to our recommendations organized by decade below, you can browse all of our historical fiction book lists here.
- 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
- Books Set in the 1930s
Thank you for giving me delightful books to read.
Of the five that I’ve read, KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, was my favorite. Great Book/Great Movie!
I highly recommend The Radium Girls! I learned of this book after our local high school theater group performed the play some years ago. I didn’t see it, but had to get the book.
Also, The Light Between Oceans is very good. Heartbreaking at times.
Call Your Daughter Home is one of the best audio books I’ve ever listened to!
Great list. I have read a few: Radium Girls, The Paris Wife.
Going to try out The Light Between Oceans, The Second Life of Mirielle West and The Masterpiece. (Lions of 5th Ave also by Fiona Davis was incredible)
For the 1910’s I was able to print the book list. I can not find the list for the 20’s I want the list so I can choose what I want to request from my library. I do not have a Kindle or audible
Hi Mary Lou, The book lists don’t have a printable form, so we usually recommend just jotting the ones down that catch your eye as you read the descriptions.
I’ve read five books from this list, my favorite is ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ which is being made into a movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu3Y_Y3RUgQ
You might want to add Amor Towles’ Rules of Civility to your list of books set in the 1920s.
Hi Gerry, our understanding is that Rules of Civility is set on New Years’ Eve 1937, leading into 1938. But we both have it on our want to read lists and have featured in other lists, including the 1930s Decade list!
You should include the Sherlock Holmes/Mary Russell books by Laurie King in your lists of books set in the 1910s and 1920s. They’re great books!
I recommend the Diviners! I’ve only read the first one but it was set in the 1920s and had very much the 1920s aesthetic