21 Great Historical Fiction Novels Set in New York City

Book Summary

Growing up in Harlem, Benny’s father had ties to the mob. Benny learned that love and family can get you into trouble, so he decided to make music his entire life. But rather than seeking the spotlight, Benny writes songs for other musicians.

That is, until Benny meets Esther – a petite but powerful singer. He writes a song for her, but when they end up performing it together, he’s suddenly thrust into the national spotlight. Not only do music fans take notice, but it also gains the attention of the mob. 

In addition to the storyline set in 1960, the book includes portions of an interview that Benny is giving to a radio show personality Barry Gray in 1969. But what happened in between? The answer – like the decade – involves politics, racism, and lots of amazing music.

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 crumbled and unemployment soared during the Great Depression, Perkins navigated the male-dominated world of politics, using her intellect and determination to fight for workers’ rights, economic recovery, and social justice.

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 steel 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, devastating their families.

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?

Book Summary

Francesca arrived in America from Italy, dreaming of a better life than the one she left behind. She arrived at Ellis Island on Alma’s first work day at the immigrant processing center.

However, both soon discover that Ellis is not the refuge it appears to be. President Roosevelt put in new measures to deter crime, which led to a new kind of crime and corruption.

Based on historical events, this novel explores the prejudice and exclusion that occurred at Ellis Island. But it’s also a story of friendship and the resilience needed to secure a better future.

Book Summary

It’s 1913, and Laura’s husband is the New York Public Library superintendent. The job comes with an apartment in the grand building for the couple and their two children. Laura seems to have it all, but after she enters journalism school at Columbia and has her worldview rocked, she starts to question if the things she has are the things she wants.

Eighty years later, in 1993, Sadie landed her dream job as a curator at the NY Public Library, but her grandmother Laura’s legacy looms over her until she can no longer ignore it.

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 Larsen, who becomes one of Jessie’s best friends.

Subscriptions soar for the already notable magazine, and every Black writer in the country is vying for publication 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.

Book Summary

In 1888, New York, the streets were still lit by gas lamps, but the promise of the light bulb loomed. However, the switch to electric light came with an additional complication – both George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison claimed to have invented the lightbulb.

A young lawyer, Paul Cravath, is thrust into the world of New York high society when he agrees to defend Westinghouse in a lawsuit brought by Thomas Edison. Edison has spies and vast resources, including the backing of J.P. Morgan. How can they fight against such a force?

When Paul meets Nikola Tesla, he may have found the secret to defeating Edison. But winning requires risks.

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?

Book Summary

Just before Christmas of 1799, Elma slips out of her Quaker boarding house and never comes home. No one is sure if she ran away or eloped…until her body is found. Her family is certain she was killed by a carpenter named Levi, and they even circulate handbills around town accusing him of her seduction and murder.

Levi’s wealthy brother calls in a favor to lawyer Aaron Burr, who needs cash to fund his political campaign and expensive tastes. His rival, Alexander Hamilton, doesn’t want Burr to get publicity alone, so he joins the defense of Levi with Burr. With both the trial and election around the corner, Burr and Hamilton work to save Levi’s life while also trying to destroy each other.

Book Summary

This historical fiction novel is based on the remarkable true story of J.P. Morgan’s personal librarian, a Black woman who became one of the most powerful women in NYC at the turn of the century.

Belle da Costa Greene was working at the Princeton University Library when J.P. Morgan’s nephew recommended her for a position curating a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and art for his uncle’s newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. This position of prominence made her one of the most influential people in the art and book world. She became a fixture on the New York social scene.

But Belle had a secret that could change everything. She led people to believe that her dark complexion was the result of her alleged Portuguese heritage. In truth, however, she was born Bella Marion Greener – the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard University.

Book Summary

Vera, the daughter of German immigrants in New York City, finds her life upended when the man she loves becomes engaged to another woman. But Angelo has also inadvertently opened up Vera’s life to unexpected possibilities. Angelo’s new wife, Pearl, the wealthy daughter of a clothing manufacturer, has defied her family’s expectations by devoting herself to the women’s suffrage movement.

In Pearl, Vera finds an unexpected dear friend…and a stirring new cause of her own. But when Pearl’s selfless work pulls her away from Angelo and their son, the life Vera craved is suddenly within her reach—if her conscience will allow her to take it.

Book Summary

In 1902, Daisy Harriman’s residence in NYC was undergoing renovations while they were staying at their summer home in Newport. When she needed to take a quick trip back to the city, she was astonished when the Waldorf Astoria refused to rent her a room as an “unaccompanied woman”.

Her outrage at this Victorian-era rule inspired her to create the first social club for women in New York, similar to the men’s clubs that hosted educational speakers and included sleeping quarters. At the same time, Nora is finishing her architecture training, and Elsie is an actress with a talent for designing beautiful interior spaces.

The paths of the three women collide as part of the Colony Club project, and there is a surprising murder along the way that leads to the “Trial of the Century”.

The book is told as 92-year-old Daisy is interviewed in 1963 about her many trailblazing achievements, including being President Kennedy’s first Citation of Merit Award winner.

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.

Book Summary

While fleeing Russia in 1913, young Malka Treynovsky is determined to get her family to the United States – the land of opportunity and dreams. After arriving via Ellis Island, her visions of a better life are quickly tattered when the Lower East Side isn’t easy to survive as a Russian Jewish family.

Over the next 70 years, Malka transforms herself into Lillian Dunkle, “The Ice Cream Queen.” She creates her own empire, and her story involves notable moments throughout American history.

While her public persona as the Ice Cream Queen seems endearing, it’s largely a facade for a more complex, less-likable woman who was shaped by the challenges of her childhood.

Book Summary

Anna and her cousin Sophie come from an upper-class family. Orphaned in their childhoods, the cousins – one white and one mixed race – were raised by their elderly aunt. Both are graduates of the Woman’s Medical School. Anna is a surgeon, and Sophie is an obstetrician and a pediatrician. Their work introduces them to patients who are among the city’s most vulnerable.

The cousins begin to see the disparities between the upper crust and the working poor, as well as the hypocrisies of the Gilded Age. Then, they become embroiled in a controversy that may put everything they’ve strived for in jeopardy.

Book Summary

September 1911. On Ellis Island in New York Harbor, nurse Clara Wood cannot face returning to Manhattan, where the man she loved fell to his death in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Then, while caring for a fevered immigrant whose own loss mirrors hers, she becomes intrigued by a name embroidered onto the scarf he carries…and finds herself caught in a dilemma that compels her to confront the truth about the assumptions she’s made.

September 2011. On Manhattan’s Upper West Side, widow Taryn Michaels has convinced herself that she is living fully, working in a charming specialty fabric store and raising her daughter alone. Then a long-lost photograph appears in a national magazine, and she is forced to relive the terrible day her husband died in the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers, which was the same day a stranger reached out and saved her. But a chance reconnection and a century-old scarf may open Taryn’s eyes to the larger forces at work in her life.

Book Summary

Told from the perspective of an older woman looking back on her youth, City of Girls is a fictional life story set in the New York theater world during the 1940s. 

Nineteen-year-old Vivian has been kicked out of Vassar College due to poor performance, and her affluent parents send her to live with her aunt, who owns a flamboyant but crumbling midtown theater. 

Other charismatic theater employees, from showgirls to Olive, the no-nonsense secretary that keeps everyone in line, have their own spaces on the 3rd and 4th floors. Vivian loves fashion and is a talented seamstress, which is perfect for making clothes for the Lily dancers on and off the stage.

The main setting of the book is 1940s New York City, spanning the years before the US entered WW2, along with the war years. Vivian reflects on the events of those years, including a personal mistake that almost ruined the course of her life in a moment.

Many years later, at the age of 95, she tells her story, musing that “at some point in a woman’s life, she just gets tired of being ashamed all the time.”

Book Summary

This historical fiction novel is based on the little-known story of America’s first nursing school. While nurses had historically been viewed as unskilled, New York’s Bellevue Hospital training school for nurses is the first of its kind. It’s formed around Florence Nightingale’s nursing principles of discipline, intellect, and moral character. Only young women of good breeding are accepted in Bellevue’s nurse training program.

Una is a young female grifter who evades the police by conning her way into the nurse training program. She struggles to fit in with her prim classmates and balks at the doctors’ endless commands. On the other hand, life on the streets prepared her for the horrors of injury and disease, allowing her to slowly find her footing in the program. When Una becomes suspicious about a patient’s death, she risks exposing the truth about her background.

Book Summary

This novel tells the story of Mrs. Vanderbilt and Mrs. Astor’s notorious battle for control of New York society during the Gilded Age. It starts in 1876, New York, with Alva Vanderbilt’s experiences dealing with her entrance to society after marrying into a wealthy family.

She has no idea how poorly she’ll be treated for being “new money” instead of “old money” by people like Caroline Astor. However, Alva isn’t one to give up. When they don’t welcome her into their society, she begins to build her own.

Social Graces covers thirty years of the social feud between Vanderbilt and Astor and is based on true events.