Journey across continents and centuries with these incredible novels of historical fiction. 2025 saw powerful debuts from a number of Australian authors, as well as new books from familiar names, so there's plenty to discover – regardless of whether your preference is for Victorian England or sixties Australia!
Gabriële
Anne Berest & Claire Berest, translated by Tina Kover
Anne Berest, author of the much acclaimed The Postcard, was back this year with another fascinating look into her family history. This time, Anne was joined by her sister Claire Berest and together they told the story of their great-grandmother, Gabriële.
While this is a fictional retelling of Gabriële’s life, it almost reads like a biography, with quotes from the older Gabriële peppered through the retelling of her life and love affairs. Gabriële’s life revolved around art, romance and innovation. Her marriage to an up-and-coming painter, Francis Picabia, brought her to Paris during the Belle Epoque, and in doing so changed the life of another artist – Marcel Duchamp, one of the cornerstones of the avant-garde Dadaist movement.
With themes of love, fidelity and free thought, against the backdrop of a time of momentous change in art and culture, this is a captivating and inspiring read, that will have you keen to learn more about the human lives behind some of art’s most well-known names.
The Warrumbar
William J. Byrne
The Warrumbar is a powerful debut from Australian author, William J. Byrne. The story revolves around a thirteen-year-old boy called Robbie, who must reckon with family secrets and an impossible choice.
In 1969, against the historic backdrop of man’s first steps on the moon, Robbie has two encounters that shift his worldview. One is meeting Moses, an old man with fascinating stories of hardship and heroism, both from the war and from his childhood at the Mission, where Aboriginal children were raised away from their families. When Robbie realises that his mother grew up in the mission alongside Moses, it reveals an unspoken truth about his own identity. The second event is a tragic, violent act that Robbie witnesses at the Warrumbar dam. He wants to tell the truth about what he saw, but the truth often comes with risks – especially for kids like him, who aren’t respectable enough, or white enough, to be believed.
Nightingale
Laura Elvery
This is another incredible Australian debut novel; this one blending history with a touch of magical realism.
As the name suggests, this is a novel about Florence Nightingale and her pioneering work during the Crimean War and beyond. But it’s not about her achievements in a grand, historical sense – instead, the view of this book is very personal. It explores the kind of person Nightingale was, and the many lives that were affected by her work.
Interwoven with Nightingale’s sick-bed recollections of nursing in wartime are the stories of Silas and Jean, a soldier and a nurse whose paths crossed with Nightingale’s and whose lives were forever changed by their meeting. The resulting book is a beautifully crafted tapestry, weaving together stories of love, death and legacy.
Until the Red Leaves Fall
Alli Parker
If, like me, you get a real kick out of reading historic fiction set close to home, pick up this novel set in fifties Melbourne. As well as being immersed in the glitz and creativity of the theatre world, this is a powerful exploration of the rarely acknowledged mistreatment of Japanese Australians during and after the Second World War.
Parker’s main character is Emmy Darling, who was born Emiko Tanaka. But with features that allow her to pass as white, and in the face of undeniable hostility after the war, Emiko decides life will be easier under the name ‘Emmy’. Now married to a successful playwright and living in the southern suburbs, Emmy’s family are a secret kept from her neighbours and her husband’s colleagues – until she meets the charismatic and influential Virginia Van Belle.
When Emmy decides to be honest with Virginia about her past, she suddenly has the opportunity to share her story on the stage of one of Melbourne’s most prestigious theatres. But as Emmy starts to feed her long-repressed ambition, she’s torn between Virgina’s vision for a show that could launch her career, and one that tells the truth of Emmy’s life in the internment camp.
Shadow Ticket
Thomas Pynchon
This is another book that combines historical detail with a touch of the paranormal, in a transcontinental odyssey following a hardboiled detective trying to hunt down a young heiress.
In the midst of the Great Depression, Hicks McTaggart is an American private eye, whose hunt for a Wisconsin cheese heiress leads him to Hungary and then back across Europe, where he is ill-equipped to deal with both the language and the explosive political tensions. Not to mention his midwestern target is proving surprisingly well hidden …
Similar to Pynchon’s 2009 novel Inherent Vice, which was described as ‘part noir, part psychedelic romp’, this is both a literary thriller, a look at a turbulent time in history, and a frenzied story of outlaws, musicians and practitioners of the supernatural. Don’t go in expecting something as straight-forward as Raymond Chandler’s novels, but if you’re a fan of the tropes of detective noir, you will find this engrossing and full of surprises!
A Great Act of Love
Heather Rose
Stella Prize winner Heather Rose has been praised before for her versatility as an author – her novels have spanned an array of different genres, and her sixth is no exception. A Great Act of Love is a historical epic unlike anything else Rose has written.
A retelling of true events, this novel explores early colonial Australia as a seemingly respectable young woman, Caroline Douglas, arrives in Hobart to begin a new life. It’s a turbulent time for the colony, and there are challenges to overcome in trying to find a place in the insular community of settlers and the beautiful but unfamiliar landscape. But when Caroline finds herself living on a neglected vineyard, she takes it as an opportunity to use the knowledge of champagne-making that her father passed down to her – her father who was once sent to Australia as a convict. With the shadows of her past still close at hand, Caroline attempts to put down roots and make a fresh start, alongside the vines she is trying to regrow.
This is a compelling story of family and legacy, with a heroine whose passion and persistence you have no choice but to admire.
The Original
Nell Stevens
I was already intrigued by the premise of Nell Stevens’ second novel, with the gothic cornerstones of a crumbling country estate, a poor relative dependent on rich relations, and a mysterious doppelgänger for someone presumed dead; but when I read our bookseller Gene Pinter’s review, I knew I had to read it. Gene described it as ‘a triumphant return to form’, full of vivid imagery and a complex exploration of the notion of authenticity.
The Original follows Grace, a young woman dependent on her aunt and uncle, whose main creative and emotional outlet has become painting skilful art forgeries. Then the cousin who was thought to have died at sea suddenly returns to the family home, ready to resume his place in the heart of the family – and as the heir. And while Grace’s aunt is quick to embrace the man as her son, not everyone is convinced.
Grace’s own talent for forgery means she’s fascinated by the would-be-Charles, and soon she becomes determined to uncover the mystery of whether or not her cousin has truly returned, or if a stranger has been welcomed into their home.
A Long Winter
Colm Tóibín
Hardcore Tóibín fans may already be familiar with this story from his 2006 collection, Mother and Sons, but for the rest of us, its recent publication as a standalone novella is an exciting opportunity to discover this compelling family story.
A Long Winter is about Miquel and his family, living in near isolation in the Pyrenees because their patriarch has been exiled from the local town. With Miquel’s young brother away in the military, it’s just him and his parents … until one morning, the contentious relationship between husband and wife boils over, and Miquel’s mother walks out into the snow.
At first Miquel is desperate to search the mountains for her, but then the tense loneliness of life at home with his father is interrupted by the arrival of Manolo, who’s come to help the household through the long winter. Suddenly Miquel is torn between loyalty to his mother and the magnetic pull he feels towards Manolo. This story explores the light and dark of both love and family, and is just as worth reading as Tóibín’s better-known Brookyln.
I am Nannertgarrook
Tasma Walton
Tasma Walton’s second adult novel, I am Nannertgarrook, is a powerful and personal story about an Aboriginal woman abducted from her home and sold into slavery, based on the experiences of Walton’s own ancestor.
While it is a reminder of the brutality of colonisation, it’s also a demonstration of the importance and power of Country – Nannertgarrook’s connection to her home and her Boonwurrung culture are a vital lifeline for her and the son she gives birth to after her capture. Clinging to her culture and sharing it with her son provides them both with hope and courage, and builds a sense of community with the other kidnapped Boonwurrung women.
Earlier this year, I am Nannertgarrook was named joint winner of the ARA Historical Novel Prize, alongside Robbie Arnott’s Dusk; this is not a novel to be missed.
When Sleeping Women Wake
Emma Pei Yin
This is a gripping and emotional story of friendship and personal strength, set during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during the Second World War.
Emma Pei Yin’s debut novel follows three women: Mingzhu, a wealthy matriarch; Qiang, her daughter; and Biyu, a servant and Mingzhu’s trusted confidante. At first, Hong Kong is a haven from the terror and uncertainty they experienced in Shanghai, but before long the Japanese forces invade and the women are separated, left to face the brutality and uncertainty of the occupation alone. But this is ultimately a story of resilience, and the hope of seeing each other again keeps each of the characters fighting to survive, and keeps the readers eagerly turning the page.
While Yin is a debut novelist, she’s not a new name in Australia’s literary scene – she has worked as an editor, a book reviewer and even founded an agency to support emerging PoC, queer and neurodiverse writers to get published – and it’s a delight, but not a surprise, to see her first novel embody her own ethos of championing stories from the margins.
