Welcome to this month’s post on all things historical fiction!
First of all, congratulations to Andrew Miller, the winner of this year’s Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, announced at the Borders Book Festival last week.
The winning novel, The Land in Winter, is one of the shortlisted titles that I haven’t read yet and is about two couples living in an English village during the winter of 1962-63, one of the coldest on record. I’ve enjoyed other books by Miller, so I’m sure it’s a deserving winner – and, to be honest, I’m pleased neither Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon nor The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry won the prize as they are the only two I’ve managed to read from the shortlist so far and I didn’t love either. I’ll look forward to reading the Miller book and the other three shortlisted titles, probably after I finish the 20 Books of Summer challenge.
Moving on, last December I posted a list of upcoming historical fiction being published in 2025. Now that we’re halfway through the year, more titles have been announced so I thought I would post an updated list below for the rest of the year. This is simply a selection of books that have caught my attention for one reason or another – some are review copies I’ve received, some are new books by authors I’ve previously enjoyed and others just sounded interesting. Most of the July and August ones are already on my 20 Books of Summer list, so you should be hearing more about them here soon!
Dates provided are for the UK and were correct at the time of posting.
July
Sinners by Elizabeth Fremantle (3rd July 2025)
These Wicked Devices by Matthew Plampin (3rd July 2025)
The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (10th July 2025)
Love and Other Poisons by Lesley McDowell (17th July 2025)
A Case of Life and Limb by Sally Smith (17th July 2025) – I’ve already read and loved this one!
How to Lose a Lord in Ten Days by Sophie Irwin (31st July 2025)
The Emerald Shawl by Louise Douglas (31st July 2025)
August
The House at Devil’s Neck by Tom Mead (14th August 2025)
Boudicca’s Daughter by Elodie Harper (28th August 2025)
September
Buckeye by Patrick Ryan (2nd September 2025)
The Predicament by William Boyd (4th September 2025)
Circle of Days by Ken Follett (23rd September 2025)
Venetian Vespers by John Banville (25th September 2025)
October
Benbecula by Graeme Macrae Burnet (2nd October 2025)
Boleyn Traitor by Philippa Gregory (7th October 2025)
House of Splinters by Laura Purcell (9th October 2025)
The Witching Hour by various authors (16th October 2025)
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Are you interested in reading any of these? Which other historical novels should I be looking out for before the year of the year? And what do you think of The Land in Winter winning the Walter Scott Prize?
She Reads Novels 
I’m excited to see that Of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith is coming soon to my e-library, so I might become another Smith fan.. I will be also be looking forward to Elodie Harper’s new book (series?) I can’t wait to see what she does with ancient Britain!
Of Mice and Murder is great – I hope you enjoy it! The new Elodie Harper does sound interesting, but I really need to read the final book in the Wolf Den trilogy first.
Great list, thank you. I loved Andrew Miller’s Pure and thought his Now We Shall Be Entirely Free was good, too. I’ll read The Land in Winter soon. Usually, I enjoy earlier historical periods much more (I was a child, but I do remember the 1960s). I’m interested in The Art of a Lie, Love and Other Poisons, and Boleyn Traitor. I recently read The Queen’s Musician by Martha Jean Johnson, a Tudor-era novel about Mark Smeaton. I loved it. (Disclosure, the author and I share a publisher).
I enjoyed those same two Andrew Miller books, so I’m looking forward to The Land in Winter. The Queen’s Musician sounds interesting – I’m glad you loved it!
I haven’t read any yet from that year, but I’m glad to hear Andrew Miller won, because I’ve enjoyed the books I’ve read by him. For some reason, I thought I read The Safekeep won and even marked it on my page! I don’t know how that happened.
I’m glad Andrew Miller won too – I enjoyed Pure and Now We Shall Be Entirely Free. The Safekeep won the Women’s Prize which I think was announced on the same day last week.
Oh, maybe I got confused.
No-one is convincing me that anything set in the 1960s is “historical” 😄.
I’m sure I’ve seen books set in the 80s and 90s described as historical as well, which is even worse!
Looking forward to both The Predicament and Venetian Vespers courtesy of NetGalley. I’ve also got a copy of Love and Other Poisons but I’m a bit apprehensive about it since the reviews aren’t very positive. I’ll be reading it very soon though so I have my fingers firmly crossed…
I read Lesley McDowell’s previous book, Clairmont, and loved her writing but found the plot and structure confusing. I was hoping Love and Other Poisons would be better, but as you say, the early reviews aren’t very promising!
Ooh, Burnet said not a word about having a new book coming out when he spoke at the Newcastle Writing Conference I went to last month. And set on Benbecula! (I assume).
I knew nothing about it until I saw it on someone else’s list of upcoming fiction recently. It’s odd that he didn’t mention it himself!
I read Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon and it was one of my favorite books of the year! Maybe because I’m so into ancient Greek history, literature and philosophy. Also read The Safekeep and that was a favorite, too.
I did find a lot to like about Glorious Exploits, but I found that the modern language kept pulling me out of the story. I’m glad you enjoyed it. The Safekeep does sound good – I’m looking forward to reading it, hopefully soon.
I look forward to Bouddica’s daughter and Sinners, but maybe not to the Gregory book, I’ve stopped reading her for a few years now. And I feel like again writing about the Boleyns is to sell more books. Also Jane Parker was already a character in The Boleyn Inheritance, so I don’t understand the need to give her her own book :).
I don’t know if I will read the Philippa Gregory book either – I only really enjoyed her Wars of the Roses series – but I included it here in case people were interested in it. I’m hoping to start Sinners soon!
I haven’t heard of the book that won but then I just looked at the shortlist and think only two of those were actually on my TBR, one of which you’ve now said you didn’t enjoy 😬 I can’t wait for House Of Splinters, The Witching Hour and Boudicca’s Daughter in particular from your list but I have my eye on a couple of the others too. I also need to pick a good starting place for Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s books as I’ve been seeing them praised a lot lately. I hope you enjoy all of these.
My favourite book by Laura Shepherd-Robinson so far is The Square of Sevens, so that might be a good place to start, although the new one could be even better!
Thanks for the tip 🥰 I’ll add that one to my TBR and watch out for your review for the new one.