The 14 most uplifting historical novels

There’s something uniquely wonderful about immersing yourself in a great historical novel. It gives you the chance to disappear into another time, place and way of life entirely. But with so much of the past shaped by war, poverty and social injustice, historical fiction can also make for a pretty heavy reading experience. Yet it doesn’t have to. From eccentric adventures and sweeping romances to stories of friendship and reinvention, these are the uplifting historical novels worth getting lost in… A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles In 1922, aristocrat Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced to lifelong house arrest in Moscow’s grand Metropol Hotel. As decades of upheaval pass beyond its doors, he builds an unexpectedly rich new life within them in this witty, big-hearted story of resilience. Windmill Books, £9.99 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows Shorts In postwar London, writer Juliet Ashton begins corresponding with members of a Guernsey book club, hastily invented as an alibi during the German occupation. Soon she is drawn to the island herself in this charming epistolary celebration of books and community. Bloomsbury, £9.99 The Duke and I by Julia Quinn Daphne Bridgerton wants to find a husband; Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings, wants London’s matchmaking mothers to leave him alone. Their mutually convenient fake courtship inevitably grows complicated in the funny, romantic first instalment of the phenomenally popular Bridgerton series. Piatkus, £8.99 The Offing by Benjamin Myers Just after the Second World War, 16-year-old Robert leaves his Durham mining village on foot and reaches the Yorkshire coast, where he meets eccentric older woman Dulcie. Food, poetry and an unlikely friendship open his eyes to a life he never imagined. Bloomsbury, £9.99 Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon Syracuse, 412BC: unemployed potters Lampo and Gelon decide to stage a Euripides play using Athenian prisoners of war as their cast – as you do. Written in gleefully anachronistic vernacular, this darkly comic debut finds friendship and humanity amid the aftermath of war. Penguin, £9.99 The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn Growing up on a crumbling Dorset estate, Cristabel Seagrave and her siblings create an outdoor theatre from the skeleton of a beached whale. Their childhood games later give way to wartime adventures in this imaginative, sweeping family saga. Penguin, £9.99 Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce In 1950, disillusioned schoolteacher Margery Benson walks out of her job and sets off for New Caledonia in search of a possibly mythical golden beetle. Her wildly unsuitable assistant Enid turns the expedition into a swashbuckling adventure and unexpected friendship. Escapism at its finest. Penguin, £9.99 Still Life by Sarah Winman In Tuscany in 1944, young British soldier Ulysses Temper meets art historian Evelyn Skinner while war rages around them. Their chance encounter reverberates across the following decades in a warm, expansive novel about the people who become family and the places that become home. Fourth Estate, £9.99 City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert After being thrown out of college in 1940, 19-year-old Vivian Morris arrives in Manhattan to live with an aunt who runs a ramshackle theatre. Showgirls, scandal and sexual adventure follow in a delightfully spirited coming-of-age story which is pure joy to read. Bloomsbury, £10.99 Miss Austen by Gill Hornby In 1840, Cassandra Austen searches for a cache of letters written by her late sister Jane. As she decides what should be preserved or destroyed, Hornby imagines the private life behind one of literature’s most famous families in this clever and utterly charming read. Arrow, £9.99 Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier On the beaches around Lyme Regis in the early 19th century, working-class fossil hunter Mary Anning befriends the older Elizabeth Philpot, who shares her fascination with the strange creatures emerging from the cliffs. Their discoveries challenge the male scientific establishment in this absorbing novel inspired by real lives. HarperCollins, £9.99 Nonesuch by Francis Spufford As war approaches in 1939, ambitious young Londoner Iris Hawkins finds herself caught up in an otherworldly adventure in which she confronts magic, the Blitz and a time-travelling fascist. Spufford’s latest is an exuberant collision of historical fiction and fantasy. Faber, £20 Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez In 1973 Alabama, newly qualified nurse Civil Townsend discovers that two young Black sisters at her family-planning clinic are being catastrophically mistreated. Inspired by real events, this exceptionally moving novel follows her determination to challenge injustice. Phoenix, £9.99 The Eights by Joanna Miller Oxford, 1920: Beatrice, Dora, Marianne and Otto arrive among the first women able to be formally admitted to the university and receive degrees. Sharing neighbouring rooms on Corridor Eight, the four forge a life-changing friendship in this marvellous debut. Penguin, £9.99