May is the perfect time to discuss new and upcoming Asian American historical fiction coming out this year, and boy, is there a lot to look forward to! Asian American and Pacific Islander, or AAPI, Heritage Month is a national commemorative holiday in the United States that recognizes the important contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Considering the growing racism and anti-immigrant sentiments in the United States spearheaded by conservative groups over recent years and the rampant anti-Asian propaganda and hate surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, recognizing the long and important history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in this country feels more important than ever.
Like many immigrant populations in the U.S. (including European Americans, who, I always feel it’s important to re-emphasize, are also an immigrant group in this country), the history of Asian immigration began hundreds of years ago, and many Asian Americans have been living in the United States for generations. In fact, AAPI Heritage Month was established in May exactly because the first recorded Japanese immigration to the United States occurred in May 1843, and the completion of the transcontinental railroad—which owes a lot of its labor to Chinese immigrants— occurred in May 1869.
These four books from Asian American authors feature just a small slice of the Asian American experience from some of the earliest Chinese immigrants to the United States and the Japanese incarceration in camps during WWII. If you want to learn more about Asian American history, they’re a good place to start.
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Daughters of the Sun and Moon by Lisa See (June 9, 2026)
Three women brought over to the small town of Los Angeles in post-Civil War America face the hardships of life in a new land where anti-Chinese sentiment runs rampant. They are each searching for something—love, freedom, justice—but when the racism in their new home boils over into one terrible night of violence, they’ll have to rely on the strength of themselves and each other in order to make it through these difficult times.
Fishbone Cinderella by Elizabeth Lim (July 28, 2026)
In this historical fairy tale retelling, a Chinese girl who only manages to escape the Japanese soldiers during the Sino-Japanese War by turning invisible, learns of a family curse that could be related to her newfound magic. After the war, when she’s sent to live with her father and his new wife in Hong Kong, where they run a shoe factory, Ha Yut Ying meets a boy who will change her life forever.
When Mikan Road Was Ours by D.K. Furutani (July 28, 2026)
Four generations of a Japanese American family in California come to light when a school teacher, reeling from a recent cancer diagnosis and his father’s death, discovers his great-uncle’s unpublished memoir. Murano expects it to be another reminder of how out of place he is as the half-white son of the black sheep of the family; instead, he finds himself drawn back to 1930s California, family members he never knew existed, and the Japanese identity he’s long felt divorced from.
The Chinese Lady by Bo Wang (September 8, 2026)
Based on archival records and intimate research, Bo Wang fills in the gaps of history to tell the story of the first Chinese woman brought to the United States in the 1830s. Known by many names, though her true name is lost to history, Afong Moy became an exhibit, the first Chinese woman in America, gawked at by onlookers who were astonished by her small, bound feet. From Canton to P.T. Barnum’s American Museum and eventually Chinatown, Moy’s story is recounted from the perspective of those around her, reflecting her life on display until she finally gets the chance to establish a life on her own terms.
Even more Asian American and AAPI books you won’t want to miss:
Historical Fiction Set in America’s Various Chinatowns
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English (US) · 