Rachel is a writer from Arkansas, most at home surrounded by forests and animals much like a Disney Princess. She spends most of her time writing stories and playing around in imaginary worlds. You can follow her writing at rachelbrittain.com. Twitter and Instagram: @rachelsbrittain
I’m always looking for the trends among new releases. July gave us mystery, and March saw a surprising number of genre-blending books, but sometimes the only theme is: new. That’s the case with the new historical fiction books coming out in August. There’s a touch of the gothic from bestselling author Isabel Cañas to start getting us in the fall spirit, as well as a novelized biography of a legendary figure from Chinese history. Also: mystery, a secret bookish society, and a wonderfully weird book about women who may (or may not) be turning into dogs. Great stuff, it’s true, but no real common thread.
August’s historical fiction is notable for one thing, though: its wide-ranging time spans. These novels take us all the way back to first-century China and then up through the ages to Victorian England. That’s almost a millennium in books, y’all.
The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
Release date: Aug 5, 2025
A widowed confectioner in eighteenth-century London struggles to keep her shop afloat after her husband is murdered. Then, a friend of her late husband introduces her to a new Italian delicacy that might be just the thing she needs to turn her shop around: ice cream. But as she learns more about the circumstances around her husband’s death and is drawn into speculation and conspiracy, she may create the very destruction she was trying to avoid for herself.
This Here Is Love by Princess Joy L. Perry
Release date: Aug 5, 2025
The lives of three young people in seventeenth-century Virginia, a girl born into slavery, the enslaved son of a freed father, and an indentured servant making the crossing to America, cross paths on the same plot of land. While each of them faces horrific circumstances and hardship, they’ll all have to decide how to face it and what it will turn them into in this haunting tale of slavery, indentured servitude, and survival.
The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis
Release date: Aug 5, 2025
The Mansfield girls have always been a little…odd, and Little Nettlebed has always been a bit…unusual. That was even before someone claimed one of the Mansfield sisters transformed into a dog right in front of their eyes. This is eighteenth-century England, and people may not believe in witches anymore, but they certainly believe in the weird. If you ask five of their neighbors, the Mansfields have always been weird, and if their strangeness is starting to affect Little Nettlebed, maybe it’s time to do something about that.
Past Tense
Sign up for our weekly newsletter about historical fiction!
Lord Guan by Charles N. Li
Release date: August 5, 2025
Despite his humble rural origins in first-century China, Guan Yu, also known as Guan Gong or Lord Guan, would go on to become a deified figure in Chinese history. Charles N. Li’s book is the story of the making of a legend. It traces Guan’s journey from learning martial arts to his quest to restore the Han Dynasty during a particularly war-torn era.
The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas
Release date: August 19, 2025
With plague running rampant throughout Zacatecas, Alba, her parents, and her wealthy fiancé Carlos flee to his family’s mine to escape the contagion. But when Alba begins experiencing strange and terrifying symptoms, it becomes clear that something far worse than sickness lies waiting there. Carlos’s cousin, Elías, knows that Alba’s situation is none of his affair. Yet he can’t help but notice her every time she enters the room. When her deterioration intensifies, he may be the only one able to stop the demon thirsting for her blood.
I adore the way Isabel Cañas perfectly blends gothic and historical fiction. Her first previous books, The Hacienda and Vampires of El Norte, left me breathless, and I’m sure this new one will do the same.
The Secret Book Society by Madeline Martin
Release date: Aug 26, 2025
In late nineteenth-century London, Eleanor Clarke, Rose Wharton, and Lavinia Cavendish receive mysterious invitations from the notoriously private Lady Duxbury. Under the guise of afternoon tea, their thrice-widowed hostess ushers them into a secret book club where the women can find freedom and agency through reading the books their husbands have forbidden them from opening.
You know I’m a fan of books about books. If you are too, you might want to check out these historical fiction books about books. You can’t go wrong with any of them.
English (US) · 