All the June new historical fiction releases you could want and them some await just below. Whether you’re ready to kick off your summer reading or find the perfect book for an upcoming trip, these new historical fiction books provide a delightful selection to choose from. Walk the grit-coated streets of Victorian London with a gang of pickpockets, map 1860s Ireland with a father and son, or help take down a powerful Hollywood studio complicit in the death of a bright young actor. You can experience all that and more with these riveting historical fiction reads.
An Artful Dodge by Karen Odden
In Victorian London, an all-female gang of thieves and pickpockets haunts the Elephant and Castle district with their nimble fingers and quick getaways. Kit Jimeson, along with her dodge partner Mary, is among the best. But Kit dreams of a different life, even as she saves her earnings to send to her younger sister so she might have a shot at a better life. Kit is ready to get out of this life for good, but when the legendary former leader of the gang returns from an Australian penal colony, she’ll have to perform one last heist—a job that will test her every skill—if she wants to get out for good.
Land by Maggie O’Farrell
The bestselling author of Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait sets her sights on Ireland in the 1860s. In a country recently ravaged by famine and starvation, a man named Tomás and his son Liam are working on the Ordnance Survey, a project to map the whole of Ireland for the British Crown. Tomás is determined to make a map not only of his country but of The Great Hunger, so recently thrust upon them by the English. But when Tomás is sent off course in an upsetting encounter, it’s up to Liam, only ten, to try to finish his father’s work even as he struggles to understand what is happening around him.
A Pair of Aces by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
From the beloved duo behind The Personal Librarian and The First Ladies comes a tale of intrigue and pioneering women amidst the gritty New York underworld. Eunice Carter is Manhattan’s first Black female prosecutor. As assistant district attorney, she’s set her sights on Lucky Luciano, the leader of one of New York’s most notorious crime families. No one has managed to nab the gangster on charges before now, but none of them thought to take the angle Eunice has planned. Along with the help of a madam running a high-end brothel, Eunice is going to take him down for his hand in prostitution. The unlikely partnership between lawyer and madam is only the first step in what will become a trial unlike any New York City has seen before.
There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood by Rasheed Newson
Skyline Studios’ answer to Sydney Poitier’s success in 1950s Hollywood is a burgeoning young actor named Xavier C. Barlow, whose star is steadily on the rise. He seems to have it all—fame, success, and all the charisma an audience or studio could ever ask for—but when he dies at the height of his career, Skyline’s backlot fixer knows the truth: the circumstances aren’t what they seem. He should know; he was the one responsible for making sure Xavier stayed deep in the closet. Now, he’s ready to expose the powerful forces behind Xavier’s untimely death.
Past Tense
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The Daffodil Days by Helen Bain (June 9, 2026)
Told from the perspective of the people who lived alongside her in a little English town, The Daffodil Days recounts the final years of Sylvia Plath’s life. When an eager young couple moves into the thatched house by the church with their daughter, they dream of a quiet, happy life full of second-hand furniture and the work they both love. It won’t come to pass in quite the way they hope, and in just a few short years, the woman’s life will end in terrible tragedy. But for now, the people around them witness a pivotal year in the lives and marriage of Sylvia Plath and her husband, Ted Hughes.
Daughters of the Sun and Moon by Lisa See (June 9, 2026)
Three Chinese women arrive in 1870s Los Angeles, still just a small desert town recovering from the after-effects of the American Civil War. Dove, the daughter of an imperial scholar, has come to California for an arranged marriage with an older man. Petal, born to peasants and sold off by her father, arrives in America only to be sold again. Dove, wife to a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, is educated and beautiful, but suffers the pain and embarrassment of her failed footbinding as a child. The three women have little in common, but when anti-Chinese sentiment boils over in their new home, all three will find a connection that will help them face the hardships that life holds for them, behind and ahead.
Ghost-Eye by Amitav Ghosh (June 16, 2026)
A girl with mysterious abilities born into a wealthy Hindu family in 1960s India seems to remember a life from before—a life where the girl, who has been raised in a strictly vegetarian household, remembers catching and eating fish in great detail. She’s exactly the sort of case psychiatrist Dr. Shoma Bose, who has been researching cases of people who remember past lives, has been looking for.
Veil of Silence by Danielle Abi-Saab (June 30, 2026)
In 1985 Beirut, a teenage girl longs for love more than anything amidst the chaos and violence the Lebanese Civil War brings to her city. Her parents, believing they’re doing what’s best for her, arrange her marriage to a man more than twice her age. Hoda hopes it will be the fairy tale romance she’s always dreamed of, even if it’s not the marriage she expected. Tony promises her a better life away from the destruction in Beirut, but is the life he promises really the one she’s dreamed of? And with religious dictates and family expectations binding her, will she ever be able to tell the truth about the life that’s been thrust upon her?
Did you catch all the new historical fiction releases from April and May? It’s never too late to catch up, especially as you’re waiting for some of these June historical fiction new releases to come out.
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English (US) · 