My goal for 2022 was to take control of my reading schedule, which at the start of the year was basically nonexistent. I didn’t have a plan back then, I just knew it was something I wanted (and needed) to do. I am happy to say I successfully achieved that goal and am keeping it going in 2023. Of the books I read, here are my 5 favorite historical fiction books of 2022, a small synopsis about each title and why it spoke to me.

The Nightingale

In love we find out who we want to be. In war we find out who we are. A #1 New York Times bestseller, Wall Street Journal Best Book of the Year, and soon to be a major motion picture, this unforgettable novel of love and strength in the face of war has enthralled a generation.
Synopsis taken from Goodreads.com

With courage, grace, and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of World War II and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women’s war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France—a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women.
I don’t have a copy available but by purchasing from one of the links below, you’ll still be supporting my small business!

From the author of Me Before You, set in Depression-era America, a breathtaking story of five extraordinary women and their remarkable journey through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond.
Synopsis taken from Goodreads.com

This story is about 5 heroic women who refuse to be cowed by men or by convention. Though they face all kinds of dangers in a landscape that is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others brutal, they’re committed to their job: bringing books to people who have never had any, arming them with facts that will change their lives. Based on a true story rooted in America’s past, The Giver of Stars is unparalleled in its scope and epic in its storytelling. A richly rewarding novel of women’s friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond our grasp for the great beyond.
I don’t have a copy available but by purchasing from one of the links below, you’ll still be supporting my small business!

The Giver of Stars
The Secrets We Kept

Secretaries turned spies, love and duty, and sacrifice—inspired by the true story of the CIA plot to infiltrate the hearts and minds of Soviet Russia, not with propaganda, but with the greatest love story of the twentieth century: Doctor Zhivago.
Synopsis taken from Goodreads.com

At the height of the Cold War, two secretaries are pulled out of the typing pool at the CIA and given the assignment of a lifetime. Their mission: to smuggle Doctor Zhivago out of the USSR, where no one dare publish it, and help Pasternak’s magnum opus make its way into print around the world. Glamorous and sophisticated Sally Forrester is a seasoned spy who has honed her gift for deceit all over the world–using her magnetism and charm to pry secrets out of powerful men. Irina is a complete novice, and under Sally’s tutelage quickly learns how to blend in, make drops, and invisibly ferry classified documents.
I don’t have a copy available but by purchasing from one of the links below, you’ll still be supporting my small business!

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes an epic novel of love and heroism and hope, set against the backdrop of one of America’s most defining eras—the Great Depression.
Synopsis taken from Goodreads.com

The Four Winds is a rich, sweeping novel that stunningly brings to life the Great Depression and the people who lived through it―the harsh realities that divided us as a nation and the enduring battle between the haves and the have-nots. A testament to hope, resilience, and the strength of the human spirit to survive adversity, The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation.
I don’t have a copy available but by purchasing from one of the links below, you’ll still be supporting my small business!

The Four Winds