Historical Fiction Books to Read This Summer

Summer, 1959. Sunnylakes, Santa Monica - a town with skies that shimmer as radiantly as its name is hiding a dark truth. Look closer and you will see what its residents are trying to hide: dark secrets, stepford wives and fake smiles. Those secrets are slowly unveiled and the fake smiles falter after the sunny August afternoon when Jane Haney disappears from her home, leaving behind a bloodstained kitchen and two frightened little girls.

This story is so much more than a murder mystery, exploring topics such as sexism, racism, women’s rights, domestic abuse and mental health. A lush and claustrophobic read with imagery as bright as the blue California skies, this is a perfect dark and delirious summer read.

California, summer 1969. Fourteen-year-old Evie’s best friend isn’t talking to her, the boy she likes has run away with another girl, and her mum is busy with her boyfriend. She feels discarded and desperate for someone to notice her. To want her around. Then she meets Suzanne and the girls. Intoxicated by Suzanne, she follows them back to their dilapidated ranch and meets Russell, the man in charge of it all.

What follows are heady summer days as Evie finally finds a place to belong. But something dark is on the horizon. Something she didn’t foresee. Were there signs she missed? Could she have stopped it? Based on the infamous Manson murders, this is an exhilarating thriller perfect for sunny summer days.

We’re back in Australia for this haunting mystery about childhood adolescence, secrets and regrets. Taking place over the transformative summer of 1992, when Hannah, Cordelia and Ruth Van Apfel vanished. Their school friend and neighbour, Tikka Malloy, was just eleven that unforgettable summer and has been haunted by the mystery of what happened to them ever since. The night they vanished is burned into her memory and she is plagued by guilt and regret. When Tikka travels back to the small suburb she grew up in, she decides it's finally time to make sense of her memories and try to find out the truth.

Atmospheric and nostalgic, this book had me hooked from the first page, exploring how a tragedy can shape our future and how we see things differently as an adult versus as a child. But will we find out what happened to the Van Apfel girls? You’ll have to read it to find out.

This is the story of the birth of Frankenstein. Villa Diodati, Lake Geneva, 1816. During a dark summer storm, eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley, her lover Percey Shelley, and her sister, Claire Clairmont, are taking refuge at Lord Byron’s villa. He challenges them all to write a supernatural story and Mary takes up the challenge. Haunted by the loss of her first child, tormented by her husband’s betrayals and suspicious of her sister, she locks herself away and begins to write.

The story spills out of her like she is possessed. It’s almost like madness. The summer storm feels like another character, raging outside as Mary brings her terrifying creature to life on the page. This is the perfect read for those who want something darker that still gives summer vibes.

Australia, 1979. The residents of Warrah Place are rocked by the news of Antonio Marietti’s death. The gossip spreads like wildfire between the neighbours on this quiet cul-de-sac. And in this community of secrets, lies and prejudice, soon the flames of rumour and suspicion are fanned. Pulled into the intrigue, twelve year-old Tammy decides to launch her own investigation but is unprepared for what she discovers. Not everyone on Warrah Place is who they seem.

This captivating debut will have you hooked, the tension sizzling as brightly as the sun beating down on the neighbourhood. A fantastic summer thriller.

Set against the backdrop of two summer heatwaves, Ruth narrates in 1973 while her daughter, Maeve narrates in 1997. In 1973, teenage Ruth and her four friends are enamoured with pre-Raphaelite art, particularly Ophelia by John Everett Millais. They take turns floating in the river, recreating detailed tableaus of the tragic heroine. But things take a tragic turn when one of the girls drowns, leaving Ruth traumatised and haunted by that fateful summer.

In 1997, Ruth and her family have moved back to her childhood home. Her teenage daughter, Maeve, is finally in remission after years of battling cancer and starting to show the angst Ruth remembers from her own teenage years. When Ruth’s old friend, Stuart, comes to stay, he and Maeve begin a clandestine relationship, making Maeve feel more alive than ever whilst adding even more strain to her relationship with her mother.

Hauntingly atmospheric, sultry, intoxicating and unsettling, this is an absorbing gothic story of illicit desire, obsession, power and secrets that is perfect for reading around the pool.