Eighteen of the best works of historical fiction

At Vogue Mia Barzilay Freund tagged eighteen "of the best historical fiction books of the last several decades," including:

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Starting in 1910 and ending in 1989, Pachinko has an ambitious premise: mapping one Korean family’s journey across borders, generations, and moments of crisis. Min Jin Lee’s success lies in her ability to anchor each major event in a specific emotional reality. The novel became an award-winning Apple TV+ drama series in 2022.

Read about another novel on the list.

Pachinko is among Courtney Rodgers's best historical fiction of the 21st century so far, Bethanne Patrick's twenty-five best historical fiction books of all time, Asha Thanki seven books about families surviving political unrest, the Amazon Book Review editors' twelve favorite long books, Gina Chen's twelve books for fans of HBO’s Succession, Cindy Fazzi's eight books about the impact of Japanese imperialism during WWII, Eman Quotah's eight books about mothers separated from their daughters, Karolina Waclawiak's six favorite books on loss and longing, Allison Patkai's top six books with strong female voices, Tara Sonin's twenty-one books for fans of HBO’s Succession, and six books Jia Tolentino recommends.

--Marshal Zeringue