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There’s something about these new releases, and it’s not just that they all come out in April and deserve a spot on your TBR. If you glance down at the covers, you’ll notice that almost all of them feature women staring off into the distance. That wasn’t intentional—not by me or the publishers either, for that matter—but it’s certainly a trend. Since March was Women’s History Month in the U.S., it feels somewhat appropriate — if a little belated — to keep the emphasis on stories of women throughout history, and that’s exactly what these new releases do.
So let’s take a little more time this month to focus on the stories of women who defy expectations and social norms, who blaze trails, make mistakes, and live down both fame and infamy. Real and imagined, that’s exactly what the women of these new April historical fiction novels do. Maybe take a page from their book.
Honey in the Wound by Jiyoung Han
Release date: April 7, 2026
Young-Ja’s gift for imbuing food with emotions brings joy to everyone she meets. But when her family faces violent consequences for their defiance against the Japanese Empire in Korea, her joy turns to grief. Joining a resistance movement in Manchuria, where she can put her gift to use once again helps, but it’s not until her young, Tokyo-born granddaughter begins exhibiting magical abilities of her own that she truly begins to confront the pain of her past and enjoy life again.
Elizabeth and Marilyn by Julie Owen Moylan
Release date: April 7, 2026
Inspired by the summer 1950s film icon Marilyn Monroe and Queen Elizabeth II lived as neighbors in Windsor, author Julie Owen Moylan imagines a possible garden encounter between the two women, who were the exact same age and knew what it was to live life in the harsh public spotlight. It’s a what-if that plumbs the depths of what it took for these two women to succeed in very male-dominated fields.
All access members continue below for more of the best historical fiction novels out this month.
City of the Muse by Kate Hilton
Release date: April 14, 2026
On an excavation in early 20th-century Egypt, a famed papyrologist—and one of the only women at the dig-site—learns that her predecessor disappeared under mysterious circumstances. One hundred years later, archivist Maddie Sloan jumps at the chance to work with a famous TV archaeologist investigating the provenance of certain artifacts believed to be from the ancient city of Calliopolis. Maddie has her own connection to the site through her grandmother, who worked there. But when their research leads them to the discovery that two papyrologists disappeared on the dig without explanation, it brings to light questions about the past and a murder that may have been covered up for more than a century.
The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton by Jennifer N. Brown
Release date: April 14, 2026
Inspired by a real-life nun executed for her prophecies against the marriage of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton imagines a stunning discovery: a manuscript containing the nun’s infamous prophecies, all thought to have been destroyed. But this discovery may lead to peril for the historian who unearthed it, too, as the consequences of past and present collide in an English manor house right next door to the crumbling priory where Elizabeth once lived.
Girl in a Box by Jean Gordon Kocienda
Release date: April 21, 2026
In this novel, based on the life of poet Yosano Akiko, Jean Gordon Kocienda paints a portrait of a woman determined to live life on her terms, no matter the cost. Akiko, familiar to every schoolchild in Japan for her translation of The Tale of Genji—widely considered to be the first novel— was a pioneering poet who fled her parents and the restrictive patriarchal society of 20th-century Japan in order to pursue her art relentlessly. But her single-minded obsession with art results in a daughter whose scarred childhood eerily mirrors her own.
Edmonia by Brianne Baker
Release date: April 28, 2026
Edmonia Lewis, orphaned at 8, shows exceptional talent—talent her older half-brother Samuel wants to see nourished. Ensconced at the home of a trusted benefactor, Edmonia thrives at an abolitionist prep school and earns a place at Oberlin College. But there, a devastating accusation threatens to derail her entire life, resulting in a trial and a violent attack from a white mob. It’s only when she makes her way to an enclave of expat women artists in Rome that she begins to feel her art flourishing again despite critiques, blatant racism, and her own withering self-doubt.
Here are even more great historical fiction novels that center women:
Historical Fiction About Women Fighting Fascism
10 Feminist Historical Fiction Titles
(Mostly Female) Spies in Historical Fiction from 1860 to 1975
