Berest, Anne & Claire Berest. Gabriële. tr. from French by Tina Kover. Europa. Apr. 2025. ISBN 9798889660897. 368p. $28. HISTORICAL FICTION

Anne Berest (The Postcard) and her sister Claire (Artifices) jointly write a novel based on the life of their great-grandmother, Gabriële Buffet-Picabia. In 1908, during the height of the Belle Époque, artist Gabriële marries artist Francis Picabia. When they meet Marcel Duchamp and all become involved, they change art forever.

Bostwick, Marie. The Book Club for Troublesome Women. Harper Muse. Apr. 2025. ISBN 9781400344741. pbk. 384p. $18.99. HISTORICAL FICTION

Bestselling Bostwick (Esme Cahill Fails Spectacularly) sets her newest in the 1960s, in an exclusive suburb in Northern Virginia, where four women bond over The Feminine Mystique and begin reading together across a year that will change their lives.

Dallas, Sandra. Tough Luck. St. Martin’s. Apr. 2025. ISBN 9781250352309. 288p. $28. HISTORICAL FICTION

Award-winning Dallas (Where Coyotes Howl) writes an homage to True Grit. In 1863, Haidie and her brother Boots are put to work in an orphanage, their father somewhere in the West, searching for gold. They decide to go looking for him, facing dangers and finding a community.

Harkin, Jo. The Pretender. Knopf. Apr. 2025. ISBN 9780593803301. 496p. $30. HISTORICAL FICTION

Harkin (Tell Me an Ending) centers her novel on Lambert Simnel, one of the last Plantagenets. John Collan, as he was known, was raised under a false name and in disguise to keep him safe from Richard III. Eventually, he was sent to Ireland to learn politics, where he meets Joan, a woman of strong will and political savvy. Together they face, and change, history.

Lester, Natasha. The Mademoiselle Alliance. Dell. Apr. 2025. ISBN 9780593726532. pbk. 416p. $18. HISTORICAL FICTION

Lester, bestselling author of The Paris Orphan, offers a novel based on the true story of Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, who led a resistance network in France during WWII. From her early marriage years in Morocco to leading agents, conducting espionage, and saving lives, Marie-Madeleine helped change the course of the war.

Miller, Joanna. The Eights. Putnam. Apr. 2025. ISBN 9780593851418. 384p. $29. HISTORICAL FICTION

Miller debuts with a story set at Oxford University in 1920, the first year women were admitted. Beatrice, Dora, Marianne, and Otto—all rooming on the same hall—come of age as they attend courses and become fast friends while navigating the heavy weight of misogyny and a world changed by WWI.

Steel, Danielle. A Mind of Her Own. Delacorte. Apr. 2025. ISBN 9780593498705. 272p. $29. HISTORICAL FICTION

Steel’s (Triangle) newest is a historical novel that follows Alexandra Bouvier, born in Paris in 1900. Alexandra crosses two continents as she grows up to attend the University of Chicago, becomes a newspaper intern, and meets a reporter, Oliver Foster; all the while, she stays true to herself across a lifetime of change and resilience.

Todd, Milo. The Lilac People. Counterpoint. Apr. 2025. ISBN 9781640097032. 320p. $27. HISTORICAL FICTION

Todd, a Lambda Literary Fellow, debuts with a novel set during WWII, in which Bertie, a trans man, and his girlfriend, Sofie, assume the identities of an elderly couple, surviving at an isolated farm. At the end of the war, they in turn try to save a trans man from the Allies, who are rearresting queer prisoners while liberating the rest of Germany.