On Jane Austen's 250th birthday, dive in to the best new historical books of 2025

Village life turns perilous as German soldiers occupy northern France in World War One. When an English airman crashes, a local family hides him. Danger escalates when two German officers are billeted with them. Claudette and granddaughters Marie and Elodie face betrayal and collusion, while Marie becomes a focus of affection. Trust is fragile, survival uncertain. This saga is a heart-rending story of love, heroism and sacrifice.

In Jane Austen’s 250th anniversary year, comedian Rachel Parris – a founding member of the improvised play Austentatious – delivers a witty debut. She brings Charlotte Lucas, often sidelined in Pride and Prejudice, into sharp, humorous focus, exploring the life she builds after marrying Mr Collins.

Jane Austen’s presence is felt but not seen, as we revisit the Austen family in the 1820s. Mary Dorothea Knatchbull is shocked when her father remarries, and her stepmother Fanny Knight is a bit of a cold fish. But even surface cordiality vanishes when Mary falls in love with Mr Knight, causing a family rift. A captivating return to the world of the Austens.

The author of The Other Boleyn Girl is back with her first Tudor novel since 2017, and it’s worth the wait. The novel tells the story of Jane Boleyn as she navigates the deadly Tudor court after the downfall of her husband George and sister-in-law Anne. Gregory masterfully explores Jane’s guilt, ambition and survival. Utterly engaging, with sparkling dialogue – you can feel the power, danger and allure of the Tudor dynasty on every page. A triumphant return.

This brilliant reimagining of the true story of Beatrice Cenci involves one of 16th-century Rome’s wealthiest families. Beatrice’s sadistic father moves his household to a mountain fortress after the killing of his son. Allegiances form and Beatrice falls in love but they live in fear – then a solution arises. Dark, passionate and atmospheric, we predict another screen adaptation.

Reader and woman&home Book Club member Jen Atherton recommends The Persians. She says, “Everyone told me to read this, but with the caveat that you need to persist past the first couple of chapters. Now, I am doing the same for you because it really is an unmissable, powerful, rewarding book to read. The narrative moves between Iran and America, giving voice to women as they talk about family, identity, and culture. It professes to be “the story of a nose”, but, of course, it is so much more.” This has been shortlisted for the woman’s prize for fiction this year, so it’s definitely one to bring to your other book clubs and coffee mornings.

It’s wartime, and when a hospital mix-up means Mary is mistaken for her new friend Elizabeth, who’s just been killed by a German bomb, she can’t resist taking on a new identity. Guilt washes over Mary as she ‘inherits’ a house in Ireland, plentiful cash and more, but her heartbreaking past makes it easy to forgive the deception in this captivating story.

How far will the bonds of female friendship endure the strains of war and separation? It’s 1939, and two mothers face the reality of occupied Paris. Elise knows she must flee the invasion, but she only trusts one person with her child’s safety – Juliette, who has a daughter the same age. But when she returns after the liberation, Elise finds no trace of either her friend or the children, and a search begins. A moving tribute to motherhood and the hope and love that survives them all.

Blending academia, history and danger, this high-stakes thriller will have your heart pounding. For centuries, two secret women’s organisations – the covert Order of St Katherine and the power-hungry Fellowship of the Larks – have battled over a fragment of medieval embroidery linked to a lost manuscript. When trailblazing paleographer Dr Anya Brown is recruited to St Andrews, she’s drawn into this deadly rivalry and forced to use her expertise to survive.

Born to celebrated intellectuals, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin’s life was destined to be fascinating. In this powerful feminist retelling, we meet 18-year-old Mary and her stepsister Claire in 1816, as they flee London for Lake Geneva. Along with Mary’s lover, Percy Shelley, the two arrive at Lord Byron’s villa. When it is suggested they each write a supernatural tale, something inside Mary begins to form…

Settle in for the long haul with this smouldering historical novel that’s filled with as much beauty and small details as it is intrigue. World War Two has come to America and June, manager of luxury hotel the Avallon, finds herself playing host to captured Nazi diplomats in the mountains of West Virginia. Between clashing loyalties and Tucker, an FBI agent listening at the walls for secrets, June’s delicate balancing act threatens to come unstuck.

Set in the 1800s, this is pacy and compelling. Born in San Francisco, Emilia’s intellect is stimulated by her schoolteacher stepfather. A love of writing leads her from dime novels to journalism, and she is dispatched to cover the Chilean civil war alongside reporter Eric Whelan. Allende weaves together Emilia’s search for her identity, the politics and harsh realities of war, and a blossoming love affair beautifully.

Jane Austen's first published novel, written more than 200 years before the wonderful 1995 film adaptation starring Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman, is celebrated in this beautiful hardback edition with gold-edged pages. A copy of the classic to treasure and pass down.

Persuasion was Jane Austen's final novel, and loved by many, including Nigella Lawson, who says, "Everyone has their Austen, and this is mine. Sparer, more savage – and also more poignant than Pride and Prejudice, this is a novel that tells us wisely and wittily about the nature of romantic entanglements and the follies of being human. It isn't riven with the deep, muscular ironies of, say, Emma, but there is something about the dry lightness of Persuasion that is deceptive. It stays with you long after you've read it." This special edition has a foiled cover, marbled endpapers and sprayed edges.

There are so many editions of the novel that introduced us to the original Mr Darcy – a figure so many women will recognise in other works of fiction, and perhaps in real life too. This hardback is just so beautifully illustrated by Anna Bond, with the imposing figure of Pemberley and the symbolic peacocks.