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In Defense of Historical Fiction
Posted on April 22, 2025 in Blog Posts
Authors:
Ashleigh Coren
I recently encountered an online debate that caught my attention: a TikTok influencer criticizing people who set annual reading goals. According to them, aiming to read 100 books a year is “useless,” suggesting people should instead focus on “more productive” activities like exercise or making money.
This dismissal of reading as a worthwhile pursuit struck me as profoundly misguided and disappointing. Another content creator offered a stellar counterargument: reading isn’t just a leisure activity; it’s an essential avenue for learning, escapism, and, most importantly, connecting with humanity across time and space. Historical fiction—a genre that serves as a bridge between past and present—offers accessible yet profound gateways to understanding different eras, cultures, and human experiences. In this post, I share some of my favorite historical fiction works that demonstrate why the genre deserves respect as both an entertaining and enlightening form of literature, one that helps us comprehend not only our past but also our present circumstances and possible futures.
For the young adult lovers out there, I highly recommend Lyddie (1991) by Katherine Peterson and Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons: The Story of Phillis Wheatley (1996) by Ann Rinaldi.
Those who grew up in the 1990s likely encountered Katherine Paterson’s Lyddie, which chronicles a young woman’s journey through the harsh realities of working in a textile mill during the Industrial Revolution. The protagonist’s struggle for independence amidst exploitative labor conditions became a staple of middle school reading lists, introducing many young readers to America’s complex industrial past. In contrast, Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons is Rinaldi’s fictionalized portrayal of Phillis Wheatley’s extraordinary life as the first published African American poet.
Although both stories take place in Massachusetts, they reveal profoundly different female experiences separated by time and circumstance. These compelling narratives dismantle any notion of a universal female experience in American history. Yet, beneath their differences lies a common thread—two people inching toward self-determination against societal constraints. Through their distinct journeys, both characters embody resilience in its many forms, demonstrating how historical fiction can illuminate different experiences across different eras.
For more recent fiction about the past, I recommend The Women (2024) by Kristin Hannah and Wild Women and the Blues (2021) by Denny S. Bryce.
Both books center on two different cultural flashpoints: the beginning of the Vietnam War and its impact in the United States and Chicago in the Roaring Twenties. These novels examine what happens when experiences are diminished, dismissed, or entirely erased. Their narratives pose essential questions, such as, what does it mean to move through the world unseen, your contributions minimized or forgotten? The characters in both works, an army nurse and an entertainer, respectively, navigate contexts in which their expertise and sacrifices are consistently undervalued, creating an exploration of visibility and erasure that transcends their specific historical contexts.
Historical fiction does not simply transport readers to another time; it transforms our understanding of both past and present, inviting us to recognize patterns of dismissal that continue today.
For lovers of romance novels, another widely read genre, I suggest Indigo (1996) by Beverly Jenkins (also deemed “One of the 50 Best Romance Novels to Read Right Now” by Time) and An Extraordinary Union (2017) by Alyssa Cole.
As both a passionate defender of romance novels and a devotee of historical fiction, I am continually drawn to the work of Jenkins and Cole. These authors stand apart in their commitment to crafting compelling love stories and unearthing historical truths.
Indigo and An Extraordinary Union represent the finest examples of how romance can serve as a vehicle for learning. What distinguishes these works is their foundation in archival research, which both authors discuss with their readers. These novels are valuable for their refusal to limit their protagonists to suffering alone. Instead, they present fully realized characters experiencing the complete spectrum of human emotion—joy, passion, ambition, and love. These novels remind us that historical romance at its best does more than just entertain, it educates, recovers, and restores complexity to our understanding of the past.
While building your own reading lists, consider including historical fiction—they expand understandings of the past while illuminating the present in ways few other genres can accomplish. Despite what any influencer might say, keep in mind that your reading goals, whatever they may be, are worthwhile pursuits of knowledge, empathy, and joy.
About the author:
Ashleigh Coren is a content strategist, educator, and curator based in the Washington, D.C. area.
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Header image is a detail of This is Harlem by Jacob Lawrence. Courtesy of Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. © 2021 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. For more information, click here.