The Most Anticipated Historical Fiction of 2025
Who’s ready for a great new year of reading? I know I am! Looking through lists of the most anticipated books is one of my favorite ways to start figuring out which new releases I might want to prioritize in the year, and let me tell you, there are some good books coming our way. There’s no shortage of new books from beloved and bestselling authors as well as debut releases generating all kinds of buzz, not to mention a new book from Zora Neale Hurston, which just feels like a literary jackpot. So, narrowing my list of most anticipated historical fiction books down to just a few titles is no easy task—but between their bestselling authors and/or compelling storylines, I think these four books are top contenders for the most anticipated historical fiction of 2025.
It’s impossible to predict which books will wind up being your favorite at the end of the year. Several of my favorites in 2024 came completely out of left field and weren’t even on my radar at the beginning of the year. But figuring out which books are your most anticipated is still a good place to start. So why not start your historical fiction reading for the year here, with these four great 2025 titles:
The Life of Herod the Great by Zora Neale Hurston
Release date: January 7, 2025
It’s not every day we get a new novel from a late literary icon, and when a new book from the likes of Zora Neale Hurston drops, everyone should stop and take note. In Hurston’s unfinished novel, brought to light for modern readers by scholar Deborah Plant, we’re presented with an unexpected take on one of history’s most infamous villains. That’s because Huston didn’t see Herod as a villain at all. The king, who was a contemporary of Julius Caesar and Marc Antony, lived a life of adventure and tragedy, which Hurston paints in all its complicated and vivid glory.
Punished by Ann-Helén Laestadius
Release date: February 4, 2025
The author of the bestselling Stolen takes us back in time to a government-run boarding school in 1950s Sweden and the five young Sámi children stolen from their families and forced to attend. There, the children who are rarely allowed to visit their home in the Arctic are forbidden from speaking their native language and face horrific abuse at the hands of their housemother. Decades later, they’ve all chosen different ways of dealing with the trauma of their past, some clinging tightly to their culture while others try to assimilate. But when their now frail old housemother returns, claiming never to have done wrong, they’ll have to decide how to respond and whether to mete out the punishment she deserves.
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
Release date: March 18, 2025
Something supernatural stalks the Blackfeet reservation in 1912. Hundreds of people lie dead in the snow. Over a series of confessions to a Lutheran priest recorded in his diary, a Blackfeet man named Good Stab recounts the strange events of his life, including the tale of a vampire on a supernatural quest for justice.
The Devil Three Times by Rickey Fayne
Release date: May 13, 2025
The first time the Devil visits Yetunde’s family, she’s still on the slave ship stealing her across the Atlantic. Hoping to regain God’s favor and reenter Heaven, the Devil promises Yetunde and her family protection and a small portion of his supernatural powers. Throughout the generations, the Devil returns to help her descendants during their darkest hours. If he can save Yetunde’s family, will it be enough to save himself?
Now just try to tell me that’s not the kind of dark and richly compelling historical fiction you want to read! I know I do.
While we look at all the “Most Anticipated” lists to figure out what to read in 2025, it’s still not too late to see what great books you might’ve missed in 2024! From Amazon’s 10 Books That Defined 2024 to The Best Historical Fiction of 2024, you’ll find a number of books worth reading. That’s not even mentioning all the great books included on Book Riot’s Best Books of 2024 super list. If you’re running out of books on your TBR, it’s definitely not our fault.
