Which Best Historical Novel Has The Highest Goodreads Rating?
Best Goodreads-rated historical fiction? Conflicted between acclaimed literary dramas and popular narrative epics for my next deep dive.
2025-07-20 18:34:43
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Johnston Nakama
For English-language titles, Hilary Mantel’s ‘Wolf Hall’ trilogy generally receives very high ratings, but I recently stumbled upon the fun read ‘I Was Reborn As The Most Powerful Princess In History?!’ It’s a rather lighthearted and very binge-worthy novel in which the main character uses her modern knowledge to cleverly outplay all the court politics in a fictional ancient empire, making history seem very tactical and up close.
2026-08-04
Yasmine
Historical Fiction is one of the genres that can best transport us to another time and another place and one of the best historical novels on Goodreads is Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s ‘The Shadow of the Wind’ which has an average rating of 4.4 from over 580,000 ratings. The novel is set in post-war Barcelona and is a gothic mystery that is written as a love letter to literature. It is a thick atmosphere of intrigue and it’s hard not to remember the characters. Another highly rated historical novel is ‘The Name of the Rose’ by Umberto Eco which has an average rating of 4.1 from over 540,000 ratings. The novel is a dense but rewarding medieval mystery. And then there’s ‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’ by Mary Ann Shaffer with an average rating of 4.2 from over 240,000 ratings. The novel is gentle and pleasant and is written in an epistolary format.
2025-07-22
Vanessa
I'm also linking up three historical novels that have really high ratings on Goodreads. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell is a classic that still holds up today and has an average rating of 4.3 from over 1 million ratings. (Yes, it has some really bad themes in it, but it's a book that's definitely been around for a long time and is still widely read today.) More recently, The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris has an average rating of 4.3 from over 500k ratings. It's a really great book, but be aware that it's a somewhat fictionalized account of a real person's experiences in a concentration camp during World War II. the alice network by Kate Quinn is another really good read. It's a dual-timeline novel that follows two women, one a spy in WWI and the other in WWII, and has an average rating of 4.3 from over 200k ratings. I like these books because they're so much more than "just" historical fiction - they're also really Entertaining.
2025-07-23
Gavin
'The Pillars of the Earth' by Ken Follett is one of the highest rated historical novels on the site and for good reason. It has over 650,000 ratings with an average score of 4.3 out of 5 stars. This is a masterful book that combines 12th century architecture, politics and characters to create a very engaging read that follows the building of a cathedral in 12th century England from the point of view of the monks, the builders and the political folk.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr is another extremely highly-rated historical fiction novel. This novel, set during World War II, follows a blind French girl and a German boy and their unexpected connection. This novel has been rated 4.5 out of 5 stars by over 1.2 million users and is written beautifully with incredible historical detail. For those looking for an extremely long historical fiction novel, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel is highly-rated as well. The novel follows Thomas Cromwell and his rise in Henry VIII’s court, and has been rated 4.5 out of 5 stars by over 700,000 users.
2025-07-23
Frederick
For highly-rated historical novels on Goodreads, I’m looking at The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, averaging 4.1 stars from over 800,000 ratings, as well as The Paris Wife by Paula McLain which averages 3.8 stars from over 430,000 ratings. This novel is a favorite of mine as it explores the relationship between author Ernest Hemingway and his first wife Hadley. Also worth noting is high average-rated novel Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys, averaging 4.5 stars from over 220,000 ratings. The novel is a hidden gem and tells an untold story of a little-known maritime tragedy that occurred during WWII.
2025-07-24
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