Best historical fiction
13 stories
How to Write Historical Fiction by Purplejeans
Purplejeans
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Have you ever wanted to write a story set in another time? Are you in love with a particular historical period and want to write about it from the perspective of characters who lived during that time? This short book includes tips that will help you learn how to research, plan and create realistic historical fiction that you can be proud of.
The Palmer Pool by AnnaWestley
AnnaWestley
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[Wattys 2022 Winner!] Vanessa Brooks, an anxious and cynical seventeen year-old, discovers she can travel to the summer of 1953 through the run-down community pool in her rural Michigan town and risks her future as she falls for a boy who lives in the past. ****** On the last day of junior year, Vanessa Brooks joins her friends for a traditional jump into the city pool to celebrate the beginning of summer and the last year they plan to spend in Palmer, Michigan; a dead-end riverside town with an eerily abandoned historic main street and decaying Victorian mansions. But when she resurfaces her classmates have been replaced by girls in retro swimsuits and bathing caps and guys in thigh-baring briefs with cigarettes tucked behind their ears. When Pete Harrison, an unfamiliar face who seems somewhat familiar with hers, offers a dizzy and confused Vanessa a towel and a ride home, she discovers her house and family missing. She has somehow slipped into 1953, the year her grandparents graduated high school. Using the pool and vivid imaginings of her grandfather's memories, Vanessa continues to escape to 1953- and to Pete, who, despite his unaffected kindness and optimism, has a mysterious bad reputation around town. But as she dives deeper into the summer her grandparents fell in love, she finds herself unable to return to the present without venturing even further into the past to correct a mistake that threatens her family and future. *Content Warning: this story contains scenes of near drowning and other perils on the sea, swearing, smoking and alcohol use* This story is complete at ~90,000 words. Wattys Winner 2022- Catchiest Hook and Wild Card Shortlisted Wattys 2021 Featured on @WattpadTimeTravel Featured on @WattpadHistoricalRomance Featured on @TeenFiction Editor's choice list, December 2022, May 2023 Cover by @eva3382
The Summer Home by Purplejeans
Purplejeans
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Paris, 1940. As the Germans invade her beloved city of Paris, aspiring jazz singer Vivienne Dumont leaves everything behind for her family's summer villa in the charming seaside town of Bordeaux. Instead of finding refuge, Vivienne is forced to assume a new identity when Nazi troops encroach upon every corner of her home country. Hiding her Jewish heritage, Vivienne is swept into the upper echelons of Nazi high society, thwarting the romantic advances of a malevolent German officer as she attempts to survive. When given the opportunity, Vivienne risks everything to hide other refugees in plain sight under the guise of operating a quaint hotel from her summer home.
Dear Future Husband by ntlpurpolia
ntlpurpolia
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When Rosalie Winthrop, an earl's daughter, writes letters to her future husband, she doesn't expect him to be a penniless orphan. *** Sheltered by her father, Lord Samuel Winthrop, in Grenledge Manor all her life, twelve-year-old Rosalie longs to travel the world or at least go to London more than once a year. But when she finally leaves England for a trip to colonial Hong Kong with her father, she meets and befriends Maximilian Walker, a street urchin who's on the run from a troubled past. The two become fast friends, but they are torn away from each other by cruel fate. Soon, they learn that more than an ocean voyage has drawn them together--it's also their intertwined family histories. Neither of their backgrounds is what they appear. Will Rosalie ever meet Maximilian again--or her future husband? And what happens if the two are one and the same? Content warning: This story contains themes of child abuse, racism, implied sexual harassment, and mentions of drug use. This story is now available on YONDER, your next-generation reading app from the Wattpad family. Join me on YONDER today! Find it now in your app store. 2021 WATTYS WINNER 1ST PLACE WINNER OF WALK BY FAITH AWARDS 2021 Check out the lovely trailer made by @kirstyt97
Shining Bright | ✓ by careycore
careycore
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❛ shining bright | 𝜗ৎ ❪ 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 ❫ as the roman empire reigns over judea, a couple from a small town is chosen to fulfill a prophecy that will deliver their people from persecution. ❪ ambys 2023 winner. 2x featured on wattpad. ❫ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ❪ 2020 © careycore ❫
16 July (Short Story) by Purplejeans
Purplejeans
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Paris, 1942. In one day, everything can change. That's what happened to Yvonne Bloch as she and her Jewish family are forced from their apartment and into a former Parisian racetrack to await their fates. *Based on true historical events.*
Steeped in Blood | TO BE REWRITTEN by ntlpurpolia
ntlpurpolia
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1898, HONG KONG. ELIZABETH LEE: Born in Hong Kong as the only daughter of an extremely wealthy man and his concubine, Elizabeth is disposable. A pawn to be bought, sold, and traded - specifically, for the drug, opium, the business in which her father has made a fortune. Now, to cement their ties to power, she must marry... WILLIAM FAIRFAX: Always in search of adventure, his next great escapade will be to marry and move to Britain's newest colony: Hong Kong, where his father will become governor. The fourth son to an elite British family, he has just been bartered away - for a lifetime's supply of a ridiculously expensive luxury good, tea. But more than tea begins to brew as they try to uncover the shady business deals between both of their families and possibly find love... CONTAINS: DRUG USE AND RACISM. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK! 3RD PLACD IN THE GLOSSY AWARDS {#421 in HISTORICAL FICTION ON 4/7/2019} [#2 in #19thCentury] [#1 in #WattMulticultural] [#4 in #asiansinlit]
An Accidental Queen by Purplejeans
Purplejeans
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1334, Toulouse, Kingdom of France. Orphaned as a young child, Catherine Vimont dreams of nothing but the adventure and romance described in songs and stories. Confined to the walls of her manor, she resigns herself to the dull life of a laundress, guarding her dreams in secret and pining after her young master. When a storm ravages the manor and her young mistress perishes, a twist of fate propels Catherine into a position of royalty, one in which she is betrothed to the heir to the French throne. When one side of the royal family attempts to violently depose Catherine's new husband and spreads malicious rumours about her true identity, she must rise above the treachery and politics of the court, transforming from a meek peasant girl to the Queen of France.
Daughter of the Mob (Sample) by Purplejeans
Purplejeans
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{EDITORS' CHOICE} {MAFIA ROMANCE} New York, 1954. Pamela Kelly gets an exciting job as a salesgirl. But there is a dark side to the glittering lights and fashions of New York City, complete with corruption, threats and La Cosa Nostra: an intricate and organized crime system run by the Italian American mafia. Suddenly, Pamela discovers herself in a world she barely knew existed, and worse still, her life becomes lethally intertwined with some of the most powerful mobsters in New York City. Pamela must fight her growing feelings for a particular charming mobster, as she challenges her ideas of what justice and love really are. Carlotta Mancini had a deceivingly happy childhood. Upon discovering her father is the most powerful mob boss in Brooklyn, her life changes dramatically. She finds herself profoundly disturbed by the violence surrounding her and yet cannot escape without risking her own life. What will happen when she attempts to run away with Tony Bellucci, one of her father's junior soldiers, and a man who is strictly off limits to her? Follow these women as they attempt to fight one of the greatest injustices of their time. Featured by Wattpad Detective and Crime profile under 'Like a Woman' Featured by Wattpad Historical Romance profile under 'Decades Fiction' Featured by Wattpad Dangerous Love profile under 'Feature Dangerous Love' Featured by Wattpad New Adult profile under 'There's Only One Bed | Romance' Featured by Wattpad Spiritual profile under 'Heart to Heart' Featured by Wattpad General Fiction profile under 'Finding Love | Romance' Featured by Wattpad Stories Undiscovered profile under the November reading list 'Mega Mashup' First place winner in General Fiction 2019 Glinting Quartz Awards! First place winner in Historical Fiction 2020 Glossy Awards! April 2021 Wattpad Editor's Pick! Between 80,000 and 90,000 words Some of the chapter titles are derived from popular 1950s song titles.