Best Historical Fiction Novels I’ve Read All Year: With Sunny Morton

Are you a historical fiction fan like me? When I need something new to read, I can count on my good friend Sunny Morton to know all the good books. She has a fountain of favorite book titles she loves and was willing to share them with us today!

Sunny says, “The best historical fiction combines masterful storytelling with time travel,” and I would agree! One of her favorites in this category was The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson. It is set in 1930s Kentucky. Personally, I have already ordered this one for myself as it talks about the true-life, blue-skinned people of Kentucky who are in my own family tree!

Another beautiful read which Sunny described as “soaring, magical, and compelling,” is The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia (translated by Simon Bruni). This book transports readers to rural Mexico in the early 1900s. It is set during the Mexican Revolution and the influenza of 1918. The pages will capture your heart with this story of love, faith, and a future no one can imagine.

Sunny’s favorite historical fiction authors are Frank Delaney and Fannie Flagg. Frank Delany has written several historical fiction novels, but Sunny suggests reading Shannon first. As for Fannie Flagg, she is described as a more light-hearted writer. For this author, start with The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion and as Sunny says, “explore the immigrant-roots-turned-all-American town of the Midwestern U.S.”

My Life & Times: A Guided Journal for Collecting Your Stories

Sunny is first and foremost a wife and mother. She yearns to develop her best self. She has been inspired by many people and things, but felt very inspired by reading Being Perfect by Anna Quindlen. She attributes it for “startling [her] out of the mold of toxic perfectionism.” Whenever she feels depleted or pulled in too many directions, she re-reads Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Even though Gift from the Sea was written over 50 years ago, Sunny says of the book that “this meditation on the multi-faceted, demanding roles of women still feels modern and relevant, and still offers advice I can–and do–live by.”

Have you read any of these books on Sunny’s list? If so, which one was your favorite and why? Leave us a comment in comments section below!

Sunny Morton is a popular lecturer for the global genealogy community. She’s a Contributing Editor at Family Tree Magazine and the author of hundreds of articles, blog posts, and is a published author. She is an official FamilySearch blogger and past Contributing Editor at Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems Podcast.