20 Must-Read Historical Novels

This edition presents the greatest classics that vividly and brightly expose a moment in history. These novels feature unforgettable characters, living and breathing individuals who bring that historical period to life. They convey universal feelings of dread, ambition, love, courage, and fear—sensations that connect us all through time. These are the classics everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime:

Rienzi, Last of the Roman Tribunes (Edward Bulwer-Lytton)

Quo Vadis (Henryk Sienkiewicz)

Rob Roy (Walter Scott)

The Last Days of Pompeii (Edward Bulwer-Lytton)

With Fire and Sword (Henryk Sienkiewicz)

Queen Margot (Alexandre Dumas)

The Red Badge of Courage (Stephen Crane)

Les Misérables (Victor Hugo)

The Last of the Mohicans (James Fenimore Cooper)

War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy)

Germinal (Émile Zola)

The Master of Ballantrae (Robert Louis Stevenson)

The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. (William Makepeace Thackeray)

The Princess of Cleves (Madame de La Fayette)

The Last of the Chiefs (Joseph A. Altsheler)

Saragossa (Benito Pérez Galdós)

The Hour and the Man (Harriet Martineau)

The Story of an African Farm (Olive Schreiner)

Ben-Hur (Lew Wallace)

A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)