18 must-read historical fiction books like Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall

Cover of Looking for Jane by Heather     Marshall

Looking for Jane

By: Heather Marshall

4.36

Format: 400 pages, Hardcover

A debut about three women whose lives are bound together by a long-lost letter, a mother’s love, an…

If you liked the historical fiction plot in Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall , here is a list of 18 books like this:

Cover of The Women by Kristin Hannah

1. The Women

By: Kristin Hannah

4.64

Format: 471 pages, Hardcover

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these wor… read more

Similar categories in Kristin Hannah's The Women book and Heather Marshall's Looking for Jane

  • adult fiction
  • feminism
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • book club
  • audiobook
"Words were creators of worlds; you had to be careful with them."

-Kristin Hannah, The Women

"Love mattered in this ruined world, but so did honor. What was one without the other?"

-Kristin Hannah, The Women

"Love. A thing to be shouted from the rooftops, celebrated, not cultivated in secret and clipped into shape in the dark."

-Kristin Hannah, The Women

Cover of After Annie by Anna Quindlen

2. After Annie

By: Anna Quindlen

4.03

Format: 304 pages, Hardcover

When Annie Brown dies suddenly, her husband, her four young children and her closest friend are lef… read more

Similar categories in Anna Quindlen's After Annie book and Heather Marshall's Looking for Jane

  • adult fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • audiobook
Cover of The Berry Pickers by Amanda    Peters

3. The Berry Pickers

By: Amanda Peters

4.14

Format: 307 pages, Hardcover

A four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mys… read more

Similar categories in Amanda Peters's The Berry Pickers book and Heather Marshall's Looking for Jane

  • adult fiction
  • canada
  • historical
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • audiobook
Cover of First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

4. First Lie Wins

By: Ashley Elston

4.05

Format: 340 pages, Hardcover

Evie Porter has everything a nice, Southern girl could want: a perfect, doting boyfriend, a house w… read more

Similar categories in Ashley Elston's First Lie Wins book and Heather Marshall's Looking for Jane

  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • book club
  • audiobook
"Blunt honesty has more value than blind worship"

-Ashley Elston, First Lie Wins

"It’s because you’re not ready to tell me the truth and I’d rather you not lie to me."

-Ashley Elston, First Lie Wins

"There’s an old saying: The first lie wins. It’s not referring to the little white kind that tumble out with no thought; it refers to the big one. The one that changes the game. The one that is delibe…"

-Ashley Elston, First Lie Wins

Cover of The Paris Daughter by Kristin Harmel

5. The Paris Daughter

By: Kristin Harmel

4.25

Format: 384 pages, Hardcover

From the bestselling author of The Book of Lost Names comes a gripping historical novel about two m… read more

Similar categories in Kristin Harmel's The Paris Daughter book and Heather Marshall's Looking for Jane

  • adult fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • audiobook
"This isn't a decision I make lightly, but being a parent is not about doing what is right for ourselves, is it? It's about sacrificing all we can, big and small, to give our children their best chanc…"

-Kristin Harmel, The Paris Daughter

Cover of The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

6. The Frozen River

By: Ariel Lawhon

4.43

Format: 432 pages, Hardcover

A gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-cen… read more

Similar categories in Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River book and Heather Marshall's Looking for Jane

  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • book club
  • audiobook
Cover of Go as a River by Shelley Read

7. Go as a River

By: Shelley Read

4.28

Format: 320 pages, Hardcover

A sweeping, heart-stopping epic of a young woman's journey to becoming, set against the harsh beaut… read more

Similar categories in Shelley Read's Go as a River book and Heather Marshall's Looking for Jane

  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • book club
  • audiobook
"Women endure. That’s what we do."

-Shelley Read, Go as a River

"Loss has nothing to do with what you do deserve and don’t deserve."

-Shelley Read, Go as a River

"I learned from their subtle relations... that love is a private matter, to be nurtured, and even mourned, between two beings alone. It belongs to them, and no one else, like a secret treasure, like a…"

-Shelley Read, Go as a River

"Try as we might to convince ourselves otherwise, the moments of our becoming cannot be carefully plucked like the ripest and most satisfying peach from the bough. In the endless stumble toward oursel…"

-Shelley Read, Go as a River

Cover of Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See

8. Lady Tan’s Circle of Women

By: Lisa See

4.36

Format: 352 pages, Hardcover

* NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!* An immersive historical novel inspired by the true story of a woma… read more

Similar categories in Lisa See's Lady Tan’s Circle of Women book and Heather Marshall's Looking for Jane

  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • book club
  • audiobook
Cover of Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

9. Tom Lake

By: Ann Patchett

3.99

Format: 309 pages, Hardcover

In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again prov… read more

Similar categories in Ann Patchett's Tom Lake book and Heather Marshall's Looking for Jane

  • adult fiction
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • book club
  • audiobook
"You can’t pretend this [Covid] isn’t happening,"

-Ann Patchett, Tom Lake

"In the summer the pear trees were fine. In the summer, all that is hideous about a pear tree is hidden by leaves and pears. But once those disguises were removed they were nothing but acres of murder…"

-Ann Patchett, Tom Lake

"Hazel, listen to me. I'm going to tell you something important, you need to be brave.' I then explained to the dog how I have told myself for so many years that my career fell apart because I wasn't …"

-Ann Patchett, Tom Lake

"It's as if someone bought all the diamonds at Tiffany's, and crushed them into dust, then spread that dust across the water so that it sifts down evenly, filtering through the shards of light that cu…"

-Ann Patchett, Tom Lake

Cover of The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger

10. The River We Remember

By: William Kent Krueger

4.29

Format: 421 pages, Hardcover

In 1958, a small Minnesota town is rocked by the murder of its most powerful citizen, pouring fresh… read more

Similar categories in William Kent Krueger's The River We Remember book and Heather Marshall's Looking for Jane

  • audiobook
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
"Finally, she wrote: The most frightening thing we do in our lives is to love."

-William Kent Krueger, The River We Remember

"People who make other people happy are generally pretty unhappy themselves," she said."

-William Kent Krueger, The River We Remember

"Bluestone said, " Hihanni waste ." "He honnay washtay?" Sam gave him a bewildered half smile. "I'm afraid I don't understand." "Exactly my point," Bluestone said. "I've lived in a white man's world a…"

-William Kent Krueger, The River We Remember

"[Scott] heard the clock on the living room mantel strike midnight, and he could no longer lie there suffering. He slipped from his bed, dressed, and so quietly that he might not even have existed--an…"

-William Kent Krueger, The River We Remember

Cover of Only the Beautiful by Susan Meissner

11. Only the Beautiful

By: Susan Meissner

4.47

Format: 400 pages, Hardcover

A heartrending story about a young mother’s fight to keep her daughter, and the winds of fortune th… read more

Similar categories in Susan Meissner's Only the Beautiful book and Heather Marshall's Looking for Jane

  • adult fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • book club
  • audiobook
Cover of The Little Liar by Mitch Albom

12. The Little Liar

By: Mitch Albom

4.59

Format: 352 pages, Hardcover

Beloved bestselling author Mitch Albom returns with a powerful novel that moves from a coastal Gree… read more

Similar categories in Mitch Albom's The Little Liar book and Heather Marshall's Looking for Jane

  • adult fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • audiobook
"Dead men tell no lies, but their truths must be unearthed."

-Mitch Albom, The Little Liar

"But the lies you tell by daylight leave you lonesome in the dark."

-Mitch Albom, The Little Liar

"The sad thing is, by the time you share what a loved one wants to hear, they no longer want to hear it."

-Mitch Albom, The Little Liar

"...a lie told once is easy to expose, but a lie told a thousand times can look like the truth. And destroy the world."

-Mitch Albom, The Little Liar

Cover of Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

13. Hello Beautiful

By: Ann Napolitano

4.16

Format: 416 pages, Kindle Edition

An emotionally layered and engrossing story of a family that asks: Can love make a broken person wh… read more

Similar categories in Ann Napolitano's Hello Beautiful book and Heather Marshall's Looking for Jane

  • adult fiction
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • book club
  • audiobook
"The child inside Julia lay wide-eyed in the dark, knowing that she was Jo, but only because Sylvie was Beth."

-Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

"You and your sisters have so many reference points, such a dense history," William said. "I never get used to it."

-Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

"She was Julia's wild hair, she was the lake her husband had once been carried out of, and no matter what happened next, she was love."

-Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

"You’re depressed, not crazy. It’s not insane to be depressed in this world. It’s more sane than being happy. I never trust those upbeat individuals who grin no matter what’s going on. Those are the o…"

-Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

Cover of The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry

14. The Secret Book of Flora Lea

By: Patti Callahan Henry

4.07

Format: 355 pages, Hardcover

When a woman discovers a rare book that has connections to her past, long-held secrets about her mi… read more

Similar categories in Patti Callahan Henry's The Secret Book of Flora Lea book and Heather Marshall's Looking for Jane

  • adult fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • audiobook
"The heart can hold much joy and great sorrow at the same time. It's a mystery. And it's also true."

-Patti Callahan Henry, The Secret Book of Flora Lea

"What a fairy tale is meant to do," she said, "if it's meant to do anything at all, Tolkien says, is give us new perspective on our world, the consolation of a happy ending. A recovery of sorts. Like …"

-Patti Callahan Henry, The Secret Book of Flora Lea

Cover of The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson

15. The House of Eve

By: Sadeqa Johnson

4.26

Format: 384 pages, Hardcover

From the award-winning author of Yellow Wife, a daring and redemptive novel set in 1950s Philadelph… read more

Similar categories in Sadeqa Johnson's The House of Eve book and Heather Marshall's Looking for Jane

  • adult fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • book club
  • audiobook
Cover of Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash

16. Beyond That, the Sea

By: Laura Spence-Ash

4.24

Format: 351 pages, Hardcover

A sweeping, tenderhearted love story, Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash tells the story of t… read more

Similar categories in Laura Spence-Ash's Beyond That, the Sea book and Heather Marshall's Looking for Jane

  • adult fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • audiobook
Cover of Looking for Jane by Heather     Marshall

17. Looking for Jane

By: Heather Marshall

4.36

Format: 400 pages, Hardcover

A debut about three women whose lives are bound together by a long-lost letter, a mother’s love, an… read more

Similar categories in Heather Marshall's Looking for Jane book and Heather Marshall's Looking for Jane

  • adult fiction
  • canada
  • feminism
  • historical
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • book club
  • audiobook
Cover of The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer

18. The Collected Regrets of Clover

By: Mikki Brammer

4.17

Format: 320 pages, Hardcover

What’s the point of giving someone a beautiful death if you can’t give yourself a beautiful life? … read more

Similar categories in Mikki Brammer's The Collected Regrets of Clover book and Heather Marshall's Looking for Jane

  • adult fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • book club
  • audiobook
"Instead of constantly asking ourselves the question of why we're here, maybe we should be savoring the simpler truth: We are here."

-Mikki Brammer, The Collected Regrets of Clover

"Maybe we just need to appreciate that many aspects of life— and the people we love—will always be a mystery. Because without mystery, there is no magic."

-Mikki Brammer, The Collected Regrets of Clover

"The secret to a beautiful death is to live a beautiful life. Putting your heart out there. Letting it get broken. Taking chances. Making mistakes.... Promise me, kid,...that you'll let yourself live."

-Mikki Brammer, The Collected Regrets of Clover

"Grief plays tricks on you that way - a familiar whiff of cologne or a potential sighting of your person in a crowd, and all the knots you've tied inside yourself to manage the pain of losing them sud…"

-Mikki Brammer, The Collected Regrets of Clover

Cover of The Keeper of Hidden Books by Madeline  Martin

19. The Keeper of Hidden Books

By: Madeline Martin

4.13

Format: 416 pages, Paperback

A heartwarming story about the power of books to bring us together, inspired by the true story of t… read more

Similar categories in Madeline Martin's The Keeper of Hidden Books book and Heather Marshall's Looking for Jane

  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • audiobook
Cover of The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn

20. The Phoenix Crown

By: Kate Quinn

3.82

Format: 384 pages, Paperback

From bestselling authors Janie Chang and Kate Quinn, a thrilling and unforgettable narrative about … read more

Similar categories in Kate Quinn's The Phoenix Crown book and Heather Marshall's Looking for Jane

  • adult fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • audiobook
Cover of The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

21. The Briar Club

By: Kate Quinn

4.35

Format: 432 pages, Hardcover

A haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets in a Washington, D.C. boardinghouse… read more

Similar categories in Kate Quinn's The Briar Club book and Heather Marshall's Looking for Jane

  • adult fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • audiobook
"You can't call yourself a proper home without the regular smell of good food..."

-Kate Quinn, The Briar Club

"And guilt roiled in his stomach because he wanted to love his mother, and sometimes what pulsed through him came horribly close to hate."

-Kate Quinn, The Briar Club

"Be selfish, stick to the plan Claire had clung to since she was 16. Look out for herself and no one else, because love was for suckers and happiness meant a well-stocked bank account and a house you …"

-Kate Quinn, The Briar Club

"Happiness is a choice as much as anything. Or you could choose to be angry, and if you stay angry long enough, it will become comfortable, like an old robe. But eventually you’ll realize that old rob…"

-Kate Quinn, The Briar Club

21 must-read fiction books like Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall

Transform Your Habits

The Women

Kristin Hannah

4.64

Transform Your Habits

After Annie

Anna Quindlen

4.03

Transform Your Habits

The Berry Pickers

Amanda Peters

4.14

Transform Your Habits

First Lie Wins

Ashley Elston

4.05

View all the books

10 Best book club books like The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer

Transform Your Habits

The Women

Kristin Hannah

4.64

Transform Your Habits

First Lie Wins

Ashley Elston

4.05

Transform Your Habits

The Frozen River

Ariel Lawhon

4.43

Transform Your Habits

Lady Tan’s Circle of Women

Lisa See

4.36

View all the books

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