I love Christmas, and I love historical fiction. What could be better, then, than a list of historical fiction set at Christmas time? There are many books about winter holidays, including Paper Lantern Writers’ anthology Beneath a Midwinter Moon. In this post, however, I want to focus on Christmas.
Christmas Bells, by Jennifer Chiaverini, is also a dual timeline novel. In present-day Boston, a volunteer music teacher, facing program cuts, rehearses a carol set to a Longfellow poem. The historic timeline tells the story of the Wadsworth family in 1860, celebrating Christmas in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he writes his famous poem on Christmas Day.
Christmas With the Queen, by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, is a dual timeline novel. The oldest line is set in 1952 and features Queen Elizabeth II preparing for Christmas at Sandringham House in Norfolk, England. The more modern storyline is from 1957 when the Queen gives her first televised Christmas speech. The main plot centers around the relationship between one of the queen’s cooks and a BBC reporter.
A Quilt for Christmas by Sandra Dallas, is set in 1864 Kansas, where a woman’s husband has enlisted to fight in the Civil War. She cares for her two children and takes in another woman and child. Then she is asked to hide an escaped slave.
At Christmastime, romance books (and Hallmark movies) are especially popular. I chose three historical romances that have great covers.
A Holiday by Gaslight, by Mimi Matthews, takes place in 19th century London. A woman facing a marriage of convenience tries to break off the engagement by inviting someone she likes better to visit for Christmas.
Last Christmas in Paris, by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, is a dual timeline novel. The historic timeline is set across the four Christmases of World War I in Paris and follows a woman who watches her brother and his best friend leave for the front. In 1968, the friend returns to Paris.
Waiting for Christmas, by Lynn Austin, is set in Gilded Age New York. It follows a wealthy woman celebrating her first Christmas married to the man she loves. She reaches out to help an orphaned boy, and learns much about Christmas and a world different than her own.
It wouldn’t be Christmas without Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Here I’ve highlighted a few of the adaptations of that tale.
Cratchit: “A Christmas Carol” Continues, by R. M. Bouknight, does exactly what the title says. It’s not a retelling, but a continuation of the novel from Cratchit’s point of view.
Mr. Dickens and His Carol, by Samantha Silva, follows Charles Dickens at Christmas time in London. His latest novel hasn’t done well, and his wife plans a lavish holiday party he fears he can’t pay for and still feed the children. He walks the streets of London and becomes inspired to write his great Christmas novel.
A Christmas Carol Graphic Novel, by Saddleback Educational Publishing, is also not a retelling, although it includes key phrases and quotations from the original classics. It features colorful illustrations that are intended to attract younger readers.
Still looking for historical fiction set at Christmas? Read Historical Fiction Christmas Mysteries by Rebecca D’Harlingue for Paper Lantern Writers.
Merry Christmas!
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