Top Five Favorite Historical Fiction Settings

I love historical fiction. Like a lot. As in I have to remind myself to read other genres (other than a good contemporary romance, which I'm also an addict of). My love of historical fiction can be traced back to picking up my first American Girls book when I was 7 or 8. I was hooked. Christmas for me as a kid was scoring different of the "classic" American Girl's cookbooks and crafting kits. A few years later it was my turn to pick our family vacation destination and I picked Colonial Williamsburg so I could see where Felicity grew up. Connor Prairie (this awesome living history museum of an 1830s Indiana village) was always my favorite field trip in school...I'd go on with all of my history geekisms but let's just wrap it up with that I majored in history in college and long to be a 50s housewife (mostly for the fashion). 

Anyway, here are my top five historical fiction settings I'll read over and over again!

1) World War Two Era

I remember my 4th grade teacher reading Number the Stars by Lois Lowery aloud to us during circle time. I loved that story so much that I wanted to know more. It became my favorite era to study all the way through college (I even had a super cool professor who let me write a history vs. Hollywood style term paper on Casablanca!). While it's easy to get caught up in the romance of the era, sometimes it's good historical fiction set here that has more of an impact on me than anything I could glean from a textbook. 

Check Out: Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, and Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

2) The Roaring Twenties

The height of the jazz age...flappers...speakeasies...I've probably over romanticized it all in my head, but would I hop in a time machine, rock a drop waist dress and headband while dancing the Charleston all night? Yup! Plus this generation had women with more freedom than any before it, which makes for some kick butt female protagonists! I wish this was an era written about more in YA, but the books I have read set during this time are awesome!

Check Out: The Diviners by Libba Bray, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Born of Illusion by Teri Brown

3) The American Civil War

No matter if I'm rereading Gone with the Wind or a biography on Harriett Tubman I'll never lose my fascination with every aspect of this time in American history. We have a Civil War reenactment every year here and I never miss it (though I haven't started dressing up...yet). I'd love to see more of this setting again in YA! 

Check Out: Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin, My Name's Not Friday by Jon Walter, and Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl (okay, this is a bit of a stretch, but there are several flashbacks to South Carolina during the war that play a huge role in the story AND you can see the lasting impact this war has on our country today)

4) Victorian Era

I love reading about spunky, rebellious women during this age! Especially the late 19th century. And sometimes I just wish I could wear fancy dresses and go to balls and have tea time. 

Check Out: These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly, A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, and Jackaby by William Ritter

5) The Great Depression 

So this probably sounds like...well...depressing. And I suppose it is, but it isn't. To go from the glitz and excess of the 1920s to worldwide hardship wouldn't make you think of a great setting, but some good YA lit is set during this time. Times were hard, nothing went to waste, racial tensions were high, and on the global stage were all of the events leading up to WWII. 

Check Out: Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman, The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee