BVBook Verdict

If you liked

Books like The Book Thief

Loved The Book Thief by Markus Zusak? Here are 10 books with a similar appeal — drawn mostly from historical fiction, ranked by how confidently we'd recommend them next.

10 books · ranked

  1. 1

    Wolf Hall

    Hilary Mantel · 2009 · Historical Fiction

    Thomas Cromwell's rise in the court of Henry VIII; political intrigue rendered in extraordinary close-up prose.

  2. 2

    All the Light We Cannot See

    Anthony Doerr · 2014 · Historical Fiction

    A blind French girl and a German boy whose paths cross in occupied France; luminous, intricate storytelling.

  3. 3

    The Pillars of the Earth

    Ken Follett · 1989 · Historical Fiction

    The building of a cathedral across decades of medieval turmoil; a vast, addictive saga.

  4. 4

    Bring Up the Bodies

    Hilary Mantel · 2012 · Historical Fiction

    Cromwell engineers the fall of Anne Boleyn; tense, brilliant and even sharper than its predecessor.

  5. 5

    Regeneration

    Pat Barker · 1991 · Historical Fiction

    Shell-shocked officers and the psychiatrist treating them; a quiet, powerful look at war's hidden wounds.

  6. 6

    Tender is the Night

    F. Scott Fitzgerald · 1933 · Historical Fiction

    A psychiatrist, Dick Diver, treats and eventually marries a wealthy patient, Nicole. Eventually, this marriage destroys him.

  7. 7

    The blue castle

    Lucy Maud Montgomery · 1926 · Historical Fiction

    Valancy Stirling is 29, unmarried, and has never been in love. Living with her overbearing mother and meddlesome aunt, she finds her only consolation in the "forbidden" books of John Foster and her da

  8. 8

    A Little Princess

    Frances Hodgson Burnett · 1905 · Historical Fiction

    This is a story about a different kind of princess than one might imagine; a princess that is an orphan - lonely, cold, hungry and abused. Sara Crewe begins life as the beloved, pampered daughter of a

  9. 9

    An Old-Fashioned Girl

    Louisa May Alcott · 1869 · Historical Fiction

    Polly visits her wealthy friend Fanny Shaw in the city and is overwhelmed by the fashionable and urban life they live--but also left out because of her "countrified" manners and outdated clothes.

  10. 10

    Antony and Cleopatra

    William Shakespeare · 1734 · Historical Fiction

    A magnificent drama of love and war, this riveting tragedy presents one of Shakespeare's greatest female characters--the seductive, cunning Egyptian queen Cleopatra. The Roman leader Mark Antony, a vi

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