6 Historical Fiction Novels About Family Secrets (and the One I Had to Write Myself)

Calling all historical fiction lovers! One thing about me is I love to learn something new when I’m reading a book. Whether it’s a Taylor Jenkins Reid novel that teaches me an astronomy lesson, or a Jodi Picoult novel that unpeels layers of the medical system, I want to come away from the reding experience a little more educated. In school, I never loved history, it was hard to remember the dates of battles and the names of Generals. However. when I started to find historical fiction novels that transported me to that time and place that immersed me in a story, I discovered a true fascination for those eras I’d previously dismissed. Now, getting lost in a world that existed before I was born one of my favourite genres to read.

I’ve compiled a list of engrossing historical fiction novels that span across North America, Europe and the UK, that give incredible insight into topics such as adoption, government institutions and family secrets.

1. Philomena by Martin Sixsmith

   
   

Themes: Nonfiction. Reunions, Irish mother-and-baby homes and forced adoptions.

This book, originally called the Lost Child of Philomena Lee, tells the tragic story of Philomena Lee, who had an illegitimate child in the early 1950s while living at an abbey run by nuns in Ireland. An American couple adopted her son, Anthony Lee, when he was 3 years old and renamed him Michael Hess. Philomena and Michael were stymied in their search to find each other by the nuns’ refusal to provide them with their records. This book was later adapted into a film.

2. The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante

   
   

Themes: Motherhood, abandonment, and difficult family choices.

Leda, a middle-aged divorcée, is alone for the first time in years after her two adult daughters leave home to live with their father in Toronto. Enjoying an unexpected sense of liberty, she heads to the Ionian coast for a vacation. But she soon finds herself intrigued by Nina, a young mother on the beach, eventually striking up a conversation with her. After Nina confides a dark secret, one seemingly trivial occurrence leads to events that could destroy Nina’s family.

3. Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

Themes: Dual timeline, family torn apart by corrupt adoption system, secrets uncovered decades later.

Based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals—in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country—Lisa Wingate’s riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong.

4. The Forgotten Home Child by Genevieve Graham

Themes: Canadian historical fiction that uncovers hidden systemic injustices dealing with unwed mothers and institutional failures.

The Home for Unwanted Girls meets Orphan Train in this unforgettable novel about a young girl caught in a scheme to rid England’s streets of destitute children, and the lengths she will go to find her way home—based on the true story of the British Home Children.

5. The Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman

Themes: Maternity homes, scandal.

This novel revolves around Maggie Hughes who, at fifteen, becomes pregnant and is forced by her parents to give her baby daughter, Elodie, up. We follow Maggie through years of separation from and longing for Elodie, where each and every day is haunted by thoughts as to where Elodie is and what kind of life she could be living.

6. Small Things like these by Claire Keegan

Themes: Novella. Maternity homes in Ireland, adoption and family secrets.

It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church.

If you’ve read and loved any these, you might want to give County Kildare a try next!

County Kildare by B.E. Kennedy

Themes: Adoption, family secrets, investigation, dual timeline

When a Canadian journalist uncovers the identity of her birth mother in Ireland, she is pulled into a dual-timeline story of love, loss, and resilience. Spanning generations and rooted in the history of adoption secrecy, County Kildare asks how far we go to find where we belong.”

County Kildare is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book. Click here to get your copy today.

Have any other historical fiction favourites I missed? Drop them in the comments!