Books that meet high moral standards and contain limited foul language, sexual content, and descriptions of violence.
- Before using this list, please read my disclaimer.
- Every book on this list meets “My Clean Reading Criteria” and is one that I finished, liked, and felt was worth my time to read. To learn more about the purpose of this list please see “About Novaun Novels.”
- For information on how I classify religious fiction, please see “Is Fiction Marketed to Latter-day Saints ‘Christian Fiction’?” For how I evaluate religious content in the books I read, please see “What About Doctrinal Differences?“
- All descriptions in quotation marks come from the book jackets or other descriptions from the publishers. Follow the title links to the page, post, or Goodreads review that contains my commentary on the book.
Fleischman, Lisa Huang
Dream of the Walled City (historical fiction)
“Born in 1890, the privileged and sheltered daughter of a high-ranking imperial official, Jade Virtue spends her childhood enclosed by the towering walls of her family’s sprawling mansion, never glimpsing the desperate struggle of China’s ancient society, as the old ways are challenged and the twentieth century . . . rushes in. But when her father mysteriously dies, young Jade Virtue is suddenly thrust into poverty, and experiences firsthand a traditional culture falling apart under the onslaught of growing rebellion against the Emperor, rapid social changes, and the mounting aggression of Japan and the West.”
Lewis, L.C.
The Letter Carrier (Christian historical fiction)
“When the German march across Europe reaches France, young Michelle Naget and her family join the throngs fleeing for safety. But their flight ends in capture by the Nazis, with one member of the family taken, while the rest of the family is sent back to their village of Braquis, France, to serve the enemy who has commandeered their home. For the next four years, the Nagets live in the crosshairs of the enemy living under their roof and of the neighbors who question the family’s loyalties.”
McCloud, Susan Evans
Abide the Dark Dawn (Christian historical fiction, Latter-day Saint)
“It is 1939 and a dark plot, begun in Germany is spreading to the shores of England. Life along Britain’s coast becomes dangerous and uncertain. Linnet Murray, bereft of the man she loves, has only her brother and a close friend to keep her safe. But they too are caught in the grip of a world at war, and, when suddenly the war rages at her own doorstep, Linnet must find courage to fight it alone.”
McLaughlin, Ann L.
Sunset at Rosalie (historical fiction)
“Carlin McNair is ten years old in 1910, when she realizes that Rosalie, the Mississippi cotton plantation where she was born and has lived all her life, is failing due to the boll weevil. She worries about her family, especially her father, who has struggled to keep the plantation going. She worries, too, about the black servants and field workers, all of whom she knows well. Her adored Uncle Will envisions agricultural change, but he is tragically limited. Carlin keeps a journal and imagines breaking out of the South. Change comes finally in a destructive form, but Carlin is ready.”
Montague, Terry
Fireweed (Christian historical fiction, Latter-day Saint)
Latter-day Saint German girl Lisel Spann struggles to survive and hold on to her faith during the turbulent years of World War II.
Pella, Judith and Michael Phillips
The Russians series (Christian historical fiction, Evangelical)
This series explores the lives of peasants and princes in the turbulent decades prior to the Russian Revolution in 1917.
- The Crown and the Crucible
- A House Divided
- Travail and Triumph
Pella, Judith
The Russians series (Christian historical fiction, Evangelical)
- Heirs of the Motherland
- Dawning of Deliverance
- White Nights, Red Morning
- Passage Into Light
Pinkston, Tristi
Nothing to Regret (Christian historical fiction, Latter-day Saint)
“Ken Sugihara was a student at Berkeley at the time of Pearl Harbor. He is shocked to hear about the attack, but even more shocked when he discovers that all people of Japanese ancestry in the United States, especially those living on the West Coast, are now considered suspects in the attack. He and his parents are taken from their home and sent to a relocation center in the Utah Desert, where they must decide for themselves where their loyalties lie.”
Sears, Gale
The Silence of God (Christian historical fiction, Latter-day Saint)
“Based on an amazing true story of the only Latter-day Saint family living in St. Petersburg during the Bolshevik Revolution, The Silence of God is a rare glimpse into a fascinating period of history and a powerful, extraordinary novel of devotion and loyalty.”
Silone, Ignazio
Bread and Wine (Italian classic)
“Set and written in Fascist Italy, this book exposes that regime’s use of brute force for the body and lies for the mind. Through the story of the once-exiled Pietro Spina, Italy comes alive with priests and peasants, students and revolutionaries, all on the brink of war.”
Note: I read the English translation by Eric Mosbacher.
Thoene, Bodie
Shiloh Legacy series (Christian historical fiction, Evangelical)
“The Shiloh Legacy is a historical fiction series set in the United States between the WWI and WWII. The series follows a group of soldiers through the war and home as they seek to build their lives.”
- In My Father’s House
- A Thousand Shall Fall
- Say to This Mountain
Zion Chronicles series (Christian historical fiction, Evangelical)
“The Zion Chronicles series covers the events surrounding Israel’s statehood in 1948. Each book vividly portrays the intense struggle of the Jewish people in the aftermath of the Holocaust and the forces, within and without, which engulf the Middle East in conflict and controversy even today.”
- The Gates of Zion
- A Daughter of Zion
- Return to Zion
- Light in Zion
- The Key to Zion
Zion Covenant series (Christian historical fiction, Evangelical)
“Opening in 1936, the Zion Covenant series tells the courageous and compelling stories of those who risk everything to stand against the growing tide of Nazi terrorism that is sweeping through central Europe under the dangerous and deceitful guise of Hitler’s Third Reich.”
- Vienna Prelude
- Prague Counterpoint
- Munich Signature
- Jerusalem Interlude
- Danzig Passage
- Warsaw Requiem
Thoene, Bodie and Brock
Shiloh Autumn (Evangelical Christian historical fiction, stand-alone sequel to the Shiloh Legacy series)
“In the autumn of 1931, Birch and Trudy Tucker are proud of what they’ve built with their love and labor in Shiloh, Arkansas. The farm produces fine cotton. The pantry and cellar are full of food for the winter. . . . Then, on October 1, 1931, disaster strikes. The cotton market collapses in Memphis, and the little town of Shiloh is hit hard. It will take a miracle to save what Birch and Trudy and so many others have labored to build. Yet even the forces of nature seem to conspire against them. . . .”
The Twilight of Courage (historical fiction, stand-alone sequel to Zion Covenant Book 6: Warsaw Requiem)
“Follow diverse and memorable personalities such as American journalists Josie Marlow and Mac McGrath as they narrowly escape from the collapse of Warsaw in the fall of 1939 and suddenly find themselves caught up in the events of the so-called Twilight War—when Hitler was preparing to march and the Allies did nothing to stop him.”
The featured image “Woodrow Wilson Bridge” is Copyright © 2022 by Katherine Padilla. All rights reserved.
