Finalists in the HFC Book of the Year Contest
- DK Marley
- 16 minutes ago
- 17 min read
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE GOLD MEDAL FINALISTS FOR THE 2025 HFC BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDS!
PLEASE NOTE: SOME CATEGORIES SHOW TIED WINNERS
GRAND PRIZE & RUNNER-UP WINNERS WILL BE CHOSEN FROM THIS LIST and ANNOUNCED AT 12:00 MIDNIGHT EST
on DECEMBER 31st 2025 - NEW YEAR'S EVE!!
All finalists will be allowed to use the displayed category badge for announcements and will be
notified via email.
2026 Awards & Editorial Review requests are now open - please visit www.thehistoricalfictioncompany.com/book-awards/award-submission
to enter today and/or request an editorial review.
HUGO FINALIST - GENERAL HISTORICAL
Sarita Natalie Musgrave Dosssett
In the summer of 1920, nineteen-year-old Sarita’s younger brother, JJ, bleeds to death in her arms after being shot by Javier Salsito de Ortega, a ruthless tequila smuggler. The Texas Rangers have their hands full with Prohibition and border issues. Still, Sarita is stunned when they refuse to help.
JJ’s death devastates her father. Without a male heir, Sarita fears he will give in to the oil prospector intent on buying their family ranch, La Barroneña. Even in his despair, she knows her father yearns for justice, but he is too ill and weak to seek it.
Sarita isn’t.
Determined to prove herself and change her fate, she crosses the Rio Grande into a world of deadly threats––from rattlesnakes to Pancho Villa’s rebels to the very killer she’s hunting. Quickly, Sarita realizes she’s stumbled into a web of danger far bigger and more sinister than she imagined. If she is caught, the consequences could jeopardize innocent lives and put her father’s safety at risk.
In a tumultuous landscape of social and political upheaval, what lines will Sarita have to cross to survive? Will her relentless pursuit of justice exact a price too steep to bear? If she succeeds––if she gets home––will she have earned her father’s respect? Will she have secured her family’s future?
HAWTHORNE FINALIST - AMERICAN / WESTERN
Red Clay, Running Waters Leslie Simmons
In one of history's great untold stories Red Clay Running Waters weaves a tapestry of the turbulent Antebellum era and the fate of Native Americans through the little-known life of John Ridge, a Cherokee man dedicated to his people, and his white wife, Sarah Northrop, a woman forfeiting everything to join him in defending his homeland.
In 1818, John Ridge, promising son of a Cherokee chief, leaves his native land in the south for an education in the New England, believing in the missionaries promises of salvation and equality. His ability to navigate both worlds - Red and White - far exceeds his teacher's expectations. While there, he finds an unsanctioned love that transcends prejudice and social conventions, but the union outrages the Calvinist community.
Wiser on the chasm between professed beliefs and behavior, John and Sarah return to his nation, instilled with visions of the better world they can help build. In an independent Cherokee Nation, John burns to use what he has learned to defend his people's rights in support of their growing advancement, with their own written language, laws, and newspaper. In her new home, Sarah finds friendship and purpose with her family and the growing communities of schools and prosperous plantations.
The Ridges' aspirations appear within reach, but then unanticipated actions from the neighboring state of Georgia raise tensions between the Cherokee, the Southern states, and the federal government under Andrew Jackson.
With John taking the mantle of leadership forged with his father, Major Ridge, the family find themselves pulled into the crossfire of a divided country on the brink with a civil war, and threatening to drag America into a moral and Constitutional crisis. Trapped in a cycle of oppression and betrayal, the Ridge's abiding love for their nation unite them in purpose, forcing them to risk everything and testing the limits of their individual commitment to forestall a Cherokee diaspora.
In a crucible of politics, racism, and religion. Red Clay Running Waters is a timely saga about the nature of love, loyalty, and sacrifice in one family's search for justice that leads the reader to a haunting and moving conclusion.
AUSTEN FINALIST - HISTORICAL ROMANCE
Marianne Alice McVeigh
The Rabbi's Suitcase Robert Kehlmann
When Marianne – still beautiful, still impulsive and not yet twenty-one – returns to London, she is rich, with a house in Mayfair and an estate in Dorsetshire. Despite her resolve to remain single, she finds herself besieged with admirers, including the dangerously attractive Willoughby and the charming and irreverent Crawford.
Then Marianne’s younger sister Margaret arrives. Margaret’s passion for romance leads to unexpected complications. As Marianne attempts to navigate the social whirl of Regency London, she finds her resolution tested and her feelings torn – between the pull of the past and the allure of the present.
**********************************************
Rooted in a forbidden romance, this sweeping family saga delves into the intersection of history, desire, and resilience, illuminating the challenges women face in forging their identities.
Inspired by history and a trove of love letters, The Rabbi's Suitcase recounts how, in the early 1880s, a battered steamship, overcrowded with Orthodox Jewish travelers, makes a treacherous journey from Lithuania to Jerusalem, the home of their patriarchs. On board, Yosef Siev, a twelve-year-old mystic, is entranced with wild-haired Chana. Their story is told against a backdrop of Ottoman rule, the privations of WWI, and British Mandatory uprisings.
In 1926 Yosef and Chana's seventeen-year-old granddaughter, Zipora, enters into a forbidden relationship with Reuven, a young Lithuanian immigrant destined, as a close ally of David Ben Gurion, to become a founder of the State of Israel. The liaison extracts a heavy toll. With dreams of self-discovery and a better future for herself and her family, Zipora travels to America determined to contribute to Reuven's studies at the Sorbonne. Conflicts arise over issues of politics, gender inequality, and fidelity, forcing heart-wrenching decisions.
BRONTE FINALIST - UK & COMMONWEALTH
(Canada, Australia, etc.)
Lady of Lincoln Rachel Elwiss Joyce
Marguerite: Hell Hath No Fury Judith Arnopp
A true story. A forgotten heroine. In a time when women were told to stay silent, could she become the saviour her people need?
12th-century England. Nicola de la Haye wants to do her duty. But though she’s taught a female cannot lead alone, the young noblewoman bristles at the marriage her father has arranged to secure her inheritance. And when an unexpected death leaves her unguided, the impetuous girl shuns the king’s blessing and weds a handsome-but-landless knight.
Harshly fined by Henry II for her unsanctioned union, Nicola struggles to salvage her estates while dealing with devastating betrayals from her husband… and his choice to join rebels in a brewing civil war. Yet after averting a tragedy and gaining the castle garrison’s respect, she still must face the might of powerful men determined to crush her under their will.
Can she survive love, threats, and violent ambition to prove she’s worthy of authority?
In this carefully researched and vividly human series debut, Rachel Elwiss Joyce showcases the complex themes of honour, responsibility, and freedom in the story of a remarkable heroine who men tried to erase from history. And as readers dive into a world defined by violence and turmoil, they’ll be stunned by this courageous young woman’s journey toward greatness.
Lady of Lincoln is the gritty first book in the Nicola de la Haye Series historical fiction saga. If you like richly textured female heroes, courtly drama, and fast-paced intrigue, then you’ll adore Rachel Elwiss Joyce’s gripping true-life tale.
************************************
Marguerite: Queen of England
From the moment Henry VI's new queen, Marguerite of Anjou, sets foot on English soil she is despised by the English as a foreigner, and blamed for the failures of the hundred years war in France.
Her enemies impede her role as the king’s consort and when Henry sinks into apparent madness her bid to become regent is rejected. Marguerite must fight, not only for her own position but to maintain Henry’s possession of the crown.
The ambitious Duke, Richard of York seizes control of the country, thrusting Marguerite aside and inflating the mutual hatred between the houses of York and Lancaster. But the queen refuses to relinquish power and fights determinedly for the rights of her son, Edward of Lancaster.
The long and bitter civil conflict, that has come to be known as the war of the roses, commences.
FLAUBERT FINALIST - ANCIENT HISTORY
Trojan Odyssey William Haddad
William Haddad’s "Trojan Odyssey" is a sweeping re-imagining that pulls the legendary Trojan prince, Hector, from the dust of the "Iliad" and hurls him into a sprawling, existential voyage through the concatenated afterlives of the ancient world. This does not feel like a myth retold, but a myth extended, a fictionalized exploration of the hero’s shade forced to navigate the brutal and often contradictory mechanics of eternity. The novel roots itself in a profound psychological struggle- what is the nature of a noble soul when stripped of kingdom, body, and purpose?
VERNE FINALIST - HISTORICAL FANTASY
Sands of Bone Logan Irons
Ninety years have passed since the Christians wrested control of Jerusalem from their foes, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem’s army is a pile of corpses strewn about the Horns of Hattin. The few survivors stumble back for the only place of refuge spared of Saladin’s wrath, Jerusalem.
Robert Cutnose reluctantly joins with the Lord Balian de Ibelin in an attempt to defend a city of refugees from Saladin's army. Both men have drawn the ire of old enemies within the Order who secretly wish to bring them down. And hidden within Saladin’s ranks, assassins lurk, cultivating their own end to the conflict. Even while the city teeters on the brink of annihilation, a princess seeks to assert her birthright over the crown. The fate of Cutnose and the Kingdom of Jerusalem hangs by a thread, and there is no guarantee of survival of anyone involved.
Continue the gritty war-torn journey through the crusades and the Noctis Bellum, a shadow war spanning centuries between the Order and the Hunted. Filled with legendary characters both barbaric and gray, driven by valor and treachery alike, the Oaths of Blood Saga is an action-packed grimdark historical fantasy best for fans of Joe Abercrombie, Bernard Cornwell, Jay Kristoff, and John Gwynne.
WELLS FINALIST - HISTORICAL TIME TRAVEL /
DUAL TIMELINE
Beyond Australia Lee Forrest
What Remains Erryn Lee
So Gramp's time machine actually works! Fourteen-year-old Susan Ferguson is startled when she's catapulted into the wild streets of 1872 Manhattan-where danger and adventure await at every turn.
The errand she volunteered for is scary enough-to bring home a brain that holds the key to her grandfather's survival-but her mission quickly spirals into chaos when she has to navigate a perilous landscape filled with street gangs, narrow escapes, and diseases from a bygone age.
Susan has always been an instinctive liar, but now she's playing in the big leagues. She's mistaken for a boy but goes along with it for safety. To conceal her spooky time travel she tells people she's a visitor from Australia. As an Australian boy she becomes an assistant to the surgeon who removed the brain, but she must escape bullies and dodge a suspicious detective while tumbling into a historic blackmail case. Her only ally is a street-smart newsboy who sometimes helps her with a mixture of bravado, misinformation, and genuine skills. Could they become a team?
****************************
What Remains is a haunting dual-timeline mystery that bridges centuries-and secrets-between ancient Rome and the modern world.
Forensic anthropologist Tori Benino has just landed the opportunity of a lifetime: leading a dig at a long-buried Roman village lost to the eruption of Vesuvius. But when she uncovers the remains of a Praetorian guard hidden in an ancient latrine-clearly murdered-Tori realizes she's stumbled onto something far more sinister than a routine excavation. As she digs deeper into the past, her own carefully ordered life begins to fall apart.
Nearly two thousand years earlier, Thalia, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, is desperate to escape an arranged marriage to a brutal and politically powerful senator. Her only hope lies with a Praetorian soldier assigned to guard her-but trusting him could cost her everything.
As past and present collide, What Remains asks: When history is buried, what truths refuse to stay hidden?
Perfect for fans of Kathy Reichs and Kate Quinn, this novel is inspired by true events and delivers a compelling blend of suspense, history, and heart.
CHRISTIE FINALIST - HISTORICAL MYSTERY & THRILLER
Red Snow in Winter Max Eastern
In the final weeks of World War II, a young American intelligence officer is caught in a web of deceit that stretches from the Pentagon to the war-ravaged streets of Europe. Lieutenant Julius Orlinsky, a veteran of clandestine operations in Prague, is thrust back into the field when a seemingly routine assignment leads to murder and attempted murder.
Determined to uncover the truth, Orlinsky's quest takes him from the quiet suburbs of Washington, D.C., to a prisoner-of-war camp in Maryland, and, finally, to the city of Budapest under siege. It's a shadow world where allies can be enemies and the lines between patriotism and treason are blurred. And the personal stakes couldn't be higher. Investigating who was responsible for a family's tragedy in Prague could expose a betrayal by the first woman he has ever loved.
SHELLEY FINALIST - HISTORICAL GOTHIC
The Widow of Hartforde J F Baker
Creature: A Novel of Mary Shelley and Frankenstein Amy E. Weldon
A chilling historical horror novel of witch trials, survival, and the true monster hiding among us.Connecticut Colony, 1662
During a midnight witch trial, an unsettlingly woman confesses to making a pact with the Devil—after encountering a terrifying beast in the woods. Her words send a shiver through newcomer Rebecca Easton. She’s seen that creature too.
But when Rebecca dares to speak the truth, suspicion turns on her. Accusations fly. The townspeople whisper. And now, she too is facing the judge.
To save her, Rebecca’s husband Caleb—Hartforde’s devout reverend—strikes a horrifying bargain: the beast will be found before sunrise… or Rebecca will hang.
As Rebecca leads the search party into the dark forest to chase down danger, Caleb uncovers a deeper, deadlier secret—one that exposes the judge’s hidden agenda and forces the town to confront the real evil lurking behind the witch hunts.
A gripping standalone for fans of The Witch, Year of Wonders, and dark historical fiction with a supernatural twist. Combining folklore, feminist horror, and true events from one of America’s earliest witch trials, this novel delivers atmospheric suspense, richly layered characters, and a haunting mystery that won’t let go.
*******************************
In 1816, a nineteen-year-old single mother wrote a book that transformed our vision of birth, bodies, and who we call "monsters." Creature: A Novel of Mary Shelley and Frankenstein is her story. From her first spark of inspiration to widowhood at age 24, through the deaths of four of her five children and her struggles to build a writing career, Creature braids Mary Shelley's little-known life journey with that of her most famous character: Victor Frankenstein's half-human Creature, who shadows her in alternating chapters as conscience, criminal, and friend. Traveling from London to Italy and into our own technological future, Creature blends historical realism and literary magic to show how a bookish, haunted girl learns to confront her monsters by bringing them to life.
POE FINALIST - HISTORICAL SHORT STORY & ANTHOLOGY
The Tin Whistle Kathleen Shoop
Inspired by a true story...
1854
Jacob Gusky wakes up hoping Santa has arrived. And he has... but not for Jacob, one of two Jewish boys living at the Boys’ Home of Manhattan. When a friend gifts him a tin whistle, Jacob learns the power of giving, the joy in receiving, and hears what he considers to be the sound of happiness.
1881
Recently widowed and completely out of options, Frannie takes her daughter Molly to the Home for the Friendless. “You’ll be back before Christmas?” Molly asks. Frannie gives Molly half a quilt square and keeps the other, choking on her reply.
Now a happily married father of three, Jacob Gusky owns Gusky’s Grand Emporium, Pittsburgh’s first premier department store. After unearthing the tin whistle from the orphanage, he is reminded of what it felt like to have nothing, and decides to make a difference in the lives of others no matter their faith. But with so little time before Christmas morning, can he even begin to give the orphaned children of Pittsburgh what he knows they need?
HEMINGWAY FINALIST - HISTORICAL WAR-THEMED
The Choice Within Stephanie Woodman
Save. Kill. Live. Die. How much do I give?
1944, and war rages in the Pacific. Two young recruits from opposing sides destined to cross paths without ever meeting, changing their lives forever…
Honolulu—Devoted nurse Lieutenant Jeannette Crawford has been working tirelessly, with dedication and wisdom beyond her years, to help wounded US servicemen on home soil face their greatest enemy—time. Wanting to do more, she volunteers to serve on a hospital ship, hoping to save the men she treats and worrying about the man she loves. But nothing can prepare her for the horrors she now faces on the front lines of the Pacific islands.
Tokyo—Akira Tanaka is conscripted to serve his country. He does so with determination to honor his family and the country he loves. Initially motivated in his fighter-plane training, he soon discovers that the news being shared with the people of Japan is a lie: the Combined Fleet is losing badly, and their European allies crumbling.
As the ferocity of fighting intensifies, and the reality of combat hits home, nurse and pilot experience very different wars in striking parallel. But when the Americans close in on the Japanese home islands, and the emperor’s forces become increasingly desperate in their tactics, the true, horrifying heartbreak of Jeannette and Akira’s shared destiny becomes clearer, drawing closer…
The Choice Withinis a story of two people, opposite in many ways, yet share an idealism, love of life, and the same questions: who is the real enemy and how much do I give? This heartrending fiction weaves historical events into a rich, poignant tale of love, duty, sacrifice, and questions never asked until the end.
STEINBECK FINALIST - HISTORICAL LITERARY
The Lost Siegneur David Loux
The Many Lives of Marguerite Alibert Lilianne Milgrom
The Lost Seigneur is a sequel to the award-winning Chateau Laux. It is the story of Jean-Pierre du Laux, a nobleman in southern France, who was wrongly imprisoned during a time of religious intolerance and subsequently endeavors to return to his family. Many years have passed since he saw them, and his long incarceration has broken his health. Any reunion would clearly have been impossible, without the unlikely help of a youthful companion that he meets along the way.
******************************
COMING SOON from acclaimed author Lilianne Milgrom - click the above button to learn more about the release of her upcoming novel "The Many Lives of Marguerite Alibert"
TOLSTOY FINALIST - EUROPE, etc.
The Price of Loyalty Malve von Hassell
Napoleon's Shadow Wife James Conroyd Martin
In a time of kingdoms and crusades, one man's heart is the battlefield.
Cerdic, a Saxon knight, serves Count Stephen-Henry of Blois with unwavering loyalty-yet his soul remains divided. Haunted by memories of England, the land of his childhood, and bound by duty to King William, the conqueror who once showed him mercy, Cerdic walks a dangerous line between past and present, longing and loyalty.
At the center of his turmoil stands Adela-daughter of a king, wife of a count, and the first to offer him friendship in a foreign land. But when a political marriage binds him to the spirited and determined Giselle, Cerdic's world turns again. Giselle, fiercely in love with her stoic husband, follows him across sea and sand to the holy land, hoping to win the heart that still lingers elsewhere.
As the clash of empires looms and a crusade threatens to tear everything apart, Cerdic must confront the deepest truth of all-where does his loyalty lie, and whom does his heart truly belong to?
A sweeping tale of passion, honor, and impossible choices-perfect for fans of The Last Kingdom and The Pillars of the Earth.
***************************************
Embark on a voyage through unconditional love, power, and betrayal!
How could an emperor like Napoleon Bonaparte be so captivated by the twenty-year-old Polish Countess Marie Walewska—admittedly a rare beauty but of minor nobility—that their affair would last through both his marriages? And if it wasn’t romance that first drew Marie to Napoleon, what was it?
At just eight years old, Marie finds her life forever changed by the death of her father, killed in battle against the Russians. This tragedy sparks a deep, lifelong patriotism in her as Poland is fragmented and divided among Russia, Prussia, and Austria.A fan of Napoleon since her school days, Marie eagerly seizes the opportunity to meet him when he passes through the former Poland, his intention to secure military support for his campaign to conquer Russia. She seeks only to express Poland’s gratitude and hope he would restore the nation’s independence. She never imagined a romantic entanglement. But Napoleon, taken with her patriotism, youth, and beauty, soon sets his sights on her—and begins a campaign to win her heart.Though Marie resists, powerful forces pressure her—just as they had in her marriage—to give in to the emperor’s desires.Expect to be immersed in Marie’s world, where love and loyalty collide amidst a galaxy of powerful aristocrats, politicians, and military leaders. You’ll journey from Marie’s manor house on the plains of Poland to cosmopolitan Warsaw, through grand palaces in Austria, France, and Italy—before sailing to the Island of Elba, where destiny awaits.
BARRIE FINALIST - YOUNG ADULT & CHILDREN
Ping Lisa Lucas & Steve Landsberg
A game that spread communism. A secret that spans generations.
A Barnes & Noble Top eBook & NOOK Indie Favorite
In the early 1950s, ping pong wasn't just a pastime - it was propaganda.
A quiet weapon in the battle for influence, power, and ideology.
Alternating between the pivotal 1971 Ping-Pong Diplomacy - where a simple game of
table tennis thawed the icy relations between the U.S. and China during the Cold War -
and the present-day struggles of a family weighed down by legacy, Ping is a compelling
tale of history, politics, and personal conflict.
Jenny, a modern-day teen, wrestles with her grand-mother Miriam's larger-than-life
legacy, rooted in Cold War tensions and the surprising intersection of ping pong,
antisemitism, and global diplomacy.
As Jenny uncovers Miriam's secret role in shaping history, she confronts her own place
in a family bound by generational expectations and unspoken truths. Blending family
drama with meticulously researched historical events, this gripping story explores the enduring
impact of the past on the present.
With the engaging use of ping pong as both a symbol and a plot device, Ping effectively
combines history, sports, and personal conflict, appealing to readers of both literary
fiction and historical drama.
Originally conceived in 2016, PING precedes the current cultural resurgence of table
tennis -exemplified by the upcoming 2025 Christmas movie release of Marty
Supreme, starring Timothée Chalamet and Gwyneth Paltrow.
FORSTER FINALIST - MIDDLE EAST, ASIA, INDIA, etc.
Hollow Whispers of the Wind Florence Chien
In war-torn Shanghai in 1937, 21-year-old a-Ling is desperate to escape her loveless family and pursue her lifelong dream: a literature fellowship in London. She just needs money to pay for it. But no one will hire her over the cheap refugee labor flooding into Shanghai’s British-controlled International Settlement as Japanese soldiers terrorize the city outside. With nowhere else to turn, a-Ling begs her estranged cousin for a job at his small magazine. He agrees on one condition: she must help him circumvent the censorship laws that recently suspended all Chinese periodicals, including his.
The censorship laws contain a loophole: they only apply to periodicals registered by Chinese nationals. If she can convince a foreigner to front their registration, her cousin’s magazine can resume publication, and she can earn enough money to go to London. a-Ling’s last hope for the fellowship rests on an elusive British financier, Edgar, with inexplicable ties to the Settlement’s murky underground politics.
With Edgar’s support, the magazine grows more popular, and a-Ling’s relationship with Edgar grows romantic. But when the brutal war enters the Settlement and pro-Japanese terrorists murder a-Ling’s cousin, she knows the magazine was more than just a standard periodical, and Edgar more than just a financier. Caught in the crossfire between foreign superpowers and pro-Japanese terrorists, a-Ling must decide whether to betray her cousin’s life dream and her country and escape to London—or stay home and fight for freedom.
WOOLF FINALIST - HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY
Prairie Cinderella Joan Koster
SHE IS GOING TO BE THE GREATEST SCULPTRESS Of THE GILDED AGE
Spirited Vinnie Ream might have been driven from her prairie home to the political hotbed of Washington City by the outbreak of the Civil War. But despite her plainspoken ways and western twang, she’s a survivor, and nothing will stop her from pursuing her art in a world dominated by men.
UNTIL DISASTER STRIKES
But on the cusp of success, all her dreams come tumbling down. With her family destitute and her sister threatened, she does the unthinkable. Can she claw her way back to the top or will she go down in history as a failure?
A biographical historical novel about the power of family ties, the pursuit of fame, and the pain of unrequited love, based on the life of 19th century American sculptor, Vinnie Ream.
MARQUEZ FINALIST - LATIN
(SPAIN, CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA)
La Susona Lynda Franco
On February 6, 1481, Diego Ben Susn became the first person executed by the authorities of the Spanish Inquisition. According to oral histories shared for over 500 years, his death came about as a result of his own daughters unwitting betrayal. La Susona adds flesh to the bones of this pervasive legend, still told in the city of Seville, Spain. The story shines light on the over-two-thousand-year-old footprints left on the Iberian Peninsula by the Spanish Jews in the lands that had become the center of the Jewish world in Medieval Europe; a land they called Sepharad. The desperation of citizens seeking religious freedom is depicted in this book side by side with the tragic story of a secret love affair. By relating the ordinary-turned-extraordinary events in the life of a young Jewish woman, the story describes the effects of the dark cloud that spread over the Jewish communities there when the Christians reconquered southern Spain. Through the telling of La Susonas life, using accurate historic events and locations enhanced by fictional embellishments, the reader learns not only the story of La Susona, but also becomes aware of the erosion of religious tolerance that the Sephardic Jews had enjoyed.