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Book reviews & excerpts from exceptional books set mainly in the 1920s and 1930s.

1920s & '30s

Recommended books found: 169

1920s & '30s is a members-only category, so your results have been limited to 12 books. If you are a member, please log in. If not, please consider joining today!.

We Could Be Anyone

by Anna-Marie McLemore

Hardcover: May 2026

Critics' Consensus:

Two teen con-artists must execute an almost impossible scam at an exclusive mansion in this thriller that's White Lotus meets Mexican Gothic - for teens.

A Gentleman and a Thief

The Daring Jewel Heists of a Jazz Age Rogue

by Dean Jobb

Hardcover: Jun 2024 | Paperback: May 2026

Critics' Consensus:

In this captivating Jazz Age true crime about "the greatest jewel thief who ever lived" (Life Magazine), Arthur Barry, who charmed celebrities and millionaires while simultaneously planning and executing the most audacious and lucrative heists of the...

The Antidote

A Novel

by Karen Russell

Hardcover: Mar 2025 | Paperback: Mar 2026

Critics' Consensus:

From Pulitzer finalist, MacArthur Fellowship recipient, and bestselling author of Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove Karen Russell: a gripping dust bowl epic about five characters whose fates become entangled after a storm ravages their ...

Nonesuch

A Novel

by Francis Spufford

Hardcover: Mar 2026

Critics' Consensus:

A spellbinding tale about an ambitious young woman who must thwart an occult plot by time-traveling fascists during the chaos of the London Blitz—from "one of our most powerful writers of wayward historical fiction" (The Washington Post).

Ruby Falls

A Novel

by Gin Phillips

Hardcover: Mar 2026

Critics' Consensus:

A tense, claustrophobic historical mystery set almost entirely underground at the onset of the Great Depression about the discovery of a 150-foot waterfall in the middle of a mountain, the unthinkable crime that happens in its caves, and a woman who'...

The Railway Conspiracy

A Dee and Lao Mystery

by John Shen Yen Nee, S.J. Rozan

Hardcover: Apr 2025 | Paperback: Mar 2026

Critics' Consensus:

Judge Dee and Lao She must use all their powers of deduction—and kung fu skills—to take down a sinister conspiracy between Imperial Russia, Japan, and China in a rollicking new mystery set in 1920s London.

The follow-up to The Murder...

Autobiography of Cotton

A Novel

by Cristina Rivera Garza

Paperback: Feb 2026

Critics' Consensus:

In 1934, a young José Revueltas traveled to Tamaulipas to support the cotton workers' strike in Estación Camarón, which became the basis of his landmark novel Human Mourning.

Cape Fever

A Novel

by Nadia Davids

Hardcover: Dec 2025

Critics' Consensus:

From award-winning South African author Nadia Davids comes a gothic psychological thriller set in the 1920s, where a young maid finds herself entangled with the spirits of a decaying manor and the secrets of its enigmatic owner.

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern

A Novel

by Lynda Cohen Loigman

Hardcover: Oct 2024 | Paperback: Aug 2025

Critics' Consensus:

It's never too late for new beginnings.

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

A Novel

by James McBride

Hardcover: Aug 2023 | Paperback: Jul 2025

Critics' Consensus:

From James McBride, author of the bestselling Oprah's Book Club pick Deacon King Kong and the National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird, a novel about small-town secrets and the people who keep them.

Don't Sleep with the Dead

by Nghi Vo

Hardcover: Apr 2025

Critics' Consensus:

From award-winning author Nghi Vo comes Don't Sleep with the Dead, a standalone companion novella to The Chosen and the Beautiful, her acclaimed reimagining of The Great Gatsby.

Becoming Madam Secretary

by Stephanie Dray

Hardcover: Mar 2024 | Paperback: Mar 2025

Critics' Consensus:

New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray returns with a captivating and dramatic new novel about an American heroine Frances Perkins.

1920s & '30s is a members-only category, so your results have been limited to 12 books. If you are a member, please log in. If not, please consider joining today!

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