Just like that most elegant swellegant Broadway bon vivant Cole Porter wrote back in 1930, I Happen to Like New York. And since I like New York and I love historical fiction, it seemed about time to share some favorite New York City Historical Fiction.

Since we’re all about history here, I’m posting chronologically, and most book descriptions come from the author’s or publisher’s website.

And away we go!

17th to 21st Century – New York: A Novel by Edward Rutherfurd – “New York is a sweeping, four-century tale set in the most exciting city on earth.”

1661 – City of Dreams by Beverly Swerling – “A sweeping epic of two families—one Dutch, one English—from the time when New Amsterdam was a raw and rowdy settlement, to the triumph of the Revolution, when New York became a new nation’s city of dreams.”

1700s – Brookland by Emily Barton – “The remarkable story of a determined and intelligent woman in eighteenth-century Brooklyn, who is consumed by a vision of a bridge, a gargantuan construction of timber and masonry she devises to cross the East River in a single, magnificent span.”

1703 – The Queen of Bedlam by Robert McCammon – “The unsolved murder of a respected doctor has sent ripples of fear throughout a city teeming with life and noise and commerce….hardworking Matthew Corbett is lured into a maze of forensic clues and heart-pounding investigation that will test his natural penchant for detection and inflame his hunger for justice. ”

1740 – Forever by Pete Hamill – “The magical, epic tale of an extraordinary man who arrives in New York in 1740 and remains . . . forever.”

1746 – Golden Hill: A Novel of Old New York by Francis Spufford – “A mysterious British traveller named Mr Smith…arrives in New York City in 1746 and upends the lives of the merchant and political classes.”

1776: ages 10-12 – Sophia’s War: A Tale of the Revolution by Avi – “In 1776, the War of Independence comes to New York City, and to twelve-year-old Sophia Calderwood’s family.”

1840s, 1850s, 1860s, and 1870s – Old New York by Edith Wharton – “The four novellas that make up Old New York each take place in a different decade of the nineteenth century.”

1845 – Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen – “…a pitch-perfect rendering of Edgar Allan Poe, his mistress’s tantalizing confession, and his wife’s frightening obsession.”

1845 – The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsey Faye – “…introduces Timothy Wilde: a close observer, a heedless romantic, and one of the first and best copper stars on New York City’s inaugural police force.”

1887 – Madwoman by Louisa Treger – “…young Nellie Bly sets out for New York and a career in journalism, determined to make her way as a serious reporter, whatever that may take.”

1890s to the late 1920s – Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos – “From Wall Street to the waterfront, from the Bowery to the Village, from the city’s grand avenues to its gritty alleys, its wealthy power brokers and its struggling immigrants, this kaleidoscopic novel conveys the restless energy of life in Manhattan.”

1896 – The Alienist by Caleb Carr – “The Alienist conjures up Gilded Age New York, with its tenements and mansions, corrupt cops and flamboyant gangsters, shining opera houses and seamy gin mills. ”

1899 – Fever by Mary Beth Keane – “Bringing early-twentieth century New York alive – the neighborhoods, the bars, the park carved out of upper Manhattan, the boat traffic, the mansions and sweatshops and merging skyscrapers, Fever is an ambitious retelling of a forgotten life.”

Turn-of-the-19th-Century – A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith – “The novel is split into five “books”, each covering a different period in the characters’ lives.”

Turn-of-the-19th-Century –  Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer by Steven Millhauser – “…the exploits of Martin Dressler, a young, optimistic entrepreneur, in late nineteenth-century New York City.”

Turn-of-the-19th-Century – The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray – “The remarkable story of J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, the Black American woman who was forced to hide her true identity and pass as white to leave a lasting legacy that enriched our nation.”

1902 – Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow – “The sweeping historical fiction occurs in the area of New York City between 1902 and 1912.”

1911 (Young Adult) – Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix – “Three girls become unlikely friends during troubled times in early 1900s New York City.”

1911 – Dreamland by Nancy Bilyeau – “The year is 1911 when twenty-year-old heiress Peggy Batternberg is invited to spend the summer in America’s Playground.”

1915 – Stories from Suffragette City, A Short Story Collection by M.J. Rose (Editor), Fiona Davis (Editor), Kristin Hannah (Introduction), et al – “historical fiction that all take place on a single day: the day one million women marched for the right to vote in New York City in 1915.”

1921 – The Manhattan Girls by Gill Paul – “The war is over, fashions are daring, and bootleg liquor is served wherever you go. It is here that four extraordinary women form a bridge group that grew into a firm friendship.”

1924 – The Wicked City by Beatriz Williams – “Geneva ‘Gin’ Kelly, a quick-witted flapper from the hills of western Maryland, is a regular at this Village hideaway known as the Christopher Club.”

1928 – Cora’s Kitchen by Kimberly Garrett Brown – “Cora James, a 35-year-old Black librarian in Harlem, dreams of being a writer…Cora strikes up correspondence with renowned poet Langston Hughes, who encourages her to pursue her dream.”

1937 – Rules of Civility by Amor Towles – “Armed with little more than a formidable intellect, a bracing wit, and her own brand of cool nerve, Katey embarks on a journey from a Wall Street secretarial pool through the upper echelons of New York society in search of a brighter future.”

1939 – The World of Tomorrow by Brendan Mathews – “Francis Dempsey and his shell-shocked brother, Michael, are on an ocean liner from Ireland headed for their brother Martin’s home in New York City, having stolen a small fortune from the IRA.”

1942 – The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding by Lydia Kang – “In the throes of World War II, New Yorkers are doing what they can to help in the war effort, from buying bonds to plane spotting on rooftops, and even building their own personal bomb shelters.”

1942 – A New York Secret by Ella Carey – “The glitter, glamor and danger of 1940s New York collide in this dazzling story about a young woman striving to survive in a world where everything is set against her.”

1950s – Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín – “Arriving in a crowded lodging house in Brooklyn, Eilis can only be reminded of what she has sacrificed. She is far from home – and homesick. ”

1950s – The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis – “When she arrives at the famed Barbizon Hotel in 1952, secretarial school enrollment in hand, Darby McLaughlin is everything her modeling agency hall mates aren’t: plain, self-conscious, homesick, and utterly convinced she doesn’t belong—a notion the models do nothing to disabuse. ”

1960s – Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead – “To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably priced furniture, making a decent life for himself and his family.”

1963 – Confessions in B Flat by Donna Hill – “In Harlem, the epicenter of Black culture, the fight for equality has never been stronger.”

1965 – Dominicana by Angie Cruz – “So on New Year’s Day, 1965, Ana leaves behind everything she knows and becomes Ana Ruiz, a wife confined to a cold six-floor walk-up in Washington Heights.”

1969 – Deacon King Kong by James McBride – “In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Cause Houses housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .38 from his pocket, and in front of everybody shoots the project’s drug dealer at point-blank range.”

1970/1882 – Time and Again by Jack Finney – “When advertising artist Si Morley is recruited to join a covert government operation exploring the possibility of time travel, he jumps at the chance to leave his mundane 20th-century existence and step into the past.”

I hope you’ve found some new NYC historical fiction for your summer reading. And if you’d like to suggest other books, please it it to the comments below.

Finis!