Reserve These Fiction Books About the 1960s Now

Explore the best books about the 1960s with 27 fresh stories of family, hope, and change that capture the heart and spirit of this unforgettable decade.

These past few weeks, I have been on a 1960s books kick, perhaps because it was a season of hopeful, hard-earned change for so many. It was a decade where dinner tables doubled as battlegrounds, college campuses hummed with possibility, and the rules—especially for women—started to crack in very public ways.

The 27 books on today’s list drop us right into that tension where friendships are tested by change, families pulled apart by belief, and quiet moments that feel anything but small. If you’re in the mood for stories where the personal and the political are tangled up together, this era delivers every single time.

I’d love to get you started with some of my favorites, a few upcoming releases, and backlist gems that I can’t wait to read with you this year.

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Books About the 1960s

Explore this curated list of 27 different books set in the 1960s that explore civil rights, family secrets, women’s shifting roles, and the cultural upheaval that reshaped a generation.

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Where the Girls Were by Kate Schatz

Schatz dedicates her adult debut novel to her mother, and that love radiates from every page of this deeply compassionate coming-of-age story.

Where the Girls Were follows a teenage prodigy nicknamed Baker, just two months shy of graduating as her high school valedictorian and heading to Stanford.

At a party with her cousin, she impulsively sleeps with an unremarkable boy. Weeks later, Baker finds herself at her first OB-GYN appointment, where a doctor confirms she is thirteen weeks pregnant and coldly admonishes her to keep her long legs shut in the future. In an instant, her parents’ dreams of her carefree summer vanish. Baker is to be sent away to a maternity home—what happens there, no one explains.

At the maternity home, Baker adjusts to suffocating rules and rigid routines. Girls arrive and leave without explanation, but nothing unsettles her more than a handwritten message hidden inside a closet wall: “KITTY WAS HERE.” Beneath it, in smaller letters: “but she didn’t want to be.”

That message becomes a kind of portal, pulling Baker—and the reader—into the novel’s adventurous and revelatory second half of this gorgeous story. You can meet Kate Schatz this week on the Book Gang podcast and hear more about her writing process for this beautiful story.

Related- Kate Schatz Interview (Book Gang Podcast)

Related- Coming-of-Age Books

UPCOMING BOOKS ABOUT THE 1960S

An Infinite Love Story by Chanel Cleeton

When Joe Mitchell launches into space, the world is watching. It’s 1968, and the country waits with anticipation and excitement for another successful mission, another celebration as America sets its sights on the Moon.

And then comes the knock at the door.

Joe Mitchell’s spacecraft loses contact, and he and his fellow astronauts are feared dead. For his wife Vivian, it’s a nightmare come true. As the nation waits and mourns, she quietly relives their unforgettable love, refusing to believe it’s really over.

As the investigation blames operator error for Joe’s lost spacecraft, Vivian is determined to clear his name and solve the mystery.

When she starts receiving messages she believes only Joe could send, she wonders if their love can truly cross space and time—and she’ll do anything to bring him home.

Release Date- 7 July 2026

NEW BOOKS ABOUT THE 1960S

A Far-flung Life by M.L. Stedman

What happens when we make mistakes that can’t be fixed? How do we keep going without clear answers? These questions lie at the heart of M. L. Stedman’s powerful new novel, A Far-flung Life.

The story begins in the late 1950s with a tragic truck accident, then follows the family through the 1960s as they deal with trauma and hidden secrets.

The MacBrides have lived for generations on a huge sheep station in remote Western Australia. One ordinary day on a quiet road beneath a vast blue sky, Phil swerves to avoid a kangaroo. In an instant, the MacBride family’s lives are shattered.

Then, tragedy deepens as unexpected consequences unfold in this gripping family saga. Be sure to be aware that this novel includes several trigger warnings worth investigating to see if it is a good fit for your reading life.

The Secret Lives of Murderers' Wives by Elizabeth Arnott (A GMA Book Club Pick)

In the summer of 1966, three women, shattered by the revelation that their husbands were serial killers, find themselves cast out in shame. Refusing to fade quietly, they forge an unexpected bond and turn their pain into resolve—banding together to hunt a killer themselves.

Arnott, an acclaimed journalist with a deep background in true crime, writes with insight and purpose, shifting the focus onto the women’s strength and agency. I am so excited to dig into this story.

Kissing the Sky by Lisa Patton (Kindle Unlimited)

It’s the summer of ’69. While her friends enjoy free love and rock and roll, Suzannah is home from college, tucked away in her conservative Southern household. But everything changes when her free-spirited best friend, Livy, resurfaces, urging Suzannah, a talented singer, to join her for three days of peace and music in upstate New York.

Fed up with her father’s rules and fearful for her brother’s fate in Vietnam, Suzannah agrees to the road trip and unlocks a journey of self-transformation.

Meet the Newmans by Jennifer Newman

Set in 1964 California, Meet the Newmans follows America’s beloved TV family as cultural upheaval shakes their polished world, forcing everyone—from stars to scriptwriters—to confront changing roles for women and men.

When patriarch Del is sidelined by a mysterious accident, Dinah invites an ambitious reporter to shape the show’s farewell. Ambition and tradition collide, and the shifting landscape of women’s work brings both new opportunities and fierce pushback.

Related- Family Drama Books

These Heathens by Mia Mckenzie

Where do you get an abortion in 1960 Georgia, especially if your small town’s midwife goes to the same church as your parents?

For seventeen-year-old Doris Steele, the answer is Atlanta, where her favorite teacher, Mrs. Lucas, calls upon her brash, wealthy childhood best friend, Sylvia, for help.

While waiting to hear from the doctor who has agreed to do the procedure, Doris spends the weekend scandalized by, but drawn to, the people who move in and out of Sylvia’s orbit: celebrities whom Doris has seen in the pages of Jet and Ebony, civil rights leaders such as Coretta Scott King and Diane Nash, women who dance close together, boys who flirt too hard and talk too much, atheists! 

And even more shocking? Mrs. Lucas seems right at home.

These Heathens is a funny and touching story about Black women’s duties and dreams, what we owe ourselves, and how stepping outside your comfort zone—even for one wild weekend—can change everything.

The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

Set in 1961 in the Netherlands, this acclaimed debut and 2025 Women’s Prize winner follows Isabel (Isa), a careful recluse who cares for her family’s ancestral home. When her brother’s girlfriend Eva comes to stay for the summer, Isa’s strict routines and hidden grief are shaken as a surprising romance grows.

It’s a tender story of love, change, and self-discovery in the shadows of the past. Prepare for a beautiful story twist! I ate this story up.

People of Means by Nancy Johnson

Johnson offers a beautifully researched story that pulls readers into 1960s Nashville and 1990s Chicago, following a mother and daughter as they confront the social justice movements that shaped modern America.

In the earlier timeline, Freda grows up sheltered within her affluent Black family until her arrival at Fisk University exposes her to the harsh realities of segregation and the rising tide of activism that challenges everything she's been taught.

Her daughter Tulip's 1990s storyline echoes those same questions of privilege and responsibility as she witnesses the Rodney King trial and steps into the work of justice through her PR expertise, even when it costs her personally.

Johnson masterfully harmonizes the music of mothers and daughters, weaving an intimate yet sweeping story that offers readers a soul-stirring portrait of the powerful ties that bind across time.

Related- Dual-Timeline Books

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (Reese's Book Club)

This sweeping historical novel toggles between past and present as Beth — a woman living a quiet life on a sheep farm in 1950s–60s Dorset, England — finds her world upended when Gabriel, her long‑lost first love, returns.

Old passions and secrets rise to the surface, drawing her into a harrowing web of romance, jealousy, and moral reckoning that culminates in dramatic consequences.

With twists of thriller pacing and deep emotional stakes, the story explores how early love and loss can reverberate across decades, pushing Beth to face both danger and her own heart’s desires.

Come Fly with Me by Camille Di Maio (FREE ON PRIME)

I loved Di Maio's novel, which features full-cast narration, bringing to life two women in the 1960s who escape their circumstances through a rigorous training program to become Pan Am stewardesses.

From wearing an identical shade of vibrant lipstick in Revlon's Persian Melon no matter their skin tone to their matching uniforms that cost $300 and that must be purchased with their own money to begin their careers, you will delight in all the illuminating details that Camille gathered through interviewing real stewardesses, taking care to showcase women as industrious trendsetters who also happened to be incredibly attractive to boot.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

This haunting slow-burn mystery unfolds between the early 1960s and the mid‑1970s, centering on the disappearance of young Bear Van Laar in 1961.

Years later, the trail gone cold, his sister Barbara returns to the woods where he vanished, confronting buried memories, grief, and the possibility of redemption. Moore’s evocative storytelling weaves atmospheric suspense with emotional depth across decades.

I read the novel with the paper copy and audiobook in my ears, and that would be the ONLY way to go, as each POV shift offers timelines beneath each character's name that would be a nightmare to track. The novel also offers a detailed map of the grounds, where mystery readers can follow locations as they move through the property.

BACKLIST BOOKS ABOUT THE 1960S

Red Clay Suzie by Jeffrey Dale Lofton

Pete Cross delivers an impeccable audiobook performance in this autofiction novel, which explores Lofton's experiences growing up as a gay boy in the Deep South in the 1960s and 1970s.

Philbet is a tender-hearted boy who doesn’t notice his physical differences until a cruel family comment breaks his innocence. From then on, his misshapen chest becomes a quiet source of shame, shaping how he moves through life.

As he comes of age, he begins to understand his attraction to boys—especially one older boy who stirs feelings he can't ignore—adding another layer of secrecy in a town where difference is dangerous.

Despite the weight of judgment and isolation, Red Clay Suzie is ultimately a story of resilience, full of humor, heart, and the stubborn hope of a boy learning to love himself just as he is.

Related- Disability Pride Books

Related- LGBTQ History Month Books

Go as a River by Shelley Read

If you don't mind traveling through a few decades, Read's moving story takes place roughly between 1948 and the early 1970s, covering the destruction of the town of Iola in the 1960s to make way for the Blue Mesa Dam.

Victoria meets Wilson Moon, a Native American drifter, and their bond faces the harsh realities of racism in their close-knit community. These consequences later force her to make a devastating decision that alters her life and those of another family, unexpectedly intertwined.

Spanning decades, this spellbinding novel beautifully captures the backdrop of a captivating mountainous landscape that becomes her sanctuary and a force that shapes her destiny. As the government's plans to flood the area shift, Victoria becomes resolute in preserving her family's beloved peach orchard no matter what. I loved this story so much!

Scandalous Women by Gill Paul

I have been so immersed in this spirited novel that brings together the real-life literary icons Jacqueline Susann and Jackie Collins through the eyes of a young editorial assistant chasing her own dreams.

Wit, ambition, and audacious sex-textual storytelling collide in 1960s and ’70s New York and London, where no rule book for women writers existed, much less one they couldn’t break. The result is a glamorous, brassy tribute to female defiance and success that's delightfully juicy on audiobook.

Don't be surprised if you see this in our summer reading guide this year!

Related- Books About Books

The Great Reclamation by Rachel Heng

The Great Reclamation sweeps readers into a transforming Singapore, where gentle-hearted Ah Boon grows up in a vibrant fishing village and discovers his gift for finding hidden, shifting islands.

As he and spirited Siok Mei grow up together, their childhood bond and his unique abilities shape both their futures and the fate of their community. When war and change come, their friendship is tested by loss, loyalty, and the sacrifices required in a nation on the brink of rebirth.

Lush and evocative, this coming-of-age story is on my contender list for next year’s book club.

The Sunshine Girls by Molly Fader

Fader's juicy historical fiction novel follows three friends in nursing school during the Vietnam War. The story's most surprising element is how a nursing career collides with a job on a Hollywood set.

This story's flashback sequences are told partly through journal entries and partly through a surprise funeral guest who remembers one of these women all too well. It turns out our mothers can have a whole life without us!

Fader's writing shines as she vividly depicts the challenges these nurses faced and how women were treated in the early days of these nursing programs, an eye-opening account drawn from Molly's mother's experiences.

Related- Books About Nurses

And They Called It Camelot by Stephanie Marie Thornton

And They Called It Camelot traces the remarkable journey of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, beginning with her ambitious start as a “photo girl” at the Washington Times‑Herald and following her through the dizzying heights and devastating depths of a life lived in the national spotlight.

The story smartly follows the story into her second marriage, after this loss, with Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, a union that suffered immensely under the fierce weight of public scrutiny, making this story altogether more fascinating.

The details from this part of her life were entirely unfamiliar to me and quite revelatory in how this seemed to be a union of security rather than a fairy-tale romance. I am so glad I read this one for Women's History Month. I learned so much.

The Nix by Nathan Hill

Hill's novel is not set solely in the 1960s, but centers a good portion of its story around the 1968 Chicago protests.

Samuel, a disillusioned professor, has his world upended when he learns his estranged mother has been arrested for assaulting a politician. It’s a shocking headline—especially since Samuel hasn’t spoken to her in over twenty years.

With his own career on the rocks and desperate for a new book idea, Samuel agrees to write a memoir about his mother’s life, forcing him into an unexpected journey through her past and their fractured relationship. Hill masterfully weaves together timelines, jumping from the free-spirited 1960s to a 2011 present day with great cinematic flair.

Deacon King Kong by James McBride (Oprah's Book Club)

McBride's novel, set in 1969 Brooklyn, has been on my reading bucket list for ages. THIS IS THE YEAR.

The story brilliantly ignites with an improbable act when an elderly church deacon shoots a local drug dealer in broad daylight.

The ripple effect of that moment brings a vivid cast together — from churchgoers to cops to gang members — in an unforgettable portrait of community, chaos, and redemption. Readers love the author's signature blend of humor and heart, which makes this a moving snapshot of life on the margins and the ties that bind us.

The Girls We Sent Away by Meagan Church

This page-turner, set in the 1960s, examines the era with fresh eyes as Lorraine, a gifted teenage girl, navigates an unexpected pregnancy during her senior year of high school.

When Lorraine discovers the pregnancy, she receives little information about what is happening in her body or the process. Instead, sent to a maternity home for teen girls, and the parents pray that no one will ever know of her shameful secret. Lorraine's shame is palatable, but for the boy involved, this is barely a blip in his promising future.

As societal expectations and familial pressures ground Lorraine, Church examines the underbelly of perfect picket fences and suburban dreams. We then realize everyone has a shameful secret that could have grounded them at some point.

Related- Meagan Church Interview

Related- Best Fiction Books of 2023

All the Children Are Home by Patry Francis

All the Children Are Home is a deeply moving family saga set against the shifting landscape of the late 1950s and 1960s, brought to life in a beautifully immersive full-cast audiobook, which was a big surprise when I listened to this one last month.

Through the eyes of the Moscatelli foster family and the children they take in — especially six-year-old Agnes, torn from everything she’s ever known — Patry Francis crafts a tale that is at once heartbreaking and hopeful, in equal measures.

Patry Francis, who passed away in July 2022 after battling pancreatic cancer, poured her deep empathy and understanding of family into this and her other works. It was a joy to interview the author in our Sundays With Writers series.

The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon

On a stormy night, an unlikely couple knocks on a stranger’s door. Lynnie, a woman with an intellectual disability, and Homan, a Deaf man, have run away from a brutal institution where they have been placed because of their disabilities.

A friendly schoolteacher finds that she has opened the door to a journey she never could have anticipated. As the police begin to bang on the door looking for them, Lynnie hands her a brand new baby and utters just two words to the teacher, “Hide her.”

Simon’s story is tender and quietly powerful, centering love in a decade not always known for compassion toward difference. The story beautifully chronicles forty years in the lives of these characters as their paths take unlikely turns through this slow, winding story.

The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian

This historical thriller has been described as "Jurassic Park meets Evelyn Hugo," and now I can’t wait to check this out.

When Katie Barstow, an A-list actress, and her new husband, David Hill, decide to bring their Hollywood friends to the Serengeti for their honeymoon, they do not expect a kidnapping gone wrong, their guides bleeding out in the dirt, and a team of Russian mercenaries herding their hostages into Land Rovers, guns to their heads.

Bohjalian delivers a blistering story of fame, race, love, and death in 1964.

The Singer Sisters by Sarah Seltzer

Spanning two generations and musical eras, this soapy Jewish family drama traces Judie Zingerman’s ascent as one half of a folk-rock duo in the 1960s, then shifts to her daughter Emma, who chases alt-rock stardom in the 1990s.

Emma’s journey is transformed when she discovers her mother’s old notebooks and unreleased songs, unraveling the sacrifices Judie made at the height of her fame.

Seltzer delivers a lyrical, emotionally layered exploration of songwriting, legacy, and the ways music passed from parent to child can both heal and haunt its inheritors. I couldn't put this one down!

Related- Books About Music

11/22/63 by Stephen King

This time-travel epic drops a modern-day teacher into 1960 with one mission: stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

As he settles into small-town life, falling in love and absorbing the era's rhythms, history begins to push back. King recreates early-60s America in vivid detail — diners, dance halls, and the looming shadow of Dallas.

It’s part love story, part political thriller, and wholly immersive. I promise you will be on a suspenseful journey filled with unexpected plot twists in this Stephen King adventure story. I could not put it down!

The Women by Kristin Hannah

Julia Whelan delivers an impeccable performance on Hannah's historical fiction novel, offering an earnest portrayal of the lives of nurses who served in the Vietnam War but were seemingly forgotten.

This novel celebrates nurses and their service during the Vietnam War, a detail few Americans think about, showcasing the sacrifices they made and the disbelief they faced upon returning home. It delivers on the book's goals while encompassing a signature soapier spin perfect for fans of her earlier work on Firefly Lane.

I appreciated the accurate portrayal of PTSD on returning and the haunting nature of caring for patients in this environment.

Related- Julia Whelan Interview (Book Gang Podcast)

TELL ME: What are YOUR favorite books about the 1960s?

Published March 05, 2026 by:

Amy Allen Clark is the founder of MomAdvice.com. You can read all about her here.