5 historical novels that deliver a perfect escape from the present

With this selection of historical novels, you can journey to various times and places: the royal courts of Henry VIII in England and Augustus the Strong in Central Europe, 17th-century Denmark, early-20th-century New York, the Roaring Twenties. Each work puts an imaginative spin on the past.

“Boleyn Traitor” by Philippa Gregory

Gregory, a doyenne of Tudor historical novels, returns with a story that sheds light on a lesser-known courtier of Henry VIII’s entourage: Jane Boleyn. A lady-in-waiting from an early age, Jane knows little more than the cutthroat life of the exuberant monarch’s court, where she now serves her sister-in-law Anne Boleyn, the king’s second wife. But as the king’s mood turns against his new queen, Jane must gather her wits to survive a purge that threatens the status — and the lives — of the Boleyn family. Like Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Hall,” Gregory’s novel revisits a Tudor courtier to whom history has not always been gracious, offering instead a story of a complex, fallible woman worthy of our compassion.

“The Wax Child” by Olga Ravn, translated by Martin Aitken

Ravn draws us into the life of Christenze Kruckow, a 17th-century Danish noblewoman accused of witchcraft. Told from the point of view of a waxen figure that Christenze has crafted, the story also draws on the perspectives of Christenze and her companions. From Copenhagen, King Christian IV sends out men to scour the country for signs of witchcraft. Ravn’s narrative gathers pace with unflinching and claustrophobic swiftness as the troops arrive and allegations against the women grow.

“Mrs. Wilson’s Affair” by Allyson Reedy

Touching on scenes and dialogue from “The Great Gatsby,” this debut novel plays with the idea that readers know Myrtle Wilson’s fate from the start. Told largely from Myrtle’s point of view, Reedy’s story places Fitzgerald’s side character front and center. The narrative speeds along the familiar road to the story’s heartrending and tragic end, and leaves us feeling undone by Myrtle’s fate.

“Alias O. Henry” by Ben Yagoda

As much a love song to New York as to the short stories of O. Henry (nom de plume of William Sydney Porter), the latest novel from Yagoda follows the renowned writer as he leaves a penitentiary and travels east to start anew. Yagoda creates a likable hero — despite his past as an embezzler and a con artist — who charms us and those he encounters on the city streets. But who can trust what comes from Porter’s mouth, as he spins one yarn after another in an attempt to recast his life? This clever portrait of one of the early 20th century’s most prolific short-story writers captures a rich period in Manhattan’s history.

“The Porcelain Menagerie” by Jillian Forsberg

Forsberg’s evocative novel tells the story of two menageries. The first is of live animals gathered by Fatima, mistress of Augustus the Strong, to escape the realities of life with the elector of Saxony. The other, which appears 20 years later, is of porcelain, or white gold, crafted by talented young apprentice Johann Kändler to appease the whims of Augustus. Both Johann and Fatima want to free themselves from the confines of the tumultuous and often violent court in which they find themselves. In a nod to her debut novel, “The Rhino Keeper,” Forsberg includes Kändler’s creation of a porcelain model of Clara the rhinoceros, a famous attraction that toured Europe in the mid-1700s.