10 Best Books Based on True Stories

In “The Decay of Lying,” Oscar Wilde wrote, “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” While there are surely cases that could support that observation, we shouldn’t discount how often real life can be even crazier or stranger than fiction, which is probably why there are so many great books and films inspired by true stories.

Even if aliens don’t land in backyards or princes don’t slay dragons in these types of stories, there’s something to be said for fiction that transcends reality while also giving us a deeper understanding of the world we live in.

10 Books Based on True Stories

Below are 10 riveting stories that only real life could inspire.

1. Beautiful Exiles by Meg Waite Clayton

In 1936, successful journalist Martha Gellhorn met literary titan Ernest Hemingway at a bar in Key West. The two forged a flirtatious friendship, which turned into more as the pair covered the Spanish Civil War in Madrid, despite Hemingway’s marriage to journalist Pauline Pfeiffer.

It’s this legendary and tumultuous romance that inspired Ward to write this riveting novel, which follows the two around the globe, but also shines a light on a trailblazing woman who would go on to become an award-winning war correspondent with a career spanning six decades.

2. Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

Esch, our 15-year-old narrator, is pregnant and living with her brothers and father in Mississippi. When Hurricane Katrina strikes, the family must barricade inside, and the impending storm matches and magnifies the tensions between them.

The author, Jesmyn Ward, visited her family in a small town in Mississippi in late August 2005, just as Katrina was descending.

3. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

The young child of a famous pilot was kidnapped for ransom. The ransom was paid, but the child was still found dead soon after.

These are the events that unfold in Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, but they’re also the facts of a real-life crime and tragedy that took place in 1932, when Charles Lindbergh’s 20-month-old son was kidnapped and murdered. The grim story inspired the events in this murder mystery by the queen of suspense.

4. See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt

This novel imagines the 1892 Borden axe murders from four different perspectives, including that of the real-life primary suspect, Lizzie Borden; her older sister, Emma; their housemaid, Bridget; and a stranger named Benjamin.

Although Lizzie was acquitted in real life, the story of these gruesome murders has remained a much-speculated piece of American lore.

5. The Girls by Emma Cline

If you’ve ever even heard the name Manson, it shouldn’t take much for you to figure out what this one’s based on: it’s summer in the late 1960s, and 14-year-old Evie becomes infatuated with Suzanne, an enigmatic personality she encounters in a Los Angeles park.

Soon, she follows Suzanne into a cult, whose sprawling but run-down ranch is hidden in the hills. Edie must decide if she’s willing to go through with what the cult and their charismatic leader ask of her.

6. The Revenant by Michael Punke

In 1823, fur trapper Hugh Glass was mauled by a bear and left for dead by his companions. Despite not having any supplies, Glass survived and tracked down the men who abandoned him.

Although in real life Glass ultimately forgave his abandoners, this novel focuses on Glass’s determination and survival fueled by his one desire for revenge.

7. Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge

Our fiction narrator, Morgan, is the American nephew of the shipping line’s owner. Over four days, he chronicles the events that lead up to and follow the Titanic’s disastrous brush with an iceberg, and reveals how his destiny intertwines with that of other passengers, whose real names we have come to know well.

8. A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

In December of 1976, just before the Jamaican general election and two days before Bob Marley’s scheduled performance at the Smile Jamaica Concert to ease political tensions, seven gunmen stormed the singer’s house in an attack that wounded Marley, his wife, manager, and several others.

This Booker prize–winning novel explores this tumultuous period in Jamaica’s history and the rumors about the unnamed would-be-assassins’ fates.

9. White Houses by Amy Bloom

When reporter Lorena “Hick” Hickok was sent to the White House to cover First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, she wasn’t expecting to fall in love—but that’s exactly what happened, as the two developed a deep friendship and became inseparable.

More details of their relationship have emerged in posthumously-published love letters, and Bloom’s novel fictionalizes their romance from Hick’s point of view, as well as details from FDR’s presidency and his own extra-marital affairs.

10. The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani

In 2012, Yoselyn Ortega allegedly murdered two children under her care in New York City. It’s that gruesome real-life tale that inspired Ortega to write this award-winning best seller, in which the setting is moved to Paris, and focus is directed to the relationship between the grieving mother and the “perfect nanny” she trusted with her young children.

What Are Books Called that Are Based on True Stories?

Books that are based on true stories don’t really have a special name—most are like any other novel, but the difference is that the plot was inspired by a real-life event or story, to varying degrees.

Sometimes, the protagonists are actual historical figures, whose lives are reimagined on the page, and many details are fabricated or speculated. In other cases, the names are changed, or some events are loosely based on a true story.

It’s important to remember the differences between fiction vs. nonfiction when reading books like these, and to understand that only writing made of 100% facts can be considered nonfiction.

Do you have a favorite book or film based on a true story? Share it with us in the comments below!

 

 

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