Kristin Hannah Reveals the Authors She Loves to Read: ‘A Gifted, Natural Storyteller’
The bestselling author has plenty of reading recommendations for your next book binge
Key Takeaways
- Kristin Hannah has shared several of the authors she loves to read.
- Her recommendations span historical fiction, suspense and contemporary stories.
- Hannah has praised authors including Adriana Trigiani and Mark Sullivan.
Ever wonder who your favorite author’s favorite author is? So have we—which is why we’ve started digging into which writers the biggest names in fiction can’t stop recommending. One author who’s shared no shortage of picks over the years? Kristin Hannah. The bestselling author of books like The Nightingale and The Women has praised everyone from fellow historical fiction writers to suspense novelists, and we’ve rounded up her best recommendations below.
Kristin Hannah’s favorite historical fiction authors
While talking with BookBub in 2024, Hannah shared several books she loves. Here, just a few writers whose books we’re adding to our TBR—stat!
Adriana Trigiani
Trigiani is a bestselling author best known for her historical fiction books. In 2022 she published The Good Left Undone, which is set between 1920s through World War II and modern day, follows Matelda, the Cabrelli family’s matriarch who is determined to tell her family about her own mother’s love story, which changed everything for the family. Hannah praised the novel was praised by Hannah, calling Trigiani “a gifted, natural storyteller.”
“Good Left Undone is her at the top of her game,” Hannah continued. “This beautiful, sweeping historical epic about three generations of women paints an exquisite portrait of love, loss, the ravages of time, and the price a family pays for its secrets.”
Fun fact: Dolly Parton is also a fan of Trigiani, and even said she “loved” Trigiani’s novel Big Stone Gap.
Mark Sullivan
In 2024 Hannah recommended Sullivan’s novel The Last Green Valley, which follows married couple Emil and Adeline Martel after Stalin’s army invades Ukraine in 1944, forcing them to decide if they want to leave their home country or stay and fight.
“Mark Sullivan has done it again,” Hannah said. “The Last Green Valley is a compelling and inspiring story of heroism and courage in the dark days at the end of World War II.”
Kathryn Stockett
In an Instagram photo with Stockett’s newest book, The Calamity Club, Hannah wrote, “It isn’t every day you get your hands on a book you’ve been waiting over a DECADE for, by an author you love, AND the cover matches your outfit!!! Clearly, I’m meant to start reading this novel now. Who has read it?”
The Calamity Club is set in 1933 Oxford, Mississippi and follows 11-year-old Meg, deemed “unadoptable” at her orphanage; Birdie, an unmarried woman who arrives in Oxford hoping her sister will help the family financially; and Charlie, a woman desperately trying to outrun her past. It’s moving, heartfelt and perfect for those who loved Stockett’s novel The Help.
Other authors Kristin Hannah loves
Since she writes both contemporary and historical fiction, it makes total sense that Hannah loves authors from every genre—including suspense novels!
Emily St. John Mandel
While chatting with Amazon in 2021 Hannah revealed that she loves St. John Mandel, praising her 2020 novel The Glass Hotel: “I had read Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven, so I was first in line when The Glass Hotel came out, and sure enough, I was mesmerized again by the author’s voice and vision,” Hannah said. “It is a lovely, beautifully written and smartly constructed novel that I couldn’t put down, full of memorable, unusual characters… Mandel’s agility with time in this story was a marvel. I particularly loved the unusual Vancouver Island setting.”
S.A. Cosby
Another author whose books Hannah enjoys is S.A. Cosby. She even praised his 2023 thriller, All Sinners Bleed, which follows Titus Crown, the first Black sheriff in Charon County, Virginia, while he hunts down a serial killer in a town that celebrates Confederate history.
“You all know I love reading thrillers when I’m on vacation, which I am now (well, a stay at home, nothing much to do staycation). I love discovering a bold, raw new voice in the thriller landscape,” Hannah wrote on Instagram in 2023. “All Sinners Bleed has a dark, raw, Southern gothic/noir feeling combined with a hard edged look at the dark places in our past. Really enjoyed it. But check out the trigger warnings.”
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