The Recurring Cast
Reading order · 5 books · 2014 to 2025 · Set in Texas and Montana

Holland family Books in Order

The Holland family novels follow different generations of the Holland family across the twentieth century, from the Mexican Revolution to the oil fields of Texas and the 1950s.

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Series facts

Books
5
Published
2014 to 2025
First book
Wayfaring Stranger
Latest
Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie (2025)
Setting
Set in Texas and Montana

The reading order

Every Holland family book in publication order. Choose a title for its cast and summary.

5 books · Set in Texas and Montana
  1. 1Wayfaring Stranger2014With Weldon HollandIn 1934, young Weldon Holland meets Bonnie and Clyde in Texas.Buy on Amazon
  2. 2The Jealous Kind2016With Aaron Holland BroussardIn Houston in 1952, seventeen-year-old Aaron Holland Broussard stands up to a rich bully over a girl he loves, and finds himself in a battle with the city’s criminals and their friends.Buy on Amazon
  3. 3Another Kind of Eden2021With Aaron Holland BroussardIn 1962, Aaron Holland Broussard is an aspiring novelist working on a farm in Colorado, where he falls for an art student and crosses the path of a cult.Buy on Amazon
  4. 4Every Cloak Rolled in Blood2022With Aaron Holland BroussardNovelist Aaron Holland Broussard, grieving the sudden death of his daughter, tries to keep two young men from a life of crime, and is drawn into a sinister circle.Buy on Amazon
  5. 5Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie2025With Bessie HollandFourteen-year-old Bessie Holland defends her Texas family against an oil company and a violent man, and then flees to New York, where she is drawn into a world of gangsters.Buy on Amazon

Do you need to read them in order?

Each book can be read alone, but they share family history and some characters, so publication order works well.

Who appears in which book

The series’ main characters, book by book. Lead means the book is told around them; minor covers cameos.

Characters in the Holland family books

3 characters from James Lee Burke’s chart, with the number of Holland family books each appears in.

CharacterBooksFirst in this series
Aaron Holland BroussardTexan who comes of age in the 1950s and later becomes a writer3The Jealous Kind 2016
Weldon HollandHackberry’s grandson, a Second World War veteran1Wayfaring Stranger 2014
Bessie HollandHolland family matriarch1Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie 2025