Many of us read widely and in doing so discover authors whose work is new for us.  I found two that I especially like:

Simone St. James whose book, Lost Among the Living, I have just received.  It's situated in England, 1921.

The second is not a historical fiction writer.  Jo Nexbo's mysteries are well done and so interesting that I've accumulated three of his novels to date.

Jacqueline Winspear's "Maisie Dobbs" novels have been a wonderful and addicting discovery for me this year!

I think maybe the best new author for me would be Arthur W Upfield. He was a British guy who immigrated to Australia and settled there. Wrote mystery novels starring a half caste aborigine who is very smart and has a reputation for getting results. The first book I read was The New Shoe which was easily the best book of this type I read this year. I have since read one other of the books and I just happen to have started my third Upfield novel recently.

Charles:  One of my HF friends introduced me to this author last year.   He's one cool dude!

as a side note all the books I receive by Upfield are in really awful condition. I haven't been able to post any of them. This may be why the books are so hard to find. They are usually old and beat up.

I have found an occasional one on PBS but that's it!  Have not found any of his novels in poor condition or I would have snapped them up.  So it goes.  Just need to keep looking.

The author I discovered in 2017 is Laura Hillenbrand.  I read Unbroken, her biography of Louis Zamperini, and was thoroughly blown away by the sheer beauty and magic of her writing.  The story just unfurled itself effortlessly because of her sheer writing skills. And some story it turned out to be!  I am now just beginning her Seabiscuit, about the legendar racehorse.  I have extremely high and enthusiastic expectations.

Gah! Just realized these books are historical, but NOT fiction.  Sorry for the misplaced post.

Cheryl I second Maisie Dobbs. I probably wouldn't have picked it up because I didn't want to start another series but it was the selection for book club at the library.  Glad I did-love Maisie!  Sadly I didn't read a whole lot at all this year and only a handful of historicals but i rather enjoyed Becoming Bonnie by Jenni Walsh.  Also read (and liked) my first Susan Meissner book this year.