Historical Fiction for Older Teens
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, vol. 1: The Pox Party / by M. T. Anderson
Diaries, letters, and other manuscripts chronicle the experiences of Octavian, a young African American boy, from birth to age sixteen, as he is brought up as part of a science experiment in the years leading up to and during the Revolutionary War. SEQUEL: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 2: The Kingdom on the Waves.
What I Saw and How I Lied / by Judy Blundell
When Evie’s stepfather returns home from World War II, the family quickly falls back into its normal life. But when movie-star handsome Peter Coleridge, a young ex-GI who served in Joe’s company in postwar Austria, shows up, Evie becomes caught up in a complicated web of lies that she only slowly recognizes.
A Great and Terrible Beauty / by Libba Bray
After the suspicious death of her mother in 1895, sixteen-year-old Gemma returns to England, after many years in India, to attend a finishing school where she becomes aware of her magical powers and ability to see into the spirit world. SEQUELS: Rebel Angels, The Sweet Far Thing.
Hidden Voices / by Pat Lowery Collins
Anetta, Rosalba, and Luisa find their lives taking unexpected paths while growing up in eighteenth century Venice at the orphanage Ospedale della Pieta, where concerts are given to support the orphanage as well as expose the girls to potential suitors.
The Musician’s Daughter / by Suzanne Dunlap
In eighteenth-century Vienna, Austria, fifteen-year-old Theresa seeks a way to help her mother and brother financially while investigating the murder of her father, a renowned violinist in Haydn’s orchestra at the court of Prince Esterhazy, after his body is found near a gypsy camp.
Ten Cents a Dance / by Christine Fletcher
When her mother falls ill in 1940s Chicago, fifteen-year-old Ruby Jacinski, in order to support her family, lands a job as a taxi dancer—a girl paid ten cents to dance with any man—and becomes submerged in a dangerous world where the only one who can save her is herself.
Troy / by Adèle Geras
The last weeks of the Trojan War find the women sick of tending the wounded, men tired of fighting, and bored gods and goddesses trying to find ways to stir things up.
The Luxe / by Anna Godbersen
The revelation of a dark family secret exposes a great scandal that soon sends the lives of the beautiful Holland sisters into a tailspin with lies and betrayal jeopardizing their high-ranking positions in Manhattan society. SEQUELS: Rumors, Envy.
The Fighter / by Jean-Jacques Greif
Waiting for the day when his brothers will send for him to live in Paris, Moshe does his best to stay alive in the poor and mean streets of Warsaw, but when the Nazis take him away to Auschwitz and make him fight dying prisoners for their entertainment, Moshe’s morals conflict with his desire to survive.
Water for Elephants / by Sara Gruen
Ninety-something-year-old Jacob Jankowski remembers his time in the circus as a young man during the Great Depression, and his friendship with Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, and Rosie, the elephant, who gave them hope.
Color of the Sea / by John Hamamura
Separated from his Japanese-American family and girlfriend by the interment practices of World War II, martial arts master Sam Hamada is recruited by the U.S. Army for a secret mission in Japan, where he finds himself torn between cultures.
A Company of Swans / by Eva Ibbotson
In early-twentieth-century England, Harriet Morton escapes her father’s stifling household to pursue her dream of joining a ballet company. She soon finds herself on a journey up the Amazon to perform in Brazil’s famous opera house in Manaus, where she meets a handsome and mysterious British exile–but her outraged father is determined to bring her home.
Genghis: Birth of an Empire / by Conn Iggulden
From the critically acclaimed author of the Emperor series comes a sweeping novel chronicling the rise to power of Genghis Khan, one of the world’s most powerful and fearsome rulers, from his tragic beginnings, to the murder of his father, to his legendary exploits as a feared warrior who conquered much of the known world. SEQUEL: Genghis: Lords of the Bow.
Silent Echoes / by Carla Jablonski
When sixteen-year-old Lindsay hears the voice of a girl from nineteenth century New York in her head, she thinks she may be going crazy, while Lucy, the nineteenth-century con artist whose voice Lindsay hears, thinks she might truly be a spiritual medium after all.
The King’s Rose / by Alisa Libby
Catharine Howard recounts the events in her life that led to her being groomed for marriage at the age of fifteen to King Henry VIII, her failure to produce an heir to the throne, and her quick execution.
Duchessina: A Novel of Catherine de Medici / by Carolyn Meyer
While her tyrannical family is out of favor in Italy, young Catherine de Medici is raised in convents, then in 1533, when she is fourteen, her uncle, Pope Clement VII, arranges for her marriage to prince Henri of France, who is destined to become king.
Bloodline / by Katy Moran
While traveling through early seventh-century Britain trying to stop an impending war, Essa, who bears the blood of native British tribes and of the invading Anglish, discovers that his mother is alive and he, himself, is a prince of the northern kingdom, but he has loyalties and loved ones in the south to whom he is compelled to return.
When the Emperor Was Divine / by Julie Otsuka
A story told from five different points of view—a mother receiving the evacuation order, her daughter on the train ride to the camp, the son in the desert internment camp, the family’s return home, and the final release of the father after years in captivity—chronicles the experiences of Japanese Americans caught up in the nightmare of the World War II internment camps.
Tamar / by Mal Peet
In England in 1995, fifteen-year-old Tamar, grief-stricken by the puzzling death of her beloved grandfather, slowly begins to uncover the secrets of his life in the Dutch resistance during the last year of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, and the climactic events that forever cast a shadow on his life and that of his family.
Sovay / by Celia Rees
In 1794 England, the rich and beautiful Sovay, disguised as a highwayman, acquires papers that could lead to her father’s arrest for treason, and soon her newly-awakened political consciousness leads her and a compatriot to France during the Revolution.
Here Lies Arthur / by Philip Reeve
After meeting Myrddin the bard upon fleeing her invaded village, Gwynna agrees to be bound in service to him in exchange for his protection. Yet in time she is introduced to the dark side of Camelot and becomes a powerful player in the realm, one who helps shape the course of history with her skillful transformations.
Song of the Sparrow / by Lisa Ann Sandell
In fifth-century Britain, nine years after the destruction of their home on the island of Shalott brings her to live with her father and brothers in the military encampments of Arthur’s army, seventeen-year-old Elaine describes her changing perceptions of war and the people around her as she becomes increasingly involved in the bitter struggle against the invading Saxons.
Ceremony / by Leslie Marmon Silko
On a New Mexico reservation, one Navajo family—including Tayo, a World War II veteran deeply scarred by his experiences as a Japanese POW and by the rejection of his own people—struggles to survive in a world no longer theirs in the years just before and after World War II.
Knight’s Fee / by Rosemary Sutcliff
Set in Norman England, this is the story of young Randal, whose life changes forever when he drops a fig onto the new Lord’s horse. The accident seems trivial, but it leads to squirehood, knighthood, and a heavy price.
Mark of the Horse Lord / by Rosemary Sutcliff
Bearing an uncanny resemblance to the blind, displaced King of the Scots, former gladiator and slave Phaedrus impersonates the Horse Lord to regain control of the Scottish kingdom from the Picts.
Resurrection Men / by T. K. Welsh
In London in 1830, where the selling of human corpses to those in science has become a lucrative business, Victor is aware that his body would fetch a good price and so must watch out for those who mean to do him harm while working to put a stop to their evil ways.
The Book Thief / by Markus Zusak
Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel, a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.