Collection: Historical Fiction

The biggest American tragedy most people know little about. "Fast-paced and thrilling . . . I loved it." --Lauren Tarshis, New York Times bestselling author of the I Survived series ​​ "I inhaled every word." --Jennifer A. Nielsen, New York Times bestselling author of Words on Fire ​​​​​​​ * "Stunning... Highly recommended." -- School Library Journal, starred review "Chillingly effective." -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1889 is a busy factory city, where best friends Daniel Fagan, William James, and George Hoffman love to hike the mountain and spy on the rich folks at their exclusive lakeside club. Monica Fagan, Joe Dixon, and Gertrude Quinn dream of traveling the world, starting a business, and going to the city's Decoration Day parade. Some of them have heard the rumors about the dam that holds the lake needing repairs and the club members who refuse to fix it. But no one wants to believe the danger they could be in, until the heavy spring rains come, and the dam collapses, plunging the city into chaos. On that fateful day, Daniel, William, George, Monica, Joe, and Gertrude find themselves caught in the wreckage. Who will live to tell their stories? Flooded joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and beloved novels. Includes exclusive bonus content!

In 1930s Glasgow, partners Jimmy Dreghorn and Archie McDaid face a danger that threatens to set their city aflame--the second novel in the acclaimed mystery series that began with Edge of the Grave.

"This is Peaky Blinders territory. . . . Packed with dramatic action and unforgettable characters, it casts a hypnotic spell and stirs the blood."--Daily Mail

Glasgow, 1933. Murder is nothing new in the Depression-era city, especially to war veterans Inspector Jimmy Dreghorn and his partner, "Bonnie" Archie McDaid. But the dead man found in a narrowboat on the Forth and Clyde Canal, executed with a single shot to the back of the head, is no ordinary killing.

Violence usually erupts in the heat of the moment--the razor-gangs that stalk the streets settle scores with knives and fists. But firearms suggest something more sinister, especially when the killer strikes again. Meanwhile, other forces are stirring within the city. A suspected IRA cell is at large, embedded within the criminal gangs and attracting the ruthless attention of Special Branch agents from London.

With political and sectarian tensions rising and the body count mounting, Dreghorn and McDaid pursue an investigation into the dark heart of humanity--where one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist, and noble ideals are swept away by bloody vengeance.

Nory Ryan's family has lived on Maidin Bay on the west coast of Ireland for generations, raising a pig and a few chickens, planting potatoes, getting by. Every year Nory's father goes away on a fishing boat and returns with the rent money for the English lord who owns their cottage and fields, the English lord bent upon forcing the Irish from their land so he can tumble the cottages and clear the fields for grazing. Times are never easy on Maidin Bay, but this year, a terrible blight attacks the potatoes. No crop means starvation. Twelve-year-old Nory must summon the courage and ingenuity to find food, to find hope, to find a way to help her family survive.

Ismail Kadare's The Siege dramatizes a relentless fictional assault on a Christian fortress in the Albanian mountains by the Ottoman Army in the fifteenth century. As the bloody and psychologically crushing struggle for control over the citadel unfolds, Kadare's newest work opens a window onto the eternal clash between religions and empires as well as the exhilaration, despair, and immediacy of the battlefield.
Kadare is a hugely respected novelist and a hero to his people, as well as an outspoken critic of all forms of totalitarianism. The Siege is a "powerfully atmospheric . . . and vividly rendered" (The Telegraph) novel of considerable cumulative power and resonance for our own times.

Twelve short stories of the important events in Medieval history told through the eyes of young people who lived in those times:

The End and the Beginning (About 400 A.D.)

The boy, Gains, is awakened in the middle of the night when his village in Roman Britain is attacked by Northern pirates.

A Blackbird Sings (About 800 A.D)

The monastery where the peasant boy Remy is going to school receives a visit from the Emperor Charlemagne.

The People Remembered (About 870 A.D.)

Just after the Danish invasion of Britain has been stopped by King Alfred, Cedric, a young Saxon, meets the brave king.

Hail, Normansland! (About 900 A.D.)

Astrid, in Norway, awaits the return of her father who, with other Vikings, has been attacking the northern coast of France.

The Conqueror (About 1075 A.D.)

Edith, a Saxon girl, and Alix, a Norman girl, become friends when they are both attending a convent school in Normandy in the time of William the Conqueror.

The Great Journey (1095-1099 A.D.)

Denis, a young squire, accompanies his master on the First Crusade and is rewarded for his part in the taking of Jerusalem.

Twelve Bright Trumpets (About 1150 A.D.)

At the death of her mother and father, Rohais is left alone to protect the castle until her brother returns from the Crusades.

Echo Over Runnymede (1215 A.D.)

Geoffrey, page to an earl who objects to King John's tyranny, is present at the signing of the Magna Carta.

Town Air is Free Air (13th Century A.D.)

Jacques, a young serf, runs away from the feudal manorvillage to escape the terrible anger of the baron's game warden.

Marco and the Marble Hand (14th Century A.D.)

Caught by the reawakened enthusiasm for art in Florence, Marco, an Italian peasant boy, finds something to show the artist, Master Antonio.

A Noble Magic (14th Century A.D.)

Karl, a copyist's apprentice who is tired of copying books by hand, finds at the establishment of Master Gutenberg a noble magic.

Queen of the Sea (About 1500 A.D)

Camilla, at home in Venice while her brother is on a voyage with Vasco da Gama, almost misses the great water festival.

Feigning an attachment was the easy part, but falling in love was not part of the plan.

Lady Esther Harington finds herself in a terrible predicament when she is being forced into an arranged marriage. Out of options- and hope- she tries to escape and meets a man that is sympathetic to her plight. In desperation, they hatch a plan to solve her problem. They will form an attachment with one another for the Season, knowing it comes at a great risk to them both.

Mr. Samuel Moore never anticipated the heartache that would come when he saw his long-lost love on the arm of another. That is the only thing that could explain why he agreed to pretend to pursue Lady Esther, but he quickly realizes that she is the perfect distraction.

As Esther and Samuel's friendship takes hold, they are drawn to one another and the lines between what is pretend and what is real begin to blur. Their plan quickly spirals out of control, but neither one of them expected to fall in love. With so much at stake, can they trust their hearts to know what is truly best for them?

Was Sarah Winchester a woman of mystery or simply a strong woman who lived her life on her own terms? It will take another strong woman to ensure her story is told.

1918 - Sarah Winchester, heiress to the Winchester rifle fortune, has read and heard all the newspaper stories written about her. Snob. Crazy. Insane. Spiritualist. Ghosts. Séances. The list goes on and on. At the age of seventy-nine, she's lived an incredible life, and her wealth has allowed her to live as she pleased. Sarah loves projects, and now she has one last project she wishes to complete. It's time she compiled her life story so friends and family will know the truth once she's gone. But with her crippling arthritis, she needs someone to help her. She hopes the young woman her lawyer, Frank Lieb, has sent to the house will fit in with her staff and work well as her typist. Sarah knows she doesn't have many years left, and this is a project she is determined to finish.

1918 - Olivia Collins is a young single woman who has found herself in a precarious predicament. Through a mutual friend, lawyer Frank Lieb, she's been offered a chance to work with the infamous Sarah Winchester. Olivia is nervous about meeting the elderly woman she has heard stories about all her life. But she desperately needs this job. Without it, Olivia has no idea what her future will hold.

Today - Morgan Connors is helping her mother go through her recently deceased grandmother's possessions when she comes upon an old manuscript. The title states it is Sarah Winchester's Autobiography. Morgan works as an acquisition editor at a publisher in San Francisco and knows that no such book has ever been published. When her mother explains that Morgan's great-great-grandmother, Olivia Collins, once worked for Mrs. Winchester, she's intrigued. Who was Olivia Collins, and why did she have a manuscript of Sarah Winchester's life story?

Mrs. Winchester's Biographer tells the captivating story of Sarah Winchester's life and how she became one of the most talked-about women of her time despite her attempts to protect her privacy.

A family torn apart by conflict.

An uprising of deadly magnitude.

A nation altered forever.

Inspired by actual events, Siciliana is the harrowing tale of a young woman's courage in the face of unthinkable turmoil.

In 1282 AD, the Kingdom of Sicily is under the rule of a tyrannical French king and subject to his brutal Angevin army. Daily acts of violence and persecution are commonplace in a once-prosperous realm.

For twenty-year-old Aetna Vespiri, daughter of a revered Sicilian knight, survival has become second nature. As a child, she witnessed the destruction of her family's vineyard by Angevin soldiers and spent the next decade learning the tenets of stiletto-blade combat.

Years later in Palermo, as the evening bells toll for Vespers, Aetna fends off a nefarious sergeant and sparks an uprising against the Angevin occupation. Now, standing at the forefront of an accelerating people's rebellion, Aetna finds herself fighting not only for a nation she believes in but also for the meaning of family. In her darkest hour, this dauntless Sicilian woman steps out of obscurity and into the pages of history.

The legend of Siciliana is born.

Set amid bustling Arab markets and brooding Norman fortresses, Siciliana will envelop readers in the sights, sounds, and dangers lurking around every corner of medieval Sicily.

Penny Dreadful meets The Gilded Wolves in this breathtaking finale to young adult historical fantasy Bones of Ruin trilogy!

For years, the elite secret society called the Enlightenment Committee has waited for the apocalyptic force known as Hiva to destroy the world as it has so many times before. What the Committee didn't know, however, was that Hiva wasn't an event--it was a person.

Iris Marlow. An African tightrope dancer with no memories of her past. A girl who cannot die.

At least, she couldn't die. Until her own friends discovered her one weakness and murdered her once and for all. The world-ending threat she posed should be gone too, but there's one more Hiva out there, and unlike Iris, this one has no love for humanity. In her absence, this Hiva has taken it upon himself to judge if humanity deserves to live.

But when it comes to Hivas, the judgment is always the same. The ending is always total destruction. And while Iris is dead, she's not gone--and after the betrayal that ended her life as Iris, she is now out for revenge.

The world's days are numbered. The Cataclysm has begun.

At this wondrous resort, secrets can easily be hidden in plain sight when the eye is trained on beauty.

April 1913--Belle Newbold hasn't seen mountains for seven years--since her father died in a mining accident and her mother married gasoline magnate, Shipley Newbold. But when her stepfather's business acquaintance, Henry Ford, invites the family on one of his famous Vagabonds camping tours, she is forced to face the hills once again--primarily in order to reunite with her future fiancé, owner of the land the Vagabonds are using for their campsite, a man she's only met once before. It is a veritable arranged marriage, but she prefers it that way. Belle isn't interested in love. She only wants a simple life--a family of her own and the stability of a wealthy man's pockets. That's what Worth Delafield has promised to give her and it's worth facing the mountains again, the reminder of the past, and her poverty, to secure her future.

But when the Vagabonds group is invited to tour the unfinished Grove Park Inn and Belle is unexpectedly thrust into a role researching and writing about the building of the inn--a construction the locals are calling The Eighth Wonder of the World--she quickly realizes that these mountains are no different from the ones she once called home. As Belle peels back the facade of Grove Park Inn, of Worth, of the society she's come to claim as her own, and the truth of her heart, she begins to see that perhaps her part in Grove Park's story isn't a coincidence after all. Perhaps it is only by watching a wonder rise from ordinary hands and mountain stone that she can finally find the strength to piece together the long-destroyed path toward who she was meant to be.

International bestselling author Joy Callaway returns with a story of the ordinary people behind extraordinary beauty--and the question of who gets to tell their stories.

Gwyneth Shepherd's sophisticated, beautiful cousin Charlotte has been prepared her entire life for traveling through time. But unexpectedly, it is Gwyneth who in the middle of class takes a sudden spin to a different era!

Gwyneth must now unearth the mystery of why her mother would lie about her birth date to ward off suspicion about her ability, brush up on her history, and work with Gideon--the time traveler from a similarly gifted family that passes the gene through its male line, and whose presence becomes, in time, less insufferable and more essential. Together, Gwyneth and Gideon journey through time to discover who, in the 18th century and in contemporary London, they can trust.
Kerstin Gier's Ruby Red is young adult novel full of fantasy and romance.

"Every Flavia de Luce novel is a reason to celebrate."--USA Today

ALAN BRADLEY, AUTHOR OF THE MOST AWARD-WINNING SERIES DEBUT OF ANY YEAR, RETURNS WITH ANOTHER IRRESISTIBLE FLAVIA DE LUCE NOVEL.

"[Alan] Bradley has created one of the most original, charming, devilishly creative and hilarious detectives of any age or any time."--Bookreporter

It's Christmastime, and Flavia de Luce--an eleven-year-old sleuth with a passion for chemistry--is tucked away in her laboratory, whipping up a concoction to ensnare Saint Nick. But she is soon distracted when a film crew arrives at Buckshaw, the de Luces' decaying English estate, to shoot a movie starring the famed Phyllis Wyvern. Amid a raging blizzard, the entire village of Bishop's Lacey gathers at Buckshaw to watch Wyvern perform, yet nobody is prepared for the evening's shocking conclusion: a body found strangled to death with a length of film. But who among the assembled guests would stage such a chilling scene? As the storm worsens and the list of suspects grows, Flavia must ferret out a killer hidden in plain sight.

"[Flavia is] the most intrepid and charming adolescent chemist/detective/busybody in all of rural, post-World War II England."--The Seattle Times

"Quirky and delightful . . . Flavia is a classic literary character who manages to appeal to both young and old readers equally."--Wichita Falls Times Record News

"Bradley's plot twists and turns delightfully."--Fort Worth Star-Telegram

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST MYSTERIES OF THE YEAR BY THE SEATTLE TIMES

On the day John F. Kennedy is inaugurated, Claire, an uncompromising young wife and mother obsessed with the glamour of Jackie O, struggles over the decision of whether to stay in a loveless marriage or follow the man she loves and whose baby she may be carrying. Decades earlier, in 1919, Vivien Lowe, an obituary writer, is searching for her lover who disappeared in the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. By telling the stories of the dead, Vivien not only helps others cope with their grief but also begins to understand the devastation of her own terrible loss. The surprising connection between Claire and Vivien will change the life of one of them in unexpected and extraordinary ways. Part literary mystery and part love story, The Obituary Writer examines expectations of marriage and love, the roles of wives and mothers, and the emotions of grief, regret, and hope.

January, 1942 -

After her brother is killed at Pearl Harbor, Lexie Smithfield returns to Jekyll Island to handle the disposition of Destiny, the family's impressive vacation cottage. Ten years before, the family quit coming to the exclusive Millionaire's Club after a series of freak accidents. Her mother believed God cursed the island. Locals say it's haunted.

Russell Parker, whose family has worked at the Jekyll Island Hotel since it opened in 1887, knows many secrets. For the past 10 years, he has kept his promise to Lexie's brother and kept quiet about the incident that ended the Smithfields' resort vacations. But when Lexie and Russell meet again as adults, familiar feelings of friendship mix with new, more intimate feelings of attraction.

With the resort's popularity in decline due to the Depression and war, many of the cottages remain abandoned, casting a cloud of gloom over the island. With German U-boats offshore, Lexie faces daily threats to her safety as well as her own fears of rejection.

Is Lexie's destiny cursed by her family's history? Or will Russell help her learn the truth and find peace for her trouble heart?

The first in Caroline Lawrence's internationally bestselling Roman Mysteries series, re-issued with a fantastic new cover look.

Flavia Gemina is a natural at solving mysteries. The daughter of a ship's captain living in Ostia, the port of Rome, in AD79, she and her three friends, Jonathan, a Jewish boy (and secretly a Christian); Nubia, an African slave girl; and Lupus, a mute beggar boy, must work together to discover who is beheading the watchdogs that guard people's homes, and why.
A talented storyteller, Caroline Lawrence has created a delightfully readable and accessible series that children will want to read time and time again.