Showing titles in Historical Fiction

The Sahar Peninsula lies just beyond the horizon, but it isn't the easiest place to get to. No maps will take you there, nor can it be charted by gazing up at the stars or down at a compass.... Twelve-year-old Amira has only ever known a life at sea with her sea-witch mothers. So when their ship is wrecked in a great storm, Amira is delighted to have an opportunity to explore land - accompanied by her best friend, Namur - a jinn in cat form.

When the Germans march into Poland in 1941, the Balickis’ happy family life is shattered. With their parents taken away by Nazis, Ruth, Edek and Bronia are forced to fend for themselves in the dangerous, war-ravaged city of Warsaw. When Edek is captured too, the girls are desperate. Then they meet orphaned street urchin Jan, who carries with him a talisman of hope: a silver sword paperknife that they recognise as having belonged to their mother. Realising that their parents may still be alive, Ruth and Bronia set off on an epic journey to Switzerland to search for them.

This is a captivating, good-humored look at family life in a small farming community in Indiana in the early 1900s.

The Cuthberts are in for a shock. They are expecting an orphan boy to help with the work at Green Gables - but a skinny red-haired girl turns up instead. Highly spirited Anne Shirley charms her way into the Cuthberts' affection with her vivid imagination and constant chatter, and soon it's impossible to imagine life without her.

In the centre of the freezing Lake Beluarum stands an inescapable asylum, enclosed by the sheer cliffs of Drop Rock island. When Ambrose Grammaticus, famous inventor and master engineer, viciously attacks his own son, Rex, he is hauled to the island and imprisoned.

This is the second story in the Anne of Green Gables series. Skinny little red-haired Anne has changed into a pretty 16-year-old and is all grown up - well, sort of grown up. The story opens with Anne as a school teacher at Avonlea school. When Anne reached the school that first morning, she was confronted by prim rows of "shining morning faces". She had sat up until nearly midnight composing a speech which she had revised and improved painstakingly. It was a wonderful speech with fine ideas. And then, she couldn't remember it!

A frozen palace and a sparkling secret - an epic Russian adventure awaits! Anna Orlov might be the luckiest girl in the world. She is the daughter of a Russian Count and lives in a beautiful snowbound palace that is home to a menagerie of wonderful animals: tigers, wolfhounds and, of course, horses. And she is the owner of a beautiful heirloom - a diamond necklace with a secret past. But when Anna defies her father's wishes and secretly raises a young colt alongside her pet tiger cub, her actions will have far-reaching consequences.

When Roberta, Peter and Phyllis's father is arrested for a crime he did not commit and they have to start a new life in the country, they fear the happy times are gone forever. Little do they expect the exciting adventures and the new friends that await them.

In London in 1735, 11-year-old Forrest Harper is living with his family at the Tower of London. There he helps his father tend the ravens and guard the prisoners. Still, life is lonely. When vicious Scottish Rebels are captured, Forrest is delighted. Perhaps now he can prove his courage and impress the local bullies who torment him. His happiness is short lived, though, when the Harpers are only given custody of Maddy, a Scottish Rebel's daughter.

German Nazis occupy much of France. And 12-year-old Miriam, who is Jewish, is not safe. With help and quick thinking, Miri is saved from the roundup that takes her entire Jewish neighbourhood. She escapes Paris, landing in a small French village, where the spires of the famous Chateau de Chenonceau rise high into the sky, its bridge across the River Cher like a promise, a fairy tale.

Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train, sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. Armed only with a few possessions and her list of universals, Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to learn about the boy her father once was. Having heard stories about Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find that it's just a dried-up, worn-out old town. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden cigar box full of mementos.

Twelve-year-old Addison Cooke just wishes something exciting would happen to him. His aunt and uncle, both world-famous researchers, travel to the ends of the earth searching for hidden treasure, dodging dangerous robbers along the way, while Addison is stuck in school all day. Luckily for Addison, adventure has a way of finding the Cookes.

Lupus longs to travel to the Greek islands, to find his mother and fulfill his uncle's dying wish. When he and Flavia, Nubia, and Jonathan hear that freeborn children are being kidnapped, they set sail. Their mission takes them from Corinth to Rhodes, site of one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, where they encounter a slave-dealer known as "the Colossus" - and a deadly trap.

The BBC radio adaptations of Judith Kerr's internationally acclaimed trilogy - plus bonus documentary. Based on her own childhood experiences, Judith Kerr's When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is a timeless classic loved by children and adults alike. This story of a Jewish family that escapes Germany just as the Nazis come to power is seen through the eyes of their young daughter, Anna, and traces their perilous journey. Also includes adaptations of Bombs on Aunt Dainty and A Small Person Far Away.

An orchestra explodes in Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens and suddenly the music of London disappears...and a terrifying monster stirs off the Greenwich peninsular, threatening to trample London underfoot. The detectives must track down the thief behind the music's disappearance – via the Whispering Gallery of St Paul's Cathedral, a Windmill-with-teeth on the Isle of Dogs and the dark streets of Soho...where a shadowy villain and his mechanical animal spies live.

It's 1883—the Age of Invention! A time when great men like Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Nicola Tesla, and George Eastman work to turn the country into a land of limitless opportunity. And it all happens at the world famous Inventor’s Guild headquarters in New York City—a place where a great idea, a lot of hard work, and a little bit of luck can find you rubbing elbows with these gods of industry who will usher humanity into the future.

Twelve-year-old Tim Wainwright, growing up on the west coast of Cumbria, struggles with his mum’s intense grief after the death of his dad and the constant taunting of village bullies. Only his best friend Annie brings any fun to his life. Fleeing his tormentors after school one day, he finds a hidden cave in the sea cliffs. Once inside, Tim leaps through an enchanted hopscotch board to emerge into a very different Cumbria… two thousand years in the past.

It's a truth universally acknowledged that the seventh-born rat of the seventh-born litter is a rat in want of adventure. Tilbury Twitch Whiskers is no exception, but he doesn't know it quite yet. This is a story about the dockland rats that live alongside the Thames in London. Like us, the rats have grown with the ever-expanding city, and like us, the rats have an eye for trade and stolen goods.

Jack, standing among the war graves, sees a face he recognises. Suddenly, it’s 1914 again and he’s a young lad back in the trenches. Visions of killing and misery come to him with horrible clarity. But then Jack remembers, too, the incredible moment when the guns fell silent for a short time, and fighting gave way to football on the frozen ground of No-Man’s-Land. This amazing story shows that even in times of conflict and extreme sadness, there is always hope.

Nush is maharani of an Indian kingdom. The British East India Company has already taken land and their most divine jewel – an emerald the size of a small apple. When the Maharajah decides to go to England to ask Queen Victoria for help, Nush stows away on her father’s ship. This is her moment to shine – and bring back the emerald that will heal the kingdom ...

1666. When 11-year-old bookish Gil finds a strange ‘heaven stone' by the Thames, he never thought it would hatch. Or that so soon after the Great Plague, a small fire in London would become a deadly inferno. Soon Gil, his phoenix, and his spiky friend Jennet must cross the burning city, avoid a terrifying mob, and find a place where they can all be safe.

Join Tom on an incredible treasure hunt through time and battle history's mightiest warriors. The fourth book in a new time-travelling series - perfect for fans of Beast Quest. When ten-year-old Tom accidentally smashes a statue in a museum he releases Isis, a young Egyptian mummy who has been imprisoned for thousands of years. To break an ancient curse, the duo must travel back in time to find six hidden amulets - battling Gladiators, Knights, Greeks, Vikings, Pirates and Egyptian Warriors!

The third title in Gary Northfield's exciting, action-packed and hysterically funny series brimming with entertaining Roman and Egyptian facts. After being shipwrecked on the shores of Egypt and mistaken for a Horse God, Julius can't believe his luck! Soon he and his bedraggled friends will be living it up in the city of Alexandria, being preened and pampered like gods. Then a fancy boat procession will take them down the River Nile to Memphis, where a lavish party will be thrown in Julius' honour - as well as an obligatory tour of the Pyramids.

Alfie Wright? Alfie Wrong, more like. Alfie has never really fit in anywhere–he doesn't have any friends, and even his mum seems embarrassed of him. So when he's evacuated to a farm in rural Devon run by kind old Aunt Bell and her gentle giant of a son, Alfie can't believe his luck. The War seems a long way off, and among the cows and pigs and geese Alfie's happier than he's ever been–especially when he makes friends with one of the local boys, Snidge. But Snidge, for all his friendliness, is not all he appears.

Before the war starts, Ned is resigned to a future working in the family funeral parlour. Then the covert operations at Bletchley Park begin and his life is transformed. Ned and his mother leave Bletchley Park on a vital wartime mission into the remote Welsh countryside. Their task: to protect the priceless artwork that is being stored in a slate mine in the village of Manod. As long as its whereabouts are secret, they'll keep the national treasures out of the hands of the enemy. But when it appears that someone in the village is trying to expose the truth, suspicion turns to the newcomers.

Join six kings, queens and warriors from around the world as they battle for crowns, vanquish dark forces and claim their thrones in this collection of Ladybird Tales.

After a terrifying encounter with Emerson Drake, Becky, and Joe Mellor return to Bowen Hall for the Easter Holidays. All seems quite normal until they meet Shamus Cusack, a young Irishman with a shocking story to tell, and are pitched into a quest for the fourth Eden Relic, the Sword of Ages. So begins the most powerful Time Hunters adventure yet...a thrilling story that leads Becky, Joe, Uncle Percy and Will to 1950s Italy, Medieval England, and the subterranean caves of Loch Ness.

Matthew Henson was simply an ordinary man. That was, until Commander Robert E. Peary entered his life, and offered him a chance at true adventure. Henson would become navigator, craftsman, translator, and right-hand man on a treacherous journey to the North Pole. Defying the odds and the many prejudices that faced him to become a true pioneer. This is his incredible and often untold story.

At only seventeen years old, Ian Kabra is head of the Cahills, the most powerful family in the world. He has presidents on speed dial, generals at his beck and call. Ian knows he's an ideal leader and the only man for the job. There's just one small problem: He's already messed up big time. A Cahill from the past calling himself the Outcast has risen to challenge Ian with an impossible test. The Outcast has re-created four of history's greatest disasters and dared Ian to stop him.

Erik and Hans are German boys. Ruby and Kate are English girls. They grow up in worlds that would never meet, until war tumbles their lives together. Then one September afternoon there are choices to be made. How is courage lost, and found? Who is really the enemy? And what does friendship truly mean, in the middle of a war? Meanwhile Rupert and Clarry work secretly for peace - and a brighter future for them all.

Betsy hopes that whoever moves into the house across the street will have a little girl just her age. And the little girl who moves in is just her age. Her name is Tacy. She is very bashful, but she likes to listen to Betsy's stories: wonderful stories that the girls love, and that they keep as their own special secret.