Showing titles in Historical Fiction

1940. Britain is at war with Nazi Germany. Eleven-year-old Eric spends his days at the place that makes him most happy: London Zoo. And there’s one animal in particular he loves: Gertrude the gorilla. With bombs falling all over London, Eric must rescue Gertrude. Together with his Uncle Sid, a keeper at the zoo, the three go on the run. But while hiding out at the seaside they uncover a top-secret Nazi plot....

Dodger is a tosher – a sewer scavenger living in the squalor of Dickensian London. Everyone who is nobody knows Dodger. Anyone who is anybody doesn’t.But when he rescues a young girl from a beating, suddenly everybody wants to know him.And Dodger’s tale of skulduggery, dark plans and even darker deeds begins.

Dilly loved a good murder. Not a REAL murder. A made-up murder. One you would find in a murder mystery novel. Sherlock Holmes was her favourite detective, so much so that she had named her dog Watson after his faithful companion. Dilly had trained her Watson to sniff out clues and follow scent trails. Something he would happily do for a dog biscuit. Or two. So far, Dilly and Watson hadn’t had much luck cracking cases – beyond lost cats, or missing biscuits that turned out to have been eaten all along.

Edie is fascinated by Victorian times, and she's just desperate to be cast in the lead role of her drama club production of Oliver. When she's given a real Victorian notebook she's determined to write the best story ever, all about a girl in a workhouse. But when she starts writing, something strange happens. Edie finds herself in Victorian London. She feels the same, but everything around her is completely different to what she knows. Soon, she realises she's living the life of another Edie Trimmer—and is in danger of being sent to a real workhouse!

Award-winning, best-selling and beloved Jacqueline Wilson tells the fascinating, moving story of a girl sent away from home as an evacuee during the Second World War. September, 1939. As the Second World War begins, 10-year-old Shirley is sent away on a train with her schoolmates. She doesn't know where she's going, or what's going to happen to her when she gets there. All she has been told is that she's going on 'a little holiday'.

Hi! I'm Charlie (DON'T call me Charlotte – ever!). History is boring, right? Wrong! The Victorians weren't all deadly dull and drippy. Lottie certainly isn't. She's eleven – like me – but she's left school and has a job as a nursery maid. Her life is really hard, just work work work, but I bet she'd know what to do about my mum's awful boyfriend and his wimpy little son. I bet she wouldn't mess it all up like I do ...

It’s 1953, the year Elizabeth is to be crowned Queen of England. Elsie Kettle can't wait to go to London to see the celebrations on Coronation Day. Elsie lives with her Nan – her mum works as a showgirl, so she's not around very often. Spirited and imaginative, but often lonely, Elsie longs for a best friend. Luckily, she and Nan are very close; Elsie just wishes she was allowed a cat to keep her company sometimes.

Lady Jane Grey, 16, is about to be married to a total stranger – and caught up in an insidious plot to rob her cousin, King Edward, of his throne. But that’s the least of Jane’s problems. She’s also about to become Queen of England. Like that could go wrong.

Twelve-year-old Nathan Bannister fantasizes about never having to go to class again. But his dreams never included a crazy wizard and a hot air balloon waiting inside his bedroom! Nathan is cold, scared, and still in his pajamas when the mad magician abandons him in medieval London. Desperate to return to his Granny's house in the modern world, Nathan falls in with a ragtag crew of street kids. As he attempts to find friends and allies, the young boy must escape a wicked baron and rescue the girl if he wants any chance of returning home.

It is 1910 and Maia, tragically orphaned at 13, has been sent from England to start a new life with distant relatives in Manaus, hundreds of miles up the Amazon. She is accompanied by an eccentric and mysterious governess who has secret reasons of her own for making the journey. Both soon discover an exotic world bursting with new experiences in this highly colourful, joyous, and award-winning adventure.

When Col's childhood imaginary friends come to life, he discovers a world where myths and legends are real. Accompanied by his guardians - a six-foot tiger, a badger in a waistcoat and a miniature knight - Col must race to Blitz-bombed London to save his sister. But there are darker forces at work, even more than the Nazi bombings. Soon Col is pursued by the terrifying Midwinter King, who is determined to bring an eternal darkness down over everything.

It's 1943, and Lily Tregenze lives on a farm, in the idyllic seaside village of Slapton. Apart from her father being away, and the 'townie' evacuees at school, her life is scarcely touched by the war. Until one day, Lily and her family, along with 3000 other villagers, are told to move out of their homes lock, stock and barrel. Soon, the whole area is out of bounds, as the Allied forces practise their landings for D-day, preparing to invade France. But Tips, Lily's adored cat, has other ideas barbed wire and keep-out signs mean nothing to her, nor does the danger of guns and bombs.

London, 1876. Hetty Feather is just a tiny baby when her mother leaves her at the Foundling Hospital. The Hospital cares for abandoned children - but Hetty must live with a foster family until she is big enough to go to school. Life in the countryside is hard but she has 'brothers' Jem and Gideon to play with, and together they sneak off to visit the travelling circus. Hetty is mesmerised by the show, especially Madame Adeline and her performing horses.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Back Home written and read by Michelle Magorian. Back Home tells the story of Rusty, returning to England after being evacuated to America for five years in the Second World War. After five happy years in America, Rusty must return to England: the place she used to call home. But it doesn't fell like home. Rusty's mother is like a stranger, her little brother doesn't know her, and why does the food taste so bad? Rusty just can't get used to the rigid rules and rationing and her strict new boarding school.

Late summer, 1940. Hitler has conquered France. Now he intends to cross the Channel and defeat Britain before winter arrives. A group of young refugees led by British spy Charles Henderson faces a stark choice: to head south into the safety of neutral Spain or go north on a risky mission to sabotage the German invasion plans. For official purposes, these children do not exist.

Leo and his best friend, Sangeetha, are the odd ones out in their school. In fact, they seem to be the odd ones out no matter where they go in their small town. But as Leo's dad is always telling him, it's only because he's extra special, and Sangeetha is extra, extra special. Only thing is, if they're so special, how come Leo never sees anyone who likes him in the history books he loves to read? But on a special class trip to a nearby cathedral one day, Leo's attention is drawn to a large marble slab high above the doors of the hall, featuring a short list of names.

America. The 1960s. Stuck on a remote farm with her awful aunt, twelve-year-old orphan Ruth spends every night gazing at the stars, dreaming of adventure. One night she spots a flying saucer blazing across the sky…before crash-landing in a field. When the spaceship opens and reveals a mysterious alien, all Ruth’s dreams come true. But does this visitor from another planet have a giant secret?

Karana, a Ghalas-at Indian, lives peacefully on the island with her tribe until the arrival of a Russian otter-hunting ship. In spite of the deal the Aleutian hunters make with her father, the Ghalas-at chief, in the end they prove treacherous, killing most of the tribe. Karana's younger brother, Ramo, is all that is left of her family. Fearful of the Aleuts' return, the remaining Indians decide to move to another island, and are offered safe passage by some friendly ships. But as Karana boards the ship to leave the island forever, she is unable to find Ramo.

Hetty Feather was given her name when she was left at the Foundling Hospital as a baby. But she always longed to be named after her incredible sapphire-blue eyes. When she is reunited with her mother, she hopes her new name, Sapphire Battersea, will also mean a new life. But things don’t always go as planned.... Follow the twists and turns of Hetty’s adventures as she begins work. She longs to be reunited with her dear Jem, but also finds a new friend, Bertie the butcher’s boy.

Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are in Egypt, where they are taking a cruise along the Nile. They are hoping to see some ancient temples and a mummy or two; what they get, instead, is murder. Also travelling on the SS Hatshepsut is a mysterious society called the Breath of Life: a group of genteel English ladies and gentlemen, who believe themselves to be reincarnations of the ancient pharaohs. Three days into the cruise their leader, Theodora Miller, is found dead in her cabin, stabbed during the night.