Showing titles in Historical Fiction

A stunning new classic from master storyteller Michael Morpurgo in the vein of Private Peaceful and The Butterfly Lion. This is a landmark new novel from the nation's favourite storyteller, set in the unique landscape of the Camargue in the South of France during WW2. There, a young autistic boy lives on his parents' farm among the salt flats and the flamingos that live there. There are lots of things he doesn't understand, but he does know how to heal animals.

When Elaine leaves her home in London to stay with the Owen family in Wales, she feels miserable and left out. It's only the little secret garden that she finds at the end of the rainbow that makes staying there seem worthwhile. And then something happens that changes everything.

Fleeing across a roof on a dark night in Victorian London, a thief crashes through a glass skylight to almost certain death. But an ambitious young doctor revives and reconstructs his shattered body, proudly showing off his handiwork at the Scientific Society where the city's intelligentsia meet. It is there that the robber picks up the key to a new existence, and on his release from prison begins to lead a double life.

Will dares Tilly to come ice-skating up at Frost Hollow Hall. No one goes near the place these days. Ten years ago the young heir, Kit Barrington, drowned there in the lake. Rumour has it that the house is haunted ... But Tilly never turns down a dare. Then it goes horribly wrong. The ice breaks, Tilly falls through and almost drowns. At the point of death, a beautiful angel appears and saves her. Kit Barrington’s ghost. Kit needs Tilly to solve the mystery of his death, so that his spirit can rest in peace.

Evie couldn't be angrier with her mother. She's only gone and got married again and has flown off on honeymoon, sending Evie to stay with a godmother she's never even met in an old, creaky house in the middle of nowhere. It is all monumentally unfair. But on the first night, Evie sees a strange, ghostly figure at the window. Spooked, she flees from the room, feeling oddly disembodied as she does so. Out in the corridor, it's 1814, and Evie finds herself dressed as a housemaid.

Join Tom on an incredible treasure hunt through time and battle history's mightiest warriors. The third book in a new time-travelling series - perfect for fans of Beast Quest. When 10-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!

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.

It's 1939, and war has broken out. Everything has changed at Highbury House school. There are no servants, for one thing, and the pupils have to help with domestic tasks. Then a boys' school is evacuated to the Romney Marsh, billeted in the same building although, of course, contact with the boys is strictly forbidden. Despite this, Justice soon strikes up a friendship with Henry, a boy who shares her dislike of games lessons. Then Justice's father suddenly goes missing.... Could he be a real-life spy?

In 1938, the Nazis come to Vienna. They hate anyone who is different, especially Jewish people. Fritz and Kurt's family are Jewish, and that puts them in terrible danger. Fritz, along with his father, is taken to a Nazi prison camp, a terrible place, full of fear. When his father is sent to a certain death, Fritz can't face losing his beloved Papa. He chooses to go with him and fight for survival. Meanwhile, Kurt must go on a frightening journey, all alone, to seek safety on the far side of the world.

Boston, 1891. Sophia Tims comes from a family of explorers and cartologers who, for generations, have been traveling and mapping the New World - a world changed by the Great Disruption of 1799, when all the continents were flung into different time periods. Eight years ago, her parents left her with her uncle Shadrack, the foremost cartologer in Boston, and went on an urgent mission. They never returned. Life with her brilliant, absent-minded, adored uncle has taught Sophia to take care of herself.

The next compelling chapter in the life of Felix, hero of the award-winning Once, Then, After, Soon and Now. 1946. Europe is in ruins. Millions of people dream of finding happiness somewhere else. Fourteen-year-old Felix is one of them. When he's offered a journey to Australia, he seizes the opportunity. So does someone very dear to him, even though she wasn't actually invited.

When Isobel Petty is orphaned, she finds herself being taken away from her home in India and sent to live with a distant uncle in England. On board the SS Marianna, she witnesses a shocking act – somebody being thrown overboard in the middle in the night. But when the ship’s captain insists that nobody is missing, Isobel and her two new reluctant friends must solve two mysteries – the identities of both the murderer and the victim – before they reach England and the culprit has the chance to escape.

Jo finds out that Jewish children are being smuggled away from the Nazis over the mountains near his village. All goes to plan until German soldiers start patrolling the mountains, and Jo realises the children are trapped. Jo's slightest mistake could have devastating consequences.

It's April 1940 and German troops are pouring onto the streets of Denmark. 12-year-old Bamse is ordered by his father to keep his head down and stay out of trouble. But Bamse and his daring friend Anton can't resist playing the occasional practical joke on the invading soldiers. When it becomes clear that the trouble isn't just going to pass them by, the people of Denmark decide to take action and Bamse and his eccentric family are about to take part in one of history's most dramatic rescues - smuggling Denmark's Jewish population, across the water to Sweden and safety.

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.

"I would often wonder about my future husband. A knight? A duke? A stable boy? Of course the last was just a wicked fancy." Eliza Rose Camperdowne is young and headstrong, but she knows her duty well. As the only daughter of a noble family, she must one day marry a man who is very grand and very rich. But Fate has other plans. When Eliza becomes a maid of honour, she's drawn into the thrilling, treacherous court of Henry VIII.... Is her glamorous cousin Katherine Howard a friend or a rival?

A stunning new emotional tour-de-force from the author of Shadow, Born to Run and War Horse. May, 1915. Alfie and his fisherman father find a girl on an uninhabited island in the Scillies - injured, thirsty, lost… and with absolutely no memory of who she is, or how she came to be there. She can say only one word: Lucy. Where has she come from? Is she a mermaid, the victim of a German U-boat, or even - as some islanders suggest - a German spy?

Amihan lives on Culion Island where some of the inhabitants, including her mother, have leprosy. Ami loves her home with its blue sea and lush forests, but the arrival of Mr Zamora changes her world forever as Ami is banished from the island. She seeks to return before her mother's death. Can the colony of butterflies lead her home before it's too late?

It's sink or swim for Jack and Annie when Magic Tree House whisks them off to the middle of the ocean. And that's just the beginning....

There's a murderer on the loose - but that doesn't stop the girls of St. Etheldreda's from attempting to hide the death of their headmistress in this rollicking farce. The students of St. Etheldreda's School for Girls face a bothersome dilemma. Their irascible headmistress, Mrs. Plackett, and her surly brother, Mr. Godding, have been most inconveniently poisoned at Sunday dinner.