Good Reads

Wamego High School's

Library Media Center

HOME

HISTORICAL FICTION - OTHER COUNTRIES

The following books can be found in the Fiction collection, shelved by the first three letters of the author's last name, e.g., F BAR .

Europe | World War II & the Holocaust
Africa/Middle East | Asia and the Pacific

Europe

Alder, Elizabeth. THE KING'S SHADOW.

It's the Middle Ages, and Evyn dreams of becoming a storyteller until tragedy strikes. How can he become the companion to the King of England if he cannot speak?

Bradshaw, Gillian. The wolf hunt.

When Marie Penthievre of Chalandrey is abducted from her Norman priory and taken to the court of Brittany, she vows never to dishonor her family by marrying a Brenton brute, but things change when she meets Tiarnan of Talensac.

Brooks, Geraldine. Year of wonders : a novel of the plague.

The story of a small mountain village in England and housemaid Anna Frith as they try to survive the terrible plague year of 1666.

Buckley, Fiona. A pawn for a queen : an Ursula Blanchard mystery at Queen Elizabeth I's court.

Ursula Blanchard, secret agent for Queen Elizabeth I, arrives in Edinburgh and discovers that her cousin has been murdered while carrying a secret list of families loyal to Elizabeth's rival.

Cadnum, Michael. RAVEN OF THE WAVES.

This captivating historical novel describes the journey of Lismod on his military adventure with his comrades as they destroy and plunder villages in England and take an Anglo-Saxon captive. Setting: Middle-Ages.

Chevalier, Tracy. Falling angels.

The changing social climate in England, spurred by the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, is reflected in the lives of Maude Coleman and Lavinia Waterhouse, two young girls of different classes who meet and become fast friends while their families are visiting adjoining funeral plots.

Coe, Jonathan. The Rotters' Club.

Four boys, classmates and friends, must learn to cope with their own hopes and traumas as well as their country's as they come of age in the turbulent 1970s.

Cornwell, Bernard. Gallows thief.

A veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, Rider Sandman accepts the job of government Investigator in order to survive but finds himself in trouble when his first case pits him against powerful people who wish to see an innocent man hung.

Cushman, Karen. CATHERINE, CALLED BIRDY.

Focusing on the lives of commoners rather than royalty, Catherine's fictional diary shows the struggles and hardships of life in medieval England through the eyes of a strong, witty 14-year-old girl.

Garden, Nancy. DOVE & SWORD: A NOVEL OF JOAN OF ARC.

It is 1429, and young Joan of Arc leaves her village to lead an army. Her best friend, Gabrielle, follows her into battle. Can Gabirelle save the injured soldiers....and Joan?

Gavin, Jamila. Coram boy.

In the mid-eighteenth century, an unsavory character and his simpleton son become involved in the lives of a wealthy English family when that family's eldest son is disinherited because of his love of music.

Hawke, Simon. The slaying of the shrew.

Will Shakespeare and his London roommate, minor player Symington Smythe, travel to a rural estate with their theater company to take part in a wedding pageant and end up investigating the murder of the headstrong bride.

McConnochie, Mardi. Coldwater.

Sisters Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Wolf have lived on Coldwater, a penal colony off the coast of Australia, all their lives, and their isolated existance leads them to dream of far-off cities and exciting events.

Patterson, James and Gross, Andrew. The jester : a novel.

Returning home from the Crusades, a disillusioned Hugh discovers that his village has been ransacked and his wife abducted by relic-seeking knights, a situation that prompts him to pose as a court jester in order to infiltrate the castle where his wife is imprisoned.

Pressler, Mirjam and Murdoch, Brian. Shylock's daughter.

Sixteen-year-old Jessica, who longs to be free of the restrictions of her father and life in the Jewish ghetto of sixteen-century Venice, falls in love with a Christian aristocrat and must make choices which will affect her whole family. Inspired by Shakespeare's play The merchant of Venice.

Priestly, Chris. Death and the arrow.

After his friend Will, a pickpocket in London in 1715, is murdered as part of a series of mysterious deaths, fifteen-year-old Tom Marlowe asks his friend Dr. Harker to help find the killer.

Rees, Celia. Pirates! : the true and remarkable adventures of Minerva Sharpe and Nancy Kington, female pirates.

At the dawn of the eighteenth century, Nancy Kington and Minerva Sharpe, set sail from Jamaica on a pirate vessel, hoping to escape from an arranged marriage and slavery.

Springer, Nancy. I am Morgan le Fay : a tale from Camelot.

In a war-torn England where her half-brother Arthur will eventually become king, the young Morgan le Fay comes to realize that she has magic powers and links to the faerie world.

Yolen, Jane. Sword of the rightful king : a novel of King Arthur.

Merlinnus the magician devises a way for King Arthur to prove himself the rightful king of England--pulling a sword from a stone--but trouble arises when someone else removes the sword first.

World War II & the Holocaust

Lowery, Lois. NUMBER THE STARS.

In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, 14-year old Annmarie learns about bravery and courage when she shelters her Jewish friend from the Nazis.

Magorian, Michelle. GOOD NIGHT, MR. TOM.

An abused child from London is thrust into the care of a reluctant elderly man during World War II.

Mazer, Harry. THE LAST MISSION.

Fifteen years old and Jewish, Jack Rhab lied his way into the U.S.Air Corps only to become a prisoner of the Germans.

Orlev, Uri. THE MAN FROM THE OTHER SIDE.

Anti-Semitic Marek makes profits in the sewers under the Warsaw ghetto during WW II, then his mother reveals his Jewish ancestry to him.

Reiss, Johanna. THE UPSTAIRS ROOM.

A farming family in the Netherlands hides two Jewish sisters from the Holocaust.

Westall, Robert. BLITZCAT.

The World War II adventures of Lord Gort, a cat.

Africa & the Middle East

Gedge, Pauline. CHILD OF THE MORNING.

The story of Hatshepsut, the only female pharaoh.

Geras, Adèle. Troy.

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.

Robinson, Lynda Suzanne. Slayer of gods

Prompted by the teenage Tutankhamen, master spy and detective Lord Mere searches for the killers of Queen Nefertiti.

Shanower, Eric. A thousand ships.

A graphic novel which chronicles the events which started the Trojan War.

Asia and the Pacific

Alai and Lin, Sylvia Li-chun. Red poppies.

An English translation of the Chinese novel in which the second son of the powerful Chieftain Maichi in 1930s Tibet, written off as an idiot, recalls his pampered childhood in the brutal world, and how his family became wealthy--and drew the ire of neighbors--by growing poppies for the Chinese Nationalist government.

Choi, Sook Nyul. YEAR OF IMPOSSIBLE GOOD-BYES.

After surviving World War II, a North Korean family must flee the communists.

Irwin, Hadley. KIM/KIMI.

Despite a warm relationship with her mother, stepfather, and half brother, Kim feels she needs to find answers about the Japanese American father she never knew.

Min, Anchee. Wild Ginger.

Wild Ginger, subjected to the abuse of her classmates because of her half-French heritage, becomes a national hero of the Cultural Revolution when an act of bravery brings her to the attention of Chairman Mao, but her rise in the Party is threatened when she falls in love with Evergreen, a handsome local boy who is head of the Red Guards.

Patterson, Katherine. THE SIGN OF THE CHRYSANTHEMUM.

A teenager comes to know himself through contacts with social ills and political unrest while searching for his father in Japan's capital, centuries ago.

Taylor, Theodore. THE BOMB.

After World War II, Sorry Rinamu tries to stop the atomic bomb test that will render his Bikini Island home uninhabitable.

Watkins, Yoko K. SO FAR FROM THE BAMBOO GROVE.

As World War II ends, a Japanese family tries to escape Korea to return to their homeland.

Page maintained by: WHS Library