Historical Fiction Girl

London, 1916. England is at war. Desperate to help in whatever way they can, Ivy and Louisa enlist as gardeners at Kew, the Royal Botanic Gardens, taking on the jobs of the men who have gone to fight. Under their care, the gardens begin to flourish and become a safe haven for those seeking solace - but not everyone wants women working at Kew. The pair begin to face challenges on the home front. When a tragedy overseas affects the people closest to them, can the women of Kew pull together to support themselves and their country through the darkest of times?

Verity Lockwood despises life at Far View House, where her father and mill owner, Jebediah Lockwood, drowns his fortune—and his wits—in drink. With debts mounting, whispers spread—how much longer can Lockwood’s Mill survive? The dark and dirty mills of Yorkshire are no place for a gently bred young woman, but when Verity learns that her father’s ruin threatens not only her home but the livelihoods of the workers who depend on it, she refuses to stand idly by.

Adelheid Brunner does not speak. She makes herself invisible, hiding in cupboards with her pet rat, Franz Joseph, listening in on conversations she can't fully comprehend. Then she meets Dr. Asperger, a man who lets children play all day and who recognizes the importance of matchboxes. When the Nazis march into the city, a new world is created and difficult choices must be made. Why are the clinic's children disappearing, and where do they go?

Dreams of love are all well and good, but all Prunella Chuffington-Smythe wants is to publish her novel. Marriage at the price of her independence is something she will not consider...Robert Adolphus, The Duke of Bedwin, is in no hurry to marry, he’s done it once and repeating that disaster is the last thing he desires...Surely showing the man she’s not actually the meek little wallflower he is looking for should be enough to put paid to his intentions? When Prue is dared by her friends to do something drastic, it seems the perfect opportunity to kill two birds.

1890: the Gilded Age, a period of financial success and political corruption. The United States is growing at a breathless rate, with six new states recently added to the Union. With expansion comes an influx of crime. Outlaw gangs hold sway on the frontier and heists and robberies are commonplace. Harvey's New Mexico hotel has been robbed and Clare is the perfect recruit to solve this mystery. Clare must infiltrate high society and win the confidence of killers like Butch Cassidy as she seeks the truth.

Samantha is a wealthy orphan growing up in 1904. Her grandmother is raising her as a proper young lady with the best of everything. Still, Samantha is lonely. When her Uncle Gard comes to visit with his friend, Miss Cornelia Pitt, and a special gift for Samantha, it doesn’t go well. Even worse, Samantha isn’t allowed to play with Nellie, the girl next door, because Nellie is a servant. So Samantha decides to help Nellie learn to read. Through her forbidden friendship with Nellie, Samantha learns some important things, too—about truth, friendship, and family.

The Given-Up Girl is the story of Bonnie Koller, who joins the country's brightest women at idyllic Halstead College in 1969. With her roommate Hollis as her guide, Bonnie trades her skirts for jeans and her innocence for independence. An unwanted pregnancy forces Bonnie and Hollis to navigate the traps of pre-Roe America—a boyfriend consumed with fear of the draft, doctors of questionable competence, and a hospital bureaucracy rife with corruption. Their search for an abortion puts their ambitions, their friendship, and their lives at risk.

George MacDonald once declared, “I do not write for children, but for the childlike, whether of five, or 50, or 75.” The Day Boy and the Night Girl is a splendid example of such writing. With words of wonder, beauty, and adventure, and with acute spiritual insight and sensitivity, MacDonald spins an enchanting tale of two children, a boy and a girl, who grow up from infancy in the castle of a witch. Unaware of each other’s presence in the castle, the children are victims of an unnatural design upon them.

Twelve-year-old Ann understands there is only one thing to be grateful for as a slave: having her family together. But when the master falls into debt, he plans to sell both Ann and her younger brother to two different owners. Ann is convinced her family must run away on the Underground Railroad. Will Ann's family survive the dangerous trip to their freedom in the North? This Girls Survive story is supported by a glossary, discussion questions, and nonfiction material on the Underground Railroad, making it a valuable resource for young listeners.

Summer 1939. The glittering Côte d’Azur is having a particularly brilliant season, as the world’s wealthiest vacationers collide with Hollywood’s illustrious movie stars for the first-ever film festival on the French Riviera. Into this hothouse playground comes an American named Annabel Faucon. Having left a dead-end job and a broken heart back in New York, she’s escaped to a summer stint at the fabulous Grand Hotel, where her uncle is the manager.

In 1935, six-year-old Emily Evans vanishes from her family's vacation home on a remote Minnesota lake. Her disappearance destroys the family - her father commits suicide, and her mother and two older sisters spend the rest of their lives at the lake house, keeping a decades-long vigil for the lost child. Sixty years later, Lucy, the quiet and watchful middle sister, lives in the lake house alone. Before her death, she writes the story of that devastating summer in a notebook that she leaves, along with the house, to the only person who might care: her grandniece, Justine.

Housewife Nancy never dreamed that she’d end up in Vickers steelworks factory, but when husband Bert is called up to serve, she needs to put food on the table for her two young children. Betty’s sweetheart, William, has joined the RAF Reserves, so she can’t sit around and do nothing - even if it means giving up her ambitions to study law at night school. Young Patty is relishing the excitement the war brings. But this shop-girl is going to have to grow up quickly, especially now she’s undertaking such back-breaking and dangerous work in the factory.

1942, Amsterdam. The Nazi occupation has shattered the lives of inseparable best friends Hannie and Sonja. The canals and rainy cobbled streets they once strolled down are now patrolled by soldiers day and night, who arrest people at will and beat those who resist. Hannie can’t stand by and watch the lives of the innocent be destroyed by the evil occupiers. At great danger to herself, she joins the underground resistance, where she meets the charming and mysterious Jan. She covers her bright red hair to avoid detection by the Nazis while distributing fake IDs.

It’s 1941 and Christmas is approaching in St. Ives. Shy Lily wishes she could hide from the war. But when her friend Eva writes asking if she’ll join her in St. Ives, Lily can’t refuse. There are officers to nurse back to health and a Christmas party to plan. Eva came to St. Ives to be near Max, the stranger who almost gave his life protecting her from an air-raid. But the wounded pilot keeps pushing her away. Rose can’t help envying Eva, who turns too many heads. But when she suspects the orphanage next door is mistreating its charges, Eva is the only one who can help her.

Beatrice Carraway has dreams. Although she’s aged out of the childhood pageant circuit, she’s intent on carrying her talents all the way to the big screen—if only she can escape the poverty of West Dallas first. But as the Great Depression drags the working class further and further under, Beatrice struggles just to keep herself, her mother, and her younger sister afloat. After a string of failed auditions, she feels defeated. And then in walks Jack Turner.

Loosely inspired by a true story, this tender portrait of marriage asks: What do you do when the person you love has to change? It starts with a question, a simple favor asked by a wife of her husband while both are painting in their studio, setting off a transformation neither can anticipate. Uniting fact and fiction into an original romantic vision, The Danish Girl eloquently portrays the unique intimacy that defines every marriage and the remarkable story of Lili Elbe, a pioneer in transgender history.

There’s a story out there buried in the muck, and Jordan Walsh, coming from a family of esteemed reporters, wants to be the one to dig it up. But it’s 1955, and the men who dominate the city room of the Chicago Tribune have no interest in making room for a female cub reporter. Instead Jordan is relegated to society news, reporting on Marilyn Monroe sightings at the Pump Room and interviewing secretaries for the White Collar Girl column. Of course, that all changes the moment she establishes a secret source inside Mayor Daley’s office.

For 500 years we've been looking at the Mona Lisa, and it turns out that she's been looking right back at us. Over the centuries, few could hear her voice, but now we are let into the secret, as she tells us her story in her own words - a tale of rivalry, murder and heartbreak. And a mystery of Leonardo's greatest lost painting. Weaving through the years, she takes us from the dazzling world of da Vinci's Florentine studio to the French courts at Fontainebleau and Versailles, and into the 20th century.

Fearless Seffy was hoping for a transfer to England to be near Callum, the Canadian soldier she has given her heart to. Instead she is instructed to train a new group of lumberjills. Will their unhelpful attitude finally be a match for Seffy’s determination and cheerfulness? Sensible Jean is a true believer in the wartime effort. When she meets a conscientious objector can she accept that following the rules might not always define a person? And young Missy has come all the way over from Canada to surprise her first love, Callum who is stationed as a soldier in England.

May, 1941. Meet the Air Raid Girls: three young women keen to do their bit during the Yorkshire blitz. Connie's life has taken an unexpected turn since her husband died - she's living at home and working in the family bakery - but night shifts as an ARP warden give her a firm sense of purpose. Her younger sister, Lizzie, is eager to play her part, too, perhaps as an ambulance driver. Twenty-year-old Pamela has led a sheltered life, but when her family's home is destroyed in a raid, she must learn to stand on her own two feet - helped by new friends.