Historical Fiction Girl

New beginnings. Shocking revelations. Unexpected endings. As spring turns into summer, Elizabeth relishes her new role as a young wife, while her sister, Diana, searches for adventure abroad. But when a surprising clue about their father's death comes to light, the Holland girls wonder at what cost a life of splendor comes.

Two months after Elizabeth Holland's dramatic homecoming, Manhattan eagerly awaits her return to the pinnacle of society. When Elizabeth refuses to rejoin her sister Diana's side, however, those watching New York's favorite family begin to suspect that all is not as it seems behind the stately doors of No. 17 Gramercy Park South.

In 1930s Berlin, choked by the tightening of Hitler's fist, the Klein family are gradually losing everything that is precious to them. Their 15-year-old daughter, Rosa, slips out of Germany on a Kindertransport train to begin a new life in England. Charged with the task of securing a safe passage for her family, she vows that she will not rest until they are safe. But as war breaks out and she loses contact with her parents, Rosa finds herself wondering if there are some vows that can't be kept....

Four girls. Four generations. One family. The second entry in the beautiful new series from Ann M. Martin. Dana is Abby's daughter - but she's always been much closer to her father, Zander. He's a celebrated New York author who encourages Dana's artistic talents...even if he sometimes drinks too much. Dana is on his side in any argument, regardless of whether he's wrong. And then her father dies. After years of moving, often with her mother and three siblings, Dana is angry at Abby, and wants nothing more than to leave her family and get back to New York City.

A girl known only as Brat has no family, no home, and no future until she meets Jane the Midwife and becomes her apprentice. As she helps the short-tempered Jane deliver babies, Brat—who renames herself Alyce—gains knowledge, confidence, and the courage to want something in life for the first time.

Eliza Ellis has stayed hidden in Balfour Forest for as long as she can remember. Perhaps her only friends are the trees, or her little dog, or her story-telling father called Captain. But at least she is safe from the cruel world outside, a world Captain has warned her against and protected her from. That is, until a handsome stranger named Felton Northwood invades her quiet forest and steals her away. Why does he tell such lies?

Now betrayed by the Emperor he once protected, master swordsman Saukendar leaves the way of the sword behind him forever - so he thinks. When a headstrong peasant girl burning to avenge her murdered family demands that he train her, Saukendar is faced with a momentous choice. Send Taizu away, never see her again - or join her and destroy the tyrant who has nearly destroyed them both.

A professor shows a colleague a painting that he has kept secret for decades. The professor swears it is a Vermeer - but why has he hidden this important work for so long? The reasons unfold in a series of stories that trace ownership of the painting back to World War II and Amsterdam, and still further back to the moment of the work's inspiration.

Brighton, 1930: Maureen O'Connell is a carefree girl, but war is looming, and life will never be the same again. Jack and Nelson have always been dear friends to Maureen. Despite their different backgrounds, they've seen each other through thick and thin. The candle Maureen's always held for Jack burns bright, but just as she's found love, war wrenches them apart. With Jack no longer by her side and Nelson at war, can Maureen look to a brighter future?

1943, Hampshire. Pixie Saunders is 19 and employed in the local armaments factory. Not for the first time, her mother has run off with a dodgy-looking bloke, leaving Pixie to pay the rent and fend for herself. Pixie, along with her best friend, Rita; Em, the factory overseer; and the rest of the girls are making the most of the war while trying to stay alive. The work is dangerous and the hours long, but in the evenings they take off their overalls and go to the pub or, better still, go dancing.

Lyrical yet unsentimental, The Midwife's Apprentice won the coveted 1996 Newbery Medal. Filled with striking characters, it paints unforgettable pictures of village life in the Middle Ages, the midwife's craft, and a very remarkable girl's growing independence and pride.

Through the alternating voices of 12-year-old Morning Girl and her younger brother Star Boy, we step into the extraordinarily rich lives of an indigenous family on a Bahamian Island in 1492, just as their paradise is about to be discovered and a new world order begins to take shape.

In 1940, Germany seizes control of Guernsey without a fight—but not without resistance. Innocent young teacher Catherine is forced to house a German officer. Shrewd waitress Betty seeks to elude the persistent Nazi determined to conquer her. And courageous nurse Helen cares for her patients—both British and German—while hiding a British spy in her seaside cottage. Their fight against the injustices being enacted on their island home brings the women, the spy, and their enemies together in one night that will change all of their lives forever.

In the last months of World War II, 10 Land Girls are serving at Post Stone Farm under the watchful eye of their warden, Alice Todd. The local Land Army representative had at first been reluctant to give Alice the warden’s job, and Roger Bayliss, the farm’s owner, seemed not to have any confidence in her at all. But she proved herself more than capable of the job and she has won the girls’ admiration. Recently divorced and with a 10 year-old son to bring up, Alice fears for the future.

North Atlantic Ocean, 1912. Kate Royston is a witness to history as the RMS Carpathia responds to the Titanic’s desperate SOS. Kate plans to escape personal tragedy by fleeing to Europe, but everything changes when the Carpathia races to save the Titanic’s survivors. Forced to return to New York, Kate abandons her hope of escape and becomes embroiled as a vital witness in the high-profile Senate investigation of the disaster.

Joy McCullough's bold novel in verse is a portrait of an artist as a young woman, filled with the soaring highs of creative inspiration and the devastating setbacks of a system built to break her. McCullough weaves Artemisia's heartbreaking story with the stories of the ancient heroines, Susanna and Judith, who become not only the subjects of two of Artemisia's most famous paintings but sources of strength as she battles to paint a woman's timeless truth in the face of unspeakable and all-too-familiar violence.

A Renaissance-era woman artist and an American scholar. Linked by a 500-year-old mystery...The secrets of the past are irresistible - and dangerous. 1500: Born during a time wracked by war and plague, Renaissance-era artist Mira grows up in a Pyrenees convent believing she is an orphan. When tragedy strikes, Mira learns the devastating truth about her own origins. But does she have the strength to face those who would destroy her? 2015: Centuries later, art scholar Zari unearths traces of a mysterious young woman named Mira in two 16th-century portraits.

He’s the man with the Midas touch. Elijah Wolfe is just as ruthless and aggressive as his name suggests. Born in the harsh Nevada desert, he used his sharp wits and sharper fists to fight for survival, mining ore for terrible men. Until one day, he struck gold—literally. Despite his unimaginable wealth, his heart is empty of trust and his world is full of enemies. He’s come to England searching for a priceless treasure once stolen from him and is prepared to ruin anyone who gets in his way.

As preparations for the 1893 World's Fair set Chicago and the nation on fire, Louis Tiffany - heir to the exclusive Fifth Avenue jewelry empire - seizes the opportunity to unveil his state-of-the-art, stained glass, mosaic chapel, the likes of which the world has never seen. But when Louis' dream is threatened by a glassworkers' strike months before the fair opens, he turns to an unforeseen source for help: the female students at the Art Students League of New York.

Mari Evans has always known life would be hard, but nothing could have prepared her for how quickly things would fall apart. First, the devastating news that her father has a second family – and chose them over her. Then the tragic accident in the pit that leaves her eldest brother unable to work. It started as an off-hand joke, a comment by her brother. ‘Cut your hair, Mari. You could pass for a lad and work the pit in my place.’