Historical Survival Stories

Before Cyrano de Bergerac became a famous swordsman, poet, inventor, and iconoclast hero, he was an awkward teenager just like the rest of us. Find out what adventures turned him into the courageous, self-assured, hero we know and admire when you listen to Young Cyrano. Follow him on his teenage exploits with his best friend, Le Bret, and his first love, Roxanne. Adventure! Mysteries! Romance! Freemasons! Poetry, and of course, swordfights!

It will soon be another cold winter in the Ukraine. But it's 1941, and things are different this year. Max, the devoted caretaker of an animal preserve, must learn to live with the Nazis who have overtaken this precious land. He must also learn to keep secrets - for there is a girl, Kalinka, who is hiding in the park.

Eighteen-year-old Constance is not interested in marriage or in being a “young lady”. But for a young woman coming of age in the early 1800s, that’s just about all that’s available to her. When her parents arrange her a marriage with a man more than twice her age, she’s powerless to resist. Stance couldn’t possibly find her newfound husband less appealing, but what can she do? Here’s what: Four months into the marriage, she can slip out of their bed in the middle of the night, and she can put on his clothes.

Lola Montez was one of the most celebrated and notorious women of the nineteenth century. A raven-haired Andalusian who performed her scandalous “Spider Dance” in the greatest performance halls across Europe, she dazzled and beguiled all who met her with her astonishing beauty, sexuality, and shocking disregard for propriety. But Lola was an impostor, a self-invention. Born Eliza Gilbert, the beautiful Irish wild child escaped a stifling marriage and reimagined herself as Lola the Sevillian flamenco dancer and noblewoman.

Maxwell Smart tenía solo once años cuando toda su familia fue asesinada. Pudo haber muerto también, pero su madre le ordenó salvarse. Huyó al bosque, cavó un hoyo para refugiarse y buscó comida en las granjas cercanas. Con la ropa hecha harapos y al borde de la inanición, escapó repetidamente de la muerte a manos de los nazis. Después de meses en soledad, Maxwell se encontró con otro niño que deambulaba por el bosque en busca de comida. Janek, al igual que Maxwell, era huérfano y los dos se hicieron amigos.

"An extraordinary saga." —David Grann, New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon The mesmerizing account of a granddaughter's search for a World War II family history hidden for sixty years Growing up in Paris as the daughter of a German mother and an Irish father, Svenja...

It's 1861, and although Mike Kelly is far younger than the legal age of 16, he and his best friend Todd secretly join up with the Second Kansas Infantry and become army drummer boys. Mike's dreams of glory end when he's wounded at the bloody Battle of Wilson's Creek and must begin a dangerous adventure behind enemy lines.

Avec un récit engageant et authentique de ses expériences en tant que prisonnier de guerre évadé, ce témoignage captivant détaille la vie et les luttes d'un pilote capturé en 1917 en Europe ravagée par la guerre. Le lieutenant John Ryan était impatient de voir l'action pendant la Première Guerre mondiale. Il a rejoint les couleurs britanniques par Canada. En tant que l'un des nombreux pilotes américains du Royal Flying Corps avant que les États-Unis n'entrent en guerre, il a gagné ses ailes et est devenu un as par des féroces batailles aériennes dans le ciel allemand.

Ten-year-old Benny found the drunken cart driver who caused his father's death, but he's got bigger mysteries to solve. A long, sharp knife, a bag of disguises and a savage black stallion don't reassure Benny about his traveling companion to frontier Missouri. Still, Benny can’t shake the Scripture’s promise that God “will never leave thee nor forsake thee."

When Remi sneaks away from his family on a deer-hunting trip, he has one goal in mind: to successfully hunt the biggest buck in all the West. But he quickly realizes that he is hopelessly lost. In desperation, he takes shelter in a cave. When he awakens the next morning, he finds he has been mysteriously transported back in time to 1855....

A moving story, wrapped in humor, about love, loss, and hope in one of history’s darkest hours. 1933. Hitler’s rise to power in Germany marks the beginning of the end for the Jews of Europe. For little newborn Yaakov, this is only the beginning. Hungary, 1944. 11-year-old Yaakov and his parents and younger sister are forced out of their home into the unknown. They find themselves in the ghetto, living under impossible conditions, until they are banished by the Nazis to Bergen Belsen concentration camp through Austria, what might be their final destination.

Orphaned in Poland at the age of 13, Tadeusz "Tad" Haska survived World War II on the run, narrowly evading the Nazis every step of the way. After the war, he daringly escaped jail from the Soviet Secret Police, fled to Sweden, and launched an elaborate plan to smuggle his wife in a coffin on an all-male naval ship. Discover how Tad's knowledge of nine languages helped him survive in the face of unspeakable adversity.

Snub is a young gorilla, living in the heart of what will eventually be known as Africa. She is jealous of her mother's new baby and restless in her need to explore. When a natural disaster shakes up her family, Snub finds herself as the guardian of her young sibling and lost in a reshaped world. Snub may feel orphaned, but she's not alone. There are other creatures stalking through the woods - a new form of predator, walking on two legs.

One bright spring morning in the woods of France, a soldier, blinded by the war, is found by a little girl named Coco, and her older sister Marcelle. In return for their kindness, the soldier tells the sisters marvelous tales, each story connected to the keepsake he carries in his pocket: a perfect, tiny, silver donkey.

Chance—an anthropomorphized Lucky Strike—narrates its journey from leaf to factory to ration box in the pocket of Philip Martin, a Missouri farm boy. On the Channel and at Omaha, Chance observes courage in many forms: Sally’s brief blaze, Winston’s unlit benediction, Terry’s loud luck, Philip’s quiet endurance. The landing’s chaos yields a long aftermath—hedgerows, letters unsent, and a silence that follows Philip home.

Master storyteller Tom Palmer returns with a deeply moving and beautifully told novel of friendship and belonging, inspired by the incredible true story of the Windermere Boys. "The best children’s fiction book I’ve yet read about the Holocaust" – Tim Robertson, CEO Anne Frank Trust...

In the deadly chaos of the First World War, one horse witnesses the reality of battle from both sides of the trenches. Bombarded by artillery, with bullets knocking riders from his back, Joey tells a powerful story of the truest friendships surviving in terrible times. One horse has the seen the best and the worst of humanity. The power of war and the beauty of peace. This is his story.

A legend is born An extraordinary story of the Knights Templar. On the Iberian Peninsula the wars of the Reconquista rage across Aragon and Castile. Once again, the Moors are gaining the upper hand. Christendom is divided. Amidst the chaos is a young knight: Arnau of Vallbona. After his Lord is...

Charlotte has spent her whole life fighting the British Empire, following in the footsteps of her parents and their group of rebels. But when her reunion with her mother laid bare horrible truths about the rebellion, Charlotte knew she had to escape. Now she is on the run, with no idea who the enemy is - or which of her compatriots is truly on her side.

The Castaways finds Tom Tin and four other convicts drifting on the ocean when they come upon an empty ship. Shortly after, they also encounter two men who appear to be refugees from the abandoned vessel. But these two are not what they seem, and they become an obstacle for Tom as he travels home.