Magical Historical Fiction (literally and figuratively)
Explore enchanting tales with our list of magical historical fiction books—where history meets fantasy, literally and figuratively. Discover spellbinding stories that blend real eras with mystical elements!
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Wise Child
by Monica Furlong
In a remote Scottish village, nine-year-old Wise Child is taken in by Juniper, a healer and sorceress. Then Wise Child’s mother, Maeve, a black witch, reappears. In choosing between Maeve and Juniper, Wise Child discovers the extent of her supernatural powers—and her true loyalties.
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Power and Stone
by Alice Leader
1340 AD. Britain is a conquered land - the edge of civilisation. It is a long, long way from Rome to Hadrian's Wall - and Marcus isn't sure he wants to be in cold, gloomy Britain. He and his brother have come to be with their soldier father, here at the edge of empire. Bran is a local boy who wants to be friends - but his sister is wary of the Romans. Is it really possible to be friends with your conqueror? As dangerous tensions build, the two families are about to find out . . .
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The Seeing Stone
by Kevin Crossley-Holland
In late twelfth-century England, a thirteen-year-old boy named Arthur recounts how Merlin gives him a magical stone which shows him images of the legendary King Arthur, the events of whose life seem to parallel his own.
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Witch Child
by Celia Rees
The year is 1659, a time of fear and lies. For Mary Newbury, it is a time of desperation. While she watches, unable to intervene, her wise and beloved grandmother is falsely condemned, tortured, and hanged as a witch. Soon the relentless crowd may turn upon Mary. When a mysterious stranger offers her a way out -- safe passage to America -- she knows she must go. But she doesn't know that the turbulent voyage will bring her to yet another society where differences are feared and defiance is deadly. p(No Canadian Rights)
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The Perilous Gard
by Elizabeth Marie Pope
In 1558 while imprisoned in a remote castle, a young girl becomes involved in a series of events that leads to an underground labyrinth peopled by the last practitioners of druidic magic.
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Ghosts I Have Been
by Richard Peck
Blossom Culp is the outspoken outcast of Bluff City, always getting into trouble. No one wants to cross her, especially now that she's revealed that she can see the Unseen. Then Blossom herself is stunned, because her lie turns out to be truth. She actually does have second sight...and she is "on board" the sinking Titanic.
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Time Switch
by Matt Chamings
Strange things are happening behind Jed and Lizzie's house. The ghostly figure of a boy appears out of thin air and vanishes again. Who is he? What does he want? Desperately searching for answers, they make a shocking discovery. One that uncovers a devastating chain of events that began 121 years earlier - with a secret machine of extraordinary powers and a boy trapped in time.
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Waiting for Odysseus
by Clemence McLaren
Four women. Four stories. One man's journey. Odysseus. His epic tale has been told countless times, but rarely is it heard through the voices of the women who loved and served him. Penelope, Circe, Athena, Eurycleia: Theirs are the silent voices, the voices of longing, waiting, strength. They are the women who moved him and motivated him. And now they shed new light on his age-old journey.
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The Forestwife
by Theresa Tomlinson
Mary, 15 years old and an orphan, must flee into Sherwood Forest to avoid an arranged marriage. There her life truly begins, for she finds a community of heroic outlaws that includes a woman with seemingly magic healing powers and a young man who is bravely leading the fight against tyranny. This man is Robin Hood, and Mary will soon be known as Maid Marian, the green lady of the woods. An ALA Notable Book for Children. A "Booklist" Children's Editor's Choice.