Teen Historical Fiction that Rocks(updated)
Discover the best teen historical fiction books that rock! Explore our updated list of captivating reads perfect for young adults who love history, adventure, and drama.
Book
The Luxe
by Anna Godbersen
In Manhattan in 1899, five teens of different social classes lead dangerously scandalous lives, despite the strict rules of society and the best-laid plans of parents and others.
Book
Rumors: A Luxe Novel
by Anna Godbersen
The hot new Luxe series continues as Penelope takes Elizabeth's tragic absence as an opportunity to remake her image, Lina continues her own identity makeover by latching onto a wealthy benefactor, and ill-fated lovers Diana and Henry struggle with their emotions--and each other.
Book
Bewitching Season
by Marissa Doyle
In 1837, as seventeen-year-old twins, Persephone and Penelope, are starting their first London Season they find that their beloved governess, who has taught them everything they know about magic, has disappeared.
Book
The Red Queen's Daughter
by Jacqueline Kolosov
Mary Seymour is the daughter of the great Katherine Parr--the last Queen of Henry VIII. Orphaned at a young age because of her mother's bad marriage to Thomas Seymour, Mary determines early on that love is a sentiment that causes foolishness at best, and death at worst. She is sent to be raised by Lady Strange, a mysterious noblewoman who informs her of her destiny: Mary is to be a white magician who will join Queen Elizabeth's court and ensure her safe reign. /DIV After spending her early years honing her education and learning the arts of the white magician, Mary is indeed invited to join Elizabeth's court as a Lady in Waiting. There is she is met with warm welcome from the Queen, but soon realizes that the court is also rife with ambitious men and women who are jockeying for power. The most dangerous of these is Edmund Seymour, Mary's cousin. The moment she meets the dark, mysterious courtesan, Mary is drawn to him despite herself. Edmund is a black magician--the mirror image of Mary's own powers. DIVWhen Edmund becomes embroiled in a plot to overthrow the Queen, Mary has to risk everything she believes to fulfill her calling. But playing this dangerous game could cost her more than she ever imagined.
Book
Newes from the Dead
by Mary Hooper
In 1650, while Robert, a young medical student, steels himself to assist with her dissection, twenty-two-year-old housemaid Anne Green recalls her life as she lies in her coffin, presumed dead after being hanged for murdering her child that was, in fact, stillborn.
Book
A Company of Swans
by Eva Ibbotson
In 1912 England, 19-year-old Harriet Morton leads a dreary existence. Her ballet class is her only joy. When Father won't let her travel on a ballet tour to South America, Harriet creates a clever ruse that covers her escape and triggers an experience far beyond her dreams.
Book
The Morning Gift
by Eva Ibbotson
It is pre-World War II and Ruth Beger falls in love with Heini Radek, a young prodigy, who is studying piano at the Conservatoire in Vienna. When Hitler's troops invade Austria, Ruth has the opportunity to escape to England, but at the price of betraying her love to Heini and marrying someone else.
Book
A Countess Below Stairs
by Eva Ibbotson
A delicious historical romance perfect for fans of Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs After the Russian Revolution turns her world topsy-turvy, Anna, a young Russian countess, has no choice but to flee to England. penniless, Anna hides her aristocratic background and takes a job as servant in the household of the esteemed Westerholme family, armed only with an outdated housekeeping manual and sheer determination. Desperate to keep her past a secret, Anna is nearly overwhelmed by her new duties--not to mention her instant attraction to Rupert, the handsome Earl of Westerholme. to make matters worse, Rupert appears to be falling for her as well. As their attraction grows stronger, Anna finds it more and more difficult to keep her most dearly held secrets from unraveling. And then there's the small matter of Rupert's beautiful and nasty fiancee. . . .
Book
A Song for Summer
by Eva Ibbotson
On the eve of World War II, a young Englishwoman takes a job as housemother in a boarding school in Austria. She falls in love with the groundsman who is in reality a Czech composer. The arrival of the Nazis leads to drama, the lovers are separated but they will reunite. By the author of Madensky Square.
Book
At the Sign of the Sugared Plum
by Mary Hooper
It is 1665 and Hannah is full of excitement at the prospect of her first trip to London. She is going to help her sister, Sarah, in her candy shop, 'The Sugared Plum'. But Hannah does not get the welcoming reception she expected from her sister, because the Plague is taking hold of London. However, Hannah is determined to stay and together the two young women face the worst-with the possibility of their own demise, growing ever closer. But through it all they persevere with the support of their neighbors and each other. And at last, they find hope in a daring attempt to escape the city.
Book
The Remarkable Life and Times of Eliza Rose
by Mary Hooper
Thrown out of her home by her stepmother in 1670, fifteen-year-old Eliza Rose becomes a companion to Nell Gwyn, a mistress of Charles II, and learns a surprising truth about her parentage.
Book
A Great and Terrible Beauty
by Libba Bray
The first book in the critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling Gemma Doyle trilogy, the exhilarating and haunting saga from the author of The Diviners series and Under the Same Stars. It’s 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma’s reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she’s been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence’s most powerful girls—and their foray into the spiritual world—lead to? “A delicious, elegant gothic.”—PW, Starred “Shivery with both passion and terror.”—Kirkus Reviews "Compulsively readable." --VOYA A New York Times Bestseller A Publishers Weekly Bestseller A Book Sense Bestseller BBYA (ALA/YALSA Best Book for Young Adults) Iowa High School Book Award Garden State Teen Book Award Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award
Book
Rebel Angels
by Libba Bray
The second book in the critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling Gemma Doyle trilogy, an exhilarating and haunting saga from the author of The Diviners series and Under the Same Stars. Ah, Christmas! Gemma Doyle is looking forward to a holiday from Spence Academy, spending time with her friends in the city, attending ritzy balls, and on a somber note, tending to her ailing father. As she prepares to ring in the New Year, 1896, a handsome young man, Lord Denby, has set his sights on Gemma, or so it seems. Yet amidst the distractions of London, Gemma’s visions intensify–visions of three girls dressed in white, to whom something horrific has happened, something only the realms can explain. . . . The lure is strong, and before long, Gemma, Felicity, and Ann are turning flowers into butterflies in the enchanted world of the realms that Gemma alone can bring them to. To the girls’ great joy, their beloved Pippa is there as well, eager to complete their circle of friendship. But all is not well in the realms–or out. The mysterious Kartik has reappeared, telling Gemma she must find the Temple and bind the magic, else great disaster will befall her. Gemma’s willing to do his intrusive bidding, despite the dangers it brings, for it means she will meet up with her mother’ s greatest friend–and now her foe, Circe. Until Circe is destroyed, Gemma cannot live out her destiny. But finding Circe proves a most perilous task. “Extraordinary.”—VOYA in a Perfect 10 Review “Remarkable.” —School Library Journal A New York Times Bestseller A USA Today Bestseller A Publishers Weekly Bestseller A Book Sense Bestseller A Book Sense Top Ten Selection BBYA (ALA/YALSA Best Book for Young Adults) Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award Iowa High School Book Award Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award Golden Spur Children’s Literature Book Award (TX)
Book
In the Serpent's Coils
by Tiffany Trent
In this debut title of "Hallowmere," a dark, edgy, historical fantasy series, 15-year-old Corrine is orphaned after the Civil War and finds herself propelled into an ancient battle between dark vampiric Fey and the mortal world.
Book
By Venom's Sweet Sting
by Tiffany Trent
In 1866, after her boarding school is destroyed, Corrine and two of her classmates travel to Scotland to retrieve the stolen rathstone from the Unhallowed, but when tensions arise among the girls, Corrine is uncertain in whom to put her trust.
Book
Between Golden Jaws
by Tiffany Trent
Corrine and her friends travel to London, hoping to find a rathstone that will help them end the ongoing war with the Fey.
Book
Maiden of the Wolf
by Tiffany Trent
When Ilona is sent to an unfamiliar world to search for its rathstone, she finds a chance at love that may cost her the mission to protect Hallowmere.
Book
A Northern Light
by Jennifer Donnelly
Set in 1906 against the backdrop of the murder that inspired Theodore Dreiser's "An American Tragedy," this Printz Honor Book effortlessly weaves romance, history, and a murder mystery into something moving, real, and wholly original.
Book
Song of the Sparrow
by Lisa Ann Sandell
This lyrical novel in verse tells the tale of fiery, 16-year-old Elaine of Ascolat--who will one day be known in poems and paintings as RThe Lady of ShalottS from Arthurian lore.
Book
Nobody's Princess
by Esther M. Friesner
Determined to fend for herself in a world where only men have real freedom, headstrong Helen, who will be called queen of Sparta and Helen of Troy one day, learns to fight, hunt, and ride horses while disguised as a boy, and goes on an adventure throughout the Mediterranean world.
Book
Nobody's Prize
by Esther M. Friesner
Still longing for adventure, Princess Helen of Sparta maintains her disguise as a boy to join her unsuspecting brothers as part of the crew of the Argo, the ship commanded by Prince Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece.
Book
The Lacemaker and the Princess
by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
This vivid portrait of France on the eve of the Revolution is also a touching tale of two friends torn apart by class and the powerful political force of democratic freedom.
Book
No Shame, No Fear
by Ann Turnbull
A young Quaker girl and the son of a wealthy merchant face intolerance and persecution in 1662 England in this gripping historical novel that evokes the passion and idealism of young love.
Book
Keturah and Lord Death
by Martine Leavitt
When Lord Death comes to claim sixteen-year-old Keturah while she is lost in the King's Forest, she charms him with her story and is granted a twenty-four hour reprieve in which to seek her one true love.
Book
The Minister's Daughter
by Julie Hearn
Set during the tumultuous era of the Civil War in England, this stunning debut by a student of Philip Pullman ("His Dark Materials") captures the superstition, passion, madness, and magic of a vanished age.
Book
Star-crossed
by Linda Collison
Having been discovered as a stowaway as she tries to reach Barbados in 1760 to claim her father's estate, teenaged English orphan Patricia Kelley struggles to survive by learning to be a ship's doctor and by disguising herself as a man when necessary. Includes glossary of nautical terms.
Book
The Misadventures of Maude March
by Audrey Couloumbis
Eleven-year-old Sallie March is a whip-smart tomboy and voracious reader of Western adventure novels. When she and her sister Maude escape their self-serving guardians for the wilds of the frontier, they begin an adventure the likes of which Sallie has only read about. This time however, the "wanted woman" isn't a dime-novel villian, it's Sallie's very own sister! What follows is not the lies the papers printed, but the honest-to-goodness truth of how two sisters went from being orphans to being outlaws—and lived to tell the tale!
Book
Maude March on the Run!, Or, Trouble is Her Middle Name
by Audrey Couloumbis
Due to a misunderstanding over her involvement in a botched robbery, Maude, with younger sister Sallie, hides out at the home of an uncle, but when she is discovered and arrested, the orphaned sisters flee, trying to clear Maude's name.
Book
Duchessina, a Novel of Catherine de Medici
by Carolyn Meyer
While her tyrannical family is out of favor in Italy, young Catherine de Medici is raised in convents, then in 1533, when she is fourteen, her uncle, Pope Clement VII, arranges for her marriage to prince Henri of France, who is destined to become king.
Book
Mary, Bloody Mary
by Carolyn Meyer
Mary Tudor, who would reign briefly as Queen of England during the mid sixteenth century, tells the story of her troubled childhood as daughter of King Henry VIII.
Book
Marie, Dancing
by Carolyn Meyer
The life, dreams, and struggles of the fourteen-year-old dancer who posed for Degas's most famous sculpture
