Historical and War (YA)

If you like reading novels set in times gone by you might find something interesting on this list. Also included are some war books (many and varied wars! Including the American Revolution, World War II, the Iraq War). Some are more 'historical' than others!

Updated June 19, 2024
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Wellington City LibrariesYouth team at Wellington City Libraries
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Freedom Swimmer
Chim, Wai
Paper Book
A powerful story of friendship, bravery, and a desperate bid for freedom, inspired by true events. Ming survived the famine that killed his parents during China's "Great Leap Forward", and lives a hard but adequate life, working in the fields. When a group of city boys comes to the...
Historical setting: Maoist China
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dumas, Alexandre
Paper Book
Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read A popular bestseller since its publication in 1844, The Count of Monte Cristo is one of the great page-turning thrillers of all time. Set against the tumultuous years of...

Historical setting: 1800s France

These violent delights
Gong, Chloe
Paper Book
An Instant New York Times Bestseller! A BuzzFeed Best Young Adult Book of 2020 Perfect for fans of The Last Magician and Serpent & Dove, this heart-stopping debut is an imaginative Romeo and Juliet retelling set in 1920s Shanghai...

Historical setting: 1920s Shanghai, China

The librarian of Auschwitz
Iturbe, Antonio
Paper Book
Based on the experience of real-life Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus, this is the incredible story of a girl who risked her life to keep the magic of books alive during the Holocaust. Fourteen-year-old Dita is one of the many imprisoned by the Nazis at Auschwitz. Taken, along...

Historical setting: World War II

Alex & Eliza : a love story
De la Cruz, Melissa
Paper Book
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Witches of East End and the Descendants series comes the love story of young Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler. 1777. Albany, New York.   As battle cries of the American Revolution echo in...
Historical setting: American Revolution, 1770s USA
Courting darkness
LaFevers, Robin
Paper Book
First in a duology, this darkly thrilling page-turner set in the world of the best-selling His Fair Assassin series is perfect for fans of THRONE OF GLASS, RED QUEEN, and GAME OF THRONES. Told in alternating perspectives, when Sybella discovers there is another trained assassin from...

Historical setting: 1400s France

Butterfly yellow
Lai, Thanhha
Paper Book
Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction! Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo, Ibi Zoboi, and Erika L. Sánchez, this gorgeously written and deeply moving novel is the YA debut from the award-winning author of Inside Out & Back Again. 4 starred reviews! In the...

Historical setting: Vietnam War, 1950s - 1970s

Luck of the Titanic
Lee, Stacey
Paper Book
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Downstairs Girl comes the richly imagined story of Valora and Jamie Luck, twin British-Chinese acrobats traveling aboard the Titanic on its ill-fated maiden voyage. Valora Luck has two things: a ticket...

Historical setting: 1912 North Atlantic

Last night at the Telegraph Club
Lo, Malinda
Paper Book
Winner of the National Book Award A New York Times Bestseller "The queer romance we've been waiting for."--Ms. Magazine Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can't remember exactly when the feeling took root--that desire to look, to move closer, to touch....

Historical setting: 1950s USA

This rebel heart
Locke, Katherine
Paper Book
A tumultuous tale of the student-led 1956 Hungarian revolution--and an all too timely look at the impact of Communism and the USSR in Eastern Europe--set in a fabulist, colorless post-WWII Budapest from Sydney Taylor Honor winner Katherine Locke.   "A haunting, beautiful...

Historical setting: Hungarian Revolution of 1956

An emotion of great delight
Mafi, Tahereh
Paper Book
From bestselling and National Book Award-nominated author Tahereh Mafi comes a stunning novel about love and loneliness, navigating the hyphen of dual identity, and reclaiming your right to joy--even when you're trapped in the amber of sorrow. It's 2003, several months since the US...

Historical setting: Iraq War (2003-)

Daughters of a dead empire
O'Neil, Carolyn Tara
Paper Book
"This fresh, thrilling take on Anastasia establishes that O'Neil is a debut author to watch." --Buzzfeed From debut author Carolyn Tara O'Neil comes a thrilling alternate history set during the Russian Revolution. Russia, 1918: With the execution of...

Historical setting: 1918 Russia

The fountains of silence : a novel
Sepetys, Ruta
Paper Book
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray comes a gripping, extraordinary portrait of love, silence, and secrets under a Spanish dictatorship. Madrid, 1957. Under the fascist dictatorship of General Francisco...

Historical setting: 1950s Spain

Between shades of gray
Sepetys, Ruta.
Paper Book
The inspiration for the major motion picture Ashes in the Snow! "Few books are beautifully written, fewer still are important; this novel is both." --The Washington Post From New York Times and international bestseller and Carnegie...

Historical setting: World War II Lithuania

Black Dove White Raven
Wein, Elizabeth
Paper Book
Don't miss Elizabeth Wein's stunning new novel, Stateless Emilia and Teo's lives changed in a fiery, terrifying instant when a bird strike brought down the plane their stunt pilot mothers were flying. Teo's mother died immediately, but Em's...

Historical setting: World War II Ethiopia

White Rose
Wilson, Kip
Paper Book
"In a searing indictment of silent complicity, White Rose shines a light on one remarkable young woman's insistence on the power of truth, no matter the cost. A timely call to resistance." - Joy McCullough, author of Blood Water Paint "White Rose is a resonant...

Historical setting: World War II Germany

The book thief
Zusak, Markus
Other
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 BEST YA BOOKS OF ALL TIME * A NEW YORK TIMES READER TOP 100 PICK FOR BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY The extraordinary, beloved novel about the ability of books to feed the soul even in the darkest of times...

Historical setting: World War II Germany


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