Books From Around the World (YA): Europe

It’s often interesting to get a different perspective on the world. Here are some books set in some far-flung places – and some places close to home – grouped by continent/large body of water with islands in it. The books on this list are (mostly) written by authors from the countries they are about, and in many cases have been translated into English from their mother tongues (the book we’ve chosen for Madagascar, Return to the enchanted island by Johary Ravaloson, is only the second book to have ever been translated from Malagasy into English!).

Not all of the books are in the Young Adult collection, but we’ve tried to make sure that they all at least feature kids or teens in prominent places in the story. Our eventual goal is to have at least one book for every country in the world! Help us out by sending in recommendations if you’ve found one we’ve missed!

This list contains books written by authors from Europe. Check out our lists for authors from Africa, Asia, North and Central America, Oceania, and South America for even more recommendations!

Updated June 19, 2024
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Wellington City LibrariesYouth team at Wellington City Libraries
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A dictator calls : a novel
Kadare, Ismail
Paper Book
**LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2024** 'Comrade Stalin wishes to speak with you.' In June 1934, Joseph Stalin allegedly telephoned the famous novelist and poet Boris Pasternak to discuss the arrest of fellow Soviet poet Osip...
Albania | Albanian author
Free : coming of age at the end of history
Ypi, Lea
Paper Book
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION* *SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD* Lea Ypi grew up in one of the most isolated countries on earth, a place where communist ideals had officially replaced religion. Albania, the last Stalinist outpost in...

Albania | Albanian author

Voices from Chernobyl : the oral history of a nuclear disaster
Aleksievich, Svetlana
Paper Book
On 26 April 1986 the worst nuclear reactor accident in history occured in Chernobyl and contaminated as much as three quarters of Europe. While the official Soviet narrative downplayed the accident's impact, Svetlana Alexievich wanted to know how people understood it. She recorded hundreds of...

Belarus | Belarusian author

The diary of a young girl
Frank, Anne
Paper Book
Anne Frank's diary is among the most enduring documents of the twentieth century. She documented her life in hiding from 12 June 1942 to 1 August 1944. Initially, she wrote it strictly for herself. Then, one day in 1944, Gerrit Bolkestein, a member of the Dutch government in exile, announced in a...

The Netherlands | German-born author writing in the Netherlands during World War II

The island of missing trees
Shafak, Elif
Paper Book
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2022 THE TOP TEN SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER & REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK CLUB PICK ***** You don't fall in love in Cyprus in the summer of 1974. Not here, not now. In 1974, two...

Cyprus | Turkish author writing in the context of the Greek-Turkish conflict on the island of Cyprus

The unbearable lightness of being
Kundera, Milan
Paper Book
The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a story of irreconcilable love and infidelities in which Milan Kundera addresses himself to the nature of twentieth-century 'Being', offering a wide range of brilliant and amusing philosophical speculations. First published in 1984, Kundera's masterly novel...

Czechia | Czech author

The Marco effect : a Department Q novel
Adler-Olsen, Jussi
Paper Book
Over three years ago, a civil servant vanished after returning from a work trip to Africa. Missing, presumed dead, the man's family still want answers. It is one of the many unsolved crimes left for Department Q, Denmark's cold case unit headed up by Detective Carl Morck. ...

Denmark | Danish author

Maresi
Turtschaninoff, Maria
Paper Book
A world where girls live in fear. A safe haven far away. But is it far enough? This is Maresi's story.

Finland | Finnish author (originally written in Swedish)

The Count of Monte Cristo
Dumas, Alexandre
Paper Book
Alexandre Dumas's epic tale of suffering and retribution, inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment--nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantes is confined to...

France | French author

My soul twin
Haratischwili, Nino
Paper Book
A modern-day Wuthering Heightsfrom the author of international bestseller The Eighth Life. Two families, one devastating secret, and an epic story of forbidden love. Eight years have passed since Stella last saw Ivo, but when he returns, the reunion of their unconventional family...

Germany | Georgian-born German author

Moonstone : the boy who never was
Sjo?n
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE SWEDISH ACADEMY'S NORDIC PRIZE 2023 Winner of the Icelandic Literary Prize 'An extraordinary and original writer' A.S. Byatt on Sjón Reykjavik, 1918. The eruptions of the Katla volcano darken the sky night and day. Yet...

Iceland | Icelandic author

Bog child
Dowd, Siobhan.
Paper Book
Digging for peat in the mountain with his Uncle Tally, Fergus finds the body of a child, and it looks like she's been murdered. As Fergus tries to make sense of the mad world around him - his brother on hunger-strike in prison, his growing feelings for Cora, his parents arguing over the Troubles,...

Ireland | Irish author

The call
O? Guilin, Peadar
Paper Book
What if you only had three minutes to save your life and the clock is already counting down. Three minutes: you wake up alone in a horrible land. A horn sounds. You realize youve been Called. Two minutes: they're getting closer and despite all your training youre exhausted, you can't see anywhere to...

Ireland | Irish author

Flights
Tokarczuk, Olga
Ebook

Poland | Polish author

The return
Cardoso, Dulce Maria
Paper Book
Everyone has gone away... We too should no longer be here. Luanda, 1975. The Angolan War of Independence has been raging for at least a decade, but with the collapse of the Salazar dictatorship, defeat for the Portuguese is now in sight. Thousands of settlers are...

Portugal | Portuguese author

The librarian of Auschwitz
Iturbe, Antonio
Paper Book
For readers of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Choice: this is the story of the smallest library in the world - and the most dangerous. 'It wasn't an extensive library. In fact, it consisted of eight books and some of them were in poor condition. But they...

Spain/Germany | Spanish author

Marina
Ruiz Zafo?n, Carlos
Paper Book
We all have a secret buried under lock and key in the attic of our soul. This is mine . . . In May 1980, 15-year-old Óscar Drai suddenly vanishes from his boarding school in the old quarter of Barcelona. For seven days and nights no one knows his whereabouts . . . ...

Spain | Spanish author

Heidi
Spyri, Johanna
Paper Book
Heidi is 5 when she is taken to live with her grandfather, in the Swiss mountains. Just as Heidi grows fond of her new family, she is taken to Frankfurt to be a companion to Clara. Although she brings joy into Clara's life, Heidi pines for her home in the mountains. Only a miracle can bring joy, but...

Switzerland | Swiss author

Vita nostra
Di?a?chenko, Marina
Paper Book
Our life is brief . . . The definitive English language translation of the internationally bestselling Russian novel - a brilliant dark fantasy combining psychological suspense, enchantment, and terror that makes us consider human existence in a fresh and provocative way. 'A book that has the...

Ukraine | Ukrainian author

The orphanage : a novel
Z?H?adan, Serhii?
Ebook
A searing novel that excavates the human collateral damage wrought by the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine

Ukraine | Ukrainian author


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