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 Libraries Youth team at Wellington City Libraries
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Today is the last day of the rest of your life
Lust, Ulli
Paper Book
Back in 1984, a rebellious, 17-year old and punked-out Ulli List set out for a wild hitchhiking trip across Italy, from Naples through Verona and Rome, ending up in Sicily. 25 years later, this talented Austrian cartoonist has looked back at that tumultuous summer and delivered a long, dense and...

Austria | Austrian author

Threads that bind
Hatzopoulou, Kika
Paper Book
"Dripping with atmosphere and edged with danger, Threads That Bind weaves together a gorgeous dark tapestry of mystery, fated romance, and modern myth. You won't be able to put this one down." --Alexandra Bracken, New York Times bestselling author of Lore In...

Greece | Greek author

Voices from Chernobyl : the oral history of a nuclear disaster
Aleksievich, Svetlana
Ebook
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award A journalist by trade, who now suffers from an immune deficiency developed while researching this book, presents personal accounts of what happened to the people of Belarus after the nuclear reactor...

Belarus | Belarusian author

The diary of a young girl
Frank, Anne
Paper Book
One of the most moving and eloquent accounts of the Holocaust, read by tens of millions of people around the world since its publication in 1947, presented here in a fine hardcover edition. The Diary of a Young Girl is the record of two years in the life of a remarkable...

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

The island of missing trees
Shafak, Elif
Paper Book
A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK Winner of the 2022 BookTube Silver Medal in Fiction * Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction "A wise novel of love and grief, roots and branches, displacement and home, faith and belief. Balm for our bruised times." -David...

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
A special 20th anniversary hardcover edition of this classic work of world literature When The Unbearable Lightness of Being was first published in English, it was hailed as "a work of the boldest mastery, originality, and richness" by critic Elizabeth Hardwick and named one of the best...

Czechia | Czech author

The Marco effect : a Department Q novel
Adler-Olsen, Jussi
Paper Book
The New York Times and internationally bestselling author returns with an astonishing and sinister case for Department Q All fifteen-year-old Marco Jameson wants is to become a Danish citizen and go to school like a normal teenager. But his uncle Zola rules his former...

Denmark | Danish author

You can't kill Snow White
Alemagna, Be?atrice
Paper Book
In this dark, genre-defying picture-book adaptation of Snow White, acclaimed artist Beatrice Alemagna tells the story from the point of view of the jealous stepmother queen, to complicate the question of goodness and set into high relief the shadow side, with its capacity...

France | French author-illustrator

Catherine's war
Billet, Julia
Paper Book
"A shining story of a young girl who struggles to come of age and find her place in a world fraught with danger." --Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Newbery Honor-winning author of Hitler Youth * Winner of the Youth Prize at the Angoulême International Comics Festival (voted by readers) * Winner...

France | French author

A winter's promise
Dabos, Christelle
Ebook
"A stunningly atmospheric fantasy that doubles as an exceptional character study . . . we can't wait to see where Dabos takes it next." --Entertainment Weekly ("The 10 Best YA Books of 2018")One of Publishers Weekly's Best YA Books of the YearA...

France | French author

The Count of Monte Cristo
Dumas, Alexandre
Paper Book
Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantes is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and becomes determined not only to escape but to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the...

France | French author

The book jumper
GlďĹ˝aser, Mechthild
Paper Book
Amy Lennox doesn't know quite what to expect when she and her mother pick up and leave Germany for Scotland, heading to her mother's childhood home of Lennox House on the island of Stormsay. Amy's grandmother, Lady Mairead, insists that Amy must read while she resides at Lennox House...

Germany | German author

The call
ďĹ˝O Guilin, Peadar
Paper Book
You have three minutes to save your life . . .THREE MINUTESYou wake up alone in a horrible land. A horn sounds. The Call has begun.TWO MINUTESThe Sidhe are close. They're the most beautiful and terrible people you've ever seen. And they've seen you.ONE MINUTENessa...

Ireland | Irish author

The ta?in
Titley, Alan
Ebook

Ireland | Irish author (retelling of 12th-century story of Irish legend)

We want everything : the novel of Italy's hot autumn
Balestrini, Nanni
Paper Book
Explosive novel of Italy's revolutionary 1969 by leading Italian novelist It was 1969, and temperatures were rising across the factories of the north as workers demanded better pay and conditions. Soon, discontent would erupt in what became known as Italy's "Hot Autumn." ...

Italy | Italian author

Between shades of gray
Sepetys, Ruta.
Paper Book
An international bestseller, a #1 New York Times bestseller, and now a major motion picture! Ruta Sepetys's Between Shades of Gray is now the film Ashes in the Snow! "Few books are beautifully written, fewer still are important; this...

Lithuania | Lithuanian-American author

On the edge of gone
Duyvis, Corinne
Paper Book
A thrilling, thought-provoking novel from one of young-adult literature's boldest new talents. January 29, 2035. That's the day the comet is scheduled to hit - the big one. Denise and her mother and sister, Iris, have been assigned to a temporary shelter outside their hometown of...

The Netherlands | Dutch author

172 hours on the moon : a novel
Harstad, Johan
Paper Book
A terrifying thriller for young adult fans of The Martian and paranormal space adventure that will be devoured in one heart-pounding sitting. It's been decades since anyone set foot on the moon. Now three ordinary teenagers, the winners of NASA's unprecedented, worldwide...

Norway | Norwegian author

Lena, the sea and me
Parr, Maria.
Paper Book
In a charming sequel to Adventures with Waffles, Trille and Lena navigate the rough waters of friendship when a new soccer coach and a new girl in school disrupt their seaside escapades. Trille and Lena may be getting older, but they still find everyday adventure--and...

Norway | Norwegian author

A curse of roses
Pinguicha, Diana
Paper Book
17-year-old Yzabel of Aragon is engaged to the young King of Portugal, and under her touch, food turns into flowers...With the populace starving, and barely surviving herself, Yzabel doesn't only need to end her curse--she must reverse it somehow. Turn flowers into food. Desperate, she sets to find...

Portugal | Portuguese author

The hunger angel : a novel
Mu?ller, Herta.
Paper Book
A masterful new novel from the winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize, hailed for depicting the "landscape of the dispossessed" with "the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose" (Nobel Prize Committee) It was an icy morning in January 1945 when the patrol came for seventeen-year...

Romania | Romanian-German author

Anya's ghost
Brosgol, Vera.
Paper Book
Anya could really use a friend. But her new BFF isn't kidding about the "Forever" part . . . Of all the things Anya expected to find at the bottom of an old well, a new friend was not one of them. Especially not a new friend who's been dead for a century. Falling down a...

Russia | Russian-American author-illustrator

The Librarian of Auschwitz
Iturbe, Antonio.
Paper Book
Received 4 Starred Reviews Based on the real-life experience of Dita Kraus^ imprisoned in Auschwitz by the Nazis^ this is the incredible story of a fourteen-year-old girl who risked her life to keep the magic of books alive during the Holocaust. Out of one of the darkest chapters of human...

Spain/Germany | Spanish author

Marina
Ruiz Zafo?n, Carlos
Audiobook
Carlos Ruiz Zafon's haunting gothic mystery, which has long been a cult classic in Spain and is now an international bestseller. "We all have a secret buried under lock and key in the attic of our soul. This is mine." Fifteen-year...

Spain | Spanish author

Wonderful feels like this
Lo?vestam, Sara
Paper Book
Sara Lovestam's Wonderful Feels Like Thisis "a coming-of-age tale of a young artist and is as soulful as it is triumphant" (SLJ) that celebrates being a little bit odd, finding your people, and the power of music to connect us For Steffi, going to school everyday...

Sweden | Swedish author

Heidi
Spyri, Johanna
Paper Book
The classic story of a little orphan girl in the Swiss Alps, with beautiful cover illustrations by Anna Bond, the artist behind world-renowned stationery brand Rifle Paper Co. At the age of five, little orphan Heidi is sent to live with her grandfather in the Alps. Everyone in...

Switzerland | Swiss author

Vita nostra
Di?a?chenko, Marina
Paper Book
"Vita Nostra" -- a cross between Lev Grossman's "The Magicians" and Elizabeth Kostova's "The Historian" [...] is the anti-Harry Potter you didn't know you wanted." -- The Washington Post "Vita Nostra has become a powerful influence on my own writing. It's a book that has the potential...

Ukraine | Ukrainian author


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