Adult Historical Fiction

Seventeen young adult authors across the queer spectrum have come together to create a collection of beautifully written diverse historical fiction for teens. From a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood set in war-torn 1870s Mexico featuring a transgender soldier, to two girls falling in love while mourning the death of Kurt Cobain, forbidden love in a 16th-century Spanish convent, or an asexual girl discovering her identity amid the 1970s roller-disco scene, All Out tells a diverse range of stories across cultures, time periods and identities, shedding light on an area of history often ignored or forgotten.

After fighting in the Trojan War against her own people, Daphne is plagued by memories—of her family, of her shortcomings, of her lover, Apollo, and of the secrets he and the gods keep. As she reels from the horrendous sacrifice she had to make and her own failure in the battle for Troy, she knows the Titans are out there—just beyond the island of Aeaea where she has taken refuge—raging a war against the world. As Daphne struggles to regain her will to fight as well as rein in the new abilities that have been thrust upon her, the gods call for her help once more.

Alosa est la fille de Kalligan, Roi pirate qui règne (et terrorise) les mers. Son père décide de l'envoyer en mission pour enfin mettre la main sur une mystérieuse et très ancienne carte au trésor qui mènerait à des richesses incommensurables. Pour réussir son défi, la courageuse Alosa accepte de se laisser capturer par ses pires ennemis, s'offrant ainsi la possibilité d'infiltrer leur navire. Captive au milieu d'un impitoyable équipage de pirates cruels, Alosa sait pourtant que la fameuse carte est à portée de main.

In the last glittering decade of European empires, courts, and kings, three young women are on a collision course with history—and with each other.

Visionary. Alchemist. Savior. Saint. The Prophet Zarathustra has been called many things. Now he spends his time drawing pictures of weird-looking goats. That's what happens when you've been stuck in a prison cell for 200 years. But the man who might be mad, and is definitely supposed to be dead, has suddenly become very valuable again.

In a world of ki powers, the Dragon Empire rules with dragon ki—the power of strength. The empire has invaded and occupied the Tiger Republic, claiming it as their own, and they are on the precipice of eradicating every tiger. On the night of a rare tiger-slaying ceremony, the lives of sixteen-year-olds Seung Lee and Eunji Choi become irrevocably linked when Seung, a servant for the wealthy Choi family, catches Eunji out without a chaperone.

San Francisco, 1906: Fifteen-year-old Mercy Wong is determined to break from the poverty of Chinatown, and an education at St. Clare’s School for Girls is her best hope. Although St. Clare’s is off-limits to all but the wealthiest white girls, Mercy gains admittance through a mix of cunning and a little bribery, only to discover that getting in was the easiest part. Not to be undone by a bunch of spoiled heiresses, Mercy stands strong—until disaster strikes.

The crew of the Prometheus is intent on taking down the world's clock towers so that time can run freely. Now captives, Colton, Daphne, and the others have a stark choice: join the Prometheus' cause or fight back in any small way they can and face the consequences. But Zavier, leader of the terrorists, has a bigger plan - to bring back the lost god of time. As new threats emerge, loyalties must shift. No matter where the Prometheus goes - Prague, Austria, India - nowhere is safe, and every second ticks closer toward the 11th hour.

World War II, 1942. A court decision makes women subject to the draft and eligible for service. The unproven American army is going up against the greatest fighting force ever assembled: the armed forces of Nazi Germany. Three girls sign up to fight. Rio Richlin, Frangie Marr, and Rainy Schulterman are average girls, girls with dreams and aspirations, at the start of their lives, at the start of their loves.

After a life of hurt and disappointment, Raya, the spiky-haired, Doc Marten-wearing 14-year-old decides it’s time to strike out on her own. She leaves the boring English village and what she's determined will be her last foster placement for the excitement of London. But it turns out she’s a witch, with the annoying habit of time-traveling - by accident. And a sarcastic witch’s cat Oscar tags along for the ride. Why would she fling herself into the midst of the Essex Witch Trials in 1645 England?

This fast-paced paranormal adventure combines passion and drama with a historical twist. The lives of Madison and Alexandre are plunged into darkness and danger. To save Maddy, Alexandre is forced back to a world he thought was dead and buried. But time is running out. The chase is on.

As she emerges from the prison of a Puritan New England town, Hester Prynne defies the dark gloom much as the rose blooms against the prison door. With her illegitimate baby, Pearl, clutched in her arms and the letter A - the mark of an adulteress - embroidered in scarlet thread on her breast, Hester holds her head high as she faces the malice and scorn of the townsfolk. Her powerful, bittersweet story is an American classic that continues to touch the hearts of modern readers with its timeless themes of guilt, passion and repentance.

Logicide! Heretic! Everyone knows cats can't talk. Everyone except Niclas, a halfwit slum boy who's just landed a new job as a talking cat's man-servant. But this is Laburnum and the age of Rationalism. Here, the Academy's Inquisition takes illogical happenings very seriously. Locking people up, throwing away keys, that sort of thing. And it's not just the Crimson Men Niclas and his new master have to worry about. A man with no name has come to the capital in search of the Black Science - they call him Witchhunter.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners - and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality. But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped.

When she arrives on Ellis Island as a 17-year-old Irish immigrant, Rose Nolan is looking for a land of opportunities; what she finds is far from all she'd dreamed. Stubborn and tenacious, she refuses to give up. Left alone to fend for herself and her younger sister, Rose is thrust into a hard-knock life of tenements and factory work. When the devastating Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911 rushes into Rose's life, her confusions are brought to an all-too-painful head. To whom and to what can she turn when everything around her is in ashes?

In the aftermath of a rebellion against William the Conqueror, northern England lies in ruins, its people scattered and starved. Aelfric, a 14-year-old thrall, flees from his master and stumbles upon a cache of stolen laundry. The thief? Aliwyn, a girl around his age, ostracized for being “cursed.” In her care is a lost toddler she has rescued from the clutches of greedy thrall traders.

Myers is at his clever best in this witty and action-packed, coming-of-age story of a teenager's summer during the Harlem Renaissance and his run-ins with famous gangsters, writers, and musicians. It's 1925 and Mark Purvis is a 16-year-old with a summer to kill. He'd rather jam with his jazz band (they need the practice), but is urged by his parents to get a job. As an assistant at The Crisis, a magazine for the "new Negro", Mark rubs shoulders with Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen.

From the author of The Walled City comes a fast-paced and innovative novel that will leave you breathless. Her story begins on a train. The year is 1956, and the Axis powers of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan rule. To commemorate their Great Victory, they host the Axis Tour: An annual motorcycle race across their conjoined continents. The prize? An audience with the highly reclusive Adolf Hitler at the Victor's ball in Tokyo. The resistance has given Yael one goal: Win the race and kill Hitler.

In 1892 New Fiddleham, New England, things are never quite what they seem, especially when Abigail Rook and her eccentric employer, R. F. Jackaby, are called upon to investigate the supernatural. First, a vicious species of shape-shifters disguise themselves as a litter of kittens, and a day later their owner is found murdered with a single mysterious puncture wound.

As a consequence of his actions during the Ludus uprising, Fallon's love, Cai, has been stripped of his decurion rank and cast down to serve as one of Caesar's gladiators. Amid fighting for Cai's freedom, Fallon soon learns Caesar's enemies are plotting against him and planning to get revenge on his fearsome gladiatrices. When Caesar is murdered by these conspirators, Fallon and the girls lose any sort of protection they once had. Fallon also realizes the foreign Queen Cleopatra is now in grave danger.