Historical Fiction Girl

1940, London. When Cordelia accepts the post of head librarian in Silver Town Library, her mother is more than a little disapproving. The East End has high levels of poverty and illiteracy, and her mother says it’s no place for a woman of her status. But Cordelia is determined to make a difference in these times of strife, and along with her colleagues, Jane and Mavis, she begins to help the local community, making sure everyone knows what the library can offer them. And maybe even a romance will blossom.

He’s the man with the Midas touch. Elijah Wolfe is just as ruthless and aggressive as his name suggests. Born in the harsh Nevada desert, he used his sharp wits and sharper fists to fight for survival, mining ore for terrible men. Until one day, he struck gold—literally. Despite his unimaginable wealth, his heart is empty of trust and his world is full of enemies. He’s come to England searching for a priceless treasure once stolen from him and is prepared to ruin anyone who gets in his way.

Florence, 1943. As the bells toll in the solemn dark streets and enemy soldiers loiter by the city’s beautiful bridges, schoolgirl Gabriella is racked with guilt. She is ashamed of the crush she had on the soldier with raven-black hair, a crush that allowed a secret notebook to fall into the hands of the enemy. Faced with her brother’s haunted eyes and the prospect of never seeing her father again, Gabriella is determined to make things right. She seeks out her old schoolfriend Stefanina, an unlikely member of the Italian resistance with her beautiful curls and scarlet ribbon.

In My Bonny Light Horseman, the infamous pirate, riverboat seductress, master of disguise, and street-urchin-turned-sailor Jacky Faber has been captured by the French and beheaded in full view of her friends and crew.Inconceivable? Yes! The truth is she's secretly forced to pose as an American dancer behind enemy lines in Paris, where she entices a French general into revealing military secrets--all to save her dear friends.

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.

With London still in the grip of war, Cordelia, Mavis, and Jane find themselves facing a new challenge. Determined to make a difference, the librarians band together to organise rent strikes, standing up against dirty landlords and unfair practices. Meanwhile, with the arrival of American GIs in the East End, Cordelia is presented with a temptation too irresistible to bear. Should she follow her head or her heart – stay faithful to her beloved Robert fighting abroad, or enjoy the brief respite from the constant air raids and destruction?

France, 1939: When Jewish refugee Hannah Lerner and her beloved younger sister Lotte arrive in a small French town alone, with no family to turn to, Hannah takes her sister’s trembling hands in hers and promises they will not be separated, no matter what… But when a children’s home offers refuge to Lotte, Hannah has no choice. To keep her sister safe, she has to let her go. And as she leaves Lotte weeping at the gates, she vows that one day they will be together again. Terrified and alone, Hannah is soon rescued by Michel, a charming Frenchman who welcomes her into his home.

Juliana Chastain doesn't know anything about her family history. While her mother was alive she remained very secretive about her past. So when Juliana discovers a photograph of a glamorous French actress from World War Two amongst her mother's possessions, she is in shock to find herself looking at her grandmother - especially as she is arm in arm with a Nazi officer.... Desperate for answers, Juliana is determined to trace the journey of her grandmother. Surely there is more to the photograph than meets the eye?

During World War Two, Churchill declared that 'beauty was duty'. But for the women working at the Yardley cosmetics factory in London's East End, it's friendship and family. Nineteen-year-old Lily Gunn runs the conveyor belt in the factory's Lipstick Room with tight reins, though of all the women working there it's her 16-year-old sister who gives her the most trouble. Especially when Rene's new boyfriend Ronnie gets called up to fight, leaving Rene alone and with a big problem....

The irrepressible Jacky Faber, condemned for life to the English penal colony in Australia for crimes against the Crown, has once again wriggled out of the grasp of British authorities. Back on her flagship, the Lorelei Lee, she eagerly heads back to England in the company of friends and her beloved Jaimy Fletcher.But when the voyage is waylaid by pirates, storms, and her own impetuous nature, Jacky is cast into a world of danger that extends from the South China Sea to the equally treacherous waters of London politics.

On an April day in 1937, the sky opens and fire rains down upon the small Spanish town of Guernica. Seventeen-year-old Sibi and her family are caught up in the horror. Griff, an American military attaché, pulls Sibi from the wreckage, and it’s only the first time he saves her life in a span of hours. When Germany claims no involvement in the attack, insisting the Spanish Republic was responsible, Griff guides Sibi to lie to Nazi officials. If she or her sisters reveal that they saw planes bearing swastikas, the gestapo will silence them—by any means necessary.

It is 1968. Lynnie, a young white woman with a developmental disability, and Homan, an African American deaf man, are locked away in an institution: the School for the Incurable and Feebleminded, and have been left to languish, forgotten. Deeply in love, they escape, and find refuge in the farmhouse of Martha, a retired schoolteacher and widow. But the couple is not alone - Lynnie has just given birth to a baby girl. When the authorities catch up to them that same night, Homan escapes into the darkness, and Lynnie is caught.

Alpha males always get what they want. Once the Queen of England, now nothing but a slave, there is no turning back for inexperienced Anne. History meets fantasy in this steamy romance novella, as Penny Black lets her imagination run wild to take you on an incredible forbidden journey you'll never forget.

A woman in the British Horticultural Society! The very idea horrifies everyone, including ardent horticulturalist Lavinia Harlow, whose own name has been put forth for membership by the provoking Marquess of Huntly. He does it as a joke, of course, to get back at her for an imagined slight - well, to be fair, she had insulted his writing -and Vinnie, older sister to the infamous Harlow Hoyden, is far too sensible to rise to his ridiculous challenge. Determined to head off further scandal, Vinnie dashes off a polite note refusing the honor - which she has every intention of sending.

Sunderland, 1941. As the world war continues the shipyard girls face hardships at home, but work and friendship give them strength to carry on. Gloria is smitten with her newly arrived bundle of joy, but baby Hope’s first weeks are bittersweet. Hope's father is missing at sea, and with their future as a family so uncertain, Gloria must lean on her girls for support. Meanwhile, head welder Rosie has turned her back on love to keep her double life secret. But her persistent beau is determined to find out the truth, and if he does, it could ruin her.

Audie Award, Best Female Narrator, 2016. Jacky Faber is framed as passing confidential U.S. information to the British. Forced to flee Boston, she goes undercover as a governess for a prominent Puritan family. When outed by a nosy postmaster, she deserts the respectability of her position, dons a leotard and slippers, and poses as a Russian tightrope walker in a traveling circus. But the law soon catches up with her, and prospects do not look good.

The siege of Troy has lasted almost ten years. Inside the walled city, food is becoming scarce and the death toll is rising. From the heights of Mount Olympus, the gods keep watch.

London, 1944/45. Kate Henderson is an energetic and spirited young woman. As a trained paramedic and ambulance driver she does her work courageously and with determination, even though underneath she is still wrestling with grief after witnessing the shooting death of her diplomat father seven years earlier. Her father’s murder was never properly investigated and it remains unsolved. Kate’s life is interrupted once more when she wakes up one night to the sound of the air raid alarm and the terror whistles of a bomb’s stabilizers screaming toward the roof of her house.

Hamburg, 1938. Fifteen-year-old Asta is hurrying home from school with her twin brother, Jurgen. The mood in the city is tense - synagogues have been smashed with sledgehammers, and Asta is too frightened to laugh as she used to. But when she and Jurgen are stopped in the street by a friend, her world implodes further. Her Jewish parents have been dragged into the streets by German soldiers, and if she and Jurgen return to their house, they will be taken, too.

Foxfire chronicles the life of five unforgettably real teenage girls in upstate New York in the 1950s. This controversial, topical tale captures the exhilaration of conspiracy, the blaze of youth, and the inevitable end of violence.