Historical Fiction Library

Still Star-Crossed follows the aftermath of the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet, as mysterious figures in Verona are determined to reignite the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets.

Kraków, 1939. A million marching soldiers and a thousand barking dogs. This is no place to grow up. Anna Łania is just seven years old when the Germans take her father, a linguistics professor, during their purge of intellectuals in Poland. She's alone. And then Anna meets the Swallow Man. He is a mystery, strange and tall, a skilled deceiver with more than a little magic up his sleeve. And when the soldiers in the streets look at him, they see what he wants them to see.

Penguin Classics presents Jane Austen’s Emma, adapted for audio and now available as a digital download as part of the Penguin English Library series. Read by the actress Fiona Shaw. Beautiful, clever, rich - and single - Emma Woodhouse is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage. Nothing, however, delights her more than interfering in the romantic lives of others....

I must write this account, and when I have finished, I will burn it. Buried deep within the archives of a convent in medieval France is an untold story of love, loss, and wonder, and the two girls at the heart of it all. Dolssa is an upper-crust city girl with a secret lover and an uncanny gift. Branded a heretic, she’s on the run from the friar who condemned her mother to death by fire, and wants Dolssa executed, too. Botille is a matchmaker and a tavern-keeper, struggling to keep herself and her sisters on the right side of the law in their seaside town of Bajas.

Set in the world of New York Times bestseller Seraphina, a boy on the run from a dragon—among other dangers—seeks refuge in a haunted abbey in this wholly original ghost story about what haunts us, and what connects us.

Instead of mentors, they got monsters. That's what Xerak, Vereez, and Grunwold think when three strange creatures shimmer into being within the circle of Hettua Shrine. Their conclusion is reasonable enough. After all, they've never seen humans before. As for Margaret Blake, Peg Gallegos, and Tessa Brown—more usually known as Meg, Peg, and Teg—they're equally astonished but, oddly enough, better prepared. Age and experience have accustomed them to surprises.

Widge is an orphan with a rare talent for shorthand. His fearsome master has just one demand: steal Shakespeare's play "Hamlet" - or else. Widge has no choice but to follow orders, so he works his way into the heart of the Globe Theatre, where Shakespeare's players perform. As full of twists and turns as a London alleyway, this entertaining novel is rich in period details, colorful characters, villainy, and drama.

Serafina's defeat of the Man in the Black Cloak has brought her out of the shadows and into the daylight realm of her home, Biltmore Estate. Every night, she visits her mother in the forest, eager to learn the ways of the catamount. But Serafina finds herself caught between her two worlds: She's too wild for Biltmore's beautifully dressed ladies and formal customs and too human to fully join her kin.

Are you ready for a presidential adventure? Jack and Annie are! They are whisked back to Washington, DC, in 1861. Jack can’t wait to meet Abraham Lincoln himself! But the new president is too busy to see them, as he is desperately trying to save a nation in crisis. It’s a race against time as Jack and Annie try to aid a president and a troubled nation!

Molly is at summer camp, which is full of exciting surprises. But when it's time for a game of Color War, she's afraid the fun may end. She and her friends are on different teams, and they have to compete against each other.

Giving herself a haircut doesn’t go quite the way she expects—and when she draws a cartoon of her teacher on the first day of fourth grade, she draws more attention than she wants! At least her drawing skills help her make an interesting new friend. Together, they might be able to win the Geography Bee—but only if Maryellen can find a way to help her old friends get past their prejudice.

Claudie Wells wants more than anything to be a person whose imagination can fly, instead of a person whose feet are stuck on the ground. She believes everyone has a talent except for her. She’s growing up in the neighborhood of Harlem in New York City during the 1920s, surrounded by writers and poets, painters and sculptors, actors and dancers, singers and musicians. When an eviction notice threatens her family, friends, and the beloved boardinghouse they share, Claudie has an idea that just might save the day.

John Henry "Doc" Holiday and his team of a few good men are in the hunt of their lives. This time, the call of duty takes them from Savannah, Georgia, to the Bering Strait, to end the reign of terror of a dark army of Guardians, who cruelly engineer murders to look like suicides and procure trophies for the Forbidden Library of a diabolical mastermind known as the Keeper.

Lada Dracul has no allies. No throne. All she has is what she's always had: herself. After failing to secure the Wallachian throne, Lada is out to punish anyone who dares to cross her blood-strewn path. Filled with a white-hot rage, she storms the countryside with her men, accompanied by her childhood friend Bogdan, terrorizing the land. But brute force isn't getting Lada what she wants. And thinking of Mehmed brings little comfort to her thorny heart.

Millie McGonigle lives in sunny California, where her days are filled with beach and surf. It should be perfect - but times are tough. Hitler is attacking Europe, and it looks like the United States may be going to war. Food is rationed, and money is tight. And Millie's sickly little sister gets all the attention. It's all Millie can do to stay calm and feel in control. Still - there's sand beneath her feet. A new neighbor from the city, who has a lot to teach Millie. And surfer boy Rocky to admire - even if she doesn't have the guts to talk to him.

A young woman survives the unthinkable in this stunning and emotionally satisfying tale of family, love, and resilience, set against the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE.

Samantha is a wealthy orphan growing up in 1904. Her grandmother is raising her as a proper young lady with the best of everything. Still, Samantha is lonely. When her Uncle Gard comes to visit with his friend, Miss Cornelia Pitt, and a special gift for Samantha, it doesn’t go well. Even worse, Samantha isn’t allowed to play with Nellie, the girl next door, because Nellie is a servant. So Samantha decides to help Nellie learn to read. Through her forbidden friendship with Nellie, Samantha learns some important things, too—about truth, friendship, and family.

Spanning over 500 years, Pura Belpré Award winner Ruth Behar's epic novel tells the stories of four girls from different generations of a Jewish family, many of them forced to leave their country and start a new life.

It's the summer of AD 79, and Flavia Gemina the sea captain's daughter -along with her friends Jonathan the Jewish boy, Nubia the African slave-girl, and Lupus the homeless beggar-boy - set sail for the Bay of Naples, to stay with Flavia's uncle near Pompeii. They are soon absorbing in trying to solve a riddle that may lead to treasure. But then tragedy strikes - Mount Vesuvius erupts and the children are fleeing for their lives from one of the worst natural disasters ever recorded.

Soon after her best friend, Kitty, mysteriously dies, orphaned 17-year-old Molly Green is sent away to live with her "aunt". With no relations that she knows of, Molly assumes she has been sold as a maid for the price of an extra donation in the church orphanage's coffers. Such a thing is not unheard of. There are only so many options for an unmarried girl in 1850s Philadelphia. Only, when Molly arrives, she discovers her aunt is very much real, exceedingly wealthy, and with secrets of her own. Secrets and wealth she intends to share - for a price.