Collection: Historical Fiction

From the author of the My Weird School books, an adventure story that spans centuries and continents.

In Central Park, New York, stands Cleopatra's Needle. But what do you know about? Did you know that thousands of people worked in 1461 BCE to build it? Then hundreds more moved it, and erected it in Alexandria, where it stood for 3,000 years? So how did a monolith weighing over 200 tons get moved all the way to New York City--and in the 19th Century, no less?

In this historical fiction account by bestselling author Dan Gutman, five kids who watched the Needle at each phase of its history recount the daring story of how something that seemed to be impossible -and that nearly ended in disaster--finally succeeded against all odds.

Including photos, diagrams, and illustrations, this book will leave history lovers and fans of problem solving astounded at all that was accomplished. And best of all, it will leave middle grade readers feeling they've just watched a really good movie--they'll hardly even realize they were reading.

Blue at the Mizzen (novel #20) ended with Jack Aubrey getting the news, in Chile, of his elevation to flag rank: Rear Admiral of the Blue Squadron, with orders to sail to the South Africa station. The next novel, unfinished and untitled at the time of the author's death, would have been the chronicle of that mission, and much else besides. The three chapters left on O'Brian's desk are presented here both in printed version-including his corrections to the typescript-and a facsimile of his manuscript, which goes several pages beyond the end of the typescript to include a duel between Stephen Maturin and an impertinent officer who is courting his fiancée.

Of course we would rather have had the whole story; instead we have this proof that O'Brian's powers of observation, his humor, and his understanding of his characters were undiminished to the end.

Includes a Facsimile of the Manuscript.

*"Reminiscent of To Kill a Mockingbird." --Booklist, Starred

"An unforgettable boy and his unforgettable story. I loved it!" --ROB BUYEA, author of Because of Mr. Terupt and Mr. Terupt Falls Again

This Newbery Honor winner is perfect for fans of To Kill a Mockingbird, The King's Speech, and The Help. A boy who stutters comes of age in the segregated South, during the summer that changes his life.

Little Man throws the meanest fastball in town. But talking is a whole different ball game. He can barely say a word without stuttering--not even his own name. So when he takes over his best friend's paper route for the month of July, he's not exactly looking forward to interacting with the customers. But it's the neighborhood junkman, a bully and thief, who stirs up real trouble in Little Man's life.

A Newbery Honor Award Winner
An ALA-ALSC Notable Children's Book
An IRA Children's and Young Adults' Choice
An IRA Teachers' Choice
A Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year
A National Parenting Publications Award Honor Book
A BookPage Best Children's Book
An ABC New Voices Pick
A Junior Library Guild Selection
An ALA-ALSC Notable Children's Recording
An ALA-YALSA Amazing Audiobook
A Mississippi Magnolia State Award List Selection

"[Vawter's] characterization of Little Man feels deeply authentic, with . . . his fierce desire to be 'somebody instead of just a kid who couldn't talk right.'" --The Washington Post

"Paperboy offers a penetrating look at both the mystery and the daily frustrations of stuttering. People of all ages will appreciate this positive and universal story." --Jane Fraser, president of the Stuttering Foundation of America

*"[A] tense, memorable story." --Publishers Weekly, Starred

"An engaging and heartfelt presentation that never whitewashes the difficult time and situation as Little Man comes of age." --Kirkus Reviews

"Vawter portrays a protagonist so true to a disability that one cannot help but empathize with the difficult world of a stutterer." --School Library Journal

Clive Barker, author of The Thief of Always, delivers an epic battle filled with fantasy and adventure that readers won't want to put down!

Candy Quackenbush, her allies, and her enemies are back in Abarat: Absolute Midnight, the third book in Clive Barker's New York Times bestselling Abarat series.

"The waiting is over. Tomorrow there will be no dawn. Only midnight, absolute and eternal." Mater Motley, the Old Mother of Darkness herself--following the events of Abarat and Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War--has crafted a scheme that may destroy the Abarat, a vast archipelago where every hour is an island in one eternal day.

When Candy discovers Mater Motley's secret plot, she realizes that only she can bring an end to the destruction. Only she can stop the complete darkness threatening to abolish all hope and happiness from the Abarat.

Journalist Joe Talbert investigates the murder of the father he never knew, and must reckon with his own family's past, in this "brilliant sequel" to the national bestseller The Life We Bury (Publishers Weekly)

Joe Talbert, Jr. has never once met his namesake. Now out of college, a cub reporter for the Associated Press in Minneapolis, he stumbles across a story describing the murder of a man named Joseph Talbert in a small town in southern Minnesota.

Full of curiosity about whether this man might be his father, Joe is shocked to find that none of the town's residents have much to say about the dead man-other than that his death was long overdue. Joe discovers that the dead man was a loathsome lowlife who cheated his neighbors, threatened his daughter, and squandered his wife's inheritance after she, too, passed away -- an inheritance that may now be Joe's.

Mired in uncertainty and plagued by his own devastated relationship with his mother, who is seeking to get back into her son's life, Joe must put together the missing pieces of his family history -- before his quest for discovery threatens to put him in a grave of his own.

Mary Doria Russell, the bestselling, award-winning author of The Sparrow, returns with Epitaph. An American Iliad, this richly detailed and meticulously researched historical novel continues the story she began in Doc, following Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday to Tombstone, Arizona, and to the gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

A deeply divided nation. Vicious politics. A shamelessly partisan media. A president loathed by half the populace. Smuggling and gang warfare along the Mexican border. Armed citizens willing to stand their ground and take law into their own hands. . . .

That was America in 1881.

All those forces came to bear on the afternoon of October 26 when Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers faced off against the Clantons and the McLaurys in Tombstone, Arizona. It should have been a simple misdemeanor arrest. Thirty seconds and thirty bullets later, three officers were wounded and three citizens lay dead in the dirt.

Wyatt Earp was the last man standing, the only one unscathed. The lies began before the smoke cleared, but the gunfight at the O.K. Corral would soon become central to American beliefs about the Old West.

Epitaph tells Wyatt's real story, unearthing the Homeric tragedy buried under 130 years of mythology, misrepresentation, and sheer indifference to fact. Epic and intimate, this novel gives voice to the real men and women whose lives were changed forever by those fatal thirty seconds in Tombstone. At its heart is the woman behind the myth: Josephine Sarah Marcus, who loved Wyatt Earp for forty-nine years and who carefully chipped away at the truth until she had crafted the heroic legend that would become the epitaph her husband deserved.

In "Asterix and the Cauldron," when a local Gaulish chief wants a cauldron full of money kept out of Roman hands, he entrusts Asterix to guard the loot. When the cash disappears, Asterix and Obelix must find a way to make money... fast! "Asterix in Spain" features our Gaulish hero heading to the Iberian peninsula to rescue the Gran Chen Huevos y Bacon's son. But with the return of the Chief's son to Hispania, comes a culture shock for Asterix and friends. Could Cacofonix the Bard finally find a culture that enjoys his awful singing? "Asterix and the Roman Agent," starts when rumors are spread that Asterix leaked the recipe for the power potion to Rome Asterix must find who started these terrible rumors. These three classic graphic novels are newly translated for an American audience. Includes a new afterword by Alexander Simmons providing historical and cultural context for Asterix, both in 50 B.C. and in the time the classic comics were made addressing various racial depictions

Bernard Cornwell's epic story of the making of England continues in this eleventh installment in the bestselling Saxon Tales series--"like Game of Thrones, but real" (The Observer)--the basis of the hit Netflix television series The Last Kingdom.

His blood is Saxon
His heart is Viking
His battleground is England

"Perhaps the greatest writer of historical adventure novels today" (Washington Post), Bernard Cornwell has dazzled and entertained readers and critics with his page-turning bestsellers. Of all his protagonists, however, none is as beloved as Uhtred of Bebbanburg.

And while Uhtred might have regained his family's fortress, it seems that a peaceful life is not to be - as he is under threat from both an old enemy and a new foe. The old enemy comes from Wessex where a dynastic struggle will determine who will be the next king. And the new foe is Sköll, a Norseman, whose ambition is to be King of Northumbria and who leads a frightening army of wolf-warriors, men who fight half-crazed in the belief that they are indeed wolves. Uhtred, believing he is cursed, must fend off one enemy while he tries to destroy the other. In this new chapter of the Saxon Tales series--a rousing adventure of courage, treachery, duty, devotion, majesty, love and battle, as seen through the eyes of a warrior straddling two worlds--Uhtred returns to fight once again for the destiny of England.

Join the Bridgertons, and the rest of the ton, as they pore over (and gossip about) Lady Whistledown's latest musings. The elusive Regency-era gossip columnist -- popularized in # 1 New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn's Bridgerton novels, now a series created by Shondaland for Netflix - reveals society's most recent secrets in this second glittering anthology, following the New York Times bestseller, The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown.

Who Stole Lady Neeley's Bracelet?

Was it the fortune hunter, the gambler, the servant, or the rogue? All of London is abuzz with speculation, but it is clear that one of four couples is connected to the crime. --Lady Whistledown's Society Papers, May 1816

Julia Quinn enchants: A dashing fortune hunter is captivated by the Season's most desired debutante . . . and must prove he is out to steal the lady's heart, not her dowry.

Suzanne Enoch tantalizes: An innocent miss who has spent her life scrupulously avoiding scandal is suddenly--and secretly--courted by London's most notorious rogue.

Karen Hawkins seduces: A roving viscount comes home to rekindle the passionate fires of his marriage . . . only to discover that his beautiful, headstrong bride will not be so easily won.

Mia Ryan delights: A lovely, free-spirited servant is dazzled by the romantic attentions of a charming earl . . . sparking a scandalous affair that could ruin them both.

You'll hear it first from Lady Whistledown!

Journey back to 1968 when the war in Vietnam is raging, when only pretty, young women in short skirts or "hot pants" are hired as stewardesses to wait on passengers, and when young soldiers are transported in and out of war zones on these iconic flights. It is war told through the eyes of a young stewardess, Christina Valle, who falls in love with an air force pilot flying reconnaissance missions in Vietnam.

Based by her airline near Tachikawa Air Force Base, Japan, Christina volunteers her non-flying time to the Red Cross. She is assigned to a casualty station that is treating U.S. soldiers wounded during the Tet Offensive. That experience brings home what the young soldiers she is transporting to Vietnam are facing.

This journey will make you laugh, cry, and maybe never look at war, or that time in our history, the same ever again.

Inspired by true events.

From award-winning author E. J. Mellow comes the thrilling second installment in the Mousai series, featuring a powerful sorceress who finds her loyalties tested by a ruthless pirate lord.

Within the world of Aadilor, there is a hidden place called the Thief Kingdom, where both magic and pleasure abound. There, the Mousai, a trio of deadly sorceresses bound by oath and blood, use their powers to protect the kingdom's treasures.

Niya Bassette brings the potent gift of dance to the Mousai, but behind her tempting twirls, she carries a heavy secret--that the infamous pirate lord, Alōs Ezra, has been threatening to exploit for years. Now banished from the Thief Kingdom for smuggling, Alōs resurfaces in Niya's life with a plot to hold her hostage, leveraging what he knows to extort a pardon from the Thief King.

But Niya makes her own deal with Alōs to guard her secret and guarantee her freedom--yet in doing so binds herself aboard his pirate ship, where she must navigate deadly waters, a bloodthirsty crew, and her own traitorous heart. Soon, a simmering attraction between her and Alōs threatens their delicate truce and makes for a tumultuous ride on the open seas. Far from her kingdom, Niya is entangled in a dangerous dance indeed.

Welcome to the world of Aadilor, where dark deeds can mask noble hearts and the most alluring of sways often ends with a burn. Care for a spin?

In these two delightful history-mysteries, seven boys in Ancient Rome solve strange crimes . . . thanks to some help from their cranky teacher, a little bit of logic, and a lot of amusing misadventure.

Yes, Rufus wrote CAIUS IS A DUMBBELL on his tablet at school, but no, he did not break into the schoolroom, did not tie up his teacher, and certainly did not paint his slur about Caius on the Temple of Minerva (even if it is in Rufus's own handwriting). Rufus is doomed unless his six classmates can find out who is really responsible. Every hour seems to bring a new, confusing clue . . . until the boys finally stumble upon someone who is not what he appears to be.

In USA Today bestselling author Julie Anne Long's latest installment in the Palace of Rogues series, a notorious rake meets his match in a lovely girl from the country, changing the course of both of their futures...

A London season is the chance of a lifetime for Catherine Keating. But the ton's glitter and decadence and casual cruelty threaten to crush her hopes of finding a husband before her season even begins...until she accidentally acquires one of the most scandalous men in England as a secret chaperone.

Famously fiery Lord Dominic Kirke can hold the House of Commons--and any woman he chooses-- in thrall. But when his house goes up in flames in the dead of night, he finds himself at the Grand Palace on the Thames. And there he discovers his cynical armor is no match for another guest: an innocent country girl with a crackling wit and eyes like a summer sky.

He's maddening, elusive, hopelessly charismatic, wrong in every way--perfectly designed to break her heart. But she doesn't know she holds his battered heart in her hands. And though it will destroy him, Dominic knows loving her means setting Catherine free for the life--and man--she deserves.

"'Mad Men meets The Devil Wears Prada, ' which might as well be saying 'put me in your cart immediately.'"--PopSugar

It's 1965 and Cosmopolitan magazine's brazen new editor in chief--Helen Gurley Brown--shocks America and saves a dying publication by daring to talk to women about all things off-limits...

New York City is filled with opportunities for single girls like Alice Weiss, who leaves her small Midwestern town to chase her big-city dreams and unexpectedly lands a job working for the first female editor in chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, Helen Gurley Brown.

For Alice, who wants to be a photographer, it seems like the perfect foot in the door, but nothing could have prepared her for the world she enters. Editors and writers resign on the spot, refusing to work for the woman who wrote the scandalous bestseller Sex and the Single Girl, and confidential memos, article ideas, and cover designs keep finding their way into the wrong hands. When someone tries to pull Alice into a scheme to sabotage her boss, she is more determined than ever to help Helen succeed.

While pressure mounts at the magazine, Alice struggles not to lose sight of her own dreams as she's swept up into a glamorous world of five-star dinners, lavish parties, and men who are certainly no good. Because if Helen Gurley Brown has taught her anything, it's that a woman can demand to have it all.

Journey back in time with Geronimo in this fabumouse hardcover special edition!

I, Geronimo Stilton, never expected to set paw inside a time machine. But when Professor Paws von Volt invited me to travel with him, I had to accept! My family came along to help us discover how the dinosaurs became extinct, how the Great Pyramid of Giza was built, and what life was like at King Arthur's court. Along the way I was chased by a Tyrannosaurus rex, almost eaten by a crocodile in the Nile, and asked to save a maiden from an evil knight's castle. Holey cheese! It was an adventure through history!