Beloved, by Toni Morrison is a classic historical fiction novel told from the perspective of Sethe, an escaped slave who would do anything for her family. Sethe’s past is marked by an abundance of horrible things which she cannot forget, including the murder of one of her children. Upon her escape from Sweet Home Farm, she wants nothing more than to live out a peaceful life with her remaining daughter.
Doctor Bernard Rieux, a well known doctor in the French-Algerian city of Oran, begins to notice a pattern of rats falling dead in the streets. He is unaware of its importance until the concierge of his building dies following a strange fever. Concerned by the unrecognizable symptoms, Dr. Rieux calls a meeting where it is decided that the symptoms match those of the Bubonic Plague. After the city is put under lockdown, Dr. Rieux must learn how to navigate a confined world where the lives of the people are in his hands.
Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz is a powerful novel based on the true story of Jack Gruener, a Jewish boy who survived the horrors of the Holocaust. The story follows Yanek, a young boy whose life is shattered when the Nazis invade Poland. As he is forced from his home and taken through ten different concentration camps, he endures unimaginable cruelty, starvation and loss. Despite everything, Yanek refuses to give up hope, clinging to the promise of survival.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is one of the most powerful stories that I have read. Taking place during the Holocaust, this book’s depth is immediately apparent (as is any story in the face of such a great tragedy.) The story centers around a girl named Liesel, who loses her family at the novel’s opening, and thus finds herself in the care of the Huberman family. The Huberman family provides Liesel with a new warmth that had been lacking previously in her life–they represent, for her, a true family.
The Devil’s Arithmetic is a novel written by Jane Yolen. It begins with Hannah Stern, a 12 year old Jewish girl from current day New Rochelle, celebrating Passover with her relatives. Suddenly, Hannah is transported to 1941, where she is mistaken for a girl named Chaya. Hannah and the other Jewish people in her village are then tricked into going to a Nazi concentration camp. Hannah and her new friends go through all kinds of torture and eventually can’t take it anymore.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is one of the most powerful stories that I have read. Taking place during the Holocaust, this book’s depth is immediately apparent (as is any story in the face of such a great tragedy.) The story centers around a girl named Liesel, who loses her family at the novel’s opening, and thus finds herself in the care of the Huberman family. The Huberman family provides Liesel with a new warmth that had been lacking previously in her life–they represent, for her, a true family.
The Button War by Avi is a historical fiction novel set in Poland during World War I, focusing on a group of boys who engage in a competition involving the collection of the buttons of soldiers. The story follows the protagonist, a boy named Patryk, as he experiences the war among countries as well as among his friends. The Button War has themes of loyalty, ambition, the destructive nature of war and the loss of innocence.
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys is a book that really tugs on your heartstrings. It follows Cristian Florescu, a 17-year-old boy who lives in Romania when it was still behind the iron curtain. He lives in a Romania where you have no privacy and your loved ones could be spying on you and reporting back to higher authorities. A Romania where if you step out of line or break a single rule, you could be sent away forever.
Harry Turtledove's Days of Infamy is an action-packed alternate history novel that presents a chilling "what if" scenario of a successful Japanese invasion of Hawaii following the attack on Pearl Harbor. The novel vividly portrays the chaos and terror that engulf the islands as Japanese forces occupy and attempt to control the local population.
Harry Turtledove's Give Me Back My Legions! is an action-packed historical novel set in an alternate timeline where the Roman Empire never fully conquered the Germanic tribes. The plot centers on the dramatic clash between the Roman legions, led by the historical figure Publius Quinctilius Varus, and the Germanic coalition, led by Arminius, in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.
