Form/Genre: Historical fiction

Perfect period fiction for middle-grade girls - for fans of the Our Australian Girl seriesIt is 1900 and Dorothy and her family have just moved to a new house at 11 Ruby Road. Ruby Road is a busy street, bustling with activity - families and children, noisy carts and animals. The house is close e...

Jean Echenoz, the multi–award–winning French literary magician whose work has been compared to Joseph Conrad and Lawrence Sterne, has brought that deathtrap back to life, leading us gently from a balmy summer day deep into the insatiable—and still unthinkable—carnage of trench warfare.With the de...

The result is a touchingly poignant and hauntingly beautiful memoir that the author himself considers a work of fiction, for what is memory but one's own story about the past? Eschewing self-righteousness in favor of self-criticism, Kaniuk's book, winner of the 2010 Sapir Prize for Literature, is...

In her sweeping debut, Diane C. McPhail offers a powerful, profoundly emotional novel that explores a little-known aspect of Civil War history—Southern Abolitionists—and the timeless struggle to do right even amidst bitter conflict. Judge Matthews is an abolitionist who runs an illegal school for...

But Charles is guilt-ridden about leaving his family behind, while Wes is haunted by terrifying nightmares. Together, the boys struggle to come to terms with their new life on a family farm – working alongside German POWs in the fields.

Jack and Billy Joe are two boys who have little money. For entertainment, they use the forest, swamps, streams and rivers to their best advantage. Adventure seems to be just behind every bush.When these boys were not involved in adventures, their other friends of the time were, and they passed th...

Piper draws us deeper and deeper into the compelling story of Tomakazu Ibaraki, a man whose strengths — discretion, honour and loyalty — also lie at the heart of his personal tragedy. -Danielle Wood, winner of the 2002 Australian/Vogel's Literary award for Alphabet of Light and Dark. After Darkne...

When the writer, Oxford scholar and photographer John Jameson visits the home of his vicar friend, he is entranced by Daisy, his youngest daughter. Jameson charms her with his wit and child-like imagination, teasing her with riddles and inventing humorous stories as they enjoy afternoons alone by...

The stunning historical fantasy taking the world by storm'Deliciously irresistible' Natasha Lester'Historical fantasy at its best' Belinda Alexandra'Utterly enchanting' Kate Forsyth'Bewitching ... Woods is a powerful new voice in speculative fiction' Publishers Weekly starred review Ginger. Honey...

A young girl in 1920s New Zealand dreams of achieving her aspirations, but at what cost? - 1921, New Zealand. Bright, fiery and pretty, sixteen-year-old Lottie O’Brien lives with her troubled family in an impoverished part of Wellington. Aspiring for a better life, Lottie is befriended by her cla...

Peter Liebig can't wait for summer. He's tired of classrooms, teachers, and the endless lectures about the horrible Nazis. The war has been over for ten years, and besides, his town of Rolfen, West Germany, has moved on nicely. Despite its bombed-out church, it looks just as calm and pretty as ev...

The third book in The Creoles Series, The Alchemy focuses on Simone d'Or, a vivacious young woman hardened by high society life, and Colin Seymour, a talented young man from humble beginnings. As the famed singer and composer Lord Beaufort nurtures Colin's singing voice, Colin rises to stardom in...

A charming rogue cut from the same cloth as Robert Mitchum, American engineer Dan Courtney is learning fast that it takes more than a little charm to lay the groundwork for a railroad. Particularly when the plan is to build it across some of the roughest and most dangerous territory on earth.Cour...

'Gripping and well-honed...consummately constructed, humming with tension... a defence of literature's need to shine a light on the darkest aspects of human nature and it does so with a novelist's skill, precision and power' The Guardian'When is a monster's child culpable? Guilt and complicity ar...

'Suspenseful and thrilling' TANIA BLANCHARD'Powerful and moving' VICTORIA PURMAN'Heartstopping' ALLI PARKER 1918, Belowla. As the Great War grinds to an end, Adelaide Roberts accompanies her father to a rugged island off the south coast of New South Wales. While loss and deprivation have decimate...

"She is singularly bold, somewhat imperious, and active of mind. Her desire of knowledge is great, and her perseverance in everything else she undertakes, almost invincible." Mary Shelley began Frankenstein in 1814, when she was eighteen. By then, she had been living for two years in a scandalous...

It’s 15 years since readers were first introduced to Felix in Once, and across six celebrated books, our brave young hero has survived many unforgettable and emotional journeys. Now comes the seventh and final part of Felix’s story, bringing to a powerful climax a series that countless young list...

The definitive volume in Jakes’s bestselling series finds the Kent family reaching to finally embrace its legacy—and its futureIn the final installment of the Kent Family Chronicles, the remaining Kents seek to fulfill Philip Kent’s original American dream. As Gideon Kent’s health deteriorates, h...

Steven Muir, August Spiess and his daughter Gertrude, and Lang Tzu all acknowledge a restless sense of cultural displacement, an ambivalence in their relations with the culture of European Australia. Steven left England for Australia as a young man and his one attempt at returning is unsuccessful...

A “compelling” novel based on the life of Irish American gangster Owen Madden, from a New York Times–bestselling author (Booklist). Starting as the leader of the most violent Irish street gang in Hell’s Kitchen, the young immigrant rose to prominence as the leading brewer and bootlegger in Prohib...