Historical
Terry Deary's Viking Tales
Audiobook available from Borrow Box
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Terry Deary's Victorian Tales
Audiobook available from Borrow Box
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Young Samurai Series by Chris Bradford
Set in 17th Century Japan, Jack Fletcher, a young English boy is shipwrecked. His father and crew have been slaughtered by ninja pirates but Jack is rescued by a legendary sword master and his only chance of survival is to train as a Samurai Warrior.
This is a really exciting, beautifully observed, tale of ninjas, swords and martial arts.
Crow Boy by Philip Caveny
On a school trip to Edinburgh's historic site of Mary King's Close, a street under today's Royal Mile, Tom wanders away from his school mates and follows a ghostly figure of a young girl. He finds himself back in 1645, the year of the Edinburgh plague, working for a plague doctor. He is in danger and sees many horrors but he needs to find a way back to his school mates. Will he survive and how will he do it?
If you haven't had a chance to visit Mary King's Close it is well worth it, but think twice before following any ghostly figures!
EK/StJ/14/05/20
Witch's Blood by William Blain
With the blood of a red-headed witch flowing through their veins, the Family-Known-As-English are ambitious and talented. This is the saga of Dundee's history told through the lives of the family. But will the witch's bloodline survive to tell her prophecy.
"The story of the town will be told in the story of my blood. The blood will go and go and go many times. The blood will return and return and return many times. In its returnings, the blood will sometimes bring back what's needed" "I will be seen again in Dundee"
You will come across many familiar names in this story and you may recognise many of the places. Perhaps it will encourage you to explore your bloodline and discover the history of Dundee through your family.
EK/StJ/14/05/20
Bone Talk by Candy Gourlay
This is a coming of age story set in the Philippines a 100 years ago. It is time for Samkad to become a man and earn his shield, spear and axe. His best friend is a better hunter and warrior, but Luki is a girl and girls can't be warriors!
When a new boy arrives in the village and with the American Colonists on their way, years of traditions are lost. What does Samkad now have to do to become a warrior?
EK/StJ/26/05/20
Wave me goodbye by Jacqueline Wilson
ebook available on borrowbox!
Although perhaps aimed at a younger audience, fans of Jacqueline Wilson will enjoy this. Shirley Louise Smith is being sent from London on ‘a little holiday’ to the country as war is declared in September 1939. Through 10 year old Shirley’s eyes, we get an idea of what it was like to be an evacuee during the Second World War. We learn how Shirley feels and the unlikely friends she makes while staying in the Red House in the village of Meadow Ridge.
For age 10+ and fans
The Somerset Tsunami by Emma Carroll
An exciting new book from Emma Carroll author of Letters from a Lighthouse.
The Somerset Tsunami is a historical novel set in the 17th Century. Fortune survives the famous Somerset Tsunami of 1607 in a wooden boat made with her brother. Fortune is a quiet, unusual, country girl and goes to work for the wealthy Spicer family where she helps to look after a young boy called Ellis.
This story takes you on a journey across the sugar plantations of the Americans and the effects of "The White Devil". Only the rich can afford sugar which is "heaven in your mouth". The Spicer family have made their money from the sugar plantations and slave trade but poor Ellis is a victim of this trade.
Unfortunately, the wealthy, Mr Spicer and tooth barber, Dr Blood are Witch Hunters and suspect poor Fortune of being a witch! How did she survive the Tsunami when so few others didn't? Did she place a curse on the sea? Will Fortune survive her employers Witch Hunt?
EK/StJ/9/6/2020
Under the Hawthorn Tree: Children of the Famine by Marita Colon-McKenna
audio book available in BorrowBox
This is the first in a family saga trilogy.
Under the Hawthorn Tree is a historical novel of survival set during the Irish Famine in the 1840s. Blight disease has affected their potato crop and food has become very scarce. The O'Driscoll family are in dire poverty and starvation and they are struggling to survive. Father leaves to find work fixing roads and mother is left to find food. After the death of her baby and selling their belongs she goes in search of her husband but fails to return. The three O'Driscoll children, Eily, Michael and Peggy are left desperate and forlorn.
To escape the workhouse, the children pack up and head off to find their great aunts from their mother's stories. They have a long and dangerous journey ahead of them.
You can follow their story in Wildflower Girl and Fields of Home.
EK/StJ/10/6/2020
The Closest Thing to Flying by Gill Lewis
4 year old Semira and her mother, had a dangerous journey to get to England. As Semira grows up, she struggles to call anywhere "Home". Until she finds a diary.
In 1891, Hen, loves the world her Aunt Kitty introduces her to. It is not the dull world her mother wants for her. This is a world where woman can ride bicycles, animals have rights and women deserve the vote!
The diary inspires Semira to look at her own life and family. She discovers family secrets and it helps her to find "Home".
EK/StJ/19/6/20
Where the World Ends' by Geraldine McCaughrean
Every year, a group of men and boys set out for a remote Atlantic sea stack to harvest sea birds. But this year, when the birds begin to leave and the party is due to return, the village boat does not arrive to collect them…
Set around the remote Scottish Outer Hebrides and based on historical fact, this is a powerful and unsettling tale of human survival.