It’s time for the YA and Adult fiction books that have taught me bits of history I didn’t know about before, and certainly didn’t remember from history classes. You’ll probably notice that two authors have multiple books in this list, Ruta Sepetys and Margarita Engle. Actually, I could have put more for both of these authors but trimmed the list down to include only 2 each. I totally recommend checking out more of their books if you enjoy learning obscure history. Ruta Sepetys and Margarita Engle both do amazing jobs in bringing to life history bits in English that the English-speaking world seems to have forgotten. (Or in the case of Ruta Sepetys’ books, history that was hushed up.) Many of the books below were eye-opening reads talking about racial issues, social issues, or horrible wrongs the world would rather ignore than address. Click on the book titles to see my full reviews and content notes (language, mature content, level of violence, etc.).
Black Dove White Raven by Elizabeth Wein
At first Black Dove and White Raven were a pair of women flyers who did stunt flying at air shows. Delia was Black Dove and Rhoda was White Raven. When Delia dies in an accident, Rhoda takes in Teo as her own. Eventually, Rhoda decides to fulfill Delia’s dream of going to Ethiopia (where Delia’s husband was from) with the kids. She gets a job flying around Dr. Ezra for clinics and takes photographs to sell to magazines. Though Africa is their third home continent in their short lives, Teo and Em seem most at home there. They learn the local language from Dr. Ezra’s wife, Sinidu, get lessons with another expat family, and help around the village as they can. And in their free time make up stories about their fictional characters, Black Dove and White Raven who have all sorts of adventures. But their idyllic life starts to become threatened by rumblings between the Ethiopians and neighboring colonists, the Italians. Only because of this, Momma starts teaching both teens to fly, a skill they’ve dreamed of since their earliest memories. As war becomes more and more eminent, the family will have to figure out what to do, stuck as they are in a tricky position with ties to both sides (Rhoda’s husband is an Italian).
Obscure History Bits (for me): Pre-WWII Ethiopia and its relationship with Italy
Target Readers:
- Flying Fans, TCKs, African (or Specifically Ethiopian) Setting Fans, Young Adult Readers
Castle on the Rise (The Lost Castle, #2) by Kristy Cambron
In present time, Laine and her daughter Cassie have come to Europe for Ellie’s wedding, but then agree to stay on longer when Ellie asks Laine to come to Ireland with them while Quinn and his brother Cormac deal with the sudden inheritance of an old castle. Both women are dealing with unexpected challenges in their lives and the brothers are working around old wounds while trying to figure out why Molly Byrne left Castle Chryn and the Ashford estate to them.
In the spring of 1916 Lady Isolde Byrne, daughter of Lord and Lady Chryn, finds herself, her friends, and her family distracted not only by the war in Europe, the plight of her friend Honor, and by rumblings in Dublin as people start making waves to declare Ireland a free land. With ties to both the English and the Irish, Issy must choose where her heart lies, whether she should stay at the family estate or venture to Dublin, and how involved she and her camera should be in the events unfolding on Easter of 1916.
In the winter of 1797-1798 Maeve Ashford finds the welfare of the Ashford estate and the attached village falling to her shoulders during a turbulent time as Catholics and Protestants, English and Irish are at bitter ends. The Ashfords are English, but Maeve’s heart feels a bit Irish too. When a stranger turns up one Christmas eve under mysterious circumstances and looking like an enemy, but needing help, Maeve finds her life changed forever by an act of kindness and mercy.
Obscure History Bits (for me): The Dublin Easter 1916 events
Target Readers:
- Historical Fiction Fans, Contemporary Fiction Fans, Clean Romance Fans, Christian Fiction Fans, Time Slip Fans, Irish History Fans, Ireland Setting Fans, Adult Readers (though totally approachable for Young Adults too)
The Fire Horse Girl by Kay Honeyman
Jade Moon is a Fire Horse, a spunky girl with entirely too many opinions and too much spirit in the view of her traditional Chinese community. As the New Year is about to start a man appears in the village looking for her father. That man's name is Sterling Promise, and he comes with an opportunity for her father and her to go to America with him as a paper family (a fake family made to resemble one that has actual immigrant papers). Jade grabs at the chance for a new life and the freedoms she desires in America, but the trio arrives only to find themselves stuck on Angel Island for an indefinite amount of time while the authorities put them through rounds of questionings. And then they tell her that Sterling Promise can go to America, but she must return home to China, the land of no future, with her father. Jade Moon can't abide with that vision of her future, so she comes up with a bold and daring plan. She steals Sterling Promise's clothing and papers and hops the ferry in his place. Of course, at the final destination they are checking papers a little more closely so Jade must make some quick moves to get her feet on American soil. In the mad chase that follows, Jade runs into a man named Harry who takes her, as the man named Fire Horse, to his father, a leader of one of the Chinese tongs in San Francisco. Mr. Hon likes Fire Horse's spirit, and decides to give him training in fighting, the business, and English. Fire Horse goes through his trainings, but begins to see that Mr. Hon's world is just as much of a trap as China was for Jade Moon. Jade is desperate to find a way out of the tong's grasp, but it will be challenging. When she finally is given an escape route, she finds herself given an opportunity to do something unselfish for the first time in a long time and must choose between comfort or helping others.
Obscure Bits of History (for me): This was the very first book I read about paper families and what Asian immigrants to the US faced at Angel Island (an immigration detention center off San Francisco in the early 1900s till 1940).
Target Readers:
- Asian American History Fans, Spunky Character Fans, San Francisco History Fans, Immigrant Story Fans, Young Adult Fiction Readers
Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith
Ida Mae Jones is itching to do something more to help the war effort. Her older brother has enlisted as a medic and was assigned to a colored regiment in the Pacific. He wants her to stay at home and keep watch of Mamma and Grandy and their brother Abel, but Ida Mae still feels like it isn't enough. So when Abel points out an ad in the newspaper that the army is looking for female pilots, Ida Mae is more than interested. She learned to fly from her Daddy. The only problem is that she is colored, and the army isn't likely to take a Negro pilot. But then again, maybe she can pass as white. Her skin is very light, thanks to her Daddy's side of the family having some white blood. Ida Mae decides to test it out and apply...and the ruse works during the interview. So she keeps the ruse going and shows up at Texas to train to be a WASP. No one picks up on her secret. Ida Mae discovers that not all white girls are snobs, and even finds some really good friends among the other trainees. It isn't easy, but Ida Mae is determined to get to fly and by doing so help her country. The story continues to follow her through training and into her actual duties as a WASP.
Obscure Bits of History (for me): WASP training and work in WWII America, and racial issues through the eyes of someone passing as white
Target Readers:
- Less Violent WWII Story Fans, Flying Fans, Fans of Books That Explore Racial Issues, Historical Fiction Fans, Young Adult Fiction Readers
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
Ana is thrilled to have her job at the Hilton in Madrid. She hopes it is the key to eventually getting her family out of poverty and herself maybe out of Madrid. She isn't going to take this hope lightly. Hope doesn't come easily for children of Republicans in Franco's Spain.
Puri is Ana's cousin. She's been raised as a model Spaniard, following all of Franco's principles. She loves her job at the orphanage and prays for wonderful families for the children she loves on. Her beliefs in Franco's ideals, the methods of the Catholic nuns who run the orphanage, and her own place in life are shaken when she accidentally uncovers some secrets.
Daniel has just graduated from high school in Texas and is visiting Madrid with his oil baron father and Spanish-American mother, as his father brokers a deal with Franco. Daniel is destined to be attending Texas A&M in the fall to get a degree that will set him up to take over the oil business. But what he really wants to do is go to journalism school. He longs to be a photojournalist, and he's hoping to capture images on this trip that will help him win a scholarship to pursue his dream. In Madrid he meets an established journalist who encourages him to find pictures that tell the real story of Franco's Spain. The only person he has met on this trip who might help him understand the truth is Ana, who services his family's rooms at the Hilton. But all his attempts at getting Ana to answer his questions have failed so far. Will he ever understand what is really going on and why the Guardia almost arrested him for taking a picture of them (or was it the nun with a dead baby)?
Ana, Puri, Daniel, and others' stories collide to tell a story of what it was like to live under Franco's regime in Spain after WWII.
Obscure Bits of History (for me): Franco’s Spain
Target Readers:
- Historical Fiction Fans, Spain Setting Fans, Photography Buffs, Complicated Love Story Fans, Mystery Fans, Navigating a Foreign Culture Story Fans, Young Adult Fiction Readers
Grenade by Alan Gratz
Ray is a young US Marine who just joined up and his first action is to be the battle for Okinawa. Why he's there and his rocky relationship with his father who fought in the Great War are slowly revealed as readers share chapters with Ray as he is in his first battle, must wrestle with what he experiences and how he feels about his fellow soldiers, the Japanese, and the Okinawans.
Hideki is Okinawan. His island was claimed by the Japanese but the Okinawans still have their own ways, language, and beliefs (even if the Japanese have forbid them from using many of these). His family all believes that his cowardly ancestor's spirit rests on him, but that doesn't stop the Japanese army from conscripting him and all the other boys at his school. They are all given two grenades right before the US soldiers invade and told one is for the Americans, while the other is for them to end their lives with. There is nothing Hideki would rather do but hide until the battle is over, but when a mission drops in his lap he must try and see it fulfilled even if it means going into the heart of the fighting.
The Japanese have told themselves and the Okinawans that the Americans are monsters. But Hideki has seen the Japanese use the Okinawans as unwilling kamikazes. The Americans have been told that the Okinawans are to be given refuge and only the Japanese are monsters, but fear turns everyone into monsters. And Ray finds the callous hearts of his fellow soldiers sickening. But when afraid, is he any better? Can two young men have eyes to see who the real monsters are or aren't?
Obscure Bits of History (for me): Okinawans’ history & culture, and their relationship to Japanese
Target Readers:
- WWII Story Fans, Historical Fiction Fans, War Story Fans, Young Adult Fiction Readers
Hurricane Dancers: the First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck by Margarita Engle
Quebrado is a gold mine for the pirate captain. With his half Caribbean native, half Spanish blood he can speak the tribal languages of the islands in addition to Spanish and act as translator for the pirate. Qeubrado can't wait to escape the abusive captain's clutches. Alonso de Ojeda also can't wait to escape the pirate's clutches. He was a brutal conquistador and Spanish governor until Captain Bernardino de Talavera kidnapped him. Meanwhile on a nearby island, the villagers have gathered in a cave to sing and dance to appease the spirits. Among them is Naridó, a fisherman who loves the chief's daughter Caucubú. But Caucubú's father is determined to have his daughter marry the son of another tribe's chief instead of a lowly fisherman. Soon, the hurricane winds will bring all of these people together.
Obscure Bits of History (for me): All of it.
Target Readers:
- Pirate Story Fans, Caribbean Setting Fans, Disaster Story Fans, Novel in Verse Fans, Quick Read Fans, Historical Fiction Fans, Young Adult Fiction Readers on up
The Lightning Dreamer: Cuba’s Greatest Abolitionist by Margarita Engle
Tula is growing up in 1800s Cuba. Her mother and grandfather are planning to marry her off to a wealthy gentleman as soon as she is of age, 13 or 14. Tula would rather wait until she is older and marry for love. She views the selling off of girls as brides just as bad as the slavery all around her. She feels like a caged bird longing to spread her wings. She loves to read, but her mother says reading will make her an undesirable bride. So Tula sneaks books out, or goes to read in the library the nuns have. She spins tales for the orphans and the cook at home. Tales about fantastic things, with messages about bravery and justice. When she defies her mother about an arranged marriage, she is sequestered on Grandfather's plantation. There, she meets a storyteller and others who long to break the chains that bind them in various forms of slavery.
Obscure Bits of History (for me): 1800s Cuba
Target Readers:
- Novel in Verse Fans, Historical Fiction Fans, Book Lovers, Quick Read Fans, Social Justice Story Fans, Biographical Fiction Fans, Young Adult Fiction Readers
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
It's early 1945 in East Prussia. The Nazis occupy most of the land, but they are slowly crumbling and the Russians are pushing in from the East. And there's a host of people who have been displaced from their homes by the war moving towards the shore of the Baltic Sea in hopes they can escape before the Russians arrive. One of the biggest ships waiting at Gotenhafen for refugees and evacuating German forces is the former cruise ship,
Wilhelm Gustloff. Readers experience this harrowing time through the voices of four young adults: Florian, the German, who may or may not be on a special mission from one of Hitler's top men. Joanna, a Lithuanian nurse who seeks to help those around her and assuage the guilt of something she did in her efforts to survive. Emilia, a Polish teenager who has lost everything to the war. And Alfred, a German soldier assigned to prepare the
Wilhelm Gustloff for its rescue journey. Florian, Emilia, Joanna, a giant woman named Eva, a blind young woman named Ingrid, an old cobbler the group calls the Shoe Poet, and a young boy who wandered out of the woods form a rag-tag group as chance encounters bring them together on the road to Gotenhafen. Through them, readers experience all the joys and horrors of the life of refugees trying to make it to safety. Meanwhile, Alfred is using his amazing brain to figure out ways to evade work and write imaginary letters to his sweetheart. All of them meet at Gotenhafen, where most of them board the
Wilhelm Gustloff and watch their salvation turn into what seems to be doom.
Obscure Bits of History (for me): The
Wilhelm Gustloff tragedy (which nobody really knew about until the Iron Curtain came down).
Target Readers:
- Refugee Story Fans, WWII Story Fans, Historical Fiction, Fans of Excellent Writing of Multiple Voices, Bittersweet Story Fans, Young Adult Fiction Readers
Waterfall (River of Time, #1) by Lisa T. Bergren
While on an archeological dig with their mom, Gabi and her sister Lia trigger some sort of time travel device and are swept back in time to medieval Italy in the middle of a city-state war. Gabi happens to land right on disputed land during a battle, and for some reason Lia isn’t with her. She is rescued by one Lord’s son, Marcello, and taken to his family's castle. Gabi's main mission becomes finding Lia. While she is trying to figure out how to find Lia and get back to the 21st century, there are a couple other plot lines going on. Marcello's older brother is in horrible health and fighting for his life. Marcello is betrothed to Lady Rossi, and their marriage will strengthen the city state of Siena. Gabi's arrival threatens this betrothal, even though she does her best not to. Also, there are ongoing battles with the neighboring Paratores, ultimately linked to city state tensions between Siena and Firenze.
Obscure Bits of History (for me): This entire series taught me a lot about 1300s Italy life, customs, and politics
Target Readers:
- Action Packed Story Fans, Love Story Fans, Italy Setting Fans, Time Travel Fans, Historical Fiction Fans, Christian Fiction Fans, Young Adult Fiction Readers
