Historical Fiction genre
Culca longs to dive, but girls on her native island take care of the men. The divers are essential to the survival of the village as the pearls and shells they gather are used for trading. All is not well, however. When Spanish ships full of gold sink in a storm, the village divers are taken to recover the treasure, and Culca must use her nimble wits and unflagging bravery to save her brother’s life. Culca comes through as a strong female voice.
Nannerl Mozart was a musical prodigy who seemed to have a brilliant future. But once her younger brother, Wolfgang, began composing symphonies at the age of five, her career and talents were utterly eclipsed. Here, at last, is Nannerl’s heart-wrenching tale. It’s the story of her undying passion for music; her relationship with her “miracle boy” brother; and her life as the “other Mozart,” the one forgotten by history. The acclaimed Carolyn Meyer has written a powerful historical novel about a little-known but gifted musician who never stopped dreaming. Includes an author’s note.
A heartbreaking story of loss and love.As autumn turns toward winter in 1938 Berlin, life for Marianne Kohn, a young Jewish girl, begins to crumble. First there was the burning of the neighbourhood shops. Then her father, a mild-mannered bookseller, must leave the family and go into hiding. No longer allowed to go to school or even sit in a café, Marianne’s only comfort is her beloved mother. Things are bad, but could they get even worse? Based on true events, this fictional account of hatred and racism speaks volumes about both history and human nature.
Yulek, a seventeen-year-old Holocaust survivor, finds himself tragically alone at war’s end. Hoping to begin again, he makes his way to Palestine, where he meets a sad and beautiful Jewish girl named Theresa. Saved from the Nazis by Catholic nuns, Theresa, like Yulek, is uncertain about her place in the postwar world. Together they struggle to rediscover the joy of living. Meanwhile, a mysterious English woman sets out on her own search for the long-lost nephew that she has spotted in a newspaper photo of Jewish refugees. Perhaps by finding him, she will also find some long-hidden part of herself.
Third Sister in the Tao family, Ailin has watched her two older sisters go through the painful process of having their feet bound. In China in 1911, all the women of good families follow this ancient tradition. But Ailin loves to run away from her governess and play games with her male cousins. Knowing she will never run again once her feet are bound, Ailin rebels and refuses to follow this torturous tradition. As a result, however, the family of her intended husband breaks their marriage agreement. And as she enters adolescence, Ailin finds that her family is no longer willing to support her. Chinese society leaves few options for a single woman of good family, but with a bold conviction and an indomitable spirit, Ailin is determined to forge her own destiny. Her story is a tribute to all those women whose courage created new options for the generations who came after them.
After her father’s sudden death, fourteen-year-old Rose Rives finds that sixteenth-century France is a dangerous place for women, when some greedy, vindictive men charge her mother and others with being witches.
Twelve-year-old Leela had been spoiled all her life. She doesn’t care for school and barely marks the growing unrest between the British colonists and her own countrymen. Her future has been planned since her engagement at two and marriage at nine. Leela’s whole life changes, though, when her husband dies. She’s now expected to behave like a proper widow: shaving her head and trading her jewel-toned saris for rough, earth-colored ones. Leela is considered unlucky and will have to stay confined to her house for a year in the keeping corner. Her teacher offers Leela lessons at home, and she learns about a new leader of the people, a man named Gandhi, who starts a political movement and practices non-violent protest against the colonists as well as the caste system, leading Leela to wonder how she can liberate herself.
When a storm brings down his father’s boat, Digory Beale is forced to leave home to discover his fate. For if Digory has been orphaned, he can never go home again. On his journey, Digory becomes the apprentice to a charming stranger whose life’s obsession is to save sailors’ lives. Digory must face his fears of the sea to help Henry bring candles to the lighthouse he’s built on a killer reef.
A young girl growing up in Spanish Harlem in the 1940’s watches the secure world of her childhood years slowly erode away.
In letters to her cousin, a young Jewish girl chronicles her family’s flight from Russia in 1919 and her own experiences when she must be left in Belgium for a while when the others emigrate to America.