Keeping to Europe before the French Revolution, and assuming high school, here are some:

YA NOVELS (in order of time- earliest first):

The Edge on the Sword by Rebecca Tingle

In ninth-century Britain, fifteen-year-old Aethelflaed, daughter of King Alfred of West Saxony, finds she must assume new responsibilities much sooner than expected when she is betrothed to Ethelred of Mercia in order to strengthen a strategic alliance against the Danes.

Anna of Byzantium by Tracy Barrett

In the eleventh century the teenage princess Anna Comnena fights for her birthright, the throne to the Byzantine Empire, which she fears will be taken from her by her younger brother John because he is a boy.

The King's Shadow by Elizabeth Alder

(a personal favorite) After he is orphaned and has his tongue cut out in a clash with the bullying sons of a Welsh noble, Evyn is sold as a slave and serves many masters, from the gracious Lady Swan Neck to the valiant Harold Godwinson, England's last Saxon king.

Spider's Voice by Gloria Skurzynski

Because he is a young mute person who can hear, Aran becomes involved in the adventures of Eloise and Abelard, France's most famous lovers, who lived during the twelfth century. 

The Wager by Donna Jo Napoli

Having lost everything in a tidal wave in 1169 Sicily, nineteen-year-old Don Giovanni makes a simple-sounding wager with a stranger he recognizes as the devil but, while desperate enough to surrender his pride and good looks for three years, he is not willing to give up his soul.

The Book of the Lion by Michael Cadnum

In twelfth-century England, after his master, a maker of coins for the king, is brutally punished for alleged cheating, seventeen-year-old Edmund finds himself traveling to the Holy Land as squire to a knight crusader on his way to join the forces of Richard Lionheart.

Crossing to Paradise by Kevin Crossley-Holland

Gatty is given the chance of a lifetime when she is asked to accompany a family on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and the journey, though dangerous, quickly changes Gatty's life forever.

The Wicked and the Just by Jillian Anderson Coats

In medieval Wales, follows Cecily whose family is lured by cheap land and the duty of all Englishman to help keep down the "vicious" Welshmen, and Gwenhwyfar, a Welsh girl who must wait hand and foot on her new English mistress.

The Ramsay Scallop by Frances Temple

At the turn of the fourteenth century in England, fourteen-year-old Elenor finds her betrothal to an ambitious lord’s son launching her on a memorable pilgrimage to far-off Spain.

Dante's Daughter by Kimberley Heuston

In fourteenth-century Italy, Antonia, the daughter of Dante Alighieri, longs for a stable family and home while developing her artistic talent and seeking a place for herself in a world with limited options for women.

Girl in a Cage by Jane Yolen & Robert J. Harris

(a personal favorite) As English armies invade Scotland in 1306, eleven-year-old Princess Marjorie, daughter of the newly crowned Scottish king, Robert the Bruce, is captured by England’s King Edward Longshanks and held in a cage on public display.  (We have a set of 12 of this title).

The Falconer's Knot by Mary Hoffman

Silvano and Chiara, teens sent to live in a friary and a nunnery in Renaissance Italy, are drawn to one another and dream of a future together, but when murders are committed in the friary, they must discover who is behind the crimes before they can realize their love.

Freedom Beyond the Sea by Waldtraut Lewis

To escape the Inquisition, Esther Marchadi, the sixteen-year-old daughter of a murdered Jewish rabbi, disguises herself as a boy and joins the crew of Christopher Columbus’s “Santa Maria.” Christopher Columbus. Seafaring life.

Incantation by Alice Hoffman

During the Spanish Inquisition, sixteen-year-old Estrella, brought up a Catholic, discovers her family’s true Jewish identity, and when their secret is betrayed by Estrella’s best friend, the consequences are tragic.

The King's Rose by Alisa Libby

Catharine Howard recounts the events in her life that led to her being groomed for marriage at the age of fifteen to King Henry VIII, her failure to produce an heir to the throne, and her quick execution.

Shylock's Daughter by Mirjam Pressler

Sixteen-year-old Jessica, who longs to be free of the restrictions of her father and life in the Jewish ghetto of sixteen-century Venice, falls in love with a Christian aristocrat and must make choices which will affect her whole family. Inspired by Shakespeare’s play The merchant of Venice.

Love Disguised by Lisa Klein

After a mixed-up courtship with the Hathaway sisters ends badly, eighteen-year-old Will Shakespeare jumps at the chance to go to London, where he can pursue his dream of becoming an actor and where he is about to meet the girl who will change his life forever.  (1582)

I am Rembrandt's Daughter by Lynn Cullen

In Amsterdam in the mid-1600s, Cornelia's life as the illegitimate child of renowned painter Rembrandt is marked by plague, poverty, and despair at ever earning her father's love, until she sees hope for a better future in the eyes of a weathy suitor.

The Blood Stone by Jamila Gavin

In the early seventeenth century, young Venetian Filippo Veroneo travels from Venice to Afghanistan to rescue his imprisoned father, Geronimo, and stops in India to raise the ransom by selling his father's beautiful diamond to the ruler Shah Jehan, who later uses the stone as the model for the Taj Mahal.

The Minister's Daughter by Julie Hearn

In 1645 in England, the daughters of the town minister successfully accuse a local healer and her granddaughter of witchcraft to conceal an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, but years later during the 1692 Salem trials their lie has unexpected repercussions.

Newes from the Dead by Mary Hooper

(a personal favorite) In 1650, while Robert, a young medical student, steels himself to assist with her dissection, twenty-two-year-old housemaid Anne Green recalls her life as she lies in her coffin, presumed dead after being hanged for murdering her child that was, in fact, stillborn. (England]

At the Sign of the Sugared Plum by Mary Hooper

It is 1665 and a young girl is going to London to help her older sister in her candy shop. But, the Plague is taking hold of London and people are leaving in droves. This fast-paced, accessible read is a gripping recreation of the times.

Petals in the Ashes by Mary Hooper

Hannah and Sarah escape London, leaving behind plague and death as well as their sweets shop, and when it is safe, Hannah and her younger sister Anne return, only to face the city’s Great Fire of 1666.

The Brothers Story by Katherine Sturtevant

In the late seventeenth century, fifteen-year-old Kit, driven to desperation by the starvation of one brother and mistreatment of his own simple-minded twin, realizes his dream of becoming an apprentice in London but feels drawn by duty to return home to Essex.

The Pirate's Son by Geraldine McCaughrean

Left penniless in 1717 England, fourteen-year-old Nathan Gull and his mousy sister, Maud, accompany Tamo, the son of a notorious pirate, to his homeland of Madagascar where they are all changed by their encounter with Tamo's past.

How the Hangman Lost his Heart by K. M. Grant

When her Uncle Frank is executed for treason against England's King George in 1746 and his severed head is mounted on a pike for public viewing, daring Alice tries to reclaim the head for a proper burial, finding an unlikely ally in the soft-hearted executioner, while incurring the wrath of the royal guard.

The Revolution of Sabine by Beth Levine Ain

During Benjamin Franklin’s visit to Paris in 1776, sixteen-year-old Sabine Durand rails against the strict rules of society and her social-climbing mother by rejecting her arranged marriage and spending more time with servants and others who accept Franklin’s political ideals and those she read in Voltaire’s Candide while having her portrait painted by the renowned artist, Fragonard.

Adult titles recommended for high school:

1356: A Novel by Bernard Cornwell

The rascally Thomas of Hookton, aka Le Batard, and his band of not-so-merry mercenaries are bidden by the Earl of Northhampton to unearth the lost sword of Saint Peter in this recreation of the Battle of the Poitiers in 1356 wherein a severely outnumbered English army defeats the French and captures the Poiters and French King John II.

Serpent in the Thorns by Jeri Westerson

After the French king’s courier is killed by a crossbow in a tavern, a barmaid seeks the assistance of fourteenth-century detective Crispin Guest, who soon finds himself the prime suspect in the murder, one that could draw France and England into war.

The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant

Turning fifteen in Renaissance Florence, Alessandra Cecchi becomes intoxicated with the works of a young painter whom her father has brought to the city to decorate the family's Florentine palazzo.

A Surfeit of Guns by P. F. Chisholm

Sir Robert Carey, Deputy Warden of the English West March in sixteenth-century Scotland, finds himself on the brink of treason when his search for the thieves who raided his supply of high-quality weapons leads him into the raucous court of King James VI.

Linda Williams | Children's Services Consultant, Division of Library Development | Linda.Williams@ct.gov | Office: (860) 704-2207

libguides.ctstatelibrary.org/dld/children | 786 S. Main St., Middletown, CT 06457 | Phone: (860) 704-2200 | Fax : (860) 704-2228

From: CASL-L [mailto:casl-l-bounces@mylist.net] On Behalf Of Jen
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2017 7:59 AM
To: CASL_L
Subject: [CASL-L] Book Recommendations Needed!

Hello everyone!

Looking for some specific book recommendations.  One of our social studies teachers wants to try a new unit next year where his students are reading a novel with a historical time period tie-in.  I'm looking for your recommendations for novels taking place in time periods in earlier European history (the ancients up through the French Revolution).

Look forward to your recommendations and thanks in advance!

Jen