Category Archives: Historical Fiction

The Valiant by Lesley Livingston

The Valiant by Lesley Livingston

Fallon is the daughter of a proud Celtic king, the sister of the legendary warrior Sorcha, and the sworn enemy of Julius Caesar. When Fallon was a child, Caesar’s armies invaded her homeland, and her beloved sister was killed in battle. Now, on the eve of her seventeenth birthday, Fallon is eager to follow in her sister’s footsteps and earn her place in the fearsome Cantii war band. She never gets the chance. Fallon is captured and sold to an elite training school for female gladiators—owned by none other than Julius Caesar. In a cruel twist of fate, the man who destroyed Fallon’s… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Child neglect
  • Attempted rape & sexual assault
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a baby brother from fever mentioned
  • Death of a sister recounted
  • Murder
  • Sword violence
  • Kidnapping
  • Colonialism & military violence
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Witchmark by CL Polk

Witchmark by C.L. Polk

Magic marked Miles Singer for suffering the day he was born, doomed either to be enslaved to his family’s interest or to be committed to a witches’ asylum. He went to war to escape his destiny and came home a different man, but he couldn’t leave his past behind. The war between Aeland and Laneer leaves men changed, strangers to their friends and family, but even after faking his own death and reinventing himself as a doctor at a cash-strapped veterans’ hospital, Miles can’t hide what he truly is. When a fatally poisoned patient exposes Miles’ healing gift and his witch… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Homophobia
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Dissociation & depersonalisation
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood depiction
  • Medical experimentation
  • Cancer
  • Death of a spouse
  • Poisoning
  • Strangulation
  • Torture
  • War themes

The Hidden Heart by Laura Kinsale

The Hidden Heart by Laura Kinsale

When her eccentric naturalist father dies on the upper reaches of the Amazon, young Lady Tess Collier sets out to follow his last wishes: return to England and marry well. But Tess, who had accompanied her father on his expeditions since childhood, is as unconventional as she is beautiful.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Intimate partner abuse
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Sistersong by Lucy Holland

Sistersong by Lucy Holland

In the ancient kingdom of Dumnonia, there is old magic to be found in the whisper of the wind, the roots of the trees, and the curl of the grass. King Cador knew this once, but now the land has turned from him, calling instead to his three children. Riva can cure others, but can’t seem to heal her own deep scars. Keyne battles to be accepted for who he truly is—the king’s son. And Sinne dreams of seeing the world, of finding adventure. All three fear a life of confinement within the walls of the hold, their people’s last bastion of strength against the invading Saxons. However, change… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Transmisia
  • Misgendering
  • Deadnaming
  • Religious persecution
  • Pregnancy
  • Chronic leg & hand injury
  • Physical injury & illness including death from blood poisoning, head injury, and graphic burn scars
  • Dead body & mutilation
  • Death of a father, on-page
  • Death of a sister
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Death from a fall, on-page
  • Knife & sword violence
  • Arrow violence
  • Whipping, off-page
  • Fire recounted
  • Loss of autonomy (glamour magic)
  • War themes & battle scenes
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Mistletoe and Murder by Robin Stevens

Mistletoe and Murder by Robin Stevens

Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are spending the Christmas hols in snowy Cambridge. Hazel has high hopes of its beautiful spires, cosy libraries and inviting tearooms but there is danger lurking in the dark stairwells of ancient Maudlin College. Two days before Christmas, there is a terrible accident. At least, it appears to be an accident – until the Detective Society look a little closer, and realise a murder has taken place. Faced with several irritating grown-ups and fierce competition from a rival agency, they must use all their cunning and courage to find the killer (in time for Christmas Day, of course).

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Racism
  • Classism
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Dead bodies
  • Emesis
  • Death of parents in a car accident mentioned
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Near drowning
  • Death from a fall down the stairs
  • Death from poisoning
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Death in the Spotlight by Robin Stevens

Death in the Spotlight by Robin Stevens

Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are off to the beautiful Rue Theatre in London, where they will face an entirely new challenge: acting. But behind the theatre’s glittering facade, the girls soon realise that there is trouble at the Rue. Jealousy, threats and horrible pranks quickly spiral out of control – and then one of the cast is found dead. As opening night looms closer, Hazel and Daisy must take centre stage and solve the crime . . . before the murderer strikes again.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Coming out themes
  • Racism
  • Sexism
  • Homomisia
  • Dead body
  • Murder of a mother & father by drowning recounted
  • Boating accident recounted
  • Death of a colleague (theme)
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Poisoning
  • Physical assault
  • Threats of violence & murder
  • Homelessness mentioned
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Arsenic for Tea by Robin Stevens

Arsenic for Tea by Robin Stevens

Schoolgirl detectives Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are at Daisy’s home, Fallingford, for the holidays. Daisy’s glamorous mother is throwing a tea party for Daisy’s birthday, and the whole family is invited, from eccentric Aunt Saskia to dashing Uncle Felix. But it soon becomes clear that this party isn’t really about Daisy at all. Naturally, Daisy is furious. Then one of their party falls seriously, mysteriously ill—and everything points to poison. With wild storms preventing anyone from leaving, or the police from arriving, Fallingford suddenly feels like a dangerous place to be. Not… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism & racist language
  • Sexism
  • Classism
  • Ableism
  • Alcohol consumption mentioned
  • Dead bodies discussed
  • Emesis
  • Death of a father from suicide mentioned
  • Murder by arsenic poisoning, on-page
  • Floods
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Jolly Foul Play by Robin Stevens

Jolly Foul Play by Robin Stevens

Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong have returned to Deepdean for a new school term, but nothing is the same. There’s a new Head Girl, Elizabeth Hurst, and a team of Prefects – and these bullying Big Girls are certainly not good eggs. Then, after the fireworks display on Bonfire Night, Elizabeth is found – murdered. Many girls at Deepdean had reason to hate Elizabeth, but who might have committed such foul play? Could the murder be linked to the secrets and scandals, scribbled on scraps of paper, that are suddenly appearing around the school? And with their own friendship falling to pieces, how will Daisy and Hazel solve this mystery?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Queermisia & lesbomisia, on-page
  • Ableism discussed
  • Racism
  • Nazism & antisemitism discussed
  • Classism
  • Chronic heart disease discussed
  • Dead body
  • Psychiatric hospitalisation for eating disorder mentioned
  • Murder of a teenage girl from blunt-force trauma to the head, off-page
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Disappearance of a child and sister
  • Bullying & rumor-spreading
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The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine Kid by Colin Meloy

The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine Kid by Colin Meloy and illustrated by Carson Ellis

It is an ordinary Tuesday morning in April when bored, lonely Charlie Fisher witnesses something incredible. Right before his eyes, in a busy square in Marseille, a group of pickpockets pulls off an amazing robbery. As the young bandits appear to melt into the crowd, Charlie realizes with a start that he himself was one of their marks. Yet Charlie is less alarmed than intrigued. This is the most thrilling thing that’s happened to him since he came to France with his father,… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption mentioned
  • Physical assault
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Mayhem by Estelle Laure

Mayhem by Estelle Laure

It’s 1987 and unfortunately it’s not all Madonna and cherry lip balm. Mayhem Brayburn has always known there was something off about her and her mother, Roxy. Maybe it has to do with Roxy’s constant physical pain, or maybe with Mayhem’s own irresistible pull to water. Either way, she knows they aren’t like everyone else. But when May’s stepfather finally goes too far, Roxy and Mayhem flee to Santa Maria, California, the coastal beach town that holds the answers to all of Mayhem’s questions about who her mother is, her estranged family, and the mysteries of her own self. There she meets the kids who live with… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slut-shaming
  • Rape
  • Domestic violence
  • Physical & emotional child abuse
  • Alcoholism
  • Substance addiction
  • Drug use & abuse
  • Suicide, off-page
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Physical assault
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