Reviews by Category: Historical Fiction

Teen Review
The Crucible

The Crucible

By Arthur Miller
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
Anonymous
Feb 4, 2025

Arthur Miller's The Crucible is a powerful and haunting play that explores the Salem witch trials, a period of mass hysteria fueled by fear, suspicion and religious extremism. The intricate plot unfolds as accusations of witchcraft spread like wildfire, tearing apart a community and forcing individuals to confront their deepest beliefs. Miller's characters are complex and deeply emotional, their struggles with conscience, guilt and the pressure to conform resonating even today.

Teen Review
The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby

By F. Scoo Fitzgerald
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
Anonymous
Feb 3, 2025

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a beautifully written novel that captures the glitz and glamour of the 1920s while exploring deeper themes like ambition, love and the American Dream. The classic tells the story of Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, and his obsessive pursuit of his former love, Daisy Buchanan, during the Roaring Twenties.

Teen Review
The Book Thief book cover

The Book Thief

By Markus Zusak
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
S. Antao
Jan 29, 2025

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a profound, heartbreaking historical fiction narrated by Death. Tasked with collecting the souls of the departed, Death recalls the life of an extraordinary book thief. He tells the story of a young girl adopted by an old couple in Molching, Germany. Despite the Nazi-organized book burnings, Liesel learns to read and write, recovering works from the mayor’s library and piles on the street.

Teen Review
The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Seventh Veil of Salome

By Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
Bridget A
Jan 22, 2025

The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno- Garcia is a historical fiction book set in Hollywood that tells the story of a newly discovered actor in the 1950s and the character she's playing in a big film. Through her breakout role she learns all about Hollywood and some of the people in Hollywood. As her fame grows she meets people who are jealous of her role. This book follows the perspective of Vera and her character Salome while also following the story of Nancy, an actor who is jealous of Vera and her role.

Teen Review
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

All the Light We Cannot See

By Anthony Doerr
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Cherry Y
Jan 21, 2025

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr is a heart-wrenching story told from two perspectives during World War II. The book follows Marie-Laure LeBlanc, a blind French girl, and Werner Pfennig, a German orphan. While trying to escape ongoing German occupation, Marie-Laure and her father reside on the coast of France. Meanwhile, Werner’s intrinsic talent for engineering radios ultimately causes the two characters to cross paths in Saint-Malo. 

Teen Review
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

The Song of Achilles

By Madeline Miller
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
Cherry Y
Jan 21, 2025

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is an emotional retelling of the Greek myth of Achilles and Patroclus from Homer’s Iliad. Under the narration of Patroclus, he and Achilles create an inseparable bond despite the onset of war. Their relationship is portrayed through their contrasting perspectives as Patroclus is compassionate, gentle and quiet, while Achilles is charismatic and bold.

Teen Review
Berliners by Vesper Stamper

Berliners

By Vesper Stamper
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
ynkim
Jan 12, 2025

Berliners, by Vesper Stamper, is essentially the story of twin brothers Rudi and Peter Moser-Fleischmann. Rudi, a photographer, and Peter, an aspiring actor, are living in post-WWII Berlin. Not only is this a coming-of-age story, it is an exploration of a period of time often overshadowed and forgotten. It asks questions that we ourselves may be too afraid to ask, and confronts the reader with messages and lessons through lyrical prose that can be just as relevant today as it was in the 1960s. 

Teen Review
Refugee

Refugee

By Alan Gratz
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
IR
Jan 12, 2025

Refugee by Alan Gratz is an exciting and emotional book that tells the stories of three young refugees from different times and places: Nazi Germany, 1990s Cuba and modern-day Syria. Josef, Isabel and Mahmoud as protagonists face tough challenges, like escaping danger and crossing dangerous waters to find safety and refuge. Gratz does a great job of mixing action with deep emotion, making the characters’ struggles feel real.

Teen Review
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird

By Harper Lee
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
A
Jan 11, 2025

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a powerful historical fiction novel set in the racially segregated South, following Scout Finch, a young girl whose father, Atticus, is an attorney defending a Black man falsely accused of assaulting a white woman. Through Scout’s eyes, the story explores themes of justice, prejudice and morality. This book is both thought-provoking and deeply moving. I admired the way Lee balances the innocence of Scout’s narration with the heavy societal issues the story tackles.

Teen Review
Cloud Cuckoo Land book cover

Cloud Cuckoo Land

By Anthony Doerr
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Chloe H.
Jan 4, 2025

Cloud Cuckoo Land connects five main characters using a fictional Ancient Greek codex called Cloud Cuckoo Land. This story is present and plays a significant role in all of the characters’ lives. Anna, a young girl who discovers Cloud Cuckoo Land, and Omeir, a boy conscripted into the Ottoman Empire, meet in 15th century Constantinople during the Ottoman Empire’s siege of the city.

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