Historical Fiction meets Fantasy (Middle-Grade and YA)
Here's a list of books that take real world history and give it a supernatural spin. Sometimes it's a full alternate universe (1860s NYC--WITH DINOSAURS) and sometimes it's more subtle.
Middle-Grade (about 8-12)
Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel José Older
When?: 1863
Fantasy element?: There's dinosaurs around that people can ride and it's AWESOME
Elevator pitch: During the Draft Riots of 1863, a group of Black and Latine children escape the destruction of their orphanage and must outwit a gang of kidnappers--by riding pterodactyls!
The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier
When?: the Victorian era
Fantasy element?: a tree that grants wishes...for a horrible price
Elevator pitch: An Irish girl and her disabled little brother manage to get a job at an English estate after their parents are lost. But they soon learn their new refuge is haunted by a strange spectre guarding a mysterious tree. An excellent spooky story.
The Inquisitor's Apprentice by Chris Moriarty
When?: the turn of the 20th century
Fantasy element?: magic, in many specific cultural forms, is real, and there's a lot of politics and regulation around its use
Elevator pitch: Picture your standard turn of the century immigrant New York coming of age story: All Of A Kind Family or An American Tail. Now imagine that in this world, magic is real, and much like any valuable tool, there's a whole lot of laws and discrimination governing who can use it and how. Sacha can see magic, and is immediately pressed into service helping an investigator. He's thrust into a deadly world of politics, labor rights, organized crime, and strange new magic technologies that threaten everything Sacha holds dear.
The Inquisitor's Tale by Adam Gidwitz
When?: 1242
Fantasy element?: 3 magical children and their holy dog
Elevator pitch: The Middle Ages were weirder than even comedy has led us to believe, and this book taps into the stories and history of the era. Many people in an inn take turns telling tales of three children with superpowers (one super strong, one gifted with visions, and one healing) and their dog (who's a saint). Somehow these unexpected friends made an enemy of King Louis IX, and the road to get there (and how it resolves) is unpredictable, playful, yet grounded in a solid context of medieval history and literature.
Deephaven by Ethan M. Aldridge
When?: the Great Depression
Fantasy elements?: A boarding school full of occult secrets.
Elevator pitch: Nev Tallow receives an invitation to a boarding school in the middle of nowhere that no one has ever heard of, but it's the Great Depression and options are limited. Mysteries soon abound--the prefects aren't quite right, the classes include occult languages, and nobody's supposed to talk about the collapse that killed a student last year...despite the wing where they supposedly died still standing. They're going to get to the bottom of this with help from their friends, even if they have to take on a monster with nothing but a fencing foil and some barely-understood spells. The first in a series!
Ophie's Ghosts by Justina Ireland
When?: the 1920s (particularly the Great Migration)
Fantasy elements?: ghosts
Elevator pitch: Ophelia first starts seeing ghosts after her father is murdered in an act of racial violence. Now she works with her mother in an old manor in Pittsburgh, dealing with the racist lady of the house. And the ghosts. Ophie becomes determined to help one of them, but the price--and the secrets buried with her--may destroy the fragile life her mother has made.
Young Adult (13+)
Lovely War by Julie Berry
When?: World War I
Fantasy element?: A peanut gallery made up of half the Greek pantheon
Elevator pitch: Hephaestus catches Ares and Aphrodite cheating in his net, so to teach them all about love, Aphrodite launches into the stories of four young adults caught in WWI, torn between their ambitions, their pasts, and love. Other gods drop in and out to put in their two cents, and on occasion they influence the story in mortal guise.
The Shadow War by Lindsay Smith
When?: World War II
Fantasy element?: Mysterious shadow magic that grants visions and can tear people apart.
Elevator pitch: Picture Inglorious Basterds but some of the ultraviolence is from extremely horrifying shadow magic. It's a roaring rampage of gay, Jewish, Black, and Algerian teens and young adults avenging themselves on Nazis and keeping them from acquiring the power of Eldritch horrors beyond our world. It's a tough balance to get right tonally, but imo they made it cathartic instead of trivializing.
If you have any questions about any of these, message me, shoot me an ask, or comment!
