Showing titles in Historical

Margaret Thursday was named after the day she was found on the church steps as a baby. But she isn’t really an orphan – each year a bag of gold coins is left at the church for her keep. When the money suddenly stops, her guardians have no choice but to send her away to an orphanage. The orphanage is worse than they could have imagined. Vowing to protect her new friends, Peter and Horatio, Margaret plans their daring escape...but she’ll have to outwit Matron at every turn.

Read by the inimitable Richard Attenborough. Billy was a champion soccer star, playing for Chelsea in the 1930s. But that was before war broke out… Billy the Kid is told through the voice of an 80 year old man, who looks back on his life as Chelsea’s champion striker until the outbreak of...

Brought to you by Puffin. Britain is at war, and a secret arm of the British government called the Ministry of Unladylike Activity is training up spies. And who better to become a spy than a child? A child can go places, see things and listen in on conversations in a way that no adult ever can...

Read by Ellie Kendrick and featuring an exclusive audio introduction and bonus conversation between authors Leah Williamson and Jordan Glover. A time-twisting adventure from Leah Williamson, captain of the Euros-winning women’s England team, written with debut author Jordan Glover, perfect for...

It is 1911 and London's docks thrum with underhand deals, none so great as the arrival of a valuable, rare and exotic animal, smuggled from the depths of the Congolese rainforest. The baby gorilla stands to make one man, the shady Goliath Deeds, very, very rich – he and his right-hand man, juvenile pickpocket Toff Squabble. Heaven help anyone who dares stand in their way, not least the brave and innocent 12-year-old Nettie Beecroft, who finds herself embroiled in a dangerous rescue attempt where she encounters toshers, bone-grubbers and gangsters. Whom can Nettie trust?

Multi-award-winning author Tom Palmer shines a light on life under wartime occupation, in a beautifully told story inspired by the childhood of Hollywood legend Audrey Hepburn. As the brutal Second World War stretches on with no end in sight, life for ordinary Dutch people in the Nazi-occupied...

After a fierce storm, a boy discovers a human skull, buried beneath the roots of an ancient tree. A skull with a legendary story… Vivid re-imagining of the legendary hero Robin Hood by thebestselling author of War Horse. “Tell the sheriff, tell Sir Guy of Gisbourne, tell everyone in...

It is 1872 and, when Maggie Appleton's beloved mother dies, she is left with nothing but a letter for a mysterious stranger called Passepartout. With nowhere else to turn, Maggie seeks out Passepartout and, in doing so, is drawn into an adventure beyond her wildest dreams. Together with Passepartout's employer, the enigmatic Mr Phileas Fogg, Maggie journeys to Italy, India, Hong Kong, Japan and America, in a daring race against time to win the wager Mr Fogg has accepted.

When Penelope goes to stay with her aunt and uncle in an ancient Derbyshire farmhouse, she is immediately drawn to the wonderful atmosphere and longs to discover all its secrets. Soon she finds herself slipping back in time to the sixteenth century…. When Penelope goes to stay with her aunt...

Marcus Flavius Aquila, a young centurion in Roman Britain, is forced into retirement after receiving a wound in his first major engagement against a rebel British tribe. It allows him the freedom to embark upon a dangerous mission to find out what happened to the Ninth Legion, which, years before, disappeared in the savage lands of the Picts. Will he find out what happened to the men, led by his father, who never returned? And will he recover the Eagle, the symbol of Roman dominance and power?

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Moonfleet by J. Meade Falkner, read by Royce Pierreson. A tale of smuggling set among the cliffs, caves, and downs of Dorset. Everyone in the tiny village of Moonfleet lives by the sea one way or another, so it's no surprise when young John Trenchard...

In the aftermath of World War One, everyone is trying to rebuild their lives. If Ben is to avoid being sent back to the orphanage, he needs to find his brother Sam, wounded in action and is now missing. Lotti's horrible aunt and uncle want to send her away to boarding-school (when she has just so successfully managed to get expelled from her last one!). And Clara, their young teacher, is waiting for news of her missing fiancé.

Will Everett has always wished for an adventure. Little does he know his adventure starts the moment he boards the Boundless. There is a murder, and now Will protects a key that can unlock the train¹s hidden treasures. Villains are fast on his heels and strange creatures are lurking outside the windows, as the Boundless hurtles across the country. Together with Maren, a gifted escape artist, and Mr. Dorian, a circus ringmaster with amazing abilities, Will must save the Boundless before someone else winds up dead.

'A complete triumph of imagination . . . readers are going to fall in love with this brilliant series.' – A. F. Steadman, bestselling author of Skandar Action adventure meets the time travel of Doctor Who in the second title of this epic series by bestselling award-winner M. G. Leonard...

‘Two of the greatest children’s books ever written’ – The Times on The Box of Delights and The Midnight Folk. ‘You ought to know about the treasure, Kay … for until it is restored or traced, no man of our name ought to rest.’ Determined to recover the long-lost family treasure, Kay...

The powerful new novel from the master storyteller – inspired by the true story of one man who might have stopped World War II. 1940. The train is under attacks from German fighters. In the darkness, sheltering in a railway tunnel, the stranger in the carriage with Barney and his mother tells...

One of the finest storytellers of her time, Joan Aiken wrote over 100 books for both adults and children. Among her best-known works are the 'Wolves Chronicles', a sequence of novels set in an alternate 19th-century England ruled by Stuart kings. Included here are three tales from that magical, wolf-infested world - The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Black Hearts in Battersea and The Story of Is.

Brought to you by Puffin. Return to the spellbinding world of Cordelia Hatmaker in this soaring magical sequel to The Hatmakers. Perfect for fans of Nevermoor, A Pinch of Magic and Harry Potter. Ever since Cordelia discovered the hidden map in her father's precious telescope, she's been...

Discover the world of Skulduggery Pleasant in this prequel to the bestselling series. So many enemies, so little time . . . Italy, 1703. As the war with Mevolent rages on, the Dead Men are dispatched to a walled town in the Tuscan hills – not to assassinate the Lord of the Dark Sorcerers, but...

Her best friend's family have fled, and the bombing makes her afraid to leave the mosque where she lives. But when her father is arrested by the Nazis for his secret Resistance work, it falls to Safiyyah to run the dangerous errands around the city.\ It's not long before hundreds of persecuted Jews seek sanctuary at the mosque. Can Safiyyah find the courage to enter the treacherous catacombs under Paris and lead the Jews to safety?