8 Must-Read Diverse YA Historical Novels

A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee

Mary is an orphan in Victorian London, set to hang for breaking and entering when two mysterious women step in and save her from the noose. They offer her an education, and years later, reveal the shocking truth: they are spymistresses for the Agency, which hires out female spies to solve the most delicate of mysteries. Mary eagerly joins up, but her first case will test her mettle, forcing her to confront the past she’s worked desperately to conceal, even from the Agency.

Mare’s War by Tanita S. Davis

The last thing Octavia and Tali want to do is drive across the country with their grandmother, Mare, who doesn’t even act like a grandmother. But as the miles pass by, Mare tells her granddaughters a remarkable story, of what it was like to leave her home, lie about her age, and join the African American Battalion of the Women’s Army Corps during World War II, facing danger, discrimination, and injustice while fighting a piece of a war that isn’t talked about in history books.

All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages edited by Saundra Mitchell

Seventeen of the best YA authors writing today have come together to contribute to this awesome anthology of historical fiction stories about LGBTQ+ teens throughout history. From fairytale retellings to near-past stories of love and self-discovery, this anthology has a lot for readers looking for more queer representation and affirmation that LGBTQ+ people have always existed.

Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee

When Samantha, a Chinese American girl, and Annamae, a runaway slave, meet at the scene of a crime committed in self-defense, the two girls band together to head west. They disguise themselves as boys and join up with a band of cowboys, but soon find that outrunning their pasts and discrimination is not easy on the Oregon trail.

Pulp by Robin Talley

Set in 1950s Washington D.C., against the backdrop of McCarthyism, Janet Jones turns to lesbian pulp fiction for escape from the stresses of her daily life and having to keep her love for her best friend Marie a secret. Sixty years later, another gay teen becomes determined to discover the identity of her favorite pulp writer, bridging a gap between the two girls.

Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines in World War Two by Joseph Bruchac

During the fiercest fighting of World War II, the Allies needed codes to communicate across the world that would be unbreakable to Nazi interception. Ned Begay joins the Marines as a code talker, using the Navajo language and culture to create codes that the enemies couldn’t decipher, and saving countless lives.

Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith

Flying is the only thing that makes Ida Mae feel close to her deceased pilot father. When the U.S. enters World War II, Ida Mae finally gets a chance to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots. But in order to do so, Ida Mae must pass off her light skin as “white” and deny her family and past, at great personal cost.

Silhouette of a Sparrow by Molly Beth Griffin

When pairing ornithologist Garnet Richardson is sent to a lake resort to escape a polio epidemic, she’s excited. A summer of fun is just what she needs before returning to her constraining life and expectations of a young lady in the 1920s. But her getaway turns out to be more constrained than she expected, and only a secret relationship with a flapper gives her reason to hope and attempt to define her own femininity and future outside of society’s strict rules.

Want more diverse historical YA novels? Here are three more coming out in 2019!