Looking for an eclectic collection of books similar to The Book Thief by Markus Zusak? As an award-winning author and veteran blogger, I’ve spent over a decade reading, analyzing, and recommending the most impactful historical novels that explore powerful themes of resilience, mortality, friendship, and the human condition.
You’ll find detailed reviews of more than a dozen of my favorites in the roundup below. I’ve personally curated this collection from my own bookshelves, and I’m confident that these stories will also appeal to you. Some offer depth and resonance during a time of war—most often WW II. Others have compelling narratives within a different historical context, such as the 20th century.
The Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse
“When things come to an end in a way you didn't expect, in a way you never could have imagined, do they really come to an end? Does it mean you should keep searching, for better answers, for ones that don't keep you up at night? Or does it mean it's time to make peace?” ― Monica Hesse, quote from The Girl in the Blue Coat
The Girl in the Blue Coat hooked me from the very beginning. It's a historical mystery, set in Amsterdam during WWII, and the protagonist is a teenage girl who trades black market goods to support her family. One of her clients asks her to help find a missing Jewish girl. Hanneke is good at finding things, but this isn't her kind of thing.
Still, she is drawn into the mystery and can't help herself from searching. As the pages unfold, we learn about Hanneke's lost love, meet new friends, and see her grow as a person.
Sometimes, young Hanneke seems bratty, singularly focused, and unfeeling, but at the same time, her instincts have helped her stay alive this far. Fans of The Book Thief will love this one.
Forgotten But Never Gone by Khristina Chess
“I think it was this rebellious quality about her that allowed everyone to write off her disappearance so easily. Kids like Half-pint ran away. This whole generation was full of delinquents. Blah, blah, blah.” – Khristina Chess, quote from Forgotten But Never Gone
I love watching those “small-town cold case” shows and old unsolved mysteries, and Forgotten But Never Gone had that kind of vibe for me.
The story opens with the disappearance of fifteen-year-old Rosie Fields. One of the last to see her was her friend Bobby, a foster kid whose life Rosie once saved. When the police dismiss her case as just another runaway, Bobby refuses to accept it, and in his relentless search, he follows one lead after another until he makes a shocking discovery.
Set in 1980, this YA novel really transported me back to a nostalgic time before AMBER alerts and 24-hour news cycles, when carefree teenagers roamed neighborhoods with little supervision and always returned home in time for supper.
Except sometimes they didn’t.
I felt like Bobby, the amateur sleuth in this novel, was a lot like Mark Zuzack’s relatable and multifaceted young characters in The Book Thief. The layered and unsettling mystery in Forgotten But Never Gone exposes some of the reasons why more people seemed to vanish without a trace in the 70s and 80s. What makes this book especially powerful for me was its dual resonance: it’s both a gripping page-turner and a thoughtful exploration of how society failed vulnerable youth in the past.
Bobby’s determination to find out what happened to his friend reminds us that sometimes the most unlikely person can become the keeper of truth, and that refusing to forget is itself an act of justice.
Purge by Sofi Oksanen
"The only thing left alive was the shame." ― Sofi Oksanen, quote from Purge
I picked up Purge to add to my list of YA books about human trafficking, but this novel is pure literature, a stunning international masterpiece that spans decades of history, generations of pain, and dark twisted family secrets.
Set in Estonia and bouncing between 1941 and 1992, two protagonists tell their tales in a long and dizzying narrative that weaves between present terror and past horror. These women are bound to each other in multiple ways. Their mutual distrust them unreliable narrators, so that only the reader really only has the full picture, and sometimes even that picture is murky.
As I think back on each of these women's experiences, I see so many parallels in what happened to each, even though the details are very different on the surface. For example, both are raped. Both are silenced. Both are shamed. One is betrayed. One is a betrayer.
This is the kind of epic novel that I can think about for a long time and even read again. I missed things and know that I would see even more in a second reading because the book is so sweeping and full of such meaningful symbolism and detail.
If you liked The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, add Purge to your TBR pile. You won’t be disappointed.
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
“It’s an unimaginative accusation and one that I am frankly tired of hearing. Witchcraft. As though there is no other explanation for a woman who excels at her work.”― Ariel Lawhon, quote from The Frozen River
What a wonderful book! Historical fiction isn't my usual genre, but the cover and the accolades for The Frozen River made me give it a try.
Set in New England in 1789, not long after the American Revolution, a midwife named Martha Ballard challenges men in the community about a murder in the community. The body of an accused rapist is found frozen in the river, and after examination, Martha says that the victim was murdered. She becomes a key witness in a trial for the woman who was raped because she treated the woman's wounds after the assault. The other accused man is a judge.
This novel has many layers. Beyond the mystery, there is the social commentary on women, family, sexual assault, and society during early days of America in New England. Paul Revere is mentioned as a friend of the family. The author depicts a rich setting of cold winter, warm homes and hearts, young love and pre-marital relationships, and the early court system. I couldn't put it down.
I will definitely read other novels by Ariel Lawhon! If you loved The Book Thief, you will definitely devour The Frozen River.
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
“Vianne didn’t hesitate. She knew now that no one could be neutral—not anymore—and as afraid as she was of risking Sophie’s life, she was suddenly more afraid of letting her daughter grow up in a world where good people did nothing to stop evil, where a good woman could turn her back on a friend in need." ― Kristin Hannah, quote from The Nightingale
The Nightingale starts slowly. It takes its time with characterization and setting, but when the Germans invade Paris, the plotting picks up and doesn't stop. Two sisters give their perspective on events as they unfold. Isabelle, the impulsive one, has a heroic story to tell about saving airmen, while her older sister Vianne takes another route that is ultimately heroic in its own right. These women have a complicated family relationship, both with each other and also with their father.
For the last 150 pages, I curled up and cried and cried. Not since Elie Wiesel's "Night" have I been so horrified by the atrocities that the Nazis committed. Kristin Hannah does not flinch as she shows readers the brutality that Jews, French citizens, and allied fighters experienced during World War II. It's unfathomable that humans can inflict such evil on one another. That individuals rose up with such courage is astonishing. Isabella was not even twenty years old when she began her fight. Her sister had much more to lose, as did all the other French citizens who found ways to resist, to save Jewish children as their parents were forced onto trains, and all the others who didn't give up even with starvation, sickness, cold, and great loss.
If you're looking for another World War II-era novel like The Book Thief, be sure to give The Nightingale a look. It's one of those books that will keep me thinking for a long time.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
“If there was only one tree like that in the world, you would think it was beautiful. But because there are so many, you just can't see how beautiful it really is.” ― Betty Smith, quote from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
I loved the themes of “life isn’t fair” in this classic, coming-of-age American novel set in 1912. It’s harsh but also brilliant and beautiful.
I first heard about this book from Oprah Winfrey and picked it up during the book club years of the 2000s. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was published before YA was really “a thing.” On the surface, it tells the story of a poor young girl growing up in Brooklyn, a child of struggling immigrant parents.
But it’s so much more! This beautiful book is about immigration, class, poverty, human nature, family, heartbreak, and the unfairness of life. Young Frannie showed her world to me through the naive eyes of a child. She is a survivor without really grasping the full desperation of her situation. There’s a reason why this novel has stood the test of time and lands in the category of literary classics.
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
“I wept because i had no shoes, until i met a man who had no feet.” ― Ruta Sepetys, quote from Salt to the Sea
Going in, I had no idea what this book was about, except that lots of people were reading it and it won awards. For sure, I had no prior knowledge of the actual historical event at its heart.
Inspired by the real-life tragedy that was the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff (the greatest maritime disaster in history), a group of refugees fleeing the Nazis find their lives intertwined by fate and horror. The multiple viewpoints and short scenes took a while to hook me. I didn’t like Alfred from the beginning, but the stories of the others pulled me in, the secondary characters as well as the main ones. All of them had compelling secrets. I wanted everyone in the group to escape, to be the handful of refugees to survive that horrific war.
Graphic details created a vivid backdrop. I could see the horses entombed in the ice with the people. I could see the starving cow, its udders burst in the cold. The dead and dying. War.
If you like historical novels like The Book Thief, you will love Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys.
Night by Elie Wiesel
“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed....Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.” ― Elie Wiesel, quote from Night
I read this book when it came out as an Oprah’s Book Club pick in 2006. A slim paperback, this memoir is full of emotion: horror, shock, revulsion, despair, grief, numbness. That this is a true story is unbearable. That Elie Wiesel survived is unimaginable. And yet, he did.
His insights and perspective of this experience are stunning. Find a copy of this masterpiece and read it for yourself.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
“But still there are moments when a brother and sister can lay down their instruments of torture for a moment and speak as civilized human beings and Bruno decided to make this one of those moments.” ― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Bruno is a privileged, nine-year-old son of a Nazi commander. His house in Berlin has 5 stories, so when his father is transferred to "Out-With" and a house with only 3 stories, he's quite disappointed. There are no children for him to play with at "Out-With," until one day he goes exploring the fence and meets a boy wearing striped pajamas.
I forget what recommendation landed this slim novel in my reading pile, but I didn't have proper expectations. Twist ending! Bruno's misguided, innocent, and sometimes amusing perspectives drew me into the story. At times, Bruno seemed downright cruel in his cluelessness, like when he carried food to his starving Jewish friend, but he got "peckish" on the walk and ate it all along the way.
Despite the simplistic writing, this novel portrays powerful adult themes. The last line of the book is a gut punch. I will be thinking about this one for a long time. If you devoured The Book Thief, you won’t be able to put this one down either.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
“There are a lot of children in Afghanistan, but little childhood.” ― Khaled Hosseini, quote from The Kite Runner
Set in Afghanistan during the Soviet-Afghan war and rise of the Taliban, an unlikely friendship develops between two boys of different social class.
The quote about childhoods represents a truly shocking scene in this novel where a young boy in search of a kite is gang raped in an alley, and his helpless friend is witness to the event. This becomes a heavy secret between the friends.
The Kite Runner is about so much more than that one scene, that one event, but like so many pivot points in a life, it changed everything and set events in motion. The story itself is epic, sweeping, spanning time and events in a country that I had not read about before. Khaled Hosseini shows that the experiences of being human are the same, regardless of geographical location and culture.
His other novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, is also wonderful. If you enjoyed The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and are looking for a more mature and epic historical novel, read the work of Khaled Hosseini.
We Walked the Sky by Lisa Fiedler
“The show must go on, even when it's not the show you expected to be in.” ― Lisa Felder, quote from We Walked the Sky
Fiedler's multi-generational novel really captured and held my interest. Two parallel stories are running: the grandmother, Victoria, is a 16-year-old who runs away and joins the circus in 1965, and her granddaughter, Callie, is a teen who has followed in her circus footsteps, but now finds herself in a new place.
There are mysteries to unravel and friendships to develop. I loved all the circus lore and animals and characters. Really, it was an enchanting story. I want to read more by this author.
When compiling the list of historical YA books like The Book Thief, be sure to add this one.
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
“If an entire nation could seek its freedom, why not a girl?”― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Chains
I have read several of Laurie Halse Anderson's books, and I found this one to be ambitious, compelling, and heartfelt. I learned things about slavery during the American revolutionary war that were new since most literature I've consumed has been during the later period of the civil war. The author’s research into the book made it rich and come alive.
Readers who liked The Book Thief by Markus Zusak will love this classic historical book about friendship, class difference, race, and slavery in early American history. In fact, Laurie Halse Anderson is such a great author that she’s on my list of Best YA Authors to Binge on Kindle Unlimited because she’s all-around amazing!
The Benevolent Lords of Sometimes Island by Scott Semegran
It makes me sad to think that 1986 is “historical fiction,” but it is. I picked up this novel because it was the 2021 First Place winner for Middle-Grade/Young Adult Writers Digest Self-Published Book Awards. Wow! It hooked me immediately and didn’t let go.
Four middle-school boys find a backpack full of cash and pot left behind by their nemesis bullies, the Thousand Oaks Gang, and after evading them fails (they get beat up), they decide to retreat to an abandoned lake house for a few days. Being kids, they haven’t thought this through. The bullies find them. They end up stranded on an island with no food, water, or shelter and must survive until someone rescues them.
I didn’t know what to expect when I picked up this novel. I felt I was in great storytelling hands with Semegran. I don’t usually like Middle Grade novels; they usually are too young for me to really appreciate. But The Benevolent Lords of Sometimes Island has something special. As others have noted, it reminds me of The Body by Stephen King, which inspired Stand by Me (the movie). Perhaps it is the narrator’s voice, which seems older and wiser than his young years.
Other Books You’ll Devour If You Liked The Book Thief by Markus Markus Zusak
If you are looking for other books like The Book Thief, Goodreads has a list: Readers Who Enjoyed The Book Thief.
You might also be interested in my post Other Good Reads.
About the Author: Khristina Chess
Khristina Chess is an award-winning author of more than a dozen young adult novels, including The Cutting Edge of Friendship, The Delinquent Hero, and Junior Missing. Her novel about eating disorders, Hollow Beauty, was named a finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. She tackles tough teen topics and writes binge-worthy books across multiple genres, including contemporary, thriller, mystery, dystopian, and adventure.
