After my Cybils reading ended, I figured I’d end up diving into a bunch of adult romances as a palate cleanser. I felt like I needed something different, and adult romances are pretty different from YA SFF. Instead, I found myself reaching for a bunch of YA historicals – books about girls trying to make lives for themselves when their choices were pretty limited.
I grabbed one in particular (Forbidden by Kimberley Griffiths Little) because it’s about a time and place I haven’t read much of: ancient Mesopotamia. YA historicals set in BCE times tend to focus on Egypt, Rome, or Greece, and while I like those well enough, I’m always eager for books about places I know less about. Teens who love historical fiction are hungry for stories about new and faraway places. There are only so many books you can read about a certain place before it doesn’t seem all that interesting anymore.
For this post, I really wanted to create a nice, medium-sized booklist of recent ancient YA historicals set in places like the Middle East, Asia, and Africa (excluding Egypt). I thought it would be useful for our readers as well as for me, since I’m always seeking out new books like this to read. I quickly realized this was a more difficult task than I initially thought. There just aren’t that many.
For the purposes of the list, I defined ancient history as Wikipedia does: from the beginning of recorded history to the start of the Middle Ages. In years, this is roughly 3000 BCE to 500 CE. It’s a huge span of time and it’s such a disappointment that so much of what’s being published is focused so exclusively on three specific places. There’s more to be found once we enter the Middle Ages, from more parts of the world, but if you’re looking to branch out in true ancient history, you’re almost entirely out of luck. (Many of the stories set in the ancient Middle East are Biblical as well, and those are certainly valid stories, but they shouldn’t be the only ones.)
I listed the few I’ve found below. These are all published within the last decade, take place between the years mentioned above, and are set primarily in places other than Egypt, Greece, or Rome. If you know of any others, please let me know!
The Garden by Elsie V. Aidinoff
Retells the tale of the Garden of Eden from Eve’s point of view, as
Serpent teaches her everything from her own name to why she should eat
the forbidden fruit, and then leaves her with Adam and the knowledge
that her choice has made mankind free.
Temple Boys by Jamie Buxton
Jerusalem, year zero.
Flea belongs to a gang of teenage vagrants living in the shadow of the
Temple, living on their wits and what they can beg or steal. When a man
called the Magician arrives, bringing talk of miracles and revolution,
Flea and his comrades latch onto the newcomer in the hope that he’ll
offer them a secure home. As events accumulate and powerful forces
gather around the Magician, Flea notices rumblings of discontent among
his followers. Is the Magician the savior he claims to be, or a fraud? | Setting: Jerusalem, year zero
Alphabet of Dreams by Susan Fletcher
Fourteen-year-old Mitra, of royal Persian lineage, and her five-year-old
brother Babak, whose dreams foretell the future, flee for their lives
in the company of the magus Melchoir and two other Zoroastrian priests,
traveling through Persia as they follow star signs leading to a
newly-born king in Bethlehem. | Setting: Persia, year zero
Spirit’s Princess by Esther M. Friesner
In ancient Japan, Himiko, the privileged daughter of her clan’s leader,
fights the constraints and expectations imposed on young women and finds
her own path, which includes secret shaman lessons. | Setting: Japan, 3rd century CE
Dark Sons by Nikki Grimes
Alternating poems compare and contrast the conflicted feelings of
Ishmael, son of the Biblical patriarch Abraham, and Sam, a teenager in
New York City, as they try to come to terms with being abandoned by
their fathers and with the love they feel for their younger
stepbrothers. | Setting: Present day and Biblical era
The Foretelling by Alice Hoffman
against the ways of her tribe through her sister-like relationship with
Io and her feelings for a boy from a tribe of wanderers. | Setting: It’s nebulous, but probably near the Black Sea
Forbidden by Kimberley Griffiths Little
Devastated by her betrothal to a violent boy she does not love, Jayden
is forced to accept her fate as her ancient Mesopotamian tribe moves to
the Summer Lands, where she falls for a mysterious youth from the
Southern Lands. | Setting: Mesopotamia, 1759 BCE
