I had a bit of an obsession with doomed cities when I was teen. Real places like Pompeii and Roanoke, plus more legendary or mythical places like Troy and Atlantis, provided me with endless hours of reading material. They were also the fodder for many of my childhood experiments in fiction writing. There was something so romantic about the tragedy of it all, of knowing going into the story that things would end badly for almost everyone.
I don’t know if this made me an especially morbid teenager, but I do know I wasn’t alone. Books like these continue to fascinate readers today – perhaps the mystery of the things we can never know causes our enduring interest. In a way, books like these provide answers for us, telling the stories of the people who died or disappeared all those years ago.
This booklist collects stories from these four places of history or legend. I tried to keep the list focused on the past ten years, though there are a few from the early 2000s as well. There seems to be a renewed interest in Atlantis lately, and more broadly the idea of underwater cities. Re-tellings of the Iliad and Odyssey from teenage points of view are perennially popular, though I restricted this particular list to those that take place – at least in part – in the city of Troy itself (which is why I left out Esther Friesner’s Nobody’s Princess). As always, chime in with other titles I’ve missed!
Atlantis
Teardrop by Lauren Kate (2013)
Since Eureka’s mother drowned, she wishes she were dead too, but after
discovering that an ancient book is more than a story Eureka begins to
believe that Ander is right about her being involved in strange
things–and in grave danger.
Atlantis Rising by T. A. Barron (2013)
The young thief Promi and the forest girl Atlanta battle evil and in the process bring about the creation of Atlantis. [This is more of an upper middle grade novel, similar in age range to Barron’s Merlin books.]
Atlantia by Ally Condie (2014)
Rio has always dreamed of leaving the underwater city of Atlantia for
life in the Above; however, when her twin sister, Bay, makes an
unexpected decision, Rio is left stranded below where she must find a
way to unlock the secrets of the siren voice she has long hidden and
save Atlantia from destruction. [I’m actually unsure if this addresses Atlantis specifically or only alludes to it via the name of the city, but I’m putting it on here since I think it would definitely appeal to the same kind of readers.]
Pompeii
Curses and Smoke by Vicky Alvear Shecter (2014)
Tagus is a medical slave who wants be a gladiator, Lucia is the daughter
of Tag’s owner and betrothed to an older man, and the two teenagers are
in love with each other–but it is the year 79 and soon Vesuvius will
alter their lives forever.
The Last Girls of Pompeii by Kathryn Lasky (2007)
Twelve-year-old Julia knows that her physical deformity will keep her
from a normal life, but counts on the continuing friendship of her
life-long slave, Mitka, until they learn that both of their futures in
first-century Pompeii are about to change for the worse. [Like the Barron, this is more upper middle grade or lower YA.]
Troy
Troy by Adele Geras (2000)
Told from the point of view of the women of Troy, portrays the last
weeks of the Trojan War, when women are sick of tending the wounded, men
are tired of fighting, and bored gods and goddesses find ways to stir
things up.
The Moon Riders by Theresa Tomlinson (2003)
When thirteen-year-old Myrina of the Mazagardi tribe joins the Moon
Riders, a revered band of warrior women, she becomes caught up in the
life of the Trojan princess Cassandra and the epic, ten-year Trojan War.
Beauty’s Daughter: The Story of Hermione and Helen of Troy by Carolyn Meyer (2013)
When renowned beauty Helen runs off to Troy with Prince Paris, her
enraged husband, King Menelaus, starts the Trojan War, leaving their
plain daughter, Hermione, alone to witness the deaths of heroes on both
sides and longing to find her own love and place in the world.
Goddess of Yesterday by Caroline B. Cooney (2002)
Taken from her home on an Aegean island as a six-year-old girl,
Anaxandra calls on the protection of her goddess while she poses as two
different princesses over the next six years, before ending up as a
servant in the company of Helen and Paris as they make their way to
Troy.
Roanoke
Blackwood by Gwenda Bond (2012)
Teenagers Miranda and Phillips may be the only hope of discovering what
happened to 114 people who went missing on Roanoke Island in a
mysterious repeat of the disappearance of the islands lost colony
hundreds of years before.
Cate of the Lost Colony by Lisa Klein (2010)
When her dalliance with Sir Walter Ralegh is discovered by Queen
Elizabeth in 1587, lady-in-waiting Catherine Archer is banished to the
struggling colony of Roanoke, where she and the other English settlers
must rely on a Croatoan Indian for their survival.