Books like Cyrano by Geraldine McCaughrean

Charles Dickens’ landmark historical novel, set in London and Paris during the French Revolution, follows Doctor Manette’s 18‑year imprisonment, his release, and his reunion with daughter Lucie amid looming terror.

In a crumbling dystopia, 17‑year‑old Juliette discovers her touch can kill—yet the totalitarian Reestablishment sees her as a weapon. With disease, scarcity and a divided world, she must choose to fight or be a tool of oppression.

Victor Hugo’s historical epic follows peasant Jean Valjean, unjustly imprisoned and pursued by the relentless inspector Javert, exploring themes of justice, redemption, and the social conditions of 19th-century France.

A girl with a deadly touch must decide whether to use her power against her enemies or protect her childhood best friend, while a war rages between the gifted and the army.

Juliette flees the oppressive Reestablishment to Omega Point, a resistance stronghold, only to confront her former captor Warner, who will not abandon her without a fight.

At the heart of a bustling Paris train station lives a 12‑year‑old orphan, Hugo Cabret, who keeps the clockwork heart of his father’s old watch; when a new girl and a mysterious toy‑seller enter his cramped world, secrets, a hidden mechanism, and a mechanical man unite in a striking blend of story and illustration.

Edmond Rostand’s verse drama "Cyrano de Bergerac" follows the 17th‑century Parisian nobleman with a famed nose, who, in love with Roxane, secretly lets his rival Christian use his poems to win her heart.

Seventeen‑year‑old Dodger, a sewer scavenger in Victorian London, rescues a girl and finds himself drawn into a world where history and fantasy collide with figures like Sweeney Todd, Charles Dickens, and Benjamin Disraeli.

Cambodian child soldier recounts his survival against the Khmer Rouge regime.

A young woman is sent back in time to meet her childhood crush, leading her on a thrilling adventure to save him from the past.

A young woman discovers she is a reincarnation of the king of an island ruled by eternal youth and childlessness, and embarks on a forbidden quest to save the island from the curse she has unwittingly caused.

Evangeline, a gifted but trapped young woman, embarks on a daring escape from a political marriage to her cousin King Richard II's advisor, in search of freedom and true love.

In World War I France, four children learn the value of honesty, loyalty and courage from an English deserter who tells them tales linked to his silver donkey charm.

Quasimodo, the hunchbacked bellringer of Notre Dame, battles injustice in medieval Paris to protect the gypsy dancer Esmeralda.

At the eve of World II, two young girls mistaken for one another at a grand English estate become unexpectedly entwined in romance and intrigue.

When the Soviet Union invades its tiny neighbor Finland in November 1939, Marko volunteers to help the war effort. Even though his leg was weakened by polio, he can ski well, and he becomes a messenger on the front line, skiing in white camouflage through the forests at night. The dark forest is terrifying, and so are the odds against the Finns: the Russians have 4 times as many soldiers and 30 times as many planes. They have 3000 tanks, while the Finns have 30. But a tank is no help in the snowy forest--a boy on skis is. And the Russians don't know winter the way the Finns do, or what tough guerrilla warriors the Finns are. Marko teams up with another messenger, Karl. Gradually Marko learns that Karl's whole family was killed by the Russians. And Karl has a secret--he's really Kaari, a girl who joined up to get revenge for her family's deaths.From the Hardcover edition.