8 YA Novels Guaranteed to Bring Out Your Inner Anglophile

The Gemma Doyle Trilogy, by Libba Bray
Libba Bray might be a Yankee, but her novel about young girls with magical powers living at a late nineteenth-century English boarding school has pretty much everything an Anglophile could ask for. Look out for a father with a laudanum addiction, a forbidden love affair with a handsome Indian man, and, of course, young ladies fighting against restrictive Victorian morals. Oh, and lots of magic.

Mates, Dates series, by Cathy Hopkins
For readers less interested in magic and more interested in reading about the growing pains of British teenagers, the Mates, Dates series is the perfect place to start. Lucy, Izzie, Nesta, and TJ navigate the world of dating, mean girls, and growing up in London, letting you live out your own fantasies of running around the homeplace of Big Ben with your best mates.

The Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series, by Louise Rennison
This famously banned series is wildly popular in both England and beyond. Follow the cheeky Georgia Nicolson as she deals with her mad family (including crazy cat Angus), her on-and-off relationship with a Sex God, and of course all of her adventures with the Ace Gang. This series is particularly great for picking up some fun British slang, as each novel features a glossary in the back.

I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith
Cassandra Mortmain is an aspiring writer who also lives in a decaying English castle. Um, yes to all that. Full of quirky characters (like a father suffering from writer’s block and a stepmother who prefers romping around in nothing but boots) and a love story worthy of Jane Austen, this novel is fantastic for readers who have romantic notions of early twentieth-century Britain. And don’t we all?

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs
It’s like the X-Men, but set in Wales in the 1940s. After his grandfather’s mysterious death, Jacob Portman travels to a Welsh orphanage, where he meets a girl with unusual powers. He travels with her back to the 1940s and falls in with a bunch of similarly empowered “peculiar children” who are being attacked by invisible monsters. And there’s a sequel!

The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place, by Julie Berry
This one has a British boarding school AND murder, so obviously it speaks to everything I’m interested in. When the terrible headmistress of St. Etheldreda’s School for Girls is poisoned, her students try to hide her murder so they aren’t sent home. The British just do dark humor so well, don’t they?

A Mad, Wicked Folly, by Sharon Biggs Waller
Let’s admit it, we all love historical fiction. And historical fiction with a strong female protagonist is even better. Vicky wants to be an artist, but after she poses nude her parents try to force her into an arranged marriage. Is Vicky willing to give up her dreams and her freedom for a place in high society? This novel also features forbidden love for a working-class boy and, my personal favorite, suffragettes!

I Am Morgan Le Faye, by Nancy Springer
I love (love love LOVE) Morgan Le Faye, and this novel is kind of like The Mists of Avalon for the YA set. We see the legend of King Arthur from Morgan’s point of view, and watch her transform from an abandoned little girl into the most powerful sorceress in England. It’s the perfect read for those who like their Arthurian legends with an extra dose of girl power.