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Louis’s reasons for joining include wages and the Union’s fight to end slavery. The story follows his experience in the Irish Brigade and brings together the perspectives of an Abenaki teenager and the Civil War.

A family’s escape from an abusive father begins as an adventure for Jayni, who adopts the name Lola Rose. As money runs out, the family’s new life becomes harder to sustain.

A witty, sharp-edged Cinderella variation follows Becky through sudden glamour and public attention, while she tries to hold on to who she was before the transformation. Expect satire alongside questions of beauty and belonging.

Expect a speculative adventure combining a search for a missing brother with demon-hunting work and interdimensional intrigue. Ehrich must also conceal his origins and work out whom to trust.

A teenage heroine’s strange inheritance draws her into a perilous struggle involving monsters, assassins and a family appeal to join the “family business”.

This is a supernatural coming-of-age story about Adam’s difficult family life and his collision with a hidden world between life and death.

The story centres on a family’s displacement and Chris’s growing awareness of poverty, cultural identity and belonging. His pull towards the landscape of his Wiradjuri ancestors gives the novel a strong focus on connection across generations.

Auralia’s unusual colour-making gift brings her into contact with rulers, a wizard and a prince with dangerous secrets. Her discovery links a personal mystery to wider upheaval across the Expanse.

A contemporary story about unreturned love, keeping secrets and Tretch’s effort to be more open about who he is. His bond with Matt and his supportive older brother sit alongside his difficulty talking with his parents.

Family ties and identity sit at the centre of Janie's story, alongside an unexpected responsibility for supporting her mother and handling family finances.

Gurl’s new invisibility ability offers a way to act in a city where she has felt out of place. The story pairs her escape plan with mysteries about identity, family history and the city’s strange inhabitants.

A murder investigation, family revelations and a prophecy converge as three siblings confront secrets that challenge their place in ThunderClan and their understanding of its rules.

A science-fiction thriller about two teens caught between human institutions and aliens, alongside Reese’s unresolved feelings for her ex-girlfriend and David.

This is a contemporary family-and-romance story about Frank negotiating his parents’ expectations, his relationships and his Korean American identity. A serious illness and bereavement also shape the family story.

The story centres on a child’s affectionate view of an uncle who is also Auntie Lotta, a drag performer. A parade incident and a worry about friends from different parts of Lotta’s life lead to a shared outfit combining Leo and Lotta.

Tally’s pursuit of a musician tied to her family past leads her to Maddy and a love that unsettles her assumptions. Family secrets and questions of identity sit alongside friendship and supernatural elements.

A bleak but lyrical story about siblings navigating unstable care, homelessness and self-invention. Its poems bring attention to the dreams and difficulties of young people without secure homes.

At its centre is Pattyn’s search for where she belongs, as family ties, faith and her feelings about being loved come into question.

Expect a high-stakes fantasy conflict with shifting alliances, repeated attempts to stop Darquesse, and a focus on Valkyrie and Skulduggery’s bond.

This is a high-stakes story about sisters, secrecy and political power, centred on Frey’s struggle to protect Rafi while confronting a life shaped by someone else’s identity.

This is a turbulent story about a teenager facing legal consequences and a difficult choice involving a friend and an almost-boyfriend. Expect a plot that includes several crises and a fictional drug.

This is a coming-of-age fantasy about belonging and ambition, shaped by a martial-arts contest, a prophecy and a web of linked destinies.

A brisk period adventure combines pursuit and mystery with questions about identity and who gets to claim knowledge or power. London’s streets and scientific showmanship give the story a grubby, unsettling edge.

A verse-led coming-of-age story about the gap between Addie’s outspoken public self and her more vulnerable inner thoughts.

This is a high-stakes fantasy finale focused on loyalty, identity and difficult choices, with a continuing cast and world. It is not presented as a standalone story.

This illustrated family-history story traces Jewish roots through generations and connects them with African-American and Geechee heritage. A recurring Friday-night candle-lighting tradition remembers the family’s Jewish ancestry.

This is a spooky, folksy fantasy about two girls whose quarrel unleashes a graveyard full of angry ancestors. The story pairs that supernatural danger with questions of friendship, family history and finding a place to belong.

A historical story about a girl’s attachment to a Japanese doll during wartime, and the pressure to choose between that personal bond and national loyalty.

Louis is a bookish, sensitive boy in a world where physical toughness is prized. The novel examines how family and neighbourhood expectations shape his sense of himself, alongside his growing feelings for Ray Anthony.

A school popularity story that centres a well-liked girl rather than an outsider, and follows her as she takes on a leadership role.

This is a realistic school story in which harassment grows from insults and humiliation into physical attacks. Piddy also faces questions about identity and family, while trying to keep up with school and work.

A colourful animal fable turns the difficulty of fitting into fixed categories into a story about finding belonging, then facing a choice about welcoming others.

Expect an action-led dystopian story that asks what happens when a society sorts people into fixed groups. Identity and belonging sit beneath the suspense; a romance is also part of the plot.

Expect an intergenerational family story shaped by biblical parallels, with identity and love among its central concerns. Its tone is described as often brutal, so the emotional register may be intense.

This is a comic story about two boys whose efforts to influence their parents’ relationship bring together family upheaval, a school event and the boys’ own changing relationship.

This is a teen romantic comedy about trying to repair a relationship after a mistake, set in a school where gender and sexuality norms are unusually playful.

At its centre is an unlikely friendship that brings together two teenagers facing loneliness and change. Their lives involve family troubles, romantic relationships and the effort to imagine a future on their own terms.

A comic, mock-Victorian quest follows Solomon as he searches for the spoon left with him as a baby and for his birth parents, with two unusual companions.

The story combines a teenager’s discovery about her identity with fairy lore and a perilous journey. Aoife’s friendship with Shay becomes important as she tries to make sense of what is happening.

A supernatural mystery follows Triss as she tries to understand why her memories and body feel changed, while uncovering secrets about her family and strange forces around them.

A humorous identity story that puts self-image and outside expectations at its centre, alongside the pain of grief and changing relationships.

This is a coming-of-age story about Andy’s first relationships as a gay man, set alongside memories of a painful family life and his attempt to make a new start at college.

Expect a fantasy quest shaped by prophecy, magic and a long-standing struggle involving gods, rulers and people. Garion’s changing understanding of his origins is also central.

This is an adventure about a missing young horse, a search across rugged country and two sisters’ wish to establish their place there. Tracking and horse-riding are part of the search.

This is a story about friendship across sharply contrasting family beliefs and values, with the girls’ connection set against wider social divisions.

This is an invasion-and-resistance story with a young central character caught between human rebels and the alien ruling society she belongs to.