Jon Walter Standalone Novels books in order

Jon Walter Standalone Novels collects three YA and children's novels — Close to the Wind (2014), My Name's Not Friday (2015), and Nevertheless, She Persisted (2018) — each set in a different historical period and told from the perspective of a young person navigating injustice.
Series · Young Adult Fiction · Children's Fiction · Historical Fiction

Reading order

# Title Published Author Buy on Amazon
1 Close to the Wind 2014 Jon Walter Buy
2 My Name’s Not Friday 2015 Jon Walter Buy
3 Nevertheless, She Persisted 2018 Jon Walter Buy

Close to the Wind (2014) introduced Walter’s approach: a child protagonist placed inside a crisis that reflects historical and contemporary displacements, told in a voice that is immediate without being naive. Malik’s journey as an unaccompanied child refugee carries both period resonance and contemporary relevance.

My Name’s Not Friday (2015) took on the American Civil War and the institution of slavery from the perspective of Samuel, a free Black boy from an orphanage who is sold South and forced to work on a plantation. The novel was both Carnegie-longlisted and praised for its care in handling subject matter that children’s fiction has often approached superficially.

Nevertheless, She Persisted (2018) moved to the suffragette campaign of 1913, following two sisters at Holloway Prison who encounter the imprisoned women fighting for the vote. The title echoes a phrase from US political discourse but Walter’s book stands entirely on its own historical ground, rooted in the specific conditions of women’s imprisonment and agitation in Edwardian Britain.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books are in the Jon Walter Standalone Novels series?

There are three books in the Jon Walter Standalone Novels series, published between 2014 and 2018.

What is the first book in the Jon Walter Standalone Novels series?

The first book in the Jon Walter Standalone Novels series is Close to the Wind, published in 2014.

Are the Jon Walter novels suitable for the same age group?

Close to the Wind is aimed at younger middle grade readers, with a 10-year-old protagonist whose story is written in accessible, immediate prose. My Name’s Not Friday pitches slightly older, into upper middle grade and YA territory — the subject matter of slavery and wartime violence is handled with care but not softened. Nevertheless, She Persisted is the most YA of the three, with older teenage protagonists and a political setting that assumes some historical awareness. The three books share a moral seriousness and Walter’s characteristic tendency to put characters under genuine historical pressure.

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