Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Girl in the Blue Coat | 2016 | Monica Hesse | Buy |
| 2 | The War Outside | 2018 | Monica Hesse | Buy |
| 3 | They Went Left | 2020 | Monica Hesse | Buy |
| 4 | The Brightwood Code | 2024 | Monica Hesse | Buy |
Monica Hesse’s standalone novels are acclaimed young adult historical fiction focused on World War II and its aftermath. Girl in the Blue Coat (2016) won the Edgar Award for its story of a girl searching for a missing person in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. The War Outside (2018), They Went Left (2020), and The Brightwood Code (2024) each explore different perspectives on the war.
The War Outside is set in a Texas internment camp where a Japanese American girl and a German American girl form an unlikely friendship. They Went Left follows a Holocaust survivor searching for her brother in the chaotic months after liberation. Each novel finds a lesser-known corner of the war to explore, avoiding the most familiar settings and stories.
The Brightwood Code (2024) is her most recent novel and continues this approach. Hesse writes her characters with care, grounding large historical events in personal, specific experiences. Her books are frequently assigned in schools and have won multiple awards beyond the Edgar.