This middle-grade historical adventure series follows an orphaned street thief who is captured by agents of the king and given an impossible ultimatum — only to reveal that he has been maneuvering toward a secret goal all along. The series is fast-paced, full of plot twists, and driven by a clever and morally complex protagonist navigating political intrigue, loyalty, and the question of who deserves power.
Sixteen-year-old Chaya is a courier for the Jewish resistance in Nazi-occupied Poland, smuggling news, money, and weapons into the ghetto, and when her mission is compromised she must flee through forests and sewers toward the only chance of survival. A visceral and historically grounded novel about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. One of Nielsen's most emotionally serious works.
In 1942 Denmark, thirteen-year-old Henrik must help his family hide Jewish neighbors and then assist in their escape to neutral Sweden as the Nazis begin rounding up Danish Jews. A companion novel to Resistance set in a different country and with a different protagonist, exploring the extraordinary response of ordinary Danes to the Holocaust.
Orphan thief Sage is chosen by a nobleman to be trained as an impersonator of the missing prince, competing with two other boys for the role—and if he fails, he will be killed as a threat. A brilliantly plotted, twist-filled adventure that subverts every expectation the reader brings to it; the ending is a genuine and satisfying shock. One of the best middle-grade political thrillers published in decades.
Newly revealed as the true king, Jaron must go undercover among a band of pirates to stop a conspiracy against his life and throne before he is assassinated or before his kingdom falls. An action-packed sequel that keeps the first book's momentum while developing Jaron's character and his complicated relationships with those around him.
Jaron leads Carthya into a war it cannot win against a coalition of neighboring kingdoms, and must use every bit of cleverness and reckless courage he has to prevent the destruction of everything and everyone he loves. The concluding volume of the original Ascendance trilogy is emotionally intense and action-packed, with genuine costs paid for victory.
Years after the events of the original trilogy, Jaron's ship is seized by a mysterious enemy who wants him to give up something precious, and Jaron must use his wits to protect his kingdom from a threat that seems to come from his own past. A welcome return to Jaron's voice and scheming intelligence.