Author Spotlight October 2025: Catherine Johnson
We are very pleased to showcase the work of Catherine Johnson in our Author Spotlight. Catherine is a Carnegie nominated, award-winning children’s and YA author.
She is best known for writing historical adventure stories, both fiction and narrative non-fiction, which explore the themes of social justice and equality. Her more recent work highlights the achievements of real figures from the past whose stories have often been obscured, and so her books are ideal for history projects at school, as well as for general reading.
A number of her books are published by Barrington Stoke, and so they are reluctant reader and Dyslexia friendly.
Look out for the Author Spotlight displays at some of our libraries, and click on the links below to reserve her books. You can also borrow some of these titles in eBook format on Libby, our online library app.
Selection of works by Catherine Johnson
Dance of Resistance: the Josephine Baker story (2025)
Catherine Johnson celebrates the incredible life of Josephine Baker in this true story, chronicling her journey from an impoverished childhood to beloved actress, dancer and wartime heroine.
Dancer, singer, actress, movie star, Second World War Resistance fighter, civil-rights activist – Josephine Baker was a phenomenon!
Borrow ‘Dance of Resistance’ from Barnet Libraries
Ghosts in the Walls: Spooky stories inspired by real history (2025)
Various Authors/Smy, Pam (Illus)
Created in partnership with Historic Royal Palaces, this stunning and spooky collection features eleven gripping stories from bestselling, award-winning and rising-star authors including Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, Alexia Casale, Joseph Coelho OBE, Larry Hayes, Jim Helmore, Catherine Johnson, Sophie Kirtley, E.L. Norry, Jasmine Richards, Imogen Russell Williams and Sam Sedgman.
Borrow the eBook of ‘Ghosts in the Walls’ from Libby
Journey Back to Freedom: the Olaudah Equiano story (2022)
Born in what is now Nigeria in 1745, Olaudah Equiano's peaceful childhood was brought to an abrupt end when he was captured and enslaved aged 11. He spent much of the next eight years of his life at sea, seeing action in the Seven Years' War. When he was finally able to buy his freedom, he went on to become a prominent member of the abolition movement and in 1789 published one of the first books by a Black African writer.
Borrow ‘Journey Back to Freedom’ from Barnet Libraries
A Nest of Vipers (2021)
Cato Hopkins is the youngest member of Mother Hopkins's 'family' - a group of skilled fraudsters and pickpockets. There's Addy, who can become a very convincing boy when she needs to; the beautiful Bella, who can charm any rich young man out of his fortune; Sam, an escaped slave and Cato himself, a young boy, who Mother Hopkins has taught everything she knows.
Borrow ‘A Nest of Vipers’ from Barnet Libraries
Queen of Freedom: defending Jamaica (2020)
Queen Nanny is a 'wise woman' with a reputation for ancient obeah magic, and a guerilla fighter with a genius for organisation. So the battle for Jamaica begins, the First Maroon War, in which the maroons - escaped slaves - will make a final, do-or-die stand against the slavers and soldiers of Empire.
Borrow ‘Queen of Freedom’ from Barnet Libraries
To Liberty!: the adventures of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas (2020)
This is an exciting adventure set in revolutionary France which tells the true story of a swashbuckling hero Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, whose mother was an enslaved African woman and whose father was a French noble.
Borrow ‘To Liberty!’ from Barnet Libraries
Race to the Frozen North: the Matthew Henson story (2018)
Matthew Henson was simply an ordinary man. That was, until Commander Robert E. Peary entered his life, and offered him a chance at true adventure. Henson would become navigator, craftsman, translator, and right-hand man on a treacherous journey to the North Pole. Defying the odds and the many prejudices that faced him to become a true pioneer. This is his incredible and often untold story.
Borrow ‘Race to the Frozen North’ from Barnet Libraries
Freedom (2018)
12-year old Nathaniel is a slave, sent to England. Life in London is tough and Nat seizes the first opportunity to escape. He hears the story of The Zong, a ship where the crew murdered 133 slaves. Will the world continue to turn a blind eye to the horrors of slavery? And can Nat really evade his masters forever?
Winner of the 2019 Little Rebels Award
Borrow ‘Freedom’ from Barnet Libraries
Make More Noise (2018)
Various authors
Ten brand new short stories celebrating inspiring female characters by award-winning and bestselling women writers, being published to commemorate the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage in the UK.
Borrow the eBook of ‘Make More Noise’ from Libby
A Change is Gonna Come (2017)
Various authors
Featuring top Young Adult authors and introducing a host of exciting new voices, this anthology of stories and poetry from BAME writers on the theme of change is a long-overdue addition to the YA scene.
Borrow ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ from Barnet Libraries
Blade and Bone (2016)
Young surgeon Ezra McAdam must hasten to Paris to rescue his friend Loveday Finch and her charge Mahmoud, the Ottoman prince, who have been caught up in the Revolution. Ezra's search takes him from the grand Hotel Dieu to the dark catacombs below the city; from the opulent War Office to the tall, forbidding Conciergerie – the city prison – here he must undertake the most audacious rescue attempt of all.
Borrow the eBook of ‘Blade and Bone’ from Libby
The Curious Tale of Lady Caraboo (2015)
Who is the real Caraboo? In a world where it seems everyone is playing a role, could she be an ordinary girl with a tragic past? Is she a confidence trickster? Or is she the princess everyone wants her to be?
This the tale of the ultimate historical hustle, steeped in delectable romance. Whoever Caraboo turns out to be, she will steal your heart . . .
Borrow the eBook of ‘The Curious Tale of Lady Caraboo’ from Libby
Sawbones (2013)
Sixteen-year-old Ezra McAdam has much to be thankful for: trained up as an apprentice by a well-regarded London surgeon, Ezra's knowledge of human anatomy and skill at the dissection table will secure him a trade for life. However, his world is turned on its head when a failed break-in at his master's house sets off a strange and disturbing series of events that involves grave robbing, body switching ... and murder.
Borrow ‘Sawbones’ from Barnet Libraries
View the full list of Catherine Johnson titles available in eBook format on Libby