The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume 1: The Pox Party
This was very intense for a YA historical fiction. Boston in the 1770s through the eyes of a young black man who has been educated in the western classics as an "experiment". He tells most of the tale and the parts he cannot tell are expressed in letters written by characters around him. It's fascinating and depressing and not for the weak of stomach.