Looking for recommendations for fictional ww2 books. Have read The Nightingale.
Looking for recommendations for fictional ww2 books. Have read The Nightingale.
998 Answers
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Loading Please wait
Looking for recommendations for fictional ww2 books. Have read The Nightingale.
Winds of War and War and Rememberance
I came here to say that!
I agree. Outstanding!
me too!
100 percent agree!
Women in the Castle, The Lilac Girls,
Salt to the Sea
All the Light We Cannot See
I have this book but have not started it yet.
@Philana it’s a good book!
Right now I’m reading Those Who Saved Us. Not finished but so far so good.
One of those stories that stays with you forever-One of my favorite books
All The Light We Cannot See, The Book Thief
https://www.amazon.com/Sarahs-Key-Tatiana-Rosnay/dp/0312370849/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1529843302&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=sarah%27s+key&dpPl=1&dpID=51tMFGRJ45L
Sarah’s Key by Tatian de Rosnay
The Nightingale
Jackdaws
Code Name Verity
And also Rose Under Fire
Code Name Verity was wonderful!
The Women In The Castle
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Loved this book!
I loved this book and have read it for 3 different book groups. Has anyone seen the movie?
The Madonnas of Leningrad
LOVED this book!
Fantastic book! Read it for a book club selection and since that time have suggested it many times for a good book to read!
Lilac Girls
I second this!
A great book!
This has been sitting in my Kindle for awhile, I must read it.
It’s been sitting in my Kindle also. So was the secrets of a charmed life which I just finally read and it was a great book! Setting takes place during the London blitz
I loved this book! Definitely some disturbing WWII subject matter but loved how the story came together. Did the audiobook and had great narrators!
The Invisible Bridge
W.E.B.Griffeth has series of good ones
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00CQZ6EKW/ref=sxts_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1529843509&sr=1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65
My two favorite authors about ww2 fiction are Diney Costeloe and Claire Lorrimer. They are awesome.
I’m reading The Throwaway Children right now,I really like it
Are her other books as good?
yes, I enjoy all of Diney Costeloe’s books, some I like to reread. one I just finished is The Lost Soldier, it was a sequel to Death’s Dark Vale, printed in 2009, if was really good to.
Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/anthony-doerr
The Librarian of Auschwitz was fantastic!!
Skeletons at the Feast, Night, The True Story of Hansel and Gretel
Lilac Girls, Salt to the Sea, and All the Light We Cannot See
Goodnight from London and Fire from Below –both great books
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
We Were the Lucky Ones, The Anna Network, Winds of War by Herman Wouk
Loved We were the lucky ones
The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck
Mila 18 is one my favorites. It is older but Leon Uris is a great story teller.
Loved Exodus!
One of my favorites.
All the light you cannot see by Anthony doer and the lost vintage by Ann Mah
Novels by Alan furst and David downing – also the chillbury ladies choir,the Alice network- and the novels of Jennifer Robson – and the Maggie hope series by Susan Elia MacNeal
The Book Thief
All the light we cannot see.
Winds of War and War and Remembrance.
The Alice Network
“All the light we cannot see” 🙂
Skeletons at the Feast, Women of the Castle, The Postmistress, Fall of Giants.
From Here to Eternity is one of my all time favorites.
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. The audio version is fantastic!
All The Light We Cannot See
Codename Verity
Atonement
The Book Thief
The Reader
The Librarian of Auschwitz
The Zookeeper’s Wife
Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society
The English Patient
Life after life by Kate Atkinson
Gone To Soldiers by Marge Piercy.
“The Storyteller” Jodi Picoult.
The Masie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear.
All the Light we Cannot See
All the Light We Cannot See
The Winds of War was my favorite!
Reading The Girl With No Name right now and it’s very good!! (By Diney Costeloe)
You may not have heard of The Girl in the Blue Beret by Bobbie Ann Mason, a writer from my state of Kentucky. Of course, Herman Wouk is the gold standard, but that is hard going!
Another- coming home and the shell seekers by rosamunde pilcher
Love Pilcher for its feminine perspective in a good story.
Women in the castle
Thief of Auschwitz
Boy in the Striped Pajamas
All the Light We Cannot See
Beneath a Scarlet Sky (true story)
The Book Thief
The One Man
Sarah’s Key
The Book Thief
All the Light We Cannot See, Life After Life, Lilac Girls, The Women in the Castle. Suite Francaise, Coming Home, The Book Thief. In my opinion, The Women in the Castle has been overlooked; it was an extraordinary book—one of the most impactful I’ve read recently.
I liked “Goodnight From London”.
BENEATH A SCARLET SKY.
In Enemy Hands by Wilma Counts.
We were the lucky ones is based on a true story. Lilac girls is also a great read.
Lilac Girls
Also The Storyteller by Jodi Piccoult
The Taster
Haven’t heard of it before but added it to my TBR list!
Check out The Taster by V.S. Alexander
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35355159
Last Train to Istanbul
‘Men at War’ series by W. E. B. Griffin, about the OSS during WWII. As a series it is, of course, best read in sequence. The first book is ‘The Last Heroes’. I’m a huge Griffin fan.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and then there is another one by the same author.
John Boynes, The Boy at the Top of the Mountain
@Sue– thank you! I was mesmerized by it!
Guernsey Literary Potato Pie Society is a great read. It’s about civilian life on an island occupied by Nazis. Also, A Hero for France by Alan Furst is about the French resistance movement during the war
“The Fire by Night” by Messineo
Added it to my TBR list. Sounds good!
For YA The War That Saved My Life was brilliant.
The Zookeeper’s Wife, The Girl with No Name, To Find a Mountain, The Summer Before the War, Daughters of the Night Sky, We Were the Lucky Ones, Anna and the Swallow Man and there’s probably more that I can’t remember ?
Zookeeper’s Wife isn’t fiction
@Barbara – so? It’s still a good read.
Nightingale wasn’t fiction either, nor the Zoo keepers wife, and many others. The are historical fiction, because they are based on true stories and the author tries to investigate as much as possible, but of course has to write dialogue that they may have said, because the author wasn’t there. All still great books.
True – it is a good read. But she asked for fiction.
@Leslie Agreed. Just responding to her request for fiction.
Historical Fiction is still fiction. The setting may be based on a real time period/events in history but the story is still fiction
A Separate Peace was an interesting view of how teens viewed the war with fascination, fear, and envy. City of Thieves by David Benioff is a great story of survival. Maus is a graphic novel of one mans survival of the Holocaust. Even if you have never tried graphic novels, TRY this!
Maus is great!
The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society
Loved that one!
All the Light We Cannot See
The Book Thief, Once We We’re Brothers, Sarah’s Key, Life After Life, All the Light We Cannot See, The Storyteller.
All the Light We Cannot See
Stones in the River
The Hiding Place, Night, and My Grandfather would have Shot Me are all memoirs, but I can’t go with out saying them. The Hiding Place is about a Christian family who hides Jews. Night is a famous account of Auschwitz. My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me is written by a biracial woman who was adopted and finds out as an adult her grandfather was one of the most powerful and brutal Nazis.
Night is an awesome book.
The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman is beautifully written.
“We Were The Lucky Ones” is great. Also, “Secrets of a Charmed Life”
Just started we were the lucky ones.
All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
@Elaine yes!
The secrets of a charmed life was a great book!
@Kaye did you read any of Susan Meisser’s other books? Just discovered her and wondering if they are
good
@Pat I’ve read “A Fall Of Marigolds” which I loved! “Stars Over Sunset Boulevard” would be great for someone who loves “Gone With The Wind”. “A Bridge Across Oceans” was great too.
Got A Bridge last night. Will work my way through her other books!
The Stolen Marriage by Diane Chamberlain.
Salt to the Sea
Reading it now! Good!
Lilac girls
The Alice Network (a bit graphic at parts, but so good. I’m just like to warn people in case they are sensitive)
The Alice network is also a good one!
Hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet
Thanks Berta 🙂
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, The Alice Network by Kate Quinn, The Girl with No Name by Diney Costelof, The Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by @Jamie.
The Book Thief
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys and Between Shades of Gray by Ruth Sepetys.
White Rose Black Forest – Eion Dempsey
Sarah’s Key
The Nazi Officer’s Wife and just finished Beneath a Scarlet Sky
Loved Beneath a Scarlet Sky.
Salt to Sea
Lilac Girls,
there are so many others, THe Book Thief, Sarah’s Key, All the light we Cannot see. the story teller. There is one by Chris Bohjalian that takes place in Italy, I forget the name.
@Pam Is it Skeletons at the Feast?
No that’s not it
Skeletons at the Feast is a great WWII book by Bohjalian, though!
Good to know
A light in the ruins
winter garden
Catch 22
Herman Wouk: Winds of War & War and Rememberance
Orphan’s Tale (Pam Jenoff)
Beneath A Scarlet Sky, All The Light We Cannot See, The Lost Vintage, White Rose Black Forest, Sarah’s Key, The Girl From The Train, The Nazi Officers Wife, Once We Were Brothers, Goodnight From London
I’m reading Eagle & Crane right now. Its interesting because it is set during WWII but covers the side of the Japanese interment camps in the US. It comes out on Tuesday.
Skeletons at the Feast & on sale for Kindle! Highly recommend.
One of my favorite Chris Bojalian books!
Those Who Save Us is haunting and excellent. The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
I loved Those Who Saved us!
Century trilogy by Ken Follet. 3 books, follows families from all sides of war. Book one is fall of giants and is set in WW1, book 2 is WW2 and book 3 is the Cold War.
Loved this series! I learned so much.
Excellent. Not great literature, but really involving. Great characters.
All the Light We Cannot See
All the Light We
Cannot See
Alan Furst’s Night Soldiers series is very good
Code Name Verity
Gone to Soldiers by Marge Piercy or anything else by Marge Piercy
Ruta Sepetys, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Last of the Just, Book Thief, Sophie’s Choice, Catch 22, Night Trilogy
War brides, A Pledge of silence
All the thing by Elizabeth Wein-especially Code Name Verity
Stones From a River by Ursula Hegi
Gone to Soldiers.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/862109.Gone_to_Soldiers
I loved this book. Read it a long time ago. Wanted to pick for my bookclub and reread it a few years ago but copies are scarce. Highly recommend too!
@Leslie one of my history professors let me borrow a copy way back in college. I loved it! And it is difficult to find a copy. Hers was dog eared and well loved.
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
Sarah’s Key
Black flag Greg Ike’s. The unlikely spy Daniel Silvia or my favorite the Key to Rebecca by ken follett
The Invisible Bridge
Beneath a scarlet sky is true story but reads so well. I loved it.
Greg Iles
All the Light we Cannot See
All the Light We Cannot See, Lilac Girls, In My Hands
All the light you cannot see.
The Winds of War and it’s sequel War and Rembrance
Loved The Paris Wife.
The Lilac Girls.
Night by Elie Wiesel
Anything by Daniel Silva
The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck
The Alice Network
All the Light You Cannot See.
We were the lucky ones
All the Light we cannot see. The Book Thief. For a different perspective, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and if you’re a Kristen Hannah fan her Winter Garden.
City of Thieves by David Benioff. Written by one of the writers of HBO’s Game of Thrones. A Jew and a Russian Cossack are sent to find a dozen eggs for a wedding cake during the siege of Lenningrad. Not your average WWII story.
Great book!
Beneath The Scarlet Sky
Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian.
We Were the Lucky Ones
The Warsaw Ghetto by John Hershey. Also his Hiroshima.
Winter Garden Kristen Hannah
The German Girl
Did you like it?
Good one, I did not get emotional in it, however it taught me about a piece of history I knew very little about. The end pages and pictures ripped my heart out.
Mila 18 by Leon Uris
The Lost Wife by Alyson Richmond
Herman Wouk’s Winds of War & the sequel War and Remembrance.
My stack is growing!
Me too!
Anything by Bodie and Brock Thoene
I just started The Paris Architect
Great book!!
The Tattooist of Auschwitz
Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly; The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult; All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The second book in the Century Series by Ken Follett.
THE INVISIBLE BRIDGE. A HELMET FOR MY PILLOW. Any of Alan Fuerst’s novels.
The German Girl
My Mother’s Secret
The Book Thief
The Lost Letter
Sarah’s key
Women in the Castle
All The Light We Cannot See, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Lilac Girls.
The Alice Network
QBVII by Leon Uris.
The Last Convertible
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Unbroken, and Jeff Shaara’s trilogy.
The Book Thief.
The Caine Mutiny was a good one
Once we were brothers by R. Balson. An amazing book about the start of the war in Poland. Written as a flashback. As good as if not better than the nightingale.
Will have to look for this. Thanks!
Lilac Girls
Beneath the scarlet sky – so good!
I have this loaded, started a bit of it then for some reason sunk my teeth into something else. I’ll have to return to it now. Always like to hear about books I NEED to read. Thanks!!
The Zookeeper’s Wife was one I didn’t come across until later and I loved it.
All the Light We Cannot See – Doerr sp? on author’s name? Very good!
The Book Thief
Lilac girls
Winds of War by Herman Wouk
Beneath the Scarlet Sky
I read The Taster a few months ago and it was brilliant! It’s about a different perspective told by a food taster for Hitler
The Winter Garden, Alice Network; All the Light We Can Not See; From Ash and Sand; Salt to the Sea; each set in a different place
Herman Wouk!
Stones From the River, Skeletons at the Feast.
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Interesting..
All the Light We Cannot See
The Alice Network
Lilac girls, book thief, all the light we cannot see
Code name Verity, about Women’s role as spies.
Lilac Girls
We were the lucky ones. Just read it, it’s really good.
Girl in Hyacinth Blue
“All the light we can not see” Anthony Doerr
The taster, radium girls, women in the castle
Radium Girls is non-fiction, but fantastic.
@Lynn i didn’t see the fiction part but it’s excellent.
@Paul I thought the post specified fiction. My bad.
@Lynn you’re right.
The Invisible Bridge. It follows the life of a young Hungarian architect student studying in Paris until anti-Jewish laws started. Its long but Orringer weaves a great story
It’s great
Camomile Lawn book and film
“Miracle at St. Anna” by James McBride.
Sarah’s Key
An oldie, but great: Winds of War.
Sarah’s Key, Paris Architect, Salt to the Sea
Jackdaws…Ken Follet
I’ve read this. It was great!
The Girl in the Blue Coat
Code Name Verity
And if you like historical fiction that leans more toward the history and less toward the fiction, all of Jeff Shaara’s WWII books — “The Rising Tide,” “The Steel Wave,” “No Less than Victory,” and “The Final Storm” — are fantastic.
@Billie
This one
I’ve read this and really enjoyed it.
Between Shades of Gray, Lilac Girls, Suite Francaise, The Alice Network
The Alice Network
Ruta Sepetys’ Beyween Shades of Gray or Salt to the Sea.
Beneath a Scarlet Sky
Unbroken
Winds of War
War and Rememberance
Diary of Ann Frank
Woman in Gold
Suite Francaise
There are so many great stories about this period.
Unbroken is so good!
Lilac Girls. Alice Network.
MacArthur’s Spies
Unbroken
They Were Expendable
Night
Book Thief
Zookeeper’s Wife
A Town Called Alice
On a side note, has anyone watched the French TV series, The Village? It’s supposed to be a series about a small village under Nazi occupation during WWII.
No
Loved Beneath the Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan…very well written and a compelling story.
No but i heard it is good!
Lilac Girls
From Sand and Ash
Read this in my book club!
The Bronze Horseman
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel.
Well, Outlander at least begins in WW2 . . .
????
The Secret keeper Kate Morton
Daughters of the Night Sky, Wives of War,
Lillac Girls Martha Hall Kelly
From. Sand and Ash
The Plum Tree by Ella Marie Wiseman
Code Name Verity
Bodie Thoene’s two series Zion Covenant and Zion Chronicles.
Mila 18. By Leon Uris
Mischling by Konar
Life after life by Kate Atkinson
War and Remembrance
All the Light We Cannot See
The Book Thief
The Book Thief, Lilac Girls, The Enigma, All the Light We Cannot See
Lilac girls
The Ladies in the Castle also
@Emily i have it and am going to start it today
Lilac Girls is also great.
Though not non-fiction (love the double negative there), Unbroken is also phenomenal.
Once we were brothers by balson
Mischling, From Here to Eternity (and the other 2 books in the trilogy)
Number the Stars
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer. Fantastic!
All The Light You Cannot See
although it is not fiction you should read about the USS Indianappolis
City of Thieves by David Benioff
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Caine Mutiny
All the Light We Cannot See. LOVE
The Book Thief. Lilac Girls.
The One Man
Finding Rebecca.
Girl in the Blue Coat
Philip Kerr’s “Berlin Noir” is about a city police detective during the Nazi takeover. Excellent!
All The Light You Cannot See
The Winds of War
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Paris Architect
Resistance by Anita Shreve
Also The Book Thief
The Major’s Daughter by JP Francis. It is set in Berlin, NH at a German prison camp. It is a novel based on a true part of WWII and NH history.
I’m going to have to look that one up!
Beneath a scarlet sky
The Invisible Bridge, by Julie Orringer
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
For life inside the camps, The One Man.
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society!
The Women in the Castle, Jessica Shattuck
City of Thieves by David Benioff. One of my favorite books.
Following
All the Light We Cannot See
Anthony Doerr
Any of these
Atomic City Girls
Wives of Los Alamos
Read both of those. Very enlightening about what went on in the States during this time period!
Ken Folletts Century trilogy. Book 1, Fall of Giants, is about WWI. Book 2, Winter of the World, is about WWII.
Also Unbroken, its a true story but is SO amazing!
Follett’s Eye of the Needle is a classic.
Salt to the Sea
Two Oldies: Winds of War and War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk.
So many books to choose from. I loved the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. All the Light We Cannot See was very good, Sarah’s Key was heart-wrenching but good. The Zookeepers Wife and The Book Thief. Oh my, I could go on and on!
Agreed! All great books.
Please do. All my favorutes
The Paris Architect
The Cazalet Chronicles which is a series of books about an extended upper class English family. The first book is called The Light Years and starts out just prior to WW2. It’s told from the POV of many different characters. Really good!
Adding to my TBR – thanks!
The book thief
The Paris Architect, All The Light We Cannot See, and The Alice Network. They are all sooo good.
Salt to Sea and Between Shades of Gray
Unbroken!
All the Light We Cannot See, and The Invisible Bridge!
Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
All the Light we Cannot See, Lilac Girls, Book Thief
The Alice Project…i just finished it. Great read.
Life After Life
Everyone Brave is Forgiven
The Paris Architect.
From Sand and Ash by Amy Harmon
Kate Quinn’s The Alice Network
The Baker’s Secret by Stephen Kiernan, The Room on Rue Amelie by Kristin Harmel
The girl you left behind by Jojo Moyes
All the Light we Cannot See was a really good book
War That Saved My Life and War I Finally Won by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Lilac Girls., The Diary of Anne Frank, The Book Thief, Winter Garden, The Storyteller, Those Who Save Us, The Lost Wife, The Alice Network, Sarah’s Key, The Plum Tree, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas…there are so many good ones.
The Women in the Castle
All the Light we Cannot See – great read
The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian.
All The Light best of the best, Manhattan Beach, Everyone Brave Is Forgiven. These 3 give you France, Germany, London and New York-Perfect trio.
Lilac Girls
Love this book!! Can’t wait for the movie!
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer. From Here to Eternity by James Jones, Catch 22 by Joesph Heller.
How did I forget Catch-22?
@Barbara Korean War period.
@Marilee no it is not it’s WW2.
Lilac Girls
War Brides
Sarah’s Key
Sarah’s Key, The Boy in Striped Pajamas, All the Light We Cannot See
The Book Thief, The Rom on Rue Amalie, From Salt to Sea
Manhattan Beach, The Book Thief, The Alice Network and Atomic City Girls.
Yes to Manhattan Beach. We often forget what was going on in the Homefront during WW2. Atomic City girls also illuminates the period.
All the Light We Cannot See. EXCELLENT book.
Code Name Verity. Really good YA WWII book.
James Jones :From Here to Eternity won the National Book Award 1952 and was named one of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th century by the Modern Library Board in 2008. terrific story based on the writer’s own experiences.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
The Welsh Girl, Sophie’s Choice
I’m currently reading The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck. Another choice All the Light We Cannot See.
Gail Peterson – I just finished The Women in the Castle. What did you think?
I’ve only read 1/3 of the book. My book group read it earlier in the year and I just couldn’t get into it so decided to give it another try. Liking it better this time.
@Gail I enjoyed it but it was slow in the beginning. It is very thought provoking.
All The Light We Cannot See <3
Suite Francaise is good too
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a historical novel by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows – I loved this. I had no idea that Guernsey was occupied by the Nazis – it was a real education.
Lilac girls
Night by Elie Wiesel, The Alice Network by Kate Quinn, Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak are all great reads.
Night is non fiction
So is Unbroken
Alisa Rosado Swissa…Yes they are but they are still amazing reads, and Philana might enjoy reading them which why I went on and suggested them.?
Night is a fictionalized memoir. Unbroken is a biography. But they are both more powerful than most novels.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, I think that is the correct title. It is about the island of Guernsey under Nazi occupation.
Love that book. I heard it’s going to be a t.v. show.
One I read over and over again……
It’s older, but one of my favorites. Winds of War and the sequal War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk are 2 of my favorites. After I read them I went couldn’t get enough of WWII books!
The Taster…about the woman who was assigned to taste Hitlers food so they could be sure it wasn’t poisoned! An inside look at the unique life inside Hitlers lairs near the end of WWII. Based on facts.
Beneath a Scarlet Sky
The women in the castle
Unbroken and Beneath the Scarlet Sky.
The winter fortress – non fiction about Norway resistance vs power plant to be used for nukes. Reads like a novel. Very interesting little known history.
@Dan Thank you for the Non-fiction recommendation.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer. British resistance to German occupation of the island in WWII.
My Enemy’s Cradle
I forgot about that book…read it years ago!
The Book Thief is one of my all time favorites.
This is
The Baker’s Secret, All the Light We Cannot See, The Last Telegram, Sarah’s Key
The Alice Network
Lilac Girls
You should get Nosco Publishing’s Summary of Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan.
Check out James Renner. His Man From Primrose Lane is fiction, but before that he was all non-fiction about true crime/serial killers. Fascinating.
Yes!!
Lilac Girls is next on my list! Hear it’s very well done.
Winter Garden is good.
He’s an excellent investigator, dogged approach, and fascinating writer!
The Tuscan Child by Rhys Bowen moves back and forth between WW2 and the present.
Those Who Save Us
The Book Thief and Lilac Girls
The War that Saved my Life, by Kimberly Bruebaker Bradley.
The Eye of the Needle.
I loved this book!
with a young Donald Sutherland as the villain in the movie ?
Hidden Figures
All the Light We Cannot See
Radium Girls
Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah is a great read but may be between WWII and Cold War. Been a while since I read it!
Once We Were Brothers
The Zookeepers Wife
Yellow Star
Beneath the Scarlet Sky
Winds of War, War and Remembrance . Superb.
Here are three books I’ve read recently by Jewish authors who wrote fiction about their own experiences: 1. Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky (sadly she was killed at Auschwitz) 2. Family Lexicon by Natalia Ginzberg (writes about her experience in Italy. Husband killed in concentration camp). 3. Transit by Anna Seghers (takes place in Occupied France)
Lilac Girls. It’s a historical fiction. All The Light We Cannot See is good too.
Gone to Soldiers.
City of Thieves
Buddha in the Attic (about relocation of Japanese americand during WW11
Read the two volumes by Herman Wouk. One of them is called “War and Remembrance.” I cannot remember the title of the second one, but the main character is Pug Henry, and the books are exceptional blends of fiction and history regarding World War II.
The English Patient
This is my favorite historical fiction time period…so many good ones here. My favorite recent one is Salt to the Sea.
Code Talkers
Beneath a Scarlet Sky or the Nightingale
You Are My Sunshine and War Brides can’t remember the author’s name of these books but they were both very good
https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/horse
Winds of War
The Storyteller
All the Light We Cannot See
Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan. My favorite book I read last year
All The Light We Cannot See and Salt to the Sea
I haven’t read it yet, but I hear good things about Chris Cleave’s Everyone Brave is Forgiven. (Which might be about WW1…) but I love his writing so it will definitely be in my future.
Just checked…it is about WW2.
Hillbilly Elegy
Beneath a Scarlet Sky and All the Light we cannot See were very good.
The Last Brother, by Natacha Appanah. Takes place on the island of Mauritius. About a local boy and Jewish refugees.
You might like “All The Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr.
I like the book because it humanized both sides.
The Book Thief
Love that book and the film!
The monument men was a good one too although it was infection
Atonement
Right, Dunkirk.
City of Women.
Lilac Girls, The Alice Network, Beneath a Scarlet Sky, We Were the Lucky Ones, All the Light You Can Not See.
All the Light You Cannot See Great book!
“Hotel On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet” by Jamie Ford.
The Women in the Castle
Safekeeping; it’s post ww2, but dealing with the effects.
War and Peace, the sequel War and Remembrance, The Book Thief, The Alice Network, The Lilac Girls, The Guernsey Literary and Sweet Potato Pie Society, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas…that’s all I can come up with off the top of my head
I think you meant “The Winds of War”, instead of War and Peace. Both of those are great books.
oops. my bad. you are so right! i’m old and it’s too early on a Sunday morning 😉 Thanks for the catch, though.
Beneath a Scarlet Sky, the Women in the Castle
The Book Thief. Its on the 100 best list.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Code Name Verity, The Storyteller (Picoult), and for non-fiction, Bomb by Steve Sheinkin.
Unbroken and All the Light We Cannot See
To kill a mockingbird, a tree grows in Brooklyn, gone with the wind,mere Christianity
We are talking about WWII
Sarah’s Key.
The Hiding Place by Chorie Tenbau is fantastic
Agreed!! One of my favorites!! I was surprised is was not on the 100 best list… Then I remembered its Non-Fiction.
For a sci-fi/time travel angle: Blackout and All Clear by Connie Willis.
All the Light We Cannot See and The All Girl Filling Station.
Another by Kristin Hannah: Winter Garden. It starts a bit slow but I really liked it. Another a bit different is We were the lucky ones by Georgia Hunter.
The Cazalet Chronicles, The Camomile Lawn
How nice to meet another Mary Wesley fan.
Women in the castle by Jessica Shattuck
The Invisible Bridge- Julie Orringer, Everyone Brave is Forgiven- Chris Cleave, Mischling- Affinity Konar, Life after Life- Kate Atkinson. Suite Française- Irène Némirovsky
Winds of War & War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk, The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck, The Candy Bombers by Andrei Cherney (sp) (not really a novel, but good), The Hiding Place, The Orphan’s Tale aby Pam Jenoff, Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave, I wan’t a fan of The Book Thief, but most peope I know loved it. Haoot Reading! When you get to Civil War novels…..got a very long list of good ones1
I’d be interested in your Civil War ideas
@Chris
Me also!
Chris Clore will do. Having a headache issue, but will respond
@Nancy will respond later today when I get rid of a headache
Mrs. Lincoln’s Dresmaker by jennifer Chiaverini and The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks. Two good books to get you started. Two other REALLY good books that left my heart aching were THe Homesman by Glendon Swarthout and One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus. As a retired history teacher, found both very good reads. The Homesman was actually made into a movie with a great cast and directed by tommy Lee Jones. Happy reading ladies.
@Jeanne Thanks! All going on my list! Hope you are feeling better!
War Brides by Helen Bryan and although it’s set in WWI, The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes.
The boy who dared
Under the Scarlet Sky is fiction based on a true story. Very good read.
The Alice Network
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys. It is about a family in Lithuania being torn apart and sent to Siberia during World War II. A movie is being made of this book and the author won numerous Awards. I highly recommend it.
All the light we cannot see.
All the Light we Cannot See
The One Man…..true story.
From Alaska – Letters from Attu by Breu, 81 Days below Zero by Murphy & Wind is Not a River by Payton. All aspects of WWII life both within fighting and not.
Jackdaws by Ken Follett about British female resistance fighters dropped into France.
Modern Girls—young women joining the workforce.
All the Light we Cannot See. Tony Doerr
One of my favourites; an amazing book …. 🙂
Code Name Verity and All the Light We Cannot See.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Land Girls
The Winds of War by Herman Wouk
War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk
Von Ryan’s Express by David Westheimer
Billy Boyle by James R Benn
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Hiroshima by John Hersey
Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
Mr. Churchill’s Secretary: A Maggie Hope Mystery by Susan Elia Macneal
King Rat by James Clavell
The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman
Mila 18 by Leon Uris
The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
The Magic of Ordinary Days by Ann Howard Creel
I learned so much history from Winds of War and War and Remembrance!
Salt to the Sea
Beneath A Scarlet Sky. Great book!!
The Alice Network, The Librarian of Auschwitz. Both terrific.
The Lilac Girls , Sara’s Key, the women in the Castle,
Alister Maclean books, especially The Guns of Navarone & Force 10 From Navarone.
Lilac Girls
“The Lost Wife” by Alyson Richman is amazing. “Night” isn’t fiction but it reads like it and is also amazing. “The Book Thief” is great too.
Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher..
The Orphan’s Tale
Reading Sarah’s Key
Secrets of a Charmed Life
All The Light We Cannot See
Gone to Soldiers
Book Thief, Code Name Verity, The Paris Architect, All The Light We Cannot See,
It’s non fiction, but Unbroken, by Hillenbrand was amazing. I enjoyed the historical nature and references but also a look into the characters life. Excellent read, 5 stars!
All the light we cannot see- spectacular story and well written to boot!!
Skeletons at the Feast
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society
Jack Higgins has many historical fiction books about WW2. Many Nazi/spy thrillers. Very good!!!
All the light we cannot see
Secrets of a Charmed Life
Bomber: Len Deighton
Bitter Seeds
The Book Thief, Guernsey Literary Potatoe Peel Pie, Catch 22
Sarah’s Key, On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet – Two of my favorites.
I love both of these. On the Corner….deals with the Japanese Internment Camps in NW America.
Loved both of those!
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and The Lilac Girls are two good ones
An old school chum of mine from when we went attended International School of Brussels together, who later became a history teacher and now tour guide for Americans visiting Europe, highly recommends “Sophie Scholl and the White Rose”. It’s still on my to-read list. I personally wouldn’t bother with The Book Thief or All the Light We Cannot See. I found both to be flat and follow an American stereotype of what Americans imagine European lifestyle to be, kind of similar to watching Hogan’s Heroes.
Catch 22. Slaughterhouse Five.
My favorite, The Invisible Bridge, by Julie Orringer.
Auschwitz Escape
The Seige, by Helen Dunmore.
Lilac Girls
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
by Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows is an absolutely lovely story.
Jackdaws and They Eye of the Needle, both by Ken Fillet.
You have great suggestions above! Not sure if I saw The Storyteller (Picoult) or The Invisible Bridge (Orringer)… also, The Alice Network is more about WWI than II but still worth the read.
Blackout and All Clear by Connie Willis are fun, a little twist. I would also recommend Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintrye – which is not technically fiction but it is so over the top and crazy it might as well be. If you ever wanted James Bond’s backstory – here it is 🙂
All the Light We Cannot See
the women in the castle,the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society, the winds of war , the eye of the needle and all the light we cannot see
the women in the castle,the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society, the winds of war , the eye of the needle and all the light we cannot see
The ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE
I loved the book but did not like the movie!
Playing with Fire by Tess Gerritsen!
A Charming one is: Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English; Heartbreaking, inspirational and healing: The Hiding Place (I keep a copy with me); Different and not quite so wrenching: The Real Hansel and Gretel;
Beneath the Scarlett Sky
The Atonement by Ian McEwan.
Or rather, Atonement. No The.
Lilac girls
Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis.
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
Lilac girls, atomic city girls, all the light we cannot see, salt to the sea, the girl FROM the train, number the stars, the Alice network, Sarah’s key, the German girl, the book thief, the boy in the striped pajamas…
If you need more recommendations, just ask. This is by far my favorite genre.
Mine too!
Mine too!
Kate Morton’s The Secret Keeper
Those who save us
That book still haunts me!
The Winds of War and also War and Remembrance.
Beneath a Scarlet Sky is fiction based on real events and real people. The author worked with the main character.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Beneath a Scarlet Sky is by Mark Sullivan. (Forgot to add that.)
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Sarah’s Key and Lilac Girls
The Upstairs Room
No Man’s Land- Simon Tolkein (JRR’s grandson).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Berkut
Coming Home
We were the lucky ones
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
“City of Thieves” by David Benioff.
Summer of My German Soldier
The Book Thief! Phenomenal!!!
Mr. Churchill’s Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal. The book rocks, as do the rest of the series. ?
There was one I read a long time ago called… something with Old potato society in the title. Lovely little book!
Just finished Catching the Wind and Loved it
Windx of War by Herman Wouk
Life After Life
The Book Theif
All The Light We Cannot See and Five Smooth Stones
Sarah’s Key
Slaughterhouse Five.
Ken Follett’s Trilogy that starts with WWI – Fall of Giants then WWII Winter of the World then Edge of Eternity give you an understanding of WWII. WWII was a result of decisions made after WWI. WWI was orchestrated by power being in the hands of self-seeking people. It is scary because there are some leaders in our present world who have not studied history. We have to stop history repeating itself.
James Jones’s WWII trilogy: From Here to Eternity, The Thin Red Line, and Whistle. Also, The Young Lions by Irwin Shaw.
All the light we cannot see
https://www.amazon.com/Gone-Soldiers-Marge-Piercy/dp/1501118765/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1529864365&sr=8-1&keywords=gone+to+soldiers
The Nightingale ; and The Women in the Castle
Liked the Women in the Castle
If you read and liked Nightingale ( French woman’s Resistance) you should appreciate Women in the Castle (German woman’s Resistance).
Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
Once We Were Brothers by Ronald H. Nelson
When Books Went to War
By
The Silver Box
by Mine Baites
The Women in the Castle
By Jessica Shattuck
The Mayor’s Daughter
by JP Francis
In Farleigh Field
by Rhys Bowen
Ronald H Nelson wrote Once We Were Brothers
All the Light we Cannot See and Book Thief are both excellent!
Jodi Picoult’s “The Storyteller”
Loved it
The Book Thief
Empire of the Sun by JG Ballard!
Watched the movie first and then read the book! Both great!
It’s an older book and starts just before WWI and goes through Viet Nam by Anton Meyer called Once an Eagle. Quite excellent
Great book!
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Daughters of the Night Sky was good. I have never read a book from the Soviet perspective.
All the light we cannot see
All the light we cannot see
I’m reading a good one The Baker’s Secret…also Sarah’s Keys…The Dutch Wife…the room on Rue Amelie…The Alice Network…The German Girl…Goodnight from London…
Reading The Alice Network now. Good read.
The Alice Network
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. One of my favorite books! I have read this for 3 different book groups and love it! Also this book was the selection for my County Reads book in 2012. I have gifted it many times to people!
Winds of War
Sarah’s Key and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society are both very good.
All the Light we cannot See. Love it!
Alan Furst’s WWII espionage novels are well-written, brief and highly entertaining. Reading them makes me feel that I have entered that world. “Night Soldiers” is a good start.
The Book Thief
Beneath a Scarlet Sky
I would definitely recommend this one too.
Herman Wouk’s Winds of War and War and Remembrance.
Lilac Girls. The book thief.
The Zion Covenant and Zion Chronicle series….fiction but based on facts of the pre and post war. Great read!
Great series! Forgot all about them
I think you’ve had every one I’ve ever heard of recommended to you on this thread.
Finding Rebecca by Eoin Dempsey. Also, Ken Follett’s Century Triology
Unbroken
The Children’s War by Monique Charlesworth
The Women of the Castle https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30653967-the-women-in-the-castle?ac=1&from_search=true
Sarah’s Key
I love Herman Woak’s two books: “Winds of War” and “War and Rememberance”. Also, Leon Uris does a great job with “Mila 18” and “Battle Cry”. And Micheners “Tales of the South Pacific” is a bit lighter look at things.
You beat me to it @Beth ?
@Dayna only by seconds.
They were both Great books!
@Dayna They are–I re-read them every few years, and still find myself noticing things I didn’t before.
Herman Wouk Winds of War & War and Remembrance https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21484.The_Winds_of_War?ac=1&from_search=true
The Pact by Jodi Picoult
Lilac Girls and We Were the Lucky Ones. Enjoyed both.
Reading The Lucky Ones now with Lilac Girls already on my Kindle. These books are good but I can only read a few chapters at a time—very intense!
Leon Uris has a couple of really good ones. The Zookeepers Wife.
Zookeeper’s Wife!
My English teacher raised her eyebrows when I turned in a book report on Battle Cry in 1964
Zookeepers Wife is also nonfiction
Under a Scarlett a Sky. The Book Thief.
What Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht
A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russel. My favorite with lots of twists, and mysteries
One of my all
Time faves love this book
The Hiding Place
The Hiding Place is not fictional. However a great. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hiding_Place_(biography)
Sadly, it is not fiction but still one of the most important books I have read.
“All the Light We Cannot See” superior writing with a plot that will pull you in! Enjoy!
Between Shades of Gray
The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir by Jennifer Ryan
The Winds Of War by Herman Wouk.
@Sarah novels– historically accurate with Christian background.
Loved Winds of War and War and Remembrance. Still read parts of it .
The Century Series by Ken Follett.
A Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff. The main story is set in modern day London with a very interesting and riveting back story.
The Book Thief, Mila 18
The Emperor’s General by James Webb.
We are the lucky ones
That book was AMAZING! Such an incredible true story. I was so touched by the book that I send the author an email, thanking her for sharing her family’s story (I have never done that!), and I got a reply back from her!! @Tammy – add “We Were the Lucky Ones” to your list.
The Winds of War by Herman Wouk. Followed by War and Remembrance.
Still two of my favorite novels of all time. Have reread several times.
There are so many, sometimes you need to take a break because of the sadness.
I agree!!!
Sarah”s key
Catch 22
Wish I could print this list!
All the Light We Cannot See & Women in the Castle
Both are excellent!
Alan Furst writes some good ones
Lilac Girls
The Choice. By Edith Eger but it is a memoir . Very very good ..
Added this to my TBR list! Sounds fascinating!
Women in the Castle, Dead Wake, In the Garden of the Beasts. The last two are Erik Larson. If you don’t know him, he writes quite well researched historical non-fiction and includes reference notes. They read quite well and I would say there is some fiction in some chapters.
I learned so much reading Dead Wake
I was reminded that much of our worst history is completely random and accidental.
I love Blackout and All Clear by Connie Willis. Although they are science fiction (time travel) novels, I learned more about the London Blitz from reading them than I ever did reading nonfiction works on the period.
https://www.amazon.com/Guernsey-Literary-Potato-Peel-Society/dp/0385341008
This book made me want to visit Guernsey!
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Loved that book!
Jenny Packerd: Great minds….
Read this one in our Florida RV Park winter home book club several years ago. Didn’t care for it.
Slaughterhouse Five
The Eye of the Needle is a WWII spy thriller novel written by author Ken Follett.
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
I hope readers don’t bypass “Between Shades of Gray” because they associate it with “Fifty Shades of Gray.” That would be a true shame.
I went through everyone else’s suggestions and, though I may have missed it, no one seems to have mentioned Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada. Like the Book Thief it takes place in WWII Germany, but it is loosely based on real people who were executed for their resistance against the Nazis.
Educated
All the Light We Cannot See
The Alice Chronicles
“We Were the Lucky Ones” by GeorgiaHunter
I replied to someone else’s recommendation for this book, and here it is again: That book was AMAZING! Such an incredible true story. I was so touched by the book that I send the author an email, thanking her for sharing her family’s story (I have never done that!), and I got a reply back from her!!
Jennifer Robson books
Beneath the Scarlet Sky
Reading that now and really like it!
True story of hansel and gretal
The Alice Network
“Corelli’s Mandolin”, “The Madonnas of Leningrad”, “Schindler’s List”, “The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir”, and “A Thread of Grace”.
Marcel’s Letters by Carolyn Porter. Letters written in 1942-45 by a Frenchman working in Germany (not of his own volition) to his wife and daughters back in France. These letters were purchased at an antique store in Stillwater, Minnesota in about 2002. Extremely well-written and documented story of Carolyn Porter’s search for whatever happened to Marcel. Fascinating story.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Shaffer and Barrows
Sarah’s Key is a book that will stay with you forever!
Winds of War by Herman Wouk
The Book Thief took place in Germany during WWII
All the Light we cannot see
Secrets of a charmed life
Between Shades of Sue Gray
Anna and the Swallow Man…marketed for children from a child’s POV in war-torn Poland with a touch of fantasy. Beautifully written.
loved The Lilac Girls
All the Light I cannot see
The Storytellers – Jodi Picoult.
Anything by Pam Jenoff, especially the Kommadant’s Girl and the Diplomat’s Wife.
The Nightingale was one of the best books I’ve read. Again, read it because it was a choice of our Florida RV Winter Home book club.
The Book Thief, The Great Escape
All the light that we cannot see
Love & Treasure by Ayelet Waldman is fantastic.
If This is A Man and Man’s Search for Meaning
I have read Man’s Search for Meaning several times.
It is definitely a book to reread as is a guide to living
World War II on the American home front: The Summer of My German Soldier by Betty Greene, The All-Girl Filling Station Reunion by Fannie Flagg, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford, Snow Falling Cedars by David Guterson, Homefront by Doris Gwaltney, Goodness and Mercy by Patti Hill. many more novels and lots of nonfiction
The Night in Lisbon
Sea Music
The Alice Network.
All the Light We Cannot See, and The Baker’s Secret are good reads
The Book Thief- nothing like it. Incredible.
Lilac Girls
Sarah’s key
Loved it!
Sarah’s Key was such a sad book but very well written. The House I Loved by de Rosney was also very good
The Bronze Horseman
I said the same thing!!
Geurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Girl You Left Behind, The Eleventh Man, Life after Life and so many that others have listed!
Coming Home by Rosamunde pilcher
All the light We Cannot See. From Here to Eternity & its two sequels. King Rat. A Town Like Alice. The Alice Network, Lilac Girls, Schindlars List.
Gone To Soldiers, by Marge Piercy.
I love this book! Just reread it a couple months ago.
Loved Thread of Grace
The Alice Network
The Book Thief
WWI – Pat Barker. WWII – Olivia Manning, C.J. Sansom. A brilliant “alternative” history set in Wales in WWII is Owen Sheers: Resistance.
Have you read Sarahs key?
City of Women
The Book Thief is unforgettable.
All the Light We Cannot See and the Book Thief
Anything by Alan Furst- I love history and his historical novels focus on the “gathering storm” as Churchill so eloquently described that period before the invasion of Poland
The Butterfly and the Violin
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
City of Thieves by David Benioff is great!
Awesome book
The Librarian of Auschwitz
Ken Folett’s Night Over Water
All the Light We Cannot See
I love this book.
Herman Wouk: The Caine Mutiny and his epic Winds of War and War and Remembrance
The Book Thief is a very touching book taking place in Germany during WWII.
How could I forget Sophie’s Choice!
Once we were brothers
How about THE ROOM ON RUE AMELIE by Kristin Harmel?
The Book Thief, Garden of Beasts,
Also The Boy in Striped Pajamas, The War That Saved My Life and its sequel.
Reading it now
Susan Elias MacNeal wrote Maggie Hope mysteries
The English Teacher by Yiftach Atir, The Private Life of Mrs. Sharma, Home Fire, Lucky Boy, The Sympathizer, Stay With Me, Limassol, Little Fires Everywhere, The Sean Duffy series by Adrian McKinty ( supposedly a detective series but very tongue-in-cheek ), The Heart, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante, Exposure, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. I better stop.
So after I wrote all my recommendations, I reread the request and realized that it was for books from WWII era, lol. Have to learn to read.
Beneath a Scarlet Sky, by Mark T. Sullivan…OH MY, what a wonderful book with an untold view of WWII….Notable indeed!
The Lilac Girls
I have just started Goodnight From London, by Jennifer Robson, and it’s good!
All The Light We Cannot See is soooo good!!!
Girl FROM the Train
The Book Thief,
The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society,
The Secret Keeper (by Kate Morton)
The Light We Cannot See
Unbroken
Sarah’s Key
Gone ti Soldiers, Marge Piercy
The One Man
Lilac Girls
Beneath a scarlet sky
.
Agree with Tara above. Lilac Girls is exceptional.
The Alice Network
The Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly. @Good Read!!!
Connie Willis’ duology (ie 2 books set) Blackout and All Clear.
The Librarian of Auschwitz, Sara’s Key
Gone to Soldiers by Marge Piercy
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein is very good
Just finished that last weekend. Great read!
The Librarian of Auschwitz, Sara’s @Key
Len Deighton: Bomber
Librarian of Auschwitz is True Story
One Man by Andrew Gross
The Invisible Bridge and Life After Life are two books mentioned in this thread but I want to highlight them so they get the love along with these other great books
Winds of War.
The Lilac Girls, The Hotel Between Bitter and Sweet
Thanks Kim..looking for Lilac girls at library..
All the light you cannot see
Winds of War and War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk. Been a long time since I read them but I remember really liking them.
I loved these!
Those who save us! Such an amazing read!
Diary of Anne @Frank .
That is not fictional. 🙁
Mika 18 by Leon Uris
The Velvet Hours by Allyson Richmond. Based on a true story of a Paris apartment that was locked when the Nazis invaded Paris and opened many years later. You can go online and see the actual apartment but don’t do it until you have read the book.
i haven’t read that book, but i’ve read about the courtesan who’s apartment it was & i can’t remember what it was & now it’s going to drive me crazy.
Beth, the book was good and it was fun to envision the apartment as I read it and then see the actual pictures of it.
I’m reading the “Paris Architect” now
Loved it.
Me too! Just read on the plane and now reading in my hotel.
I just got it!
Devil at my heals it’s not Fiction but a great nonfiction narrative
The Girl from Krakow
Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: A Novel, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie BarrowsGuernsey. Not your typical WW2 novel.
Great book!
Wonderful book!
Love all the above books.
Salt to the Sea
I am thinking you want something different—books that will leave you feeling good. I recommend A Man called Ovid and Allie and Bea.
Oops wrote these recommendations on wrong post.
All the Light You Cannot See, The Lilac Girls, The Orphan Tale all good
Unbroken, the book thief
Unbroken is a biography but an excellent read all the same.
The Plum Tree
The Women in the Castle
All the Light we Cannot See. Much better than the Nightengal
Another good one is “In the Garden of Beasts” It’s non-fiction but written like a novel. About the build up to WW2 in Germany.
This is Erick Larson’s book isn’t it
@Cass yes
@Nadja I liked Devil in The White City better
All the Light You Cannot See!
just finished this it is good.
tulip resistance and I loved the story of Corrie ten Boom I love the stories of the Dutch Resistance. some are non fiction and some fictionalized history.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
In the garden of beasts, Erik Larsson
The Alice Network
Madonnas of Leningrad
Beneath a Scarlet Sky
Billy Boyle series – http://www.jamesrbenn.com/works.htm
The Winter Garden also by Krist
By Kristen Hannah, who wrote The Nightingale.
Stones from the River. The Alice Network. The Paris Wife.
Lilac Girls
Lilac Girls
All the light you cannot see.
The Guernsey Literary and Potatoe Peel Pie Society – The Alice Network – We were the Lucky Ones –
The Book Thief and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
Similar style, different war…The Summer Before The War by Helen Simonson and A Star for Mrs. Blake by April Smith
Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
The Book Thief; All the Light Yyou Cannot See
Love both!
Alice network
I know you asked for a fictional books, but a really good book I read recently is THE PERFECT HORSE. It is the story of how the Lipizzaner stallions were saved during World War II. It’s a really good read, if you’re interested in some nonfiction
Beneath a Scarlet Sky, Lilac Girls
I think they’re making a movie of Beneath a Scarlet Sky.
Just read The Atomic City Girls by Janet Beard. I highly recommend!
I loved that!
We Were The Lucky Ones, From Sand and Ash. Beneath A Scarlett Sky. Lilac Girls, War and Remembrance. All the Light We Cannot See, The Orphan’s Tale, The Darkest Hour.
How about a mystery series set during WWII – the Billy Boyle series by James R Benn. First one is “Billy Boyle”.
All the Lights We Cannot See. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
Beneath The Scarlet Sky, The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer, All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, The Girl From The Train by Irma Joubert are all good
All the Light We Cannot See, Beneath a Scarlet Sky, We were the Lucky Ones, Lilac Girls, The Women in the Castle
Anything by Frederick Forsyth- Jackdaws
Winds of War and War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk
The Book Thief is brilliant.
Stones from the River; Corellis Mandolin, Guernsey Literary Potato Peel pie society, The Madonnas of Leningrad, City of Thieves, Sarah’s key
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flannagan. It won the 2013 Man Booker Prize – a masterpiece. About the war in Southeast Asia. A great companion book to Unbroken!
On my kindle TBR
Tough to read in parts; Hope you find it as amazing as I did!
Birdsong.
this is one of the best books about war that I’ve read, but I think WWI is it’s time frame.
The Plum Tree by Ellen Wiseman
All the Light We Cannot See.
Do not understand how this made the best seller list. Picked it up the the Airport and really disliked to. Left it unfinished on the plane!
@Karan I had to power through it for a book club and at the end I was glad I read it but it was a struggle and I would not have finished had I been without the book club motivation!
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Also a good movie!
Prisoner of Night and Fog (second book after The Nightingale) and The Baker’s Daughter.)
THE WINDS OF WAR and then WAR AND REMEMBRANCE. Herman Wouk. You won’t be sorry.
Sound good. I’d like to read something more classic.
Lilac Girls was amazing and based on historical facts and non-fictional characters. The fiction is how the author depicts the conversations etc.
And the love interest is fiction. ?
@Katherine yes!!
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr is amazing. Sarah’s Key will remain with you long after reading.
The Alice Network.
All the Light We Cannot See, Herman Wouk’s Winds of War and Remembrance of War, Ken Follett’s Fall of Giants trilogy, second book covers WW II.
Ken Follett’s The Jackdaws is based on real women in the resistance, and is very good.
Reading it now. He is one of my top 5 favorite authors. It is good.
@Linda mine, as well! The Eye of the Needle and The Key to Rebecca were wonderful!
One of my favorites of his.
@Kris: My list is snaking its way to Barnes and Noble without prior permission. Hopefully the list will bring me home a scone from the cafe.
Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum & The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult.
James Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific.
A Bridge Across The Ocean by Susan Meissner & War Brides by Helen Bryan
The Baker’s Daughter by Sarah McCoy was excellent & had great recipes at the end of the book.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_in_the_High_Castle
The Butterfly & the Violin by Kristy Cambron
The Girl You Left Behind & Ship of Brides by Jojo Moyes. Both excellent!
“WWIIAR EAGLES” (Amazon) Novel is about what happens when you lose a World War. (The German People.)
Code Name Verity, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Socitey
Dream While You’re Feeling Blue by Elizabeth Berg
The Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet was a look at the Japanese internment, among other things. It was a very enjoyable read with interesting characters.
I loved this book.
The Girl in the Blue Beret. Very Good
Herman Wouk, The Winds of War and sequel. Spectacular.
I didn’t realize there is a third and it’s a trilogy. Excellent reads, so must get right on this.
You’re right — there are only two — but he wrote many other books and I’ve read them all. The best thing about the WW2 pair is the numerous points of view. Each member of the family (and each new member as it grows) has a perspective and every one is valuable.
The Orphan’s Tale and Lilac Girls
The Kommandant’s Girl
Lilac Girls.
My recommendation as well
Band of Brothers by Ambrose
This one is set in England during WWII. Also All the Light We Cannot See, Beneath a Scarlet Sky, Winds of War.
I really did NOT like All the Light We Cannot See.
What about it was not to your taste? I think my sister didn’t care for it either.
It was disjointed, hard to follow, and the writing style did not engage me either.
And this non fiction is great.
A couple that give you a sense of being there – The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton.
In the Garden of the Beasts
Non fiction but a great read…. Makes you think that the US government could see what was coming through the ambassador to Germany during Hitler’s rise to power.
Susan Elia MacNeal has a series about a woman spy; it starts early in WWII.
Mr. Churchill’s Secretary
Flambards, and Flambards in Summer, the trilogy spans both world wars
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult, The Baker’s Daughter by Sarah McCoy, Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay, Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan, Daughters of the Dragon: A Comfort Woman’s Story by William Andrews
Great ?
Everything I have ever read by Jodi Picot is so depressing I can understand suicide! Really do NOT like her books.
@Karan Agree many of her books are painful, but The Storyteller is a really fascinating read!
Karan Aurelius… a lot of WWII fiction/non-fiction is sad – horrible time in history.
There is a difference between a sad book or movie and one that is so depressing, ugly and pointless that you know that if your friend with depression read it they would kill themselves Not dark, but soulless, grey hopelessness, like “IT” in A Wrinkle in Time.
Lilac Girls…We Were the Lucky Ones…and for a perspective of WW2 in the Pacific…White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht
Sarah’s Key.
Winds of War and War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk.
Beneath a Scarlet Sky, based on a true account…vg
German girl…The Dutch Wife…The Room on Rue Amelie…
I love this site for referrals… ♥️
I loved The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy.
All the Light We Cannot See
Ohh. Picked it up in the Airport…Hated it!
The Alice Network. Loved it!
One of my favorites!
I love the Maisie Dobbs series…by J. Winspear
Guns of Navarone and Force 10 from Navarone
Golly I haven’t thought about those books in decades, but loved them all.
Alice Network !!!!!
All the Light We Cannot See, The Diplomat’s Daughter, The Guernsey Literary and potato peel pie society, The Book Thief, Snow Falling on Cedars….. etc. so, so many books about WW2.
BENEATH A SCARLET SKY
Unbroken.
Not fiction which she was asking for, but one of my top 5 favorite books!
The lost wife. Once we were brothers
Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
Invisible Bridge, All the Light You Cannot See, Sarah’s Key, The Paris Architect…
Eye of the Needle (was also a great suspensionful movie with Donald Sutherland and Kate Nelligan)
Loved the book AND the movie. I read that about 35 years ago I think…. could it have been written that long ago?
Yes 1978 maybe I’ll read it again. I love espionage
I’ve read Eye of the Needle. It was great. I didn’t know there was a movie. I’ll have to look for it.
Yes! An all-time favorite.
@Philana it is one of my all time favorite movies! Excellent, great character development, edge of your seat movie.
Sarah’s Key was great, too.
A Separate Peace is on the GAR list and I cant recommend it enough, its pretty much my favorite book of all time. It focuses on the civilian side of the war, so if your looking for active fighting it doesnt have that, but it’s definitely very focused on the war itself and the effects it had away from the front.
In Farleigh Field.
Lilac Girls
City of Women by David Gilliam . Set in Berlin during the war.
Ronald Balson’s books all deal with WWII. The Orphan’s Tale by Pam Jenoff is an excellent novel. I loved The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
Karolina’s Twins written by Ronald Balson is very good.
I just finished The call of the Wild #loveeeeedddd!
From Here to Eternity
Sarah’s Key
The Sweetness of Forgetting by Kristin Harmel—-loved it!
I loved Sarah’s Key- Lilac Girls was also great- sad though.
All the Light we cannot See
Zookeeper’s wife
The chilbury’s ladies choir by Jennifer Ryan