Looking for recommendations for fictional ww2 books. Have read The Nightingale.
Looking for recommendations for fictional ww2 books. Have read The Nightingale.
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20 answers
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.