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World War II novels ????? Looking for recommendations

World War II novels ????? Looking for recommendations

Angela #recommend

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94 Answers

Amanda

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah or The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

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Amanda

Definitely!

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Holly

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Girl in the Blue Coat
Code Name, Verity
Anne Frank (obviously, but always worth a re-read)

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Holly

Ooooh, yes, I second The Storyteller. I just got done with that one a few weeks ago. Fresh take on how to tell a WWII fiction.

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Amanda

A lot of people here like All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (sp?) this one wasn’t my cup of tea at all but so many other people love it that maybe you will too.

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Annette

Wasn’t my cuppa either … I really wanted to like it but … meh ..

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Amanda

Yes very meh!! Definitely a minority feeling

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Holly

The Memory of Us by Camille De Maio (this may be only available via ebook, but it is a good read. Probably cannot be categorized as a true WWII fiction as the time set spans a few decades, but the time does fall from before to after the war.

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Holly

What I Saw And How I Lied is set in post WWII America. I will read anything WWII fiction, so for me it was just another one that I had to read on my way to reading them all.

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Holly

All The Light We Cannot See, I second that one too!

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Holly

I’m also reading one now called Sarah’s Key. Can’t give it an official recommendation is suppose since I haven’t finished it yet, but I’m about 10 chapters in and it’s good so far. Set in France in present day and during the war.

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Amanda

It’s on my shelf waiting to be read!

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Debi

Sarah’s Key is fantastic

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Nechama

I read it a while ago. It’s an excellent read.

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Lindi

It’s brilliant

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Georgina

Haven’t read the book but the film is good

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Leanne

The Narrow Road to the Deep North and the Undertaking

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Lindi

Gertrudas Oath by Ram Oren
Letters of Stone by Steven Robbins
All my love Detrick Series by Roberta Kagan
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
What Papa Told me by Felice COHEN
Finding Rebecca by Eoin Dempsey
A Stone for Benjamin by Fiona Gold Kroll
The Sweetness of Forgetting by Kristin Harmel
The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
Outcry by Manny Steinberg
The Nazi Officers wife by Edith Hahn Beer
Not Me: A novel by Michael Lavigne
My Brothers voice by Stephen Nasser
A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal
The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman
I will plant you a lilac tree by Laura Hillman
Far To Go by Alison Pick
Rena’s Promise by
Once we were brothers by Ronald Balson
Two Brothers by Ben Elton
Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay
My Enemy’s Cradle by Sarah Young
The Reader by Bernard Shlink
Bending Toward the sun by Leslie Gilbert LURIE
Darling Mutti by Joan Marshall
Boy in the stripped Pyjamas by John Boyne
Echoes by Danielle Steele
Entwined by Lynda Laplante

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Lindi

The Award by Danielle Steele, Karolinas Twins

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Karen

Just to add to Lindi’s marvellous list ….
The Kommandant’s Girl (series) – Pam Jenoff
Charlotte Grey – Sebastian Faulks
The Invisible Bridge – Julie Orringer
The English German Girl – Jake Wallis Simons
The Lavender Keeper (series) – Fiona Macintosh
The Odessa File – Frederic Forsyth

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Rebecca

Loved Two brothers by Ben Elton

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Lindi

Michals Destiny by @Roberta

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Brenda

Thanks for this list. Just copied & pasted to my messenger so that I can remember them ???

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Rachel

Charlotte Grey
The Jackdaws (Ken Follett)
Fair Stood the Wind for France (HE Bates)
A Thread of Grace
Under An English Heaven
Any books by Robert Ryan
Piece of Cake by Derek Robinson

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Denise

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society.
Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave

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Alisa

Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada, The Silent Hours by Cesca Major, The Street Sweeper by Eliot Perlman, The Best of Our Spies and The Swiss Spy by Akex Gehrlis and the David Downing series.

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Lu

Two Brothers
The Nightingale

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Emma

The book thief

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Rachel

The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons.

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Helen

All The Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr. A must-read!

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Helena

Fabulous book

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Sharyn

totally agree, a must-read.

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Rachael

Two brothers by Ben Elton wow just pure breath taking .

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Nicky

The nightingale, the storyteller, Sarah’s key

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Debbie

From sand and ash…amazing book!

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Zehavah

Ken Follett has a trilogy beginning before ww1 and going till after ww2 and it is eye opening and brilliant

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Lorna

Most powerful and heart wrenching book I’ve ever read is Primo Levi’s If This Is A Man. It’s an honest, beautifully written yet harrowing account of his life in Auschwitz. Can’t recommend it enough

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Hilary

The All My Love Detrick books by Roberta Kagan
There are 5 that go from World War 2 through to present day EXCELLENT

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Jo

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters.

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Elaine

The Voyage by Roberta Kagan, and Michals Destiny also Roberta Kagan

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Allie

F F F!!!

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Laura

The boys !! Martin Gilbert

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Sharyn

For something different how about German war fiction? I have just got into this and am really enjoying the different viewpoint. I can really recommend Winter Men by Jesper Bugge Kold Tr K E Semmel. It was a kindle first earlier this year and a very good story.https://www.amazon.co.uk/Winter-Men-Jesper-Bugge-Kold-ebook/dp/B014WBAUES/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1479808597&sr=1-1&keywords=winter+men

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Sharyn

The Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard start with Light Years which is set in 1938. A very satisfying saga. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Light-Years-Cazalet-Chronicle-Book-ebook/dp/B004SOJ3MK/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1479808570&sr=1-1&keywords=cazelets+chronicles

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Kate

Adore this series…I cried when there were no more to read

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Gemma

The Girl Who Fell From The Sky

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Anne

The Nightingale.

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Anne

The winds of war by Herman Wouk

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Ashleigh

Penny Vincenzi The Spoils of Time trilogy

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Jacqueline

A Midnight Clear by William Wharton, Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut both excellent

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Nic

Sophie’s choice by William Styron – heart wrenching and awful but completely brilliant. I also loved alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada. I think someone else has mentioned it xxx

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Tammy

Invisible bridge by Julie Orringer

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Tammy

City of thieves
And not fiction, but in The garden of beasts was excellent

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Tina

The storyteller- jodi piccoult, book thief..

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Tammy

Those who save us by Jenna Blum was also excellent

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Avril

Secrets of a Charmed Life

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Sue

Don,t know if this has been said, but I would suggest Sarah water’s ‘The Night Watch’.

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Sharyn

I have put that on my list for Santa this year 🙂

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Sue

You could borrow my copy …..

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Sharyn

maybe, if Santa fails me!

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Sharyn

This another that is a little different. Set in Japan during WW2 as a series of diary entries found in the 1950s.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Sand-Roger-Pulvers/dp/1503936023/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479824107&sr=8-1&keywords=star+sand+by+pulvers

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Sharyn

The Road Between Us by Nigel Farndale is excellent too. Starts with two gay lovers being arrested at the outbreak of WW2 and follows their lives. Very well written and harrowing in places.

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Shirley

The Bernie Gunther series by Philip Kerr. Crime fiction in WWII

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Barney

A Bell For Adano

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Laura

That is my favorite subject:
The Nazi officers wife
The house by the lake
Salt to the sea
Between shades of gray
The storyteller
The nightingale
My brother’s secret
Orphan train
The boy on the wooden box
My mother’s secret
The boy with the striped pajamas
In my hands: memories of a holocaust rescuer
Yellow star
The book thief
The hiding place
The cage

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Rebecca

I loved the invisible bridge

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Sharla

Marge Piercy’s Gone to Soldiers

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Rebecca

All the light we cannot see

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Karen

the nightingale

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Beverly

Oldies but goodies and my all time favorite – Winds of War; War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk.

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Karen

once we were brothers -amazing read

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Marion

All the Light we cannot see

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Marion

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulkes

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Jane

Excellent book but world war 1

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Marion

yes, you are right! I was also going to suggest Pat Barker novels but I think they are also WW1

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Melissa

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

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Kate

A God in ruins…flashbacks to the war. I loved it

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Heather

Under An English Heaven by Robert Radcliffe…gave me renewed respect for the American bomber crews.

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Zoe

The Lavender Keeper is wonderful

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Cat

Just released… https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1536815489/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479852837&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=sara+thomson

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Sara

The nightingale and the storyteller

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Debbie

Sarah’s Key

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Beth

The StoryTeller

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Emily

The boy in the striped pajamas. Its not about the war but it’s set in the same time period, and it’s about the holocaust and the camps

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AngelaQuestion author

Wow everyone!!!!! Thank you for all your help!!!! Looks like I have a lot to look into !!!! Can’t wait !

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Leanne

The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman is incredible. The Nightingale also great.

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Andrea

The Bernie Gunther novels by Philip Kerr

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Andrea

The Book Theif; Len Deighton’s alternate history novels; Alan Furst’s spy novels; Herman World’s The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance; Jo Walton’s trilogy (alternate history)

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Wendy

Jane Thynne

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Arlaine

The Nightingale, Of Windmills and War – Both incredible books

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Sharon

The Paris Architect, The Nightingale, Code Name Verity – all WW2

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Moya

Charlotte Grey

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Madison

Night by Elie Wiesel

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Manda

barbara stark-neman has a really good debut book about the war

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