WWII novels that are worth reading

Resistance Women

by Jennifer Chiaverini

Chiaverini’s new historical novel was inspired by the life of Mildred Harnack, a real historical figure whose story was previously untold because the U.S. government deliberately buried it after the war. Harnack was one of dozens of members of the network of American and German resistance fighters the Gestapo called die Rote Kapelle (Red Orchestra). The bulk of the action takes places between the wars, beginning in 1929; I was initially surprised that a novel about Nazi Germany before and during WWII began SO early, but Chiaverini’s chosen timeline serves her story well: as a reader, you see events escalate over time through these women’s eyes: first they’re incredulous, then increasingly horrified, all the while asking each other, what do we do? The setup feels leisurely but the payoff is worth it. Recommended reading for fans of We Were the Lucky Ones.

Secrets of a Charmed Life

by Susan Meissner

Meissner takes us back to the London Blitz through the eyes of two sisters. Fifteen-year-old Emmy Downtree dreams of becoming a fashion designer but her younger sister Julia needs her as they adjust to being evacuated from London and settling into their foster home in Cotswold. When the sisters get separated, one will carry a burden for the rest of her life, until she meets a young American scholar who is eager to learn her secrets. Enjoyable and moving.

Code Name Hélène

by Ariel Lawhon

This WWII novel tells the story of Nancy Wake, the unsung French Resistance leader who was #1 on the Gestapo’s most-wanted list by the end of the war. The real Nancy was larger than life; bold, bawdy, and brazen—a woman who, as the only female among thousands of French men, was not only respected as an equal, but revered as a leader. The story is set during WWII, yes—a setting the author says she came to kicking and screaming, because there are a lot these days—but at its heart this is a story of friendship, and of love. Nancy leaps off the page with her Victory Red lipstick, snappy one-liners, and incredible bravery. Riveting.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

by Jamie Ford

The titular hotel is a real place: it's Seattle's Panama Hotel. In the story, an old man looks back to his 1940s childhood and remembers with fondness his friendship—and maybe something more—with his young Japanese friend Keiko. They lose touch when Keiko and her family are evacuated during the Japanese internment. (I learned so little about this in my U.S. history classes that when I first read the book ten years ago I kept googling Ford's historical references to see if they really happened. They did.)

The Lost Vintage

by Ann Mah

Kate heads to her family’s vineyard estate in Burgundy, in need of a retreat while she studies for the Master of Wine Examination. She can’t afford to fail again and she hopes this will allow her to reconnect with family while learning about Burgundian vintages. As she helps her cousins clear out the basement, she stumbles across a diary and a treasure trove of wine. Her great-aunt was a teen during WWII but it’s not clear whether her family sided with the Resistance or the Nazis, nor can she figure out what happened to several bottles of wine missing from the cellar’s collection. Mah draws readers in with diary entries and a dual timeline, as Kate unearths the secrets her family hid for decades.

Everyone Brave is Forgiven

by Chris Cleave

I knew I had to read this when my husband (who beat me to it) couldn't stop sharing Cleave's well-turned sentences aloud, and even many years later, I still think about this book all the time. This tale of four young, warm, wise-cracking friends in wartime England is a standout in the WWII historical genre. Through their characters, Cleave throws issues of wartime morality, race, and class into sharp relief. This is for you if you love a great story and admire a beautifully-rendered, wry turn of phrase. Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club got to chat with Cleave and hearing him discuss his own work made me love the novel even more.

Flygirl

by Sherri L. Smith

Few of the WWII historical fiction stories I’ve read focus on the Women's Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP, a group that was created by the U.S. Army to help defeat Germany and Japan. Ida Mae's father was a Black pilot who taught her to fly planes, though her race and gender prevent her from following in his footsteps. Eager to soar, Ida is ready to join WASP as a way to fly and to help her brother who is fighting in the Pacific. But when the new organization denies her entry based on her race, Ida's only choice is to pass as white in order to live her dream. Smith expertly explores identity, family, and legacy while immersing her readers in history in this fantastic YA novel.

Salt to the Sea

by Ruta Sepetys

You know about the Titanic, and maybe even the Lusitania disaster (the subject of Erik Larson's Dead Wake). But you've likely never heard of the Wilhelm Gustloff tragedy of 1945, though the lives lost outnumber the people who died in those two better-known disasters at sea. The ship was hugely over capacity when it sank in the Baltic Sea after being hit by Soviet torpedoes. Told in four distinct characters' voices, that of a young nurse, a Prussian soldier, an expecting mother, and a delusional Nazi recruit converge. Sepetys excels at writing historically accurate, page-turning YA novels equally beloved by tweens, teens, and grown-ups.

This Lovely City

by Louise Hare

In 1948, the Empire Windrush arrived in Essex, London, carrying 492 Jamaican immigrants who were recruited by the British government to help rebuild the economy after WWII. In her debut novel, Louise Hare tells a fictional story about young love, prejudice, and home. Recent immigrant Lawrie Matthews works as a postman by day and a jazz musician by night. In between, he makes time to woo the girl next door. When Lawrie discovers something terrible on his way to work one day, he becomes the number one suspect, despite all evidence to the contrary. The community turns against him in a show of xenophobia and racism; his hopes seem all but dashed. His friends want to help but fear getting wrapped up in danger themselves, leaving it up to Lawrie's love interest to step in. Hare writes a mystery wrapped in a romance, with vibrant historical detail.

The War That Saved My Life

by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

I just loved this and have been thrilled to see so many readers of all ages enjoy it. It’s a Newbery Honor Book, set during WWII, and the plot is set in motion when two children—one of whom is very much unwanted—are evacuated from London into the British countryside. (If you think this sounds like Everyone Brave Is Forgiven you’re exactly right.)

The Postcard

by Anne Berest

The premise of this 2023 Minimalist Summer Reading Guide selection is irresistible. In 2003, Anne Berest’s mother Lelia received a postcard, an old postcard, addressed to Berest’s grandmother, who is dead. The card is blank except for four names—Ephraim, Emma, Noemie, and Jaques. These were the names of her grandparents, aunt and uncle, all killed at Auschwitz. Anne was about to give birth so the postcard was forgotten, put away. But when Anne remembers the card nearly two decades later, she is determined to find out who sent it and why. This sweeping French novel—an award winner and bestseller in France—deals with history and memory, hope, grief, and, reader take note, trauma. Translated from the French by Tina Kover.

We Were the Lucky Ones

by Georgia Hunter

When Georgia Hunter started getting curious about her family history, a few questions put to the right relatives uncovered something she didn’t expect: a sweeping multi-generational drama just begging to be written down—and so she did. Told over the span of six years, the story follows the Jewish Kurc family as they face exile, escape death, and struggle to survive during WWII. While the war scatters the siblings across the globe, they never give up the hope of one day being reunited. To hear more about Hunter's writing experience, listen to WSIRN Episode 157: The stories behind the stories we love to read.

The Secret Book of Flora Lea

by Patti Callahan Henry

Talk about a strong premise! In 1960s London, a young woman named Hazel unwraps a parcel from America while working at Hogan’s Rare Book Shop. She is gobsmacked to find an illustrated children’s book called Whisperwood and the River of Stars. This book shouldn’t exist, because only two people in the world know about Whisperwood: Hazel and her sister Flora, who created the fairy tale together while billeted in Oxfordshire during WWII. Hazel believes the book is proof that her sister didn’t die, as presumed, back in 1940, and embarks on a quest to find her. A heartfelt historical novel about the power of stories, forgiveness, and love. For fans of Kimberly Brubaker Bradley's The War That Saved My Life and Susan Meissner's Secrets of a Charmed Life.

The Chosen

by Chaim Potok

Potok’s best-selling debut about two Jewish boys growing up in 1940s Brooklyn, published in 1967, is now considered a classic. Danny is Orthodox, while Reuven is Hasidic. While Reuven recovers from an eye injury courtesy of baseball, he listens to coverage of D-Day on the radio. After the war ends and the horrors of the Holocaust emerge, Danny and Reuven’s fathers have very different ideas about their sons and what role Israel should play in their future. Nominated for the National Book Award, this explores the nuances of religious differences, assimilation in the US, and the gift of friendship.

The Underground Library

by Jennifer Ryan

Lovers of hopeful historical fiction, books about books, and Blitz-era stories, take note: Ryan’s latest tracks three women who are brought together by London’s Bethnal Green library in the early days of the Blitz in WWII London. Juliet is the newly appointed Deputy Librarian, who shocks patrons (and her male bosses) by moving the branch to the nearest tube station to evade Nazi bombers—and bring residents some measure of solace and distraction during the raids. Katie is a young library clerk with a secret, whose imminent departure for university is surprisingly disrupted. And Sophie is a Jewish refugee who escaped Germany’s dangers only to find herself employed by a cruel boss in London, but who finds strength from and safety with her library friends. Some readers may find this twee, but fans of The Secret Book of Flora Lea and The Paris Library will call this a must-read.

Transcription

by Kate Atkinson

Kate Atkinson's new historical sticks to the WWII setting of Life After Life and A God in Ruins but stands on its own. It's 1940, and an eighteen-year-old girl named Juliet, in search of a job, is surprised to find herself plunged into the world of espionage. Atkinson has become one of my must-read authors. Confession: I read this at the beach this summer and loved its droll British voice (though it took me more than a few chapters to get oriented).

Suite Française

by Irene Nemirovsky

This 2004 novel's backstory is fascinating and heartbreaking: novelist Irène Némirovsky, a French-Ukrainian, was arrested in 1942; her crime was being Jewish. The manuscript survived, unread and hidden in an old suitcase, even after she was captured and killed at Auschwitz. Her daughters had the manuscript for years, not knowing what they possessed, but in 1998 finally opened the manuscript, not finding the journals they expected, but the novellas that became Suite Français. This is possibly the earliest work of fiction about World War II. Translated by Sandra Smith.

The Huntress

by Kate Quinn

The Alice Network author Quinn also takes on the aftermath of WWII in her latest historical release. Inspired by a true story she stumbled upon in the historical archives (which would totally spoil the big reveal—you’re going to have to read the Author’s Note to learn all!), Quinn weaves together three perspectives to tell a gripping story: Jordan is a Boston teenager who works in her father’s Boston antiques store, Ian is a British journalist determined to bring his brother’s killer—known as “the Huntress”—to justice, and Nina is a Russian fighter pilot and the only woman alive who can identify the Huntress. There’s no weak link in the story; each thread is fascinating—and when they began to come together I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. A mesmerizing tale of war crimes, coming of age, love and fidelity, and the pursuit of justice, with stirring implications for today.

All the Light We Cannot See

by Anthony Doerr

Doerr's characters in this World War II novel are fascinating and altogether unexpected. The book’s setting couldn’t be lovelier: much of the action takes place in Saint-Malo, France, a unique walled port city on the English Channel. Haunting story, beautiful prose, and entirely deserving of its place on 2014's best-of-the-year lists.

The Secret Keeper

by Kate Morton

Any Morton novel would make a great summer read, but The Secret Keeper is her finest. When she was 16, Laurel witnessed a violent crime involving her mother, Dorothy. The family hushed it up, and Laurel hasn't spoken of it since. Now, fifty years later, Dorothy is dying, and Laurel is determined to unravel the secret while there's still time. As Laurel pursues her clues, the story flips back and forth in time between today and the years before and during World War II, including the London Blitz, which Morton recreates so vividly you can almost hear the bombs dropping. Filled with twists and turns that will keep you guessing to the end.

WWII novels that are worth reading

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