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Historical Novels: World War II
Contemporary World War II novels written during or after the war by authors who lived through it are not included, except for a few classics. Historical novels written about World War II in recent years are well worth reading. They often display complex moral shadings that most authors or readers were unwilling to accept in the immediate aftermath of the war. Novels set in Nazi Germany are on this page. They are categorized by the characters' home countries rather than the physical setting. Novels are listed alphabetically by author within the following categories: Europeans in World War II Click on the title for more information from Powell's Books or another online source. Powell's is offering a 10% holiday discount on books purchased through this website November 20-December 31, 2008. Enter the code HN08 in your order form to receive your discount. For more information, see the November 20 blog post.
Europeans in World War IIBelinda Alexandra, White Gardenia (2002), about a women who fled Russia during the Revolution and must make a heartbreaking decision in order to keep her child alive during the last days of World War II. Belinda Alexandra, Wild Lavender (2005), about a Frenchwoman whose success as a singer is disrupted by the German occupation of Paris during World War II. Dianne Ascroft, Hitler and Mars Bars (2008), about a boy living in a German children's home whose mother stops visiting after a bombing raid, and who is then sent to live in Ireland with a sequence of foster families; self-published. Frank Barnard, Blue Man Falling (2006), about two RAF pilots, one English and one American, during the 1939-40 Battle of France; #1 in the World War Two Fighter Pilot series. Frank Barnard, Band of Eagles (2007), about two RAF pilots, one English and one American, during the Siege of Malta in the summer of 1941; #2 in the World War Two Fighter Pilot series. Frank Barnard, To Play the Fox (2008), about two RAF pilots, one English and one American, during the crucial Battle of El Alamein in October 1942; #3 in the World War Two Fighter Pilot series. David Benioff, City of Thieves, about a man who tells his grandson the story of his experiences during the siege of Leningrad, when to save his life he had to find a dozen eggs in the starving city for a wedding cake for a military official's daughter. Will Berthold, Lebensborn Jenna Blum, Those Who Save Us, about a woman who has kept her memories of life in Berlin in the aftermath of World War II secret from her American husband and daughter. Review Chris Bohjalian, Skeletons at the Feast, about a Scottish prisoner of war in love with a German farmer's daughter as they flee from the advancing Russian army during the last days of World War II. Dave Boling, Guernica (2008), about a Basque fisherman who flees his fishing village when he comes into conflict with the Spanish Civil Guard and moves to the town of Guernica, where he finds love just before the town is bombed by the Germans. Libby Cone, War on the Margins Ellen Cooney, Lambrusco, about an woman in German-occupied Italy who sets out to find her son, who has disappeared after blowing up a German truck. Anthony Capella, The Wedding Officer (2006), a comic love story about a beautiful Italian cook and a British officer responsible for preventing wartime marriages between British soldiers and Italian civilians. Debra Dean, The Madonnas of Leningrad, about a woman with Alzheimer's who cherishes the memory of the paintings she helped preserve during the siege of Leningrad. Review Louis De Bernieres, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, about a doctor on a small Greek island occupied by Mussolini's army, his daughter, the fisherman and resistance fighter to whom the daughter is engaged, and the charming and cultured commander of the Italian garrison who becomes the daughter's lover. Len Deighton, Winter: A Novel of a Berlin Family, about two brothers with distinguished military careers who react in opposite ways to the rise of Hitler. Mykola Dementiuk, Vienna Dolorosa, about the patrons, employees and residents of a Viennese transvestite brothel/hotel on the day in 1938 that Hitler invades Austria. Review at Speak Its Name William Dietrich, Ice Reich, about an expedition sent to Antarctica by Nazi Germany. Michael Dobbs, Winston's War (2002), about Winston Churchill's relationship with a Soviet spy during the years leading up to the Second World War and Churchill's rise to become Prime Minister; #1 in the Winston Churchill series. Michael Dobbs, Never Surrender (2003), about Winston Churchill's struggle against Adolf Hitler during the years leading up to Britain's humiliating defeat at Dunkirk; #2 in the Winston Churchill series. Michael Dobbs, Churchill's Hour (2004), about Winston Churchill's struggles as a statesman and a man as the war goes badly for Britain in 1941 and his son's wife has an affair with the American Ambassador; #3 in the Winston Churchill series. Michael Dobbs, Churchill's Triumph (2005), about the power struggle between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin as they negotiate the future of Europe after the war; #4 in the Winston Churchill series. David Downing, Zoo Station, a thriller about an Englishman in Berlin as the Nazis move toward war, who agrees to become a spy for the British and Soviets; #1 in the John Russell series. David Downing, Silesian Station, a thriller about a double agent in 1939 Berlin; #2 in the John Russell series. Helen Dunmore, The Siege, about a woman in Leningrad and her struggle for survival when it is besieged by the Germans during World War II. Robert Edric, The Kingdom of Ashes, a literary novel about a British officer involved in the interrogation of German war criminals in 1946 and his love for a German interpreter. Robert Edric, Peacetime, a literary novel about an engineer involved in demolishing gun emplacements in the British fenlands in the late summer of 1946 after World War II. Sebastian Faulks, Charlotte Gray, about a woman from Scotland who becomes involved with the French Resistance during World War II; #3 in a loosely connected trilogy with The Girl at the Lion D'Or and Birdsong. David Fiddimore, Tuesday's War (2005), about a woman Air Transport Auxiliary pilot who secretly takes the place of an absent RAF pilot during a bombing raid; #1 in the Charlie Bassett trilogy. David Fiddimore, Charlie's War (2006), about a recuperating RAF pilot assigned to find the woman Air Transport Auxiliary pilot who has secretly taken the place of an absent RAF pilot and does not wish to be found; #2 in the Charlie Bassett trilogy. David Fiddimore, The Forgotten War (2008), about an RAF pilot who returns home to Britain after the war and is maneuvered into becoming a spy for a Communist-hunting government agency; #3 in the Charlie Bassett trilogy. Ken Follett, The Key to Rebecca (1985), about a British officer and a young Jewish woman who team up in World War II Cairo to stop a Nazi spy code-named "The Sphinx". Ken Follett, Jackdaws (2001), about a in the French Resistance who recruits and trains a band of other women in a last-ditch effort to complete a dangerous mission to disrupt German communications.
Alexander Fullerton, Last Lift from Crete, about the commander of a destroyer who must rescue British troops and an Australian field hospital from under the Germans' noses; #5 in the Nicholas Everard series. Alexander Fullerton, All the Drowning Seas, about the commander of a wounded battle cruiser in the seas near Java; #6 in the Nicholas Everard series. Alexander Fullerton, A Share of Honour, about a father and his two sons, all serving in the British navy during World War II; #7 in the Nicholas Everard series. Alexander Fullerton, The Torch Bearers, about a father and his two sons, all serving in the British navy during World War II; #8 in the Nicholas Everard series. Alexander Fullerton, The Gatecrashers, about a father and his two sons, all serving in the British navy during World War II; #9 in the Nicholas Everard series.
Alan Furst, Dark Star (1991), about a Soviet spymaster in Paris who recruits an agent in Berlin on the eve of World War II. Alan Furst, The Polish Officer (1995), about an officer in the Polish underground whose mission is to move the country's gold reserve to safety in Bucharest after Warsaw falls to the Nazis. Alan Furst, The World at Night (1996), about a film producer in German-occupied Paris who accepts an unexpectedly risky mission for the British secret service. Alan Furst, Red Gold (1999), about a former film producer working for the French Resistance; sequel to The World at Night. Alan Furst, Kingdom of Shadows (2000), about an aristocratic Hungarian in 1938 whose uncle recruits him for a complicated operation to help defend Hungary from the Nazis. Alan Furst, Blood of Victory (2002), about a Russian emigré journalist in Istanbul who accepts a mission intended to block German access to Romanian oil supplies in 1940. Alan Furst, Dark Voyage (2004), about a disguised Dutch freighter on a secret mission to the Swedish coast on behalf of the British Royal Navy. Alan Furst, The Spies of Warsaw (2008), a thriller about military attaché in the French embassy in Nazi-occupied Warsaw who operates a network of spies.
Denise Giardina, Saints and Villains, about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian killed by the Nazis after becoming involved in a failed plot to assassinate Hitler. Joanne Harris, Five Quarters of the Orange (2002), a dark story about three French children secretly used by a German soldier during the Occupation; based on stories told by Harris's paternal grandfather about his childhood during the war. Robert Harris, Enigma, about a British code-breaker during World War II. Shirley Hazzard, The Great Fire, about a British war hero working in Hiroshima in the aftermath of World War, who becomes involved with the ailing twenty-year-old son and the attractive teenage daughter of an Australian medical administrator. Ursula Hegi, Stones from the River, a literary novel about a girl who is a dwarf growing up in Nazi Germany. Reginald Hill, The Collaborators (1987), about a French Jew who joins the Resistance in German-occupied Franch and the German officer who befriends his wife in order to get information from her, then finds himself falling in love with her. James Holland, The Burning Blue (2003), about a young RAF fighter pilot during the early part of World War II. James Holland, A Pair of Silver Wings (2006), about an aging man who recalls his days as a fighter pilot in World War II and travels to Malta and Italy in a quest for emotional healing. James Holland, The Odin Mission (2008), about a British officer and the mission he leads in 1940 to smuggle royal treasure from Norway to safety. Thomas Keneally, Schindler's Ark (1982) (titled Schindler's List in the U.S.), about Oskar Schindler, a German factory owner who saved numerous Jews from the Nazi extermination program between 1939 and 1945. Rosalind Laker, This Shining Land, romantic suspense about a beautiful young woman and the man she loves who work in the Resistance after Germans invade Norway. Jean-Marie Le Clézio, Wandering Star Janna Levin, A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines (2006), a literary novel that contrasts the lives of two mathematical geniuses, Alan Turing, who broke the Enigma Code during World War II and later killed himself by eating a poisoned apple, and Kurt Gödel, who developed the incompleteness theory and starved himself to death because he feared being poisoned.
Olivia Manning, The Spoilt City (1962), about a young married couple in the English colony in Bucharest, Romania, as the threat of German invasion looms; #2 in the Balkan Trilogy (technically not historical fiction, as it was based on the author's own experiences as a civilian during the war). Olivia Manning, Friends and Heroes (1965), about a young married couple who are separated when the wife flees to Athens while the husband is trapped in Nazi-occupied Bucharest, Romania; #3 in the Balkan Trilogy (technically not historical fiction, as it was based on the author's own experiences as a civilian during the war). Olivia Manning, The Danger Tree (1977), about an English couple in Egypt during the Second World War; #1 in the Levant Trilogy, which continues the story in the Balkan Trilogy (technically not historical fiction, as it was based on the author's own experiences as a civilian during the war). Olivia Manning, The Battle Lost and Won (1977), about an English couple in Egypt during the Second World War; #2 in the Levant Trilogy (technically not historical fiction, as it was based on the author's own experiences as a civilian during the war). Olivia Manning, The Sum of Things (1977), about an English couple in Egypt during the Second World War; #3 in the Levant Trilogy (technically not historical fiction, as it was based on the author's own experiences as a civilian during the war).
Ian McEwan, Atonement, a literary novel about the children in an upper-middle-class British family during the years from 1935 through World War II and beyond. Milena McGraw, After Dunkirk, a literary novel about a British pilot who, while recovering from his traumatic World War II experiences, decides to examine his life by writing about it. Brendan McNally, Germania (2008), about four Jewish brothers, quadruplets and former vaudeville performers with psychic abilities, who are unexpectedly reunited in the turmoil surrounding Hitler during the final days of World War II. Nicholas Monsarrat, The Cruel Sea (1951), a realistic novel about the officers of a British convoy ship during World War II; technically not historical fiction as it was based on the author's own wartime experiences. Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient, a literary novel about the people sheltering in a bombed Italian villa near the end of World War II, including a nurse who fears falling in love and her patient, a nameless burn victim with a tragic love in his past. Steven Pressfield, Killing Rommel, about the Long Range Desert Group, a British military unit behind the German lines in North Africa with the mission of killing Rommel. Review Douglas Reeman, Dust on the Sea, about a young man serving in the British Royal Marines during World War II; #4 in the Royal Marines Saga (#1-3 were set in 1850, 1900 and World War I). Mary Doria Russell, A Thread of Grace, about an Italian village's effort to protect Jewish refugees from the occupying Nazis during World War II. Review Robert Ryan, Early One Morning (2002), about an Englishman and a Frenchman, rivals before the war, who work together on dangerous covert missions behind the German lines until they are captured and tortured; based on a true story; #1 in the Morning, Noon and Night series. Robert Ryan, The Blue Noon (2003), about a conman who puts his skills to use saving allied airmen in German-occupied France; #2 in the Morning, Noon and Night series. Robert Ryan, Night Crossing (2003), a love triangle about a German violinist who flees to England and the Scotland Yard policeman and German POW who both love her; #3 in the Morning, Noon and Night series. Robert Ryan, After Midnight (2003), about a young woman in 1964 who decides to find out what happened to her father, a bomber pilot in World War II, who disappeared on a mission in Italy in 1944 when she was a year old; #4 in the Morning, Noon and Night series. Susan Fromberg Schaeffer, Anya, about Russian Jews in Poland in the years leading up to World War II. Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2008), a fictional 1946 correspondence between a London journalist and people from Guernsey about the island's experiences during World War II when it was occupied by the Germans. Review Helena P. Schrader, The Lady in the Spitfire (2006), about a woman RAF pilot during World War II; self-published through iUniverse. Helena P. Schrader, Chasing the Wind (2007), about fighter pilots on both the British and German sides who participated in the Battle of Britain; self-published through iUniverse. Helena P. Schrader, An Obsolete Honor: A Story of the German Resistance to Hitler (2008), about a young German officer who joins a group of other officers working to overthrow Hitler; self-published through AuthorHouse. W.G. Sebald, The Emigrants, about Jewish emigrés in the years following World War II. Jeff Shaara, The Rising Tide, a panoramic story of the beginning years of World War II; #1 in the planned Second World War trilogy. Jeff Shaara, The Steel Wave, about the American effort to defeat Hitler's Germany; #2 in the planned Second World War trilogy. Owen Sheers, Resistance, alternative history that imagines life in a Nazi-occupied Welsh village whose men have disappeared. Anita Shreve, Resistance (1995), about farm wife in German-occupied Belgium who shelters a downed American pilot in her attic and falls in love with him. Paullina Simons, The Bronze Horseman, a love story set in World War II Leningrad; #1 in the Tatiana and Alexander series. Paullina Simons, The Bridge to Holy Cross (also titled Tatiana and Alexander), about a young Russian woman who flees to New York, believing herself widowed, while her husband is being held by Stalin's secret police; #2 in the Tatiana and Alexander series. Paullina Simons, The Summer Garden, about Russian lovers who have been reunited in the U.S. only to find their happiness threatened by the Cold War atmosphere and their memories of the past; #3 in the Tatiana and Alexander series. Leslie Thomas, Dover Beach (2005), a comic novel set in Dover, England, in May 1940 as some 338,000 soldiers evacuated from Dunkirk passed through the town. Kevin Vennemann, Close to Jedenew, about children in the small, Nazi-occupied Polish town of Jedenew whose Jewish playmates are disappearing one by one. Sarah Waters, The Night Watch, about two women falling in love in World War London. Steven Wilson, Voyage of the Grey Wolves (2004), about a German submarine captain ordered to take a new submarine prototype on a mission to the British coast as the tide of war turns against Germany. Steven Wilson, Between the Hunters and the Hunted (2005), about a submarine battle in 1941 during the early part of World War II. Sara Young, My Enemy's Cradle, about a pregnant, half-Jewish woman in German-occupied Holland who masquerades as her cousin in aGerman-run maternity home in order to escape the Nazi persecution of Jews. Review Marcus Zusak, The Book Thief (2005), about an orphaned German girl during World War II who steals books and shares them with her neighbors and with the Jewish man hidden in her foster-father's basement.
Europeans in World War II: MysteriesTim Binding, Lying with the Enemy (1999), about a police inspector on Guernsey Island investigating the murder of a woman he had been fond of who had been having an affair with the commander of the German occupying forces. Philip Hook, The Soldier in the Wheatfield (1998), about the modern buyer of a German landscape painting whose recent owners all died violently, who discovers it is connected to a World War II mystery involving a German officer Elizabeth Ironside, A Good Death (2000), a mystery about a French resistance fighter who returns home for a visit and discovers his wife took a German SS officer as a lover while he was gone and the SS officer has been murdered
Philip Kerr, The Pale Criminal, about a Berlin detective in Nazi Germany trying to catch a killer of teenage girls; #2 in the Berlin Noir series. Review Philip Kerr, A German Requiem, about a Berlin detective trying to clear a fellow German of the charge of murdering an American officer in the aftermath of World War II; #3 in the Berlin Noir series. Review Philip Kerr, The One from the Other, about a German detective searching for proof that a woman's husband, a war criminal, is dead; #4 in the Bernard Gunther (Berlin Noir) series. Philip Kerr, A Quiet Flame, about a German detective who poses as an escaped Nazi war criminal to solve a murder case in Argentina; #5 in the Bernard Gunther (Berlin Noir) series.
Kate Kingsbury, Death is in the Air (2001), a cozy mystery featuring the lady of an English manor who must cope with numerous wartime difficulties and investigate a murder after a German pilot crash-lands in the local woods; #2 in the Manor House series. Kate Kingsbury, For Whom Death Tolls (2002), a cozy mystery featuring the lady of an English manor who must cope with numerous wartime difficulties and investigate the death of an American G.I. found hanging from the bell rope in the local church tower; #3 in the Manor House series Kate Kingsbury, Dig Deep for Murder (2002), a cozy mystery featuring the lady of an English manor who must cope with numerous wartime difficulties and investigate a murder when a corpse is discovered in a victory garden; #4 in the Manor House series. Kate Kingsbury, Paint by Murder (2003), a cozy mystery featuring the lady of an English manor who must cope with numerous wartime difficulties and investigate the murder of one of her tenants; #5 in the Manor House series Kate Kingsbury, Berried Alive (2004), a cozy mystery featuring the lady of an English manor who must cope with numerous wartime difficulties and find out who has been poisoning American G.I.s; #6 in the Manor House series Kate Kingsbury, Fire When Ready (2004), a cozy mystery featuring the lady of an English manor who must cope with numerous wartime difficulties and find out who sabotaged the local munitions factory; #7 in the Manor House series. Kate Kingsbury, Wedding Rows (2006), a cozy mystery featuring the lady of an English manor who must cope with numerous wartime difficulties and investigate the murder of a stranger at a local wedding; #8 in the Manor House series. Kate Kingsbury, An Unmentionable Murder (2006), a cozy mystery featuring the lady of an English manor who must cope with numerous wartime difficulties and investigate the death of an unpopular man; #9 in the Manor House series.
North Americans in World War IIKevin Baker, Strivers Row, about Malcolm X as a young man in 1943 Harlem; #3 in the City of Fire trilogy (#1 was set in 1910 and #2 in 1863 New York) Richard Bausch, Peace, a literary novel about three American soldiers on a meaningless mission in Italy during the winter of 1944 after their sergeant murders a woman. James R. Benn, Billy Boyle (2006), about a Boston cop whose mother pulls strings to get him a job on General Eisenhower's staff, where his investigation skills are put to work tracking down a spy; #1 in the Billy Boyle World War II mystery series. James R. Benn, The First Wave (2007), about a Boston cop on General Eisenhower's staff, who must investigate a case of murder during the Allied invasion of Algiers; #2 in the Billy Boyle World War II mystery series. James R. Benn, By Blood Alone (2008), about a Boston cop on General Eisenhower's staff who must carry out a mission to prevent Sicilian mobsters from killing American troops, while he is in a field hospital recovering from amnesia; #3 in the Billy Boyle World War II mystery series. Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, about a Jewish refugee and his American cousin who work in the comic-book business during the World War II years; won a 2001 Pulitzer Prize Patrick Culhane, Red Sky in Morning (2008), about young American officers in 1943 serving under a racist captain on a ship manned with inexperienced African-American sailors. Maggie Davis, Stage Door Canteen, about hostesses at a New York dance club during World War II. Tatiana de Rosnay, Sarah's Key, about a contemporary American journalist married to a Frenchman who discovers that his family acquired the Paris apartment they plan to move into after the Jewish family who lived there was forcibly deported 60 years earlier during the German occupation. Tony Earley, The Blue Star, about a teenager in a small North Carolina town who falls in love with a girl obligated to marry her landlord's son, a boy serving in the Navy and stationed at Pearl Harbor on the eve of the attack. Gloria Goldreich, That Year of Our War (1994), about a Jewish American teenager who goes to live with relatives in New York City after her mother dies while her father is serving in the military. Tricia Goyer, Arms of Deliverance (2006), about two young women reporters for the New York Tribune who are friends and competitors when one of them, sent to cover a German bombing raid, becomes lost behind enemy lines; Christian message.
W.E.B. Griffin, The Secret Warriors, about an OSS project to air drop agents into the Belgian Congo to smuggle out uranium ore for an American bomb; #2 in the Men at War series. W.E.B. Griffin, The Soldier Spies, about an OSS project so covert that even the men setting it up aren't sure of its purpose – to find Germans capable of developing an atomic bomb and extract or eliminate them; #3 in the Men at War series. W.E.B. Griffin, The Fighting Agents, about an OSS operation that has reached a stage so sensitive, it may become necessary to order the elimination of American agents before they fall into enemy hands; #4 in the Men at War series. W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth, The Saboteurs, about an OSS operation to set up the invasion of Sicily in which they work with unlikely allies: "Lucky" Luciano and the Mob; #5 in the Men at War series. W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth, The Double Agents, about an OSS effort to find convincing evidence of a German chemical weapons program that neither the American nor the British leaders believe exists; #6 in the Men at War series.
Joseph Heller, Catch-22, a darkly humorous literary novel about American fighter pilots caught in the military bureaucracy during World War II; based on Heller's war experiences, so technically not historical fiction. Doris Leffland, Rumors of Peace (1979), a coming-of-age story about a girl in Martinez, California, during World War II. James McBride, Miracle at St. Anna (2003), about a group of black American soldiers cut off from their unit in a small Italian village during the winter of 1944. Julie Otsuka, When the Emperor Was Divine (2003), about a Japanese-American family's experiences after Pearl Harbor, when the mother and children are interned in Utah while the father is sent to a camp in New Mexico. Marge Piercy, Gone to Soldiers, about the sacrifices of American women who remained at home during World War II. Adam Lewis Schroeder, Empress of Asia Jean Sheldon, The Woman in the Wing John Shors, Beside a Burning Sea (2008), about a wounded Japanese soldier who saves an American nurse after a hospital ship is bombed and escapes with her and a few other survivors to a deserted island. William Styron, Sophie’s Choice, a literary novel about a young man's gradual discovery of the trauma experienced in Nazi Germany by the beautiful Polish woman with whom he is infatuated. Elswyth Thane, This Was Tomorrow, about two Virginia families during World War II; #6 in the Women of Williamsburg series. Elswyth Thane, Homing, about two Virginia families during World War II; #7 (and last) in the Women of Williamsburg series. Seymour Topping, Fatal Crossroads: A Novel of Vietnam 1945, about an American OSS officer who travels to Vietnam to meet with Ho Chi Minh at the close of World War II Burt Zollo, Prisoners (2003), about a young Jewish G.I. who was a football player before the war and is now assigned to guard German prisoners at a POW camp in France. Mysteries: North Americans in WWII
Max Allan Collins, The Pearl Harbor Murders (2001), Tarzan author Edgar Rice Burroughs is the sleuth in this mystery, which has him discover the body of a murdered woman while vacationing in Pearl Harbor just before the Japanese attack.Joseph Kanon, The Good German (2002), about an American journalist who returns to Germany at the end of World War II on a story assignment, hoping to find the woman with whom he had an affair at the beginning of the war, and stumbles on a murder.
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(in German 1958; English edition 1977), about a German woman chosen to be part of the Lebensborn program and forced to mate with selected men for the purpose of breeding supposedly superior children.