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WWII Fiction

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donroc
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Post by donroc » Sun September 14th, 2008, 8:08 pm

Just remembered-- Spark of Life is the Erich Maria Remarque book set in a concentration camp.

Also The Oppermanns by Lion Feuchtwanger set in Germany 1933 after the Nazi take power.
Image

Bodo the Apostate, a novel set during the reign of Louis the Pious and end of the Carolingian Empire.

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Mon September 22nd, 2008, 5:13 pm

I'm about halfway through Rosalind Laker's This Shining Land and enjoying it. Very different from her usual novels. This is based in Norway after the Nazi's invade and the main characters are involved in the underground resistance. Apparently based in part upon Laker's husband's activities in the resistance movement.

Cuchulainn
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Post by Cuchulainn » Tue September 23rd, 2008, 1:39 am

Let me add three WWII books by one of the masters of historical fiction, C.S. Forester:

The Ship

The Good Shepherd

Hunting the Bismarck (later to be the basis for the movie Sink the Bismarck!)

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Margaret
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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Post by Margaret » Wed September 24th, 2008, 10:02 pm

One of my guest reviewers read this novel and highly recommends it. It's written in the form of letters from people from Guernsey to a London journalist shortly after the war about their experiences while Guernsey was occupied by the Germans. The review is at http://www.HistoricalNovels.info/Guernsey-Literary.html.
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info

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diamondlil
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Post by diamondlil » Wed September 24th, 2008, 10:19 pm

There are reviews in the Book Reviews section for that book here
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lama
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Post by lama » Sun September 28th, 2008, 10:06 am

How about Sarah Waters' Night Watch. I thought it was a marvelous account of that time.
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MrsMorland
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Post by MrsMorland » Tue October 28th, 2008, 11:45 pm

I loved Land Girls and also Dream When You're Feeling Blue by Elizabeth Berg.

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Vanessa
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Post by Vanessa » Wed October 29th, 2008, 10:41 am

Has anyone read Small Island by Andrea Levy? I really enjoyed that one.

I have Ian McEwan's Atonement and Sebastian Faulks' Charlotte Gray on my TBR pile.
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Ash
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Post by Ash » Wed October 29th, 2008, 1:29 pm

[quote=""Vanessa""]Has anyone read Small Island by Andrea Levy? I really enjoyed that one..[/quote]

Oh that was a wonderful book. Its take on how blacks were treated in WWII, and on immigration in general was so well done.

I loved Atonement. Its slow at first, but by about page 30, I so related to Briony that I was hooked.

Ash
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Post by Ash » Wed October 29th, 2008, 1:30 pm

[quote=""Cuchulainn""]
Hunting the Bismarck (later to be the basis for the movie Sink the Bismarck!)[/quote]

Hee, as well as the song, which I heard long long before reading the book off my dad's shelf. That was probably the first WWII non Holocaust book I ever read and really liked it.

Lama, I tried reading Night Watch and coudln't get into it; I think I was still so enthralled by Fingersmith that this last one felt hollow to me. I may need to try it again.

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