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Historical Fiction 📚

20 items

Lucy Smith

A variety of historical fiction recommendations, mostly Second World War ✨ Historian recommended ✨

An alternative history of the Second World War, if Germany had won the Battle of Britain. The royal family is in exile, the King imprisoned and Churchill executed. The German authorities now have control of Britain. Detective Archer is one of the few...

SS-GB ~ Len Deighton

Spring 1941 - Occupied France Resistance leader Mathieu begins his work to help smuggle British airmen out of the country in defiance with Nazi rule but a new challenge comes to face Mathieu and his forces.

A Hero of France ~ Alan Furst

Young foal Joey finds himself in France in the battlefields of the First World War but always manages to bring warmth, hope and comfort to every soldier he encounters.

War Horse ~ Michael Morpurgo

1974 Joyce Cooper is facing eviction as her building is listed to be demolished but can’t help but feel nostalgic for when she felt like she was somebody, an ARP warden and map plotter during the Second World War

The Woman with the Map ~ Jan Casey

Windsor Castle, 1943 As the Second World War rages on, the young Princess Elizabeth meets the dashing young naval officer who she is determined will become her husband.

Before the Crown ~ Flora Harding

Inspired by the true story of the librarians at the American library in Paris during occupation. Odile had the perfect life until 1939, when her beau is sent to fight and the Nazis take over so joins the resistance but is left with the bitterness of ...

The Paris Library ~ Janet Skeslien Charles

Autumn, 1943 A young Italian woman’s only chance to survive being taken by the Nazis is to pose as a farmer’s wife. Antonia and Nico soon can’t help the pretend feelings coming real and find solace in each other as the world decides into chaos.

Our Darkest Night ~ Jennifer Robson

It’s a battle between Allies and Nazis to track down an ancient artifice, which Hitler believes would give him God-like power and turn the tide of the war.

Good & Evil ~ Giacometti and Ravenne

1953 Jean-Luc is a man on the run from his past with a scar on his face being the only marker of what he had to endure during the Nazi occupation of France.

While Paris Slept ~ Ruth Druart

Young Liesel is an escapee to a small town to avoid Nazi persecution. As her younger brother dies on the rail side, she finds a book to forever change her life.

The Book Thief ~ Marcus Zusak

Paris, 1944 Elise knows what it is to love and hate after losing her fiancé to Maginot line but must keep her hatred to the occupiers deep down for her own safety. Until young Sebastian Kleinhaus enters her life and shows her not everyone in the uni...

The Last Hours in Paris ~ Ruth Druart

April, 1942 Lale is taken from Slovakia and placed as a tattooist in the most notorious extermination camp of the Nazi regime. One day he meets Gita and sees hope in life once more.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz ~ Heather Morris

Cilka thought the Russians liberating Auschwitz would mean her freedom, but seen as a collaborator for what she did for survival she finds herself in a Siberian Gulag fighting to live each day once again.

Cilka's Journey ~ Heather Morris

Cibi, Magda and Livia made a promise to their father as children to never leave each other and always look after each other. But when they are forcibly separated by Nazi authorities, will they be able to maintain that promise?

Three Sisters ~ Heather Morris

Nine year old Bruno is bored in his new home and decides to explore the woods at the back of his house only to come across a boy his age behind barbed wire fence in odd pyjamas.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas ~ John Boyne

Gretel has lives a quiet, comfortable life in London after leaving Nazi Germany and family tragedy behind. But the trauma from losing her brother then her parents haunts her as she gets to know her young neighbour Henry.

All the Broken Places ~ John Boyne

Ukraine, 1929 16 year old Katya lives on her family farm surrounded by fields and love but it soon changes as Stalin’s forces take over and enforce collective values everywhere they go. Anyone who speaks up, disappears never to be seen again.

The Memory Keeper of Kyiv ~ Erin Litteken

Raised by her grandmother in a small Prussian village in the early 20th century, Olga falls for neighbour Herbert, a son of a local aristocrat she finds her world completely changed but still limited by her gender.

Olga ~ Bernhard Schlink

A harrowing account of life on the Western front of the First World War, told from the German perspective.

All Quiet on the Western Front ~ Erich Maria Remarque

Sarah’s life is ruined on the 31st October 1941 when a bomb destroys her Dublin home and takes her family. She travels to London with one aim: revenge against the Axis forces.

Her Secret War ~ Pam Lecky