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War and post-war books
16
items Fiction, memoir and true stories set during wartime and its aftermath — WWI, WWII and beyond.
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Main List
Main List
Main List: War and post-war books
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 13+
The real diary of a Jewish teenager hiding from the Nazis in occupied Amsterdam, offering an intimate account of hope and fear in hiding.
An essential, deeply human historical document — the definitive starting point for this shelf.
The real diary of a Jewish teenager hiding from the Nazis in occupied Amsterdam, offering an intimate account of hope and fear in hiding.
An essential, deeply human historical document — the definitive starting point for this shelf.
The Diary of a Young Girl - by Anne Frank
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 14+
A German commandant's son befriends a boy on the other side of the concentration camp fence, without understanding what the fence really means.
Devastating by design — depicts the Holocaust directly, so verify before publishing.
A German commandant's son befriends a boy on the other side of the concentration camp fence, without understanding what the fence really means.
Devastating by design — depicts the Holocaust directly, so verify before publishing.
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - by John Boyne
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
The true story of Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who saved over a thousand Jewish refugees by employing them in his factories.
Meticulously researched and quietly devastating — contains Holocaust-era violence, so verify before publishing.
The true story of Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who saved over a thousand Jewish refugees by employing them in his factories.
Meticulously researched and quietly devastating — contains Holocaust-era violence, so verify before publishing.
Schindler's List - by Thomas Keneally
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
A young German soldier’s idealism is destroyed by the brutal reality of trench warfare in the First World War.
The definitive anti-war novel — contains graphic war violence, so verify before publishing.
A young German soldier’s idealism is destroyed by the brutal reality of trench warfare in the First World War.
The definitive anti-war novel — contains graphic war violence, so verify before publishing.
All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Remarque
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 16+
A US Air Force bombardier tries to be declared insane to escape flying more missions, tangled in the absurd, circular logic of military bureaucracy.
Darkly hilarious and genuinely unsettling in equal measure.
A US Air Force bombardier tries to be declared insane to escape flying more missions, tangled in the absurd, circular logic of military bureaucracy.
Darkly hilarious and genuinely unsettling in equal measure.
Catch-22 - by Joseph Heller
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 16+
An American soldier who survives the firebombing of Dresden becomes unstuck in time, reliving moments of his life in no particular order.
Strange, darkly funny and genuinely moving — a war novel like no other.
An American soldier who survives the firebombing of Dresden becomes unstuck in time, reliving moments of his life in no particular order.
Strange, darkly funny and genuinely moving — a war novel like no other.
Slaughterhouse-Five - by Kurt Vonnegut
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
A young Englishman’s love affair in pre-war France is shattered by the trenches of the First World War, told alongside his granddaughter’s search decades later.
Romantic and devastating — contains graphic war violence, so verify before publishing.
A young Englishman’s love affair in pre-war France is shattered by the trenches of the First World War, told alongside his granddaughter’s search decades later.
Romantic and devastating — contains graphic war violence, so verify before publishing.
Birdsong - by Sebastian Faulks
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
A wealthy Afghan boy’s betrayal of his closest friend haunts him for decades, through Afghanistan’s Soviet invasion and beyond.
Powerful and heartbreaking — contains a disturbing assault scene, so verify before publishing.
A wealthy Afghan boy’s betrayal of his closest friend haunts him for decades, through Afghanistan’s Soviet invasion and beyond.
Powerful and heartbreaking — contains a disturbing assault scene, so verify before publishing.
The Kite Runner - by Khaled Hosseini
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 15+
A blind French girl and a German boy’s paths converge during the WWII siege of Saint-Malo, each caught up in the war in very different ways.
Lyrical, immersive and a Pulitzer winner — a real shelf favourite.
A blind French girl and a German boy’s paths converge during the WWII siege of Saint-Malo, each caught up in the war in very different ways.
Lyrical, immersive and a Pulitzer winner — a real shelf favourite.
All the Light We Cannot See - by Anthony Doerr
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
Two sisters in Nazi-occupied France choose vastly different paths of resistance and survival.
Gripping and emotional — contains wartime violence, so verify before publishing.
Two sisters in Nazi-occupied France choose vastly different paths of resistance and survival.
Gripping and emotional — contains wartime violence, so verify before publishing.
The Nightingale - by Kristin Hannah
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
Twin sisters and the people around them navigate love, class and betrayal as the Nigerian Civil War tears their country apart.
Ambitious, essential storytelling from a conflict rarely covered on Western shelves — verify before publishing.
Twin sisters and the people around them navigate love, class and betrayal as the Nigerian Civil War tears their country apart.
Ambitious, essential storytelling from a conflict rarely covered on Western shelves — verify before publishing.
Half of a Yellow Sun - by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 17+
A fictionalised account of a platoon in the Vietnam War, told through the physical and emotional weight each soldier carries.
A modern classic of war writing — contains graphic content, so verify before publishing.
A fictionalised account of a platoon in the Vietnam War, told through the physical and emotional weight each soldier carries.
A modern classic of war writing — contains graphic content, so verify before publishing.
The Things They Carried - by Tim O’Brien
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 15+
A graphic memoir in which the author’s father recounts surviving the Holocaust, with Jews drawn as mice and Nazis as cats.
Groundbreaking and unforgettable — depicts the Holocaust directly, so verify before publishing.
A graphic memoir in which the author’s father recounts surviving the Holocaust, with Jews drawn as mice and Nazis as cats.
Groundbreaking and unforgettable — depicts the Holocaust directly, so verify before publishing.
Maus - by Art Spiegelman
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 16+
Brittain’s own memoir of losing her fiancé, brother and closest friends in the First World War, and her years serving as a nurse.
A devastating, real first-hand account of a lost generation.
Brittain’s own memoir of losing her fiancé, brother and closest friends in the First World War, and her years serving as a nurse.
A devastating, real first-hand account of a lost generation.
Testament of Youth - by Vera Brittain
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 14+
A London writer corresponds with the residents of Guernsey, uncovering how a wartime book club helped them survive the German occupation.
Warm and gently told — the most hopeful entry on this shelf, without losing the weight of what happened.
A London writer corresponds with the residents of Guernsey, uncovering how a wartime book club helped them survive the German occupation.
Warm and gently told — the most hopeful entry on this shelf, without losing the weight of what happened.
The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
Beah’s own memoir of being recruited as a child soldier during Sierra Leone’s civil war, and his long road back from it.
Harrowing and essential — contains graphic violence, so verify before publishing.
Beah’s own memoir of being recruited as a child soldier during Sierra Leone’s civil war, and his long road back from it.
Harrowing and essential — contains graphic violence, so verify before publishing.
A Long Way Gone - by Ishmael Beah