Okay, as promised here is the second part of my "War in Fiction" list. These all are set during WWII. You can see the WWI list here. Make sure you read through the comments as there are loads of great suggestions. I still plan on adding links to those books on that post, but I haven't had a chance to do it yet. Here are a few good titles that I've come up with. As usual, many of these I've already read and the others are waiting patiently on my TBR piles.
- April in Paris, Michael Wallner
- The Bronze Horseman, Paullina Simons - This is a sweeping epic of a story. I've read it several times and loved it. It's set in Leningrad, so you get the war from the Russian perspective.
- Heart Mountain, Gretel Ehrlich - A novel set in the Wyoming Japanese-American internment camp.
- Resistance, Owen Sheers - This is high up on my TBR pile. I've heard very good things about it--it's a 'what if' scenario had the Germans invaded Britain.
- She Goes to War, Edith Pargeter - Did you know she also wrote the Ellis Peters' mysteries? This is a semi autobiographical novel.
- A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
- Atonement, Ian McEwan - Loved the book, loved the movie, too. It's about time for a reread.
- Jill, Philip Larkin
- Gone to Soldiers, Marge Piercy - This is another novel I've read several times. It's an excellent story evoking the American homefront during the War.
- The Siege, Helen Dunmore - A novel of the Siege of Leningrad.
- The Welsh Girl, Peter Ho Davies - One of my favorite books last year. This is about a German POW camp in the Welsh countryside and how it effects the people in the village. It's beautifully written.
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, Mary Ann Shaffer - I'm reading this now and it's as good (even better!) than everyone has been saying!!
- The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje - More beautiful prose. This is another book that is due for a reread.
- Charlotte Gray, Sebastian Faulks - I really liked this, it isn't perhaps as good as Birdsong, but still very good.
- Land Girls, Angela Huth - This is the story of four girls who are brought together by the war as they work as land girls
- Good Evening, Mrs Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes, Mollie Panter-Downes - MPD is one of my great author finds this year. I've read a couple of her novels and thought they were excellent. I'm looking forward to reading this book of short stories.
- The Balkan Trilogy and The Levant Trilogy, Olivia Manning - I'm looking forward to reading both of these books. "The Balkan Trilogy is a portrait of a marriage, an evocation of a vanished way of life and an ironic comedy of manners in a breaking world."
I could probably go on, but I'll stop here. I'm afraid I stuck with only fiction titles, though I am sure wonderful NF books on the period abound as well! I'm sure there are many more wonderful books out there set during the WWII period, so suggestions are welcome and I'll add them to this list.