Books Set In WW2

Chilbury ladies choir

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The Chilbury Ladies' Choir
Jennifer Ryan

Goodreads Choice AwardNominee for Best Debut Goodreads Author (2017)

The village of Chilbury in Kent is about to ring in some changes.
This is a delightful novel of wartime gumption and village spirit that will make your heart sing out.

Kent, 1940.

In the idyllic village of Chilbury change is afoot. Hearts are breaking as sons and husbands leave to fight, and when the Vicar decides to close the choir until the men return, all seems lost.

But coming together in song is just what the women of Chilbury need in these dark hours, and they are ready to sing. With a little fighting spirit and the arrival of a new musical resident, the charismatic Miss Primrose Trent, the choir is reborn.

Some see the choir as a chance to forget their troubles, others the chance to shine. Though for one villager, the choir is the perfect cover to destroy Chilbury’s new-found harmony.

Uplifting and profoundly moving, THE CHILBURY LADIES’ CHOIR explores how a village can endure the onslaught of war, how monumental history affects small lives and how survival is as much about friendship as it is about courage.

The Silver Sword.

Elizabeth Bowen's The Heat of the Day -- a love affair and espionage set during the Blitz in London, published just after the war. (Also her short story collection, The Demon Lover.)

Less literary, more realist, very good on countryside, farm work, nature -- Angela Huth's Land Girls (three very different women working as landgirls on a remote farm).

Also Diary of an Ordinary Woman

Another vote here for All The Light We Cannot See. I loved that novel.

The Siege by Helen Dunmore is excellent. Set in Leningrad.

And Life After Life is partly set in WW2.

I really enjoyed Restless by William Boyd. About a woman working as a secret agent in WII and her life afterwards.

Life after life and also its sort of sequel A God in Ruins.

La's orchestra saves the world.

I'm also a big fan of the Diary of a provincial lady and one of the series was set at the beginning of the war.

Yes, thirded!

The Provincial Lady in Wartime by EM Delafield deals with the eponymous heroine's attempts to volunteer for the war effort in the earlier stages of the war.

Several Angela Thirkell books are set during WW2, including Cheerfulness Breaks In, Northbridge Rectory, Marling Hall
Growing Up, The Headmistress, Miss Bunting and Peace Breaks Out. These focus on the lives of the people (mainly women and children) on the home front, and on how the war affected their everyday experiences.

I've recently read the three books of Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time that deal with the 1940s and there's a lot in there about the experience of being a soldier (albeit one who didn't see much actual fighting!). The relevant books are The Valley of Bones, The Soldier's Art and The Military Philosophers (although it's probably best if you've already read the preceding 6 books, which is quite a commitment!).

Life After Life, seconded. Also much of the Cazalet Chronicles.

Oh whoops sorry wrong war! Was WWI

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams. Gorgeous book

Several already mentioned. Could also add Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave.

The Boat

I can't remember the author. It's a translation of a German book, Das Boot, about a U-boat. Excellent.

Trust Me by Lesley Pearce. It's set just after ww2 and is a story about the children sent to Australia for a better life after the war. It's fiction but such a good read.

Tom Palmer has written some excellent ww1 and ww2 fiction for kids. Highly recommended.

Mary Wesley’s Camomile Lawn.

Does Life After Life count? So much of it is set in WW2. Adore that book.

The German War by Nicholas Stargardt
Stargardt is a historian, his book describes life in Germany during the war from documents newspapers and letters written by the German people as they lived their ordinary lives.
He also wrote about The German Children, mostly from their letters I think.
Very Challenging!

Catch 22

I love all the Elizabeth Elgin books, mostly set around the women's roles during that time & have recently been reading a series by Fenella J Miller which is also quite good (not as good as Elgin though in my opinion).

I second Coming Home and Goodnight Mr Tom. Also, Back Home by Michelle Magorian...not sure of spelling

In addition to the Lissa Evans trilogy above, she also wrote Their Finest (Hour And A Half) about the making of a morale-boosting war film in 1940. It’s very funny in places but doesn’t pull any emotional punches.

Blitz on Balaclava street - read when I was 16 about a 17 year old during the war - loved it and just purchased the book to re-read. Haven’t read it since I was around twenty (now middle aged).

Dolphin Crossing - Jill Paton Smith
Machine Gunners - Robert Westall

Both children’s books I read in ‘Fourth year juniors’ which I love (and still have.

Secret Hunters - Ranulph Fiends - this book has stayed with me, as it shows how ordernary people acted during the war in Germany and let or were powerless to prevent the horrors happening.

Lissa Evans wrote a trilogy of books set in wwii: V for Victory, Crooked Heart and Old Baggage. They are among my favourite books. Just brilliant.