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WW1/WW2 fiction novel recommendations?

29 replies

Zebraa · 03/01/2009 18:49

Can anyone recommend a really good book based around ww1 or ww2, preferably a love story involved? Something quite well written...

Just been to see The Reader and LOVED it but wish I'd read it first!

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Marina · 05/01/2009 21:23

Night Watch, by Sarah Waters
The End of the Affair, by Graham Greene
HMS Ulysses, by Alistair Maclean
A Moment in Time/Fair Stood the Wind for France, by HE Bates
The Silence of the Sea, by Vercors
Suite Francaise, by Irene Nemirovsky

Non-fiction
Memoirs of a Foxhunting Man, by Siegfried Sassoon
Goodbye to All That, by Robert Graves
Testament of Youth/Testament of Experience, by Vera Brittain

janeite · 05/01/2009 21:17

If you want non-fiction "The First Day Of The Somme" is an amazing, gripping but obviously very harrowing, read.

Zorayda · 04/01/2009 22:56

If we are allowed children's/teen's books, can I put in a vote for Rilla of Ingleside by L.M.Montgomery? It's the last of the Anne of Avonlea series, and set at the same time as WWI. Should probably read Rainbow Valley first though. Lovely story, but it makes me cry everytime.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is also brilliant.

Bink · 04/01/2009 21:22

If we doing children's/teen books too, there is always I Am David (though I never quite got that one), Anne Frank, and the superb Endless Steppe

TotalChaos · 04/01/2009 20:23

Not fiction, but I think "Carve her name with Pride" - biog. of Violette Szabo is well worth a quick read.

And there are some good "teen" books - Summer of my German soldier by IIRC Bette Green, and Mischling, Second Degree by Ilse Koehn (autobiogP.

Parsleypants · 04/01/2009 20:22

I second Suite Francaise. Marvellous.

Molesworth · 04/01/2009 20:20

how about Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo? (WWI)

janeite · 04/01/2009 20:19

"Goodnight Mr Tom" is a superb book.

cocolepew · 04/01/2009 20:19

Flowers in the field - Sarah Harrison

SuperBunny · 04/01/2009 20:17

Fair Stood the Wind for France (or something like that)

Good Night Mr Tom (not romance and a children's book but wonderful)

The Silver Sword (children's book)

Elizabeth Elgin books - I used to read them in my late teens

ComeWhineWithMe · 04/01/2009 19:39

The first casualty is really good.

Atonement?

plumandolive · 04/01/2009 19:35

William Boyd- Restless- absolutely brilliant.

Sibh - agree - love Sarah Waters- The Night watch.
Sebastian Faulkes- Birdsong- agree!

DBXmum · 04/01/2009 18:42

What about Sophie's Choice. And The Book Thief and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas are all set in WWII

kitkat9 · 04/01/2009 15:52

Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian - German perspective and an amazing read. WW2

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. WW2

The Bronze Horseman, and Tatiana and Alexander by Paullina Simons - EPIC love stories (books 1 and 2 of a trilogy, but the 3rd isn't set in wartime, still amazing though). Set in WW2 Russia. Two of my favourite books ever. I guarantee you won't be able to put them down

BoccaDellaVerita · 03/01/2009 22:53

Please read Mrs Miniver - a wonderful evocation of the home front during WW2.

SilentTerror · 03/01/2009 22:48

Just checked my shelves..
First World War..The First Casualty,Ben Elton
1921...Adam Thorpe
To add to my earlier list!

twoluvlykids · 03/01/2009 20:05

just finished "The Long Way Home" by Audrey Howard. WW1 and love story and stolen childhood. A reasonable read.

SilentTerror · 03/01/2009 20:03

I love War fiction,and have shelves of it.
My recommendations
WW1..Birdsong,as already mentioned,Song of Songs,by Beverley Hughesdon.Read this 20 yrs ago and loved it .Bit of a tearjerker though!Regeneration,Pat Barker.
Will browse my bookshelves for more!
WW2..
Cazalet Chronicles,Elizabeth Jane Howard
Berlin Noir Trilogy,philip Kerr
Zoo station and Silesian Station,David Downing
Winter of Spies,David Newman
The Unlikely Spy.Daniel Silva
That Summer.Andrew Grieg
Jackdaws,Ken Follett
Eye of the Needle,Ken Follett
The Eagle has Landed,Jack Higgins
The night Watch,Sarah Waters
Charlie's War,David Finnemore
Strachan's War,Laura Wilson

EachPeachPearMum · 03/01/2009 20:03

'Restitution' by Eliza Graham... she is a mner too

Lilymaid · 03/01/2009 19:23

For a long WW2 stories that are well written try Olivia Manning's Balkan Trilogy and Levant Trilogy - six books in all, with plenty of love interest! A more domestic saga, but still well writen, is Elizabeth Jane Howard's Cazalet Chronicles.
For WW1, I know that Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth isn't fiction, but it certainly has love stories amidst the horror.

Sibh · 03/01/2009 19:23

Hemingway is fab as Bink says.
I was really impressed too by Sarah Waters' Night Watch, infinitely better than her earlier books and very moving account of WW2 from the perspective of women in lesbian relationships.

Not sure how Hemingway would feel about being mentioned in the same breath though ...

peggotty · 03/01/2009 19:20

I second Pat Barker's regeneration trilogy - absolutely brilliant!

Winebeforepearls · 03/01/2009 19:16

Elizabeth Jane Howard's Cazalet Chronicles. Fabulouso.

Bink · 03/01/2009 19:16

PS Suite Francaise is WW2

For WW1, I always think the best things are the memoirs - Memoirs of a Fox Hunting Man (Sassoon), Goodbye to All That (Robert Graves), Testament of Youth (Vera Brittain) - that's got some heartbreak bits about love & loss.

Hemingway's Farewell to Arms fits your requirements.

Oh, and The English Patient (Ondaatje), another for WW2.

Bink · 03/01/2009 19:10

Again, not love story, but entirely fits your "well written" requirement - Suite Francaise