WWII books

[Namechange652]

I like books set in WWII, particularly set in London, can anyone recommend any please?

Nevil Shute Pastoral. Set on an RAF bomber station, about a pilot, his crew and his WAAF girlfriend. A very pleasant, gentle read. Also on FadedPage, I think.

Nancy Mitford, The Pursuit of Love.

Atonement.
Large sections are set in London especially in a military hospital which is very well written and heartbreaking.

Machine Gunners is set in Tyneside not London. Brilliant children's book though. Although the first of the 'When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit' series by Judith Kerr is not set in the UK the later books are set in London.

Lissa Evans Crooked Heart trilogy is set in London before and during WW2. The best one is set in 1928 though. Small Island by Andrea Levy is partly set in London and partly set in the war.

A few books written in wartime for you, @Namechange652, all fairly easy to get hold of. A Chelsea Concerto by Frances Faviell. It’s a memoir of the Blitz when she was living in that part of London; it’s incredibly vividly written and eventful (on Kindle if you fancy it).

I'm a big fan of Nigel Balchin, who worked in London during the war - The Small Back Room and Darkness Falls From the Air are both terrific, the latter particularly, set in the Blitz.

Stella Gibbons (of Cold Comfort Farm fame) set her novel Westwood in London during the war - that’s on Kindle too.

And there’s another wartime Noel Streatfeild book set in London, I Ordered a Table for Six.

Thank you so much. Ballet shoes and When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit were my favourite books as a child. Never read any other Noel Streatfield.

Penny Vincenzi 's Spoils of Time trilogy - the second book is mainly set in London during the Second World War (the first book covers the First World War).

Human Voices by Penelope Fitzgerald. Set during the war, about the lives of a group of BBC employees at Broadcasting House. It was very well received by our book group!

The Nigel B ones look good @Terpsichore - added to my wish list!

Molly Lefebure - Home Front, when she worked for pathologist Keith Simpson during the war.

Murder on the Home Front, dammit.

WW2 is my favourite setting for a novel (I blame my Mum insisting I read Goodnight Mister Tom and me loving it). A few already mentioned and some others:
All the light we cannot see BIG YES;
Atonement;
The Night Watch is fab;
Life after Life and the sequel A God in Ruins;
A Woman in Berlin - a real journal set as the Russians advance in 1945 - it's like a novel but even better;
All for Nothing - another 'last days of war' setting with humans really creating their own downfall;
The blind side of the heart - a translated German novel which reminded me of Life after Life but from the German perspective.

Loved God in ruins and Goodnight Mr Tom!

Mollie Panter Downes has a couple of books set in WWII - I real like Good Evening, Mrs Craven. A book of short stories some are set in London.

Dear Mrs Bird and the sequel Yours Cheerfully by AJ Pearce.

The Provincial Lady in Wartime is a Diary of a Provincial Lady sequel by EM Delafield. Quite a nice comedy but with a good feeling of WWII.

I really liked Dear Mrs Bird. I know the style is not to everyone’s taste but I enjoyed it. Murder on the Home Front is great.

Agree with a lot of these recommendations especially Life After Life, one of my all time faves and All the Light We Cannot see.

This year I have quite a lot of books in which ww2 features;

Great circle (amazing!) by Maggie Shipstead
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
Sweet Caress by William Boyd
The Whalebone Theatre already mentioned

The thing that I found fascinating about each of these is the way the war transformed the lives of women, sometimes in positive ways, giving them opportunities to do interesting and meaningful work for example

If anyone could suggest other books that explore this issue I'd love to hear them.

If you liked Goodnight Mr Tom, try Back Home by the same author.

@cempasuchil Try Millions Like Us by Virginia Nicholson. It’s social history rather than fiction and is part of a series of women’s history from the twenties to the sixties. This book covers women’s experiences during WW2 and directly afterwards. Apparently the ATS (which my grandmother served in) was a horrible culture shock for nice middle class gels, filthy conditions and brutally hard work.