Good, Better, Best: World War II Fiction

The picture for this header is actually from my visit to Auschwitz. 

I was thinking to myself the other day that it'd been a while since I'd done a Good, Better, Best post, but that I should definitely think about doing another, because it's something that's sorta unique to Bookshire. And then the thought "well, you're read a lot of WWII historical fiction" popped into my head, immediately followed by a list at least four books long of WWII books I'd read recently, and I resolved that this post would get written.

I feel like everyone and their best friend is obsessed with World War II these days (which is part of the reason why I feel safe writing this post, lol) and it's not exactly a novel topic, but...I really do read quite a bit of WWII historical fiction. All you really need to do is say "set during WWII", and I am immediately on board. I'm not entirely sure why--maybe it's because of my obsession with British authors who were writing during WWII, or because of my Eastern European Jewish heritage, or because I live in a place where the Japanese American internment camps were a very close reality, or because my great grandfather fought in WWII in Italy, or for any number of reasons. But the fact remains: I am slightly obsessed, and even if that's a popular thing to be and I don't feel Special in this...my obsession will remain. I am not apologizing.

In the spirit of full disclosure, most of these books I remember really well, either because they were memorable, or because I reread them regularly, or because I read them pretty recently, but there are a couple which I remember parts of distinctly, but my overall recollection is fuzzy. For those, I'm using my previous review/the synopses to reconstruct the parts I don't remember as well. :)

In addition, I'm narrowing it down to JUST fiction, because I've also read a whole bunch of nonfiction or autobiographies, &c that I could include, but I don't have space! (I could do a different GBB for those, if y'all would like!)

Oh, and in this post, I'm adding a new category to GBB! I was thinking that there were a couple of books in the category of WWII fiction that I'd like to actively warn people off of...and thus the category of "Not Great" was born.


Not Great

The Huntress by Kate Quinn
This one frustrated me, because it could have been! so good! and yet! the author felt the need to ruin it! I just read it a month or so ago, so the frustration is fresh. The setup: widower with a photographer daughter marries a German refugee with a daughter who his daughter suspects to be a Nazi + tiny Nazi hunting agency run by two best friends attacks case of the murderer of one of the men's brother + (flashback) Russian woman pilot tries to make it in the Nachthexen. Doesn't that sound like it should be amazing?? It really should.
But no. The author feels the need to throw in:
-Far too many and too detailed bedroom scenes (which I skipped)
-A romance between two of the Nachthexen who call each other "sistren", i.e. sisters. I was so ready for it to be another fantabulous female friendship like Code Name Verity (more on that in a mo), and then the author went and RUINED it.
-Don't get me started on the bedroom scenes/kissing scenes/whatever between those two (which I skipped).
Anyway. The plot was awesome, and many parts were Absolutely Hilarious, and yet, I ended up severely disappointed.

Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave
Unfortunately, it seems like my latest WWII fiction reading is just destined to be subpar, because this is another one that I just read recently--spring semester of this year, in fact. It seemed like it was going to be so incredibly excellent--after all, it starts off with a young woman heading straight off to the War Office to sign up for duty the moment war is declared and then being assigned to a school. The beginning is replete with tongue-in-cheek narration, and laugh-out-loud moments. I think what originally hooked me so hard was the writing style, actually, which doesn't happen all that often. But that's not all! It's set in London during the Blitz! There are dashing young men involved!
Unfortunately, however, it quickly became clear that the characters were going to make Very Poor Romantic Choices, which led to a multitude of Skip-Necessary Scenes (which I honestly think are anachronistic?? and extremely irritating). AND the plot was really ill-balanced. And ALSO the second half was unnecessarily dark. AND LASTLY there was a love triangle that doesn't lead to any character development at all. So. Not a huge fan. Full review HERE.



Good

Almost Autumn by Marianne Kaurin
This book was translated from Norwegian, and as y'all may know, I have a theory that all books translated from Scandinavian languages are amazing. This book didn't quite bear out that theory, but it was still enjoyable. It's set in Norway, which is unique among all of the WWII novels I've read. It's also well-written and plotted, with the dilemma of the "average" non-Jewish citizen in the face of the creeping Nazi crackdown on Jews being portrayed alarmingly accurately. However, I didn't think that the main character's emotions were shown realistically, and there were some threads which weren't tied up at the end, as well as some events at the end which felt just depressing and pointless. Perhaps that's a stylistic choice, as well as being accurate for the period, but it's a YA novel, so I wasn't expecting that.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Lois Lowry is an excellent MG-YA writer. This story of a family in occupied Denmark who ends up taking care of one of their daughters' Jewish best friend, while not anything dramatic, is a solid story of bravery in the small things, doing the right thing even when it's hard, and bravery being not the domain of the strong, but of the weak, as Chesterton would say. (Wow, that was a very run-on sentence. XD) It's not long, but very memorable--Lowry has a knack for small images, like a necklace clutched in a palm, a photo torn out of a baby album, a handkerchief in a basket--that linger. My only complaint about it would be that the plot feels a bit uneven, and the stakes, while high, don't always seem high, if that makes sense.

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
I loved Code Name Verity (more on that in a second) so much that I decided (perhaps inadvisedly) that I wanted to read the sequel. Which was good, and normally I would've enjoyed it, but at the time, it just wasn't CNV. Even now, looking back, I don't think it was as good as CNV. But that doesn't mean it's bad. In fact, I think it's quite a good book. There are more female pilots, and Ravensbruck (which is horrible, obviously, but am I the only one who finds reading books set in concentration camps fascinating, albeit also horrifying?), and Maddie & Jamie cameos, and groups of women supporting each other, and Anna Engel, and writing that is so good that it lets you absolutely see the settings and scenarios.

The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson
I hadn't had any idea that Eva Ibbotson, author of The Secret of Platform Thirteen and The Ogre of Oglefort, had written anything other than MG fiction until I found this book randomly one day. It's a complex romance/coming of age story set in both Austria and England, the heroine a young musical woman who is in a relationship with a rather selfish young man before the war plows up the world and she ends up having to emigrate to England. Ruth is only eighteen, and while she's old for her age in many ways, she also acts her age in others, a writerly balancing act that's lovely and impressive. All the other characters are also well-drawn and draw on the reader's affections. (Especially Quin. ;)) In addition to the characters being realistic, the setting is amazing--highly visualizable. In recalling it to write up this blurb for the post, I've made myself want to read it again! (The one thing I will note is that there is a certain amount of innuendo, and some fade-to-black-ish scenes. Be warned.) Full review HERE.

Assignment in Brittany by Helen MacInnes
It's been a while since I read this one, but I still remember that my favorite part was when one of the characters was sneaking across the tide flats [?] to an island city [Mont-Saint-Michel?] in the moonlight, with the entire exploit described so well that you can see it. It's an image that has stuck with me. Other highlights of the book include: an honorable English spy-person pretending to be a Frenchman, who's pretty much his doppelganger, wonderful (and not-so-wonderful) townspeople who get involved, and the love with which the countryside of Brittany is described. Also, I love the way that, since this book was written during the WWII era, it captures the uncertainty of the time, the off-balance-ness...since no one knew who was going to win the war!

Within These Lines by Stephanie Morrill
This book is unique in that it's both about interracial love and the Japanese internment camps, a topic not covered as much, even though it was absolutely an atrocity that the US committed and should be talked about more. By virtue of being about said internment camps, the book is set on the West Coast, the only one of these books set on this side of the country, which endears it to me. :) Evalina and Taichi, the two MCs, are endearing, especially Taichi, who is the sweetest, and the struggles they went through were realistic, although not without hope. (I really need to reread this one--it's been too long!)



Better

The Enigma Game by Elizabeth Wein
While Rose Under Fire disappointed me a bit after Code Name Verity, The Enigma Game didn't, either because it'd been longer since I'd read Code Name Verity last, or because it was just a little better in general, or because it was a PREQUEL and JAMIE was in it (more squealing about him to come) and so was another spoilery character who I ADORE. Plus, there were Peter Pan references aplenty, and a scared but brave young woman, and a Stabby German who turns all cinnamon roll-y where music is involved. And also, an older woman who was a central character, and why are old(er) people not central in fiction more often? I always love it when they are! And friendship! There's a lot of friendship! The one thing that marred this book a little bit for me was that it was from multiple POVs, and one of the POVs just dragged a bit for me, as often happens with the multiple POV thing. Full review HERE.

Memories of Glass by Melanie Dobson
This book is one of the rare books written in two time periods where I was equally invested in both time periods. Which was honestly kind of strange, but definitely memorable. (Usually, I'm more invested in the present, because that's what an author starts with, but there are children being rescued in the past narrative, so maybe that's what sucked me in? XD) It was both historical fiction and a mystery, which I enjoyed. In the past, it's set in Holland, a slightly less common setting for WWII HF and involves a beautifully described "backdrop" to the action of a set of friends rescuing Jewish children. And in the present, it involves the unravelling of a carefully kept family secret. What's not to like? Full review HERE.

Nick of Time by Ted Bell
This is one that's been on our family shelves for a while, and which I reread fairly often as a kid. It's unique among the books on this list in that it's actually a historical fiction/sci-fi crossover that involves time travel, pirates, u-boats, fantastic butlers who make friends with small girls, young men with chivalrous heroes, a father who'll do Literally Anything for his children, and a small island in the English Channel. As a younger person, I found it a little creepy, but I don't think I would if I were to reread it now--I think I'd simply find it delightful.

The London House by Katherine Reay
Here's another book written in two time periods! I didn't find the time periods quite as balanced in my regard as in Memories of Glass, but it was still quite a bit better in terms of me liking both than many split time-period books. As with Memories of Glass, a woman discovers that her family has been keeping something secret/under the radar for many decades. However, in this case, it seems like it's a horrible secret. But as she and the man who originally discovered the secret investigate, not everything is as it seems--multiple times. This all results in a very twisty plot, with a lot of emotional ups and downs, and a fascinating exploration of humans and human nature.

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
ATLWCS feels like a crystal, or maybe a mobile hanging from the ceiling, or maybe a shell, like those that are so important to the book--delicately balanced, brittle, beautiful in evanescence. It feels weirdly like a sunlight filled room, which is strange given some of the subject material. Perhaps it's like a sunlight-filled room wherein a tragedy happened, or one of the houses during the siege, with morning sunlight streaming through the window. Anyway. That was unnecessarily poetic. I really enjoyed it--I always find books with blind characters interesting, and Werner's story, what it would be like growing up in steadily Nazi-fying Germany, was fascinating and a little shiver-inducing (like a boiled frog). As well, the writing was excellent, and so was the story, with all of the little threads which tied the MCs together, however unlikely. I loved, also, the little details the author included, especially the little sensory details for Marie-Laure, and the nooks and crannies of the city. And Marie-Laure's relationship with her father! So good! I did find the ending a bit depressing, though, I will say, and it seemed like it invalidated a lot of the book. But I think that's part of the point.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
This is one of the ones whose plot I really don't remember as well, given that I read it at least 3 years ago, maybe longer, but I still remember the delighted shiver that went through me when I realized that Death was the narrator. And I still remember the way the Death gave the ending away, and yet, I, as the reader, was still rooting for the ending to be different, for tragedy to be averted. And I think, for the masterfulness of the narrative, and the impact that it made on me, that it earned a spot on the "better" list. :)



Best

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
Okay, okay, something that's mostly set in an imaginary fantasy kingdom would probably not be most people's first pick for WWII fiction. BUT the reason the four children have to go live with Professor Kirke is because of the Blitz, so I think it counts. Thus, it gives a perspective on Operation Pied Piper that I don't think any of the other books on this list have. Even if their departure from London isn't a big aspect of the book, besides kicking everything off, it also looms in the background, and the fact that the children's parents aren't around is what causes Peter to need to take on more of a leadership role, which in turn leads to some of the conflict with Edmund.
Anywho. If you haven't read LWW for any other reason (i.e. it being one of the best children's books ever written, as well as one of the best allegorical stories ever written, and being by C. S. Lewis, for all love)...maybe you'll read it as a WWII novel. ;)

The Chosen by Chaim Potok
I don't know if I would have remembered that The Chosen was set during WWII if I hadn't just reread it. But it is, and even if the war itself doesn't take up a lot of page- or thought-time, the aftermath--the mounting death toll numbers as the extent of the Holocaust was discovered and the fierce debates between Zionists and anti-Zionists--has a huge impact on the plot.
But, as you may have gathered, it's much more than a WWII novel. It's the story of a friendship, of two boys who start out as bitter enemies during a baseball game, and slowly come to love each other with a philia (friend-love) which can survive almost anything. It's the story of a father and a son who love each other but have a hard time in their relationship because of how the father has decided to raise his son. It's the story of two Jewish boys growing up. And I know that probably doesn't sound like the most enthralling thing ever...but it is, I promise. Full review HERE.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
I feel like I've talked about this book to the point that everyone is tired of me nattering on about it. BUT just in case there is someone in some remote corner of the blogosphere who HASN'T heard me natter on about how much I love it...CODE NAME VERITY IS AWESOME. Female pilots, a pair of woman best friends (so rare and so precious in fiction!) who are there for each other through thick and thin and know exactly how to support each other and love each other in a super philia way, fantastic narration, characters so vivid you feel like you know them, bravery, the indomitability of the human spirit, the Craig Castle Irregulars, and JAMIE, my chivalrous, sweet, wonderful Jamie. The ending isn't quite in line with Catholic morality, BUT it is good food for thought. Full review HERE.

Lovely War by Julie Berry
This book is narrated by Greek gods. Yes, really. And it's phenomenal. The way the voices vary based on who is narrating! The differing priorities and reliability of the narrators! The framing narrative! And that's all before the actual story, which is plotted phenomenally and twistily, and the characters, who are excessively lovable, ESPECIALLY James (what a gentleman), and the ships, which are very, very shippable. It's set at the front in France, I believe, and all of that is very well done. I think one of my favorite parts about it, and one of the things I remember best, is the theme of agape in romantic relationships, and the beauty of unconditional love (which I know is vague but going into it further would entail spoilers). Full review HERE.

Enemy Brothers by Constance Savery
This book is one that Megan Chappie has squealed about at length at least once, and I just read a semester or two ago. If you need a general endorsement: I was so engrossed in reading it while I walked that I forgot to swipe my meal card when I went into the cafeteria and had to be yelled at by both a cafeteria worker AND one of my best friends before I realized that anything was wrong. It's just that engrossing. Or at least, that's my opinion. It's about a young airman named Dym, whose baby brother was stolen many years ago, but who has never stopped looking for him, and who comes across a German captive who he becomes convinced is his brother. The story is equally Dym's and Tony/Max's. Ultimately, it's a story of love, and how it can grow, and it is JUST SO LOVELY. Also, it includes a whole lot of time with Dym's many siblings, and the large family depiction is incredibly accurate and enjoyable. And the way Savery shows Average England during wartime...also very well done. Just...the whole thing is fantastic and perfect, and I will be shoving it at any children I have as soon as they are ready for it.




What's your favorite historical period to read fiction about? How many of these have you read? Do you have any more WWII historical fiction recs for me?