The Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly, 487 pages

"Lilac Girls" is a World War II novel inspired by real people and events.  It tells the story of three women: New Yorker Caroline Ferriday (real person); polish teenager Kasia Kusmerick who was sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp (inspired by a real person); and Dr. Herta Oberheuser (also a real person) who conducted medical experiments on the women of Ravensbruck. 

There are an endless number of stories still to be told about the atrocities, trials, and triumphs related to World War II.  This is a beautiful and sometimes heart wrenching novel that gets the word out about a few more of those stories.

Generations of Winter by Vasily Aksyono (translated by John Glad and Christopher Morris), 592 pages

  Bound by love, blood, and years together, Gradov family members spanning three generations approach life individually in the midst of their socialist society. I was glad to get to know each person in this fictional, well-educated family whose best days center around the Gradov home in the Silver Forest on the outskirts of Moscow. With different fields of expertise and competing ideologies, each character faces the upheaval, purges, punishment, and war in different geographical places throughout the nation that was the Soviet Union from 1925-1945.

  I wouldn’t exactly say I’m a fan of Russian literature or history. Both are often a challenge to read with hard-to-face realities, but I’ve been glad to have read every bit of Russian literature that I’ve pushed on through. It fascinates me. This book is no exception.

  Multiple reviewers compare this novel to War and Peace; I see that the narrative styles of the two books could be compared. If you’ve read War and Peace, though, you’ll be getting an entirely different experience with Generations of Winter. This book covers a different historical period, hinges on close family relationships rather than on people from different segments of society, and incorporates a positive tone in spite of historically accurate, harsh, and even unsurvivable situations. Most Russian literature I’ve encountered presents a crumbling of personhood or a struggle to survive; this novel, however, shows how people live.

  It was worth the time to read and is a novel I would hold onto for another day if it were my own.

Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II by Liza Mundy, 640 pages

Women played a large role in World War II and many of their stories were never told because they were working on top secret projects.  The title of this book, Code Girls, says it all.  This is the story of the women who helped break and continually re-break the encrypted messages of the Japanese and German armies during World War II.

Seventy plus years after the end of the war and fiction and non-fiction writers have not run out of material yet.  My hope is that those stories continue well into the future. 

The Lost Letter by Jillian Cantor, 322 pages

I happen to love WWII related fiction. I picked this book up thanks to a recommendation from an online book club that I participate in. I was hooked from page one. Alternating chapters with different time periods normally bugs me but it really worked with this story. It's an interesting and intriguing tale about something I hadn't heard of before...stamp engraving. I know it doesn't sound that interesting but I was so fascinated by it.There's an AHA moment in this book. When I got it I texted a co-worker that I wasn't coming to work until I finished the book (I finished in time for work). I also instantly recommended this book to a ton of people. Plus I instantly put it on hold for patrons at my library that I knew would love it. I will definitely read everything this author writes from now.

The Baker's Daughter by Sarah McCoy, 295 pages

This is one of those books that has a story happening now (2007 in the United States) and then (1945 in Germany.)  Then details the life of Elsie Schmidt, who is 17, working in her family bakery in the middle of Nazi Germany.  Now mostly focuses on Reba, a reporter who meets Elsie and her daughter Jane.  Reba comes to Elsie's German Bakery to get a feel-good Christmas story about Christmas in Germany.

Most World War II related books I read tell the story of the Holocaust or life in England during the war.  This told the story from the perspective of Germans and their lives under Nazi propaganda and rule.  It also had a nice juxtaposition dealing with modern life and illegal immigration in America.  When do we get passes for how we treat people?  This is a book club book for the library this year and I am looking forward to our discussion.

Mischling by Affinity Konar, 344 pages

This is a World War II novel that tells the story of identical twin girls, Pearl and Stasha.  They are sent to Auschwitz, along with their mother and grandfather, in September 1944.

As they come off the train, Dr. Josef Mengele selects the girls for "the Zoo," the area of the camp used for his experiments.

Mischling was the legal term used in Nazi Germany to denote a person who had both "Aryan" and Jewish ancestry, but the term was never explained in the book.

There is not just death and horror in this book, there is some surviving and triumphing also.  I do have to admit though, I am glad I am done with this one.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, 530 pages

Three of the library's book clubs read this Pulitzer Prize winning book this year.  Set
in World War II, the novel tells the stories two main characters.  A brilliant German boy, Werner Pfennig, who gets caught up in the Hitler Youth and a blind French girl, Marie-Laure LeBlanc, who leaves Paris with her father when it falls to the Germans and spends the war in Saint-Malo, a walled port city in Brittany.

This is a beautifully written novel and is one of those books that I rushed to finish because I couldn't put it down and was sad to finish because it was so good.  It was a pleasure to listen to it again to get ready to discuss it in book club.

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, 440 pages

"The Nightingale" tells the story of two sisters in France during World War II.  Vianne is married with a daughter and a husband in a German prisoner of War camp once the French army collapses.

Isabelle spends the war working for the Resistance.  The sisters and their father were not close before the war.  Their father was distant, physically and emotionally for years.  Vianne is a mother and wife who always considered herself weak.  Isabelle felt abandoned since their mother died and their father sent the girls away and is impetuous and headstrong.

This is a story of what happens to women during war and the actions they take to survive.  It took me a long time to work up the desire to read this one as I kept hearing it was heart-wrenching and sad.  Yep, it's a weeper but beautiful too.  5 stars for this epic story.

Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal by Ben Macintyre, 364 pages

Ben Macintyre is a very readable non-fiction writer.  He writes about the British Secret Service and the brilliant way they dominated Hitler's Third Reich during World War II.

Eddie Chapman was a thief who had the bad luck of being in jail on Jersey Island when it was occupied by the Germans at the beginning of World War II.  He was savvy enough to convince the Germans he would make a great spy for them.  Instead, as soon as he was returned to England, he let the British Secret Services know what he was up to so he could instead spy for them.

He may have been an unapologetic thief, but he was also a great spy for the Allies.  Known as Eddie to his friends, code named Fritz by the Germans and Zigzag by the British Secret Service, he was a man who loved adrenaline and turned that into a daringly successful run as a spy.

Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies by Ben Macintyre, 399 pages

Everything I've read (or listened to) by Ben Macintyre have been very readable non-fiction books about British spies or World War II.

I don't know if the subject is just intriguing to me, or if he just knows how to tell a great story, but he always makes history come alive in his accounts.

In "Double Cross" he tells the story of the spies, and their spy masters, who double crossed Germany and helped the Allies make the Normandy landings on D-Day a success.  What a time and what a story! 

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, 531 pages

I'm a fan of World War II books.  If I had known this was about World War II, I would have put it higher on my "must be read list."  And if you are like me and haven't read it yet, even though it won multiple awards, including the Pulitzer, and has been on the New York Times Best Sellers List for over a year, then stop procrastinating.  It's worth the read.

This is the parallel story of a brilliant German boy, Werner Pfennig, who gets caught up in the Hitler Youth and a blind French girl, Marie-Laure LeBlanc, who leaves Paris with her father when it falls to the Germans and spends the war in Saint-Malo, a walled port city in Brittany.

This is a beautifully written novel and is one of those books that I rushed to finish because I couldn't put it down and was sad to finish because it was so good.

At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen, 348 pages

Maddie, Ellis and Hank are an inseparable threesome, though Maddie and Ellis have been married nearly five years.  They are all privileged young adults of privileged parents.  At a New Year's Eve Party on December 31, 1944 they party a little too much much to the horror of Ellis' parents who support he and Maddie.  Hank and Ellis are already looked down upon because they are both 4F and unable to serve in the military and Maddie's mother was a disgraced woman.

The trio ends up in Scotland, during the war no less, searching for the Loch Ness monster in an attempt to redeem themselves.  They're not much respected there either and tensions grow.  Maddie struggles to free herself from her uppercrust snobbery, much to the dismay of her husband.  The search is on for the monster . . . but just who is the real monster . . .

It took nearly half the book until I started to enjoy it, but then I really did.  This is one I will recommend to others.  Sara Gruen, author of "Water for Elephants" may not receive the same acclaim for this, her most recent book, but it was still a winner for me.

Lucky Us by Amy Bloom, 256 pages

Lucky Us is a quick listen or read.  It begins in Ohio in 1939 with 12 year old Eva being left at her father's house after his wife dies.  Eva is used to seeing her dad, Edgar, once or twice a week, but Momma is ready to move on.

Eva meets her half-sister Iris, who is a 16 year old beauty and they have a rocky beginning but when Iris decides to try and make it in Hollywood after she graduates from high school she takes Eva with her.

Circumstances bring the girls back East with their friend Francisco and surprisingly, Edgar.

I really enjoyed this book and found it humorous and sad.  Family, and what makes a family, is a very strong theme throughout this book.  My favorite quote from the book (spoken by Eva) "The pain in my chest I'd had since I'd been left on the front porch eased up.  It wasn't grief, it was being broke and badly dressed and now I wasn't."  That pretty much sums up Eva.  She is one tough, but good hearted cookie.

This goes on my "you bet I'm recommending it" list.  Listen, if you can, the reader is fabulous.

The Confidant by Helene Gremillon, 245 pages

The Confidant by Helene Gremillon is a selection this year for the library's book clubs.  It begins in Paris in 1975 with an unnamed protagonist who receives an unsigned letter in the mail not long after her mother dies.  The letter seems to be the beginning of a long story.

We eventually learn the protagonist's name: Camille, and the writer of the letters: Louis.  Louis is writing to Camille about Annie, Louis' first love and things that happened during World War II.  Camille has no idea why she is receiving these letters but eventually begins to suspect there is a reason Louis keeps sending her letters, diaries and stories.

The story is told through short snippets from Camille and the letters she receives from Louis.  I found this book very intriguing and a fast read.  I am a person who reads the end of books before I've finished the whole thing.  I tried to do that with this book, but the ending makes no sense until the entire book is read.  I can't wait to talk about this book with other people.

Franklin and Winston by Jon Meacham, 512 pages

The entire title is "Franklin and Winston: an Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship."  I checked the e-audio book out from Missouri Libraries2Go, so listened as opposed to read this book.

The book details the friendship of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston  Churchill, from their first inauspicious meeting in 1918 to the real and sometimes troubled friendship they formed during the war years.

I enjoyed the book, I really did, but my mind often wandered as I was listening.  That said, I would recommend this book to history and World War II buffs.  After listening to the book I checked out a print copy so I could peruse all the pictures, notes and appendixes in the book.  These total over 100 pages and are worth the checkout.

Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre, 400 pages

The entire title is "Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory."  I listened to this book and enjoyed every single minute of it.
What a story!  Operation Mincemeat was a plan created in 1943 by two British intelligence officers, Charles Cholmondeley and Ewen Montagu.  Basically, they had a corpse wash up on a Spanish shore with false papers that made the Nazis think that the Allies were NOT going to land in Sicily, but rather in Greece or Sardinia.
You may have heard about this story before.  Ewen Montagu published a book in the 50's and there was a movie made by the same name in 1956, "The Man Who Never Was."  However, this is the whole story, not the politically correct version issued in the 1950s.
The book jacket says this reads like an international thriller and it does.  Operation Mincemeat was successful, but it took skill, luck and help from lots of people including a high ranking Nazi who actually worked against Hitler throughout the war.  If you like a good adventure, add this non-fiction tale to your list of must-reads.

the Secret Keeper by Kate Morton, 484 pages

I read the Secret Keeper (I love how "the" isn't capitalized on the title) for bookclub.  Not that I wouldn't have read it, but no one had recommended it to me. I am recommending it to you. 

The Secret Keeper opens in 1961. Laurel is a typical 16 year old.  She's the oldest of 5 children.  She has 3 sisters and a 2 year old brother, Gerry.  She lives an idyllic life in the English countryside with parents who love each other and their children.  Then something happens when Laurel is hidden in a tree house deciding if she will join the family birthday party for Gerry, down by the river.

Laurel's mother, Dorothy, has returned to the house with Gerry in order to get the birthday cake knife.  As Dorothy and Gerry leave the house a stranger comes up the driveway.  Laurel hears him say "Hello Dorothy" and then Dorothy stabs him in the chest with the knife.  And the story begins . . . 

The story flows between 2011 as Dorothy's children gather at their childhood home while Dorothy is dying, the London Blitz in 1941, 1961, and the late 1920s and 1930s to get background information on all the characters.

This is a fabulous mystery and readers are rewarded at the end.

Critical Mass by Sara Paretsky, 480 pages

Critical Mass is the 16th V.I. Warshawski book by Sara Paretsky. One of the great thing about this series is it's not necessary to know the back story from the previous books to enjoy the current one.

Victoria Warshawski, otherwise known as V.I. or Vic, is a successful private investigator in Chicago. She's tough, she's smart and she doggedly pursues the bad guys. This story involves a missing man who is a computer wizard and grandson of an old acquaintance of V.I's dear friend Lottie. Lottie and the grandmother, Kitty, were Jewish children who escaped Austria during World War II. The story involves the current missing man and goes back to World War II and the competition to develop the first atomic bomb. It's all intertwined. 

Sara Paretsky is a great storyteller. I read this book between Thanksgiving and after-Christmas and had to frequently put it down to deal with, you know - life. I begrudgingly put it down each time and eagerly picked it back up. The story shouldn't be read like that, but you do what you gotta do. I love that these books provide advanced vocabulary lessons too. I always learn a new word or two . . . or three from Paretsky's books. She writes intelligent, well-written fiction. I couldn't ask for more.

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg, 347 pages

Fannie Flagg, where have you been all my life? I laughed, I cried, I enjoyed every word. You are a wonderful storyteller and I promise to go back and catch up on your previous books!

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion is the story of Mrs. Earl Poole, Jr., otherwise known as Sookie, and her odyssey to find herself in present day Alabama. It is also the story of women pilots in World War II, called WASPs, specifically three sisters from Pulaski, Wisconsin. The stories intersect in a wonderful way. I'm recommending this book to everyone.

The True Story of Hansel and Gretel: A Novel of War and Survival by Louise Murphy 320 pages

I got to read this book again because it is a selection for the library book clubs this year.  I love this retelling of the Hansel and Gretel fairytale.  The elements are all there: Hansel and Gretel, the stepmother who forces their father to leave them in the forest, the bread crumbs, the witch and even the oven.

Oh but it is so different too.  This is a story of two Jewish children in Poland during World War II.  The stepmother forces their father to leave them in the forest so they have a chance to survive as all four are fleeing from the Nazis.  The witch is Magda, who is part gypsy, and has avoided being sent away to the camps by the Nazis.  She takes in the children and fights to protect them.

This is a beautiful, sad, uplifting, horrifying, wonderful tale of what we humans do so wrong and so right.