Book picks similar to
Shanghai Story by Alexa Kang


historical-fiction
fiction
world-war-ii
historical

The Devil of Nanking


Mo Hayder - 2004
    The solitary Englishwoman Grey comes to Japan looking for a rare piece of footage that is said to document a particularly monstrous episode of the 1937 Nanking Massacre. Her quest will take her to a reclusive scholar and a wheelchair-bound gangster who clings to life with the aid of a mysterious elixir, and to a handsome American whose interest in Grey may be more sinister than romantic. The result is a work of spine-chilling suspense, masterful historical detail, and otherworldly beauty.

The Devil in Beauty


Heidi Ashworth - 2017
    But after a duel with a jealous duke leaves him disfigured, Julian is ostracized by those who once celebrated him. Though his life is irrevocably changed, Trev is still loyal to his friends. When Willy Gilbert is accused of murder and Lady Vawdrey’s diamond necklace is stolen, he jumps at the chance to help them. As the two cases merge, however, Trev finds an unlikely ally in Miss Desdemona Woodmansey. She’s the only young lady who doesn’t seem put off by his scar and the scandal of the duel. But as their investigation into the murder reveals just how treacherous the mask of polite society can be, both Trev and Desdemona are placed in grave danger. Trev has already lived through the disgrace of a scandal, but can he survive a murderer who will do anything to protect a sinister secret?(Please note that the events of The Devil in Beauty take place eight years prior to the events of The Lord Who Sneered.)

Beneath a Scarlet Sky


Mark T. Sullivan - 2017
    He’s a normal Italian teenager—obsessed with music, food, and girls—but his days of innocence are numbered. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior.In an attempt to protect him, Pino’s parents force him to enlist as a German soldier—a move they think will keep him out of combat. But after Pino is injured, he is recruited at the tender age of eighteen to become the personal driver for Adolf Hitler’s left hand in Italy, General Hans Leyers, one of the Third Reich’s most mysterious and powerful commanders.Now, with the opportunity to spy for the Allies inside the German High Command, Pino endures the horrors of the war and the Nazi occupation by fighting in secret, his courage bolstered by his love for Anna and for the life he dreams they will one day share.Fans of All the Light We Cannot See, The Nightingale, and Unbroken will enjoy this riveting saga of history, suspense, and love.

The Distant Land of My Father


Bo Caldwell - 2001
    Her father, the son of missionaries, leads a charmed and secretive life, though his greatest joy is sharing his beloved city with his only daughter. Yet when Anna and her mother flee Japanese-occupied Shanghai to return to California, he stays behind, believing his connections and a little bit of luck will keep him safe.Through Anna's memories and her father's journals we learn of his fall from charismatic millionaire to tortured prisoner, in a story of betrayal and reconciliation that spans two continents. The Distant Land of My Father, a breathtaking and richly lyrical debut, unfolds to reveal an enduring family love through tragic circumstances.

The Line of His People


C.J. Adrien - 2013
    They burned the surrounding village and slaughtered all who stood in their path. The relics of Saint Philbert were lost, and the island monastery was abandoned by those who once dwelled there.Years later, an orphan of the raid named Abriel seeks to recover the relics to restore the bones of Saint Philbert. His journey will force him to face the Vikings, who colonized the island in the absence of the monks.They hold the key to finding the relics, but they have a different plan for Abriel, one that will take him to the North to find his destiny.

Ilustrado


Miguel Syjuco - 2008
    On a clear day in winter, the battered corpse of Crispin Salvador is pulled from the Hudson River—taken from the world is the controversial lion of Philippine literature. Gone, too, is the only manuscript of his final book, a work meant to rescue him from obscurity by exposing the crimes of the Filipino ruling families. Miguel, his student and only remaining friend, sets out for Manila to investigate.To understand the death, Miguel scours the life, piecing together Salvador’s story through his poetry, interviews, novels, polemics, and memoirs. The result is a rich and dramatic family saga of four generations, tracing 150 years of Philippine history forged under the Spanish, the Americans, and the Filipinos themselves. Finally, we are surprised to learn that this story belongs to young Miguel as much as to his lost mentor, and we are treated to an unhindered view of a society caught between reckless decay and hopeful progress.Exuberant and wise, wildly funny and deeply moving, Ilustrado explores the hidden truths that haunt every family. It is a daring and inventive debut by a new writer of astonishing talent.

The Longest Echo


Eoin Dempsey - 2021
    In the mountain regions south of Bologna, Liliana Nicoletti’s family finds escaped POW James Foley behind German lines. Committed to the anti-Fascist cause, they deliver him to a powerful band of local partisans. But when the SS launches a brutal attack against the Resistance, Liliana’s peaceful community is destroyed. Alone and thrown together by tragedy, James and Liliana fight together as Monte Sole burns. Forging an unbreakable bond, their only hope of survival is to make it to the Allied lines.Twelve years later, fate reunites Liliana, newly widowed, and James, now a journalist for a New York magazine. Liliana reveals to him the obsession that has haunted her since the massacre at Monte Sole: finding and bringing to justice the SS officer who ordered her family killed. James has a revelation too. He might know how to hunt the man down. Joining forces once more, and increasingly drawn to each other, Liliana and James discover new levels of conspiracy on a journey that leads them to Argentina—and to a choice that will change their lives forever.

The Beekeeper's Promise


Fiona Valpy - 2018
    The old château echoes with voices from the past, and soon Abi finds herself drawn to one remarkable woman’s story, a story that could change the course of her summer—and her life.In 1938, Eliane Martin tends beehives in the garden of the beautiful Château Bellevue. In its shadow she meets Mathieu Dubosq and falls in love for the first time, daring to hope that a happy future awaits. But France’s eastern border is darkening under the clouds of war, and history has other plans for Eliane…When she is separated from Mathieu in the chaos of German occupation, Eliane makes the dangerous decision to join the Resistance and fight for France’s liberty. But with no end to the war in sight, her loyalty to Mathieu is severely tested.From the bestselling author of Sea of Memories comes the story of two remarkable women, generations apart, who must use adversity to their advantage and find the resilience deep within.

The German Midwife


Mandy Robotham - 2018
    A prisoner in the camps, Anke Hoff is doing what she can to keep her pregnant campmates and their newborns alive.But when Anke's work is noticed, she is chosen for a task more dangerous than she could ever have imagined. Eva Braun is pregnant with the Führer's child, and Anke is assigned as her midwife.Before long, Anke is faced with an impossible choice. Does she serve the Reich she loathes and keep the baby alive? Or does she sacrifice an innocent child for the good of a broken world?An unforgettable tale of courage, betrayal and survival in the hardest of circumstances, perfect for readers of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Alice Network.

The Invisible Bridge


Julie Orringer - 2010
    Andras Lévi, a Hungarian-Jewish architecture student, arrives from Budapest with a scholarship, a single suitcase, and a mysterious letter he promised to deliver. But when he falls into a complicated relationship with the letter's recipient, he becomes privy to a secret that will alter the course of his—and his family’s—history. From the small Hungarian town of Konyár to the grand opera houses of Budapest and Paris, from the despair of Carpathian winter to an unimaginable life in labor camps, The Invisible Bridge tells the story of a family shattered and remade in history’s darkest hour.

Cry of the Fish Eagle


Peter Rimmer - 1993
    It’s the story of Rupert Pengelly who first heard the CRY OF THE FISH EAGLE when he was stationed in Rhodesia for six months during the Second World War. As he was to find and as the saying goes, once you have heard the CRY OF THE FISH EAGLE, you will always come back to Africa!It is during that first six months, Rupert searches for Sasa, the orphaned daughter of his friend, Rigby Savage. Rupert was honouring a promise made to Rigby to care for Sasa if anything did happen to him. To complicate the search, Sasa's eccentric grandfather, Kobus Loubser, had taken the young orphan into the bush prospecting for emeralds. The search is unsuccessful and Rupert returns to the war, with intentions afterwards of farming the family estate in Cornwall. However a distant cousin, George Geake, conspires to cheat him out of his inheritance and Rupert loses his beloved home. His only option is to return to Rhodesia to begin a new life as a tobacco farmer and to continue his search for Sasa.Although their destinies are bound together, it is many years before Rupert and Sasa meet but meanwhile, Kobus acquires a business partner in Lewdly Jones, a remittance man, who develops a passion for Sasa.The years pass and Rupert triumphs over adversity. But another war is looming. The irrepressible tide of Black Nationalism is sweeping through Africa and a new generation of men like Tererai Ndoro and Lovemore Ngwenya have joined the struggle for Zimbabwe. All their lives are about to change forever. But still, they are all enslaved by the CRY OF THE FISH EAGLE.READ this captivating story because in reading it you too will become enslaved by the CRY OF THE FISH EAGLE, the country of Zimbabwe and its people.