Battleground / Line Of Fire / Close Combat


W.E.B. Griffin - 1995
    Griffin's best-selling series. Millions of readers have been swept away by W.E.B. Griffin's remarkable novels of the Marine Corps, a saga filled with crackling realism and adventure, rich characters, real heroes, and a special flair for the military heart and mind. Here, together for the first time, are books IV,V, and VI of that series: Battleground, Line of Fire, and Close Combat. Together, these three novels present an epic tale of the battle between American and Japanese forces for the Solomon Islands in 1942. A general on a ticklish diplomatic mission finds himself in harm's way A first lieutenant, twenty-one years old but already one of only two pilots remaining from the fighter squadron's original sixteen, must learn what it is like to lead men - and to lose them A dare-devil squad attempts to rescue two Island, under the very noses of the Japanese A young private volunteers for a mission for a mission so secret he cannot be told where it is - or what he'll be doing Sweeping in scope but meticulous in detail, the books bring to life the men of the Corps - generals, colonels, and of an elite fraternity united by a tradition of courage and honor. This is The Corps.

Leeway Cottage


Beth Gutcheon - 2005
    They believe they are well matched, as young lovers do, but Laurus's beloved family is in Copenhagen, hostage to what the fortunes of Hitler's war will bring. By the time the war is over, Laurus's family has played an active role in Denmark's grassroots rescue of virtually all seven thousand of the country's Jews. Meanwhile, in America, Sydney has led a group knitting for the war effort, and had a baby.Combining the story of one long American twentieth-century marriage with one of the most stirring stories of World War II, Leeway Cottage is a beautifully written tour de force of a novel.

The Storyteller of Casablanca


Fiona Valpy - 2021
    Can it also offer a lost soul a second chance?Morocco, 1941. With France having fallen to Nazi occupation, twelve-year-old Jewish girl Josie has fled with her family to Casablanca, where they await safe passage to America. Life here is as intense as the sun, every sight, smell and sound overwhelming to the senses in a city filled with extraordinary characters. It’s a world away from the trouble back home—and Josie loves it.Seventy years later, another new arrival in the intoxicating port city, Zoe, is struggling—with her marriage, her baby daughter and her new life as an expat in an unfamiliar place. But when she discovers a small wooden box and a diary from the 1940s beneath the floorboards of her daughter’s bedroom, Zoe enters the inner world of young Josie, who once looked out on the same view of the Atlantic Ocean, but who knew a very different Casablanca.It’s not long before Zoe begins to see her adopted city through Josie’s eyes. But can a new perspective help her turn tragedy into hope, and find the comfort she needs to heal her broken heart?

Ardennes Sniper


David Healey - 2015
    As German forces launch a massive surprise attack through the frozen Ardennes Forest, two snipers find themselves aiming for a rematch. Caje Cole is a backwoods hunter from the Appalachian Mountains of the American South, while Kurt Von Stenger is the deadly German “Ghost Sniper.” Having been in each other’s crosshairs before, they fight a final duel during Germany’s desperate attempt to turn the tide of war in what will come to be known as the Battle of the Bulge. Can the hunter defeat the marksman? Even in the midst of war, some battles are personal.

Over the Top: Alternative Histories of the First World War


Peter G. Tsouras - 2014
    

Scattered Rays of Light: The Incredible Survival Story of The Kotowski Family During WW2 (Holocaust Survivor Memoir, World War II Book 1)


Dovit Yehudit Yalovizky - 2020
    Immediate danger of destruction. Tiny rays of hope.Yaakov was the youngest son of the Kotowskis, a well-to-do Jewish family in the small Polish town of Skulsk, who enjoyed the respect and admiration of local Jews and Christians alike.The quiet life of the family was disrupted abruptly when Nazi Germany invaded Poland.Soon, its members were deported to a faraway village where they suffered horrific torments at the hands of the Germans and their collaborators.The head of the family, who was blessed with sharp instincts, grasped what was about to take place and instructed his children to disperse in different directions, in the hope that at least some of them would be able to survive.This is the fascinating story of the Kotowski family, who was thrown deep into the flames that lit the fire that exterminated six million Jews, and yet, over half of the ten-member family managed to flee the blazing inferno against all odds.

The Bookseller of Dachau


Shari J. Ryan - 2021
    All the lights in the village blur into the darkness, and the flame on my candle flickers, leaving us with just the glow of the stars. “We can’t let them take everything from you,” I say. “Hiding is the only option.”When Matilda’s childhood sweetheart Hans is in danger, she doesn’t hesitate to hide him in her attic. Protecting him from her parents and the soldiers downstairs, she smuggles him food and communicates in whispers. For months, they exist by candlelight. But how long can they survive?America, 2018: Grace opens a mustard-yellow envelope, and her world unravels. She has inherited a bookstore in the small town of Dachau from the grandmother she had no idea existed.Grace visits her legacy––a bookshop on a cobbled lane filled with lost memories. She combs through faded photographs and handwritten letters, unearthing the story of a young woman who devoted her life to returning the keepsakes of Dachau prisoners to their families. A woman who was torn from her one true love––who never gave up hope…As Grace pieces together her family’s heartbreaking past, she discovers the long-buried secret of her own identity. But when she learns the truth, will she ever be the same again?This heart-wrenching yet hopeful tale will restore your faith in humanity, and in the power of love to triumph over evil. Fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Orphan Train and Kristin Hannah will be blown away by this breathtakingly gripping page-turner.Previously titled: The Secret in the Attic

Carrier! (Annotated): Life Aboard a World War II Aircraft Carrier


Max Miller - 2015
    Author Max Miller spent many weeks at sea gathering material for his book, and presents his observations in an easy-to read fashion. Carrier! is intended to provide civilians with a glimpse into what life aboard these massive ships was like during World War 2.*New 2019 edition includes footnotes and images.

Bondi's Brother


Irving Roth - 2004
    Very touching, page turner.

An American in Paris


Siobhan Curham - 2021
    The roads were deserted. We carried on, arm in arm, and then finally, we saw them. Columns and columns of soldiers, spreading through the streets like a toxic grey vapour. ‘You must write about this,’ he whispered to me. ‘You must write about the day freedom left Paris.’1937: Florence has dreamed her whole life of coming to Paris. She arrives on a sweltering summer day and, lost on the steep streets of Montmartre, asks for directions from Otto, a young artist with paint-spattered clothes and the most beautiful smile she has ever seen.Otto becomes her guide to Paris, taking her to visit paintings in the Louvre and bookshops by the Seine. And when Otto returns home to finish his studies, they vow to reunite on the same spot they met, one year to the day.Still dreaming of their parting kiss, Florence starts writing for an American newspaper and throws herself into becoming truly Parisian. All too soon, heady days of parties and champagne are replaced by rumours of war. When Otto finally returns to her, it is as an exile, fleeing Nazi persecution.Soon, not even Paris is safe. Florence’s articles now document life under occupation and hide coded messages from the Resistance. But with the man she loves in terrible danger, her words feel hollow and powerless. If Florence risks everything by accepting a dangerous mission, can she rescue their dreams from that sunny day before the war?A sweeping wartime story that will capture

In the Face of Fear: The Authentic Holocaust Survival Story of the Weisz Family


Thomas Weisz - 2018
    Tomorrow they will be taken to the ghetto, the last step before deportation to Auschwitz and certain death. But one man defies the Nazis and seeks to deny them these victims. Alone, unarmed and crippled, Joseph Cseh, a smooth talking (black marketer), struggles to rescue the woman he loves and her entire family. Surrounded on all sides he stands up to the fascists, playing a life and death con game. But can he bluff the Gestapo and defeat an army? This is the amazing true story of the Weisz family and the man who took it upon himself to try and do some good in a world turned evil.

Eva: A Novel of the Holocaust


Meyer Levin - 1959
    The book opens with the girl at age 16 leaving her home in southeastern Poland and posing as a gentile from the Ukraine named Katya. The story follows Eva as she works as a maid in the home of a prominent Austrian family in Linz (the husband is an SS officer), and then as an office worker in a German munitions factory. When she is eventually discovered to be a Jew, she is sent to Auschwitz. After the evacuation of the camp she manages to escape, finding refuge with a Polish family. At the end of the novel she is trying to find her family and home, difficult because so many Jewish communities in Eastern Europe had been destroyed. In real life, Ida Loew made her way to Israel after the war where she settled in Tel Aviv.

The Orphan Train


Brent Ford - 2013
    As a resolute Bobby, teamed up with with old timer, Diggory, set off after the killers, Ella is placed at the mercy of an unscrupulous priest and soon finds herself aboard one of America's infamous, Orphan Trains. Bobby and Diggory, now accompanied by his reluctant, young schoolteacher, Miss Halfpenny, are faced with the critical dilemma of searching for his sister, or the continued quest of his parents' killer. And so, a desperate pursuit ensues across America's still untamed and perilous Wild West.

The Factory Girls of Lark Lane


Pam Howes - 2018
    Alice’s sweetheart Terry is home from the front for a brief period of leave. She’s been in love with him since school, and the women are excitedly planning a whirlwind wedding. But the honeymoon is soon over. Terry must go back to the dangers of Nazi-occupied France, and the ever-present air raid sirens quickly bring Alice back down to earth. When a terrible explosion at the factory leads to a tragic death, Millie receives devastating news, and a loved one is announced missing in action, the heartbreak of war is suddenly all too real. Alice must believe Terry will make it home to keep up her strength. Her mother and Millie need all her support, and morale at the factory is at an all-time low. Can Alice and Millie help one another make it through these dark times, even as the war stretches on with no sign of an ending?

Nights of the Long Knives


Hans Hellmut Kirst - 1967