Book picks similar to
The Empty Moat by Margaretha Shemin


childrens-fiction
historical-fiction
teen-historical-fiction
world-war-2

The Iron Men


Leonard B. Scott - 1993
    Decades later, their fates are entangled with that of Jake Tallon, an American soldier stationed in Berlin who falls in love with Mader's daughter. Tallon, too, is a decorated war hero, though from Vietnam, not WWII. Together, the three iron men join together in Berlin just before the fall of the Wall to confront the legacy of the past . . . and defeat it.

New York 1609


Harald Johnson - 2018
    Enthralled at first by these strangers, he begins to discover their dark and dangerous side, touching off a decades-long struggle against determined explorers, aggressive traders, land-hungry settlers, and ruthless officials. If his own people are to survive, the boy-turned-man must use his wits, build alliances, and draw on unique skills to block the rising tide of the white "salt people."Ambition and fear, love and loathing, mutual respect and open contempt bring Europeans and "savages" together in the untold story of the founding of New York City and the fabled island at its heart: Manhattan.If you have a passion for the historical fiction of Ken Follett, James Michener, or Edward Rutherfurd, you'll savor this rich and meticulously researched novel.A novel based on true events.(This Omnibus Edition includes updated and revised versions of the four short ebooks in The Manhattan Series plus new added content.)

Casualties


Lynne Reid Banks - 1986
    Experiences as young children in Europe during World War II later affects a couples marriage and has impact on their friends.

Assignment: Casablanca


Peter J. Azzole - 2019
    Their mission is simply to provide a temporary Top Secret special intelligence communications center to support U.S. members of a high level Allied war planning meeting.An easy mission quickly goes awry. Only two months after the Allied assault and occupation of Casablanca (Operation TORCH), the city remains a hotbed of Vichy and German sympathizers and spies. One unexpected event leads to another. Things get dicey, with life threatening situations, shots fired and dead bodies. Tony is diverted from Casablanca on a brief classified fact-finding mission to a neutral country's island. That mission gets complicated and ultimately results in spy catching and another death. Returning to Casablanca, events result in Tony meeting Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.Between "Casablanca's" covers are communications intelligence, counter-intelligence, military politics, diplomatic tension, WWII history, family dynamics, and in the final analysis, a very exciting, twisting and fast moving story.

The Return of the Railway Children


Lou Kuenzler - 2018
    In the depths of WWII, 12-year-old Edie is nervous at the prospect of being sent to live with an unknown aunt whilst her mother flies planes for the ATA. Aunt Roberta welcomes Edie with open arms, but does a dark secret lurk at the heart of the village?

The Dearest And The Best


Leslie Thomas - 1984
    In the spring of 1940, the spectre of war turned into grim reality.And on the English home front, men, women and children found themselves swept into a maelstrom of fear and uncertainty while events abroad led inexorably from the debacles of Norway and Dunkirk to the horror and glory of the Battle of Britain.For the Lovatt family - James, seconded on a hush-hush assignment to work with Churchill, and his brother Harry, a naval officer - for Bess Spofford, Joanne Schorner, Graham Smit and all the inhabitants of the history villages of the New Forest, it was the beginning of the most bizarre, funny and tragic episode of their lives.

The Complete Helen Forrester 4-Book Memoir: Twopence to Cross the Mersey / Liverpool Miss / By the Waters of Liverpool / Lime Street at Two


Helen Forrester - 1990
    672p hardback, a fresh copy, clean, firm binding, dustjacket in excellent condition, like new, signed by the author

The Fuhrer’s Orphans : a moving and powerful novel based on true events


David Laws - 2020
    Their parents have been sent to concentration camps and they have nowhere else to go.Teacher Claudia Kellner discovers the group when she first takes in two homeless victims, risking her own safety by giving them shelter.Meanwhile, Commando Peter Chesham, a spy working for the British, succeeds in entering Third Reich territory. But his top-secret mission is threatened when he discovers the hiding place of the orphans.If he continues with his mission it will have fatal consequences for everyone around him, but if he doesn’t, the Nazis could win the war. Peter faces the agonising dilemma; obey orders or save the children.Will he lead the ultimate escape operation or complete the task he has been given?What he decides could determine the fate of history…Based on true events The Fuhrer’s Orphans is a powerful and moving novel set during the Second World War and is perfect for fans of Heather Morris and Robert Harris.

Submariner Sinclair


John Wingate - 1959
    Submarine Rugged are on a high-stakes, high seas mission.Mediterranean, 1942Britain is at war with Germany.Responsible for protecting British convoys in the Channel in a small Chaser, young Peter Sinclair, R.N., is thrown head-first into the horrors of war.Sent to serve in H.M. Submarine Rugged, defending convoys delivering food and supplies to the besieged island of Malta, Sub-Lieutenant Sinclair finds himself 120 feet beneath the sea, surrounded by deadly mines and just three miles from the enemy’s doorstep.In a bold night raid on a small harbour on the north African coast, the famous ‘Fighting Tenth’ Submarine Flotilla comes under attack by enemy E-boats, whose relentless depth-charging threaten to sink Rugged to the bottom of the ocean.When the Captain of a British submarine is captured, Sinclair, Able Seaman Bill Hawkins and a crack team of Commandos undertake a deadly mission to rescue the officer from a German-controlled prison on an Italian island.But can they outwit a lethal enemy? Or will Sinclair’s first taste of submarine warfare be his last?SUBMARINER SINCLAIR is the first book in the Submariner Sinclair naval thriller series: rip-roaring authentic historical adventures following a British submarine crew during World War II.

Concerto


Elizabeth Darrell - 1994
    The British colony of Hong Kong thinks it is immune from the chaos engulfing the rest of the world. Amid so much suffering, the talented pianist Sarah Channing, fresh from war-ravaged England, is disgusted by the shallow concerns of her father’s social set. Rod Durman, an Australian doctor trapped in a toxic marriage, wants only to advance his career and help his patients, whoever they may be. Alex Tennant is a notorious playboy, happy to fritter away his youth in the pursuit of pleasure ... until he meets the passionate and principled Sarah Channing. All three lives become irreversibly intertwined. But when the Japanese army takes Hong Kong by surprise all personal happiness must be put aside in order to survive. Elizabeth Darrell’s richly evocative tale of love and the realities of war sweeps from the fall of Hong Kong to the London Blitz and the D-Day landings. What kind of love can survive the chaos and anguish of war? Praise for Elizabeth Darrell: ‘A wonderful story, compellingly told...the authenticity - both emotional and historical - really shines through’ - Sarah Harrison Elizabeth Darrell is the penname of Emma Drummond, born in 1931. Her father was a member of the British Army stationed in Hong Kong, where Drummond spent the early years of her life. As well as writing books, she worked in the Women’s Royal Army Corps. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.

The War Girls


Rosie James - 2021
    

The Irish Nanny


Sandy Taylor - 2021
    The baby is a warm weight in my arms and I pause to adjust her, trying not to think about what we left behind. I can’t look back now, I need to keep this child safe…Ireland 1939. When hardworking chambermaid Rose meets an American businessman in the hotel where she works in Cork, he makes her an offer she can’t refuse. Rose doesn’t want to leave home, but her widowed mammy and three younger sisters need the money she’d earn in her new job as a nanny to David Townsend’s two young children.Just as Rose is settling into her new life caring for Raphael and new-born baby Sarah, the world is plunged into war and David is called back to New York, leaving Rose to follow by boat with his wife and children. But disaster strikes when the ship they are on is hit by a torpedo. Separated from her group in the awful chaos, Rose has an impossible decision to make. Does she stay and search for the family she owes so much to? Or does she leave on the lifeboat to save the tiny baby left in her care?Landing on American shores, all Rose’s hopes of leaving the howling air-raid sirens and deafening bombs behind her are shattered as tragic news arrives from Pearl Harbor. Looking down at the innocent child in her arms, Rose knows that she must find the strength to survive and reunite this little girl with her family. But as fear and panic grips the country, what heartbreaking sacrifices will she have to make to protect her precious charge?An emotional, heart-wrenching story of love and family set across Ireland and America during the Second World War. Perfect for fans of Jean Grainger, Lisa Wingate and Diney Costeloe.

Code Name: Beatriz


Lou Cadle - 2019
    When the operation goes terribly wrong and the Nazis capture him, what will she risk to free him?

Faraway Home


Marilyn Taylor - 1999
    It has become very dangerous to be a Jew in Austria, and after their uncle is sent to Dachau, Karl and Rosa's parents decide to send the children out of the country on a Kindertransport, one of the many ships carrying refugee children away from Nazi danger.Isolated and homesick, Karl ends up in Millisle, a run-down farm in Ards in Northern Ireland, which has become a Jewish refugee centre, while Rosa is fostered by a local family.Hard work on the farm keeps Karl occupied, although he still waits desperately for any news from home. Then he makes friends with locals Peewee and Wee Billy, and also with the girls from neutral Dublin who come to help on the farm, especially Judy. But Northern Ireland is in the war too, with rationing and air-raid warnings, and, in April 1941 the bombs of the Belfast Blitz bring the reality of war right to their doorstep.And for Karl and Rosa and the other refugees there is the constant fear that they may never see their parents again.Based on a true story -- there was a refugee farm at Millisle and among its occupants was a young boy called Karl.

Trapped in East Germany


Carolyn Twede Frank - 2016
    She is not alone—in wartime Berlin, it seems that everyone has been swept up in the frightening transformation of their city. No more than a child, Karin is far too young to understand the Nazi presence or the drone of air-raid sirens or the absence of her beloved Pappa, a soldier in the German army. But when a bomb destroys their home, Karin is forced to grow up far too soon as her family joins the tens of thousands displaced in the raids on the city. Relying on their faith as Latter-day Saints, Karin and her family begin a journey that will prove the indomitable strength of the human spirit.What follows is the sweeping narrative of one young girl's journey through war and beyond—from her childlike observations of World War II in Germany to her changing view of the world as she grows up in a land divided by war. Now, driven by starvation and the perilous existence of refugees, Karin and her family must draw upon a deep reservoir of strength and faith to sustain them through the harrowing escape ahead . . .