Book picks similar to
Hexe by Skadi Winter


historical-fiction
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Paper Hearts


Meg Wiviott - 2015
    Based on historical events about a group of girls who were slave laborers at the munitions factory in Auschwitz.

The Last Platoon: A Novel of the Afghanistan War


Bing West - 2020
    In a series of escalating fights, Cruz must prove he is a combat leader, despite the growing disapproval of the colonel in overall charge. At the same time, the president has ordered the CIA to capture a drug lord. But with a fortune in heroin at stake, the Taliban joins with the drug lord to wipe out the base. As the president negotiates a secret deal, Cruz must rally the Marines to make a last stand. Bringing you into America’s longest war with vivid immediacy, The Last Platoon portrays how leaders rise or wilt under intense pressure. A searing, timeless story of moral conflict, savage combat, and feckless politics.

Claws of Steel (S.S. Wotan Dogs of War Series)


Leo Kessler - 1974
    They had taken the most impregnable fortress in Europe, faced Stalin's cadets in the screaming inferno of the Russian front, and returned with only a handful of survivors. They were Hitler's elite, dedicated, relentless men, for whom death held no fear, Assault Regiment Wotan. Their next mission was a lightening blow at Kursk in the very heart of Soviet Russia. As they advanced across the burning steppes after the fall of Stalingrad, the men of Wotan found the bodies of German soldiers, hanged, tortured, and mutilated, and they swore they would not leave Russian soil until they had taken their revenge.

Lion of God: The Complete Trilogy


Stephen England - 2018
    . .we do not forget." It is the year 2000, and with the new millennium has come the fresh promise of peace in the Middle East.But when a pair of IDF reservists are brutally lynched in the West Bank town of Ramallah--the graphic imagery of their final moments broadcast around the Western world. . .all hopes of peace are shattered.As Israel mourns her dead and America attempts to salvage the peace process, the Mossad is tasked with finding and bringing to justice those responsible for the butchery, activating a Kidon team led by a young assassin known only as Ariel. . .The "Lion of God."But as the hunt narrows, it quickly becomes apparent that nothing is as it seems. And vengeance far from the only agenda in play. . .The Lion of God Trilogy represents an expansion of Stephen England's best-selling Shadow Warriors universe, and this volume includes all three previously-published individual episodes now compiled into a single volume.

The Last Checkmate


Gabriella Saab - 2021
    A young Polish resistance worker, imprisoned in Auschwitz as a political prisoner, plays chess in exchange for her life, and in doing so fights to bring the man who destroyed her family to justice.Maria Florkowska is many things: daughter, avid chess player, and, as a member of the Polish underground resistance in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, a young woman brave beyond her years. Captured by the Gestapo, she is imprisoned in Auschwitz, but while her family is sent to their deaths, she is spared. Realizing her ability to play chess, the sadistic camp deputy, Karl Fritzsch, decides to use her as a chess opponent to entertain the camp guards. However, once he tires of exploiting her skills, he has every intention of killing her.Befriended by a Catholic priest, Maria attempts to overcome her grief, vows to avenge the murder of her family, and plays for her life. For four grueling years, her strategy is simple: Live. Fight. Survive. By cleverly provoking Fritzsch’s volatile nature in front of his superiors, Maria intends to orchestrate his downfall. Only then will she have a chance to evade the fate awaiting her and see him punished for his wickedness.As she carries out her plan and the war nears its end, she challenges her former nemesis to one final game, certain to end in life or death, in failure or justice. If Maria can bear to face Fritzsch—and her past—one last time.

What Is Left the Daughter


Howard Norman - 2010
    Seventeen-year-old Wyatt Hillyer is suddenly orphaned when his parents, within hours of each other, jump off two different bridges--the result of their separate involvements with the same compelling neighbor, a Halifax switchboard operator and aspiring actress. The suicides cause Wyatt to move to small-town Middle Economy to live with his uncle, aunt, and ravishing cousin Tilda. Setting in motion the novel's chain of life-altering passions and the wartime perfidy at its core is the arrival of the German student Hans Mohring, carrying only a satchel. Actual historical incidents--including a German U-boat's sinking of the Nova Scotia-Newfoundland ferry Caribou, on which Aunt Constance Hillyer might or might not be traveling--lend intense narrative power to Norman's uncannily layered story. Wyatt's account of the astonishing--not least to him-- events leading up to his fathering of a beloved daughter spills out twenty-one years later. It's a confession that speaks profoundly of the mysteries of human character in wartime and is directed, with both despair and hope, to an audience of one. An utterly stirring novel. This is Howard Norman at his celebrated best.

A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding


Jackie Copleton - 2015
    Her grandson and her daughter, Yuko, perished nearly forty years ago during the bombing of Nagasaki. But the man carries with him a collection of sealed private letters that open a Pandora’s Box of family secrets Ama had sworn to leave behind when she fled Japan. She is forced to confront her memories of the years before the war: of the daughter she tried too hard to protect and the love affair that would drive them apart, and even further back, to the long, sake-pouring nights at a hostess bar where Ama first learned that a soft heart was a dangerous thing. Will Ama allow herself to believe in a miracle?

The Sun Will Shine Tomorrow


Maureen Reynolds - 2008
    Rosie is having a difficult pregnancy, while Johnny has fallen and fractured his skull on a trip to Orkney with the Home Guard. Meanwhile, Ann Neill is looking forward to meeting Greg again when he gets a much-needed break from his work at Bletchley Park, but she soon realizes that they are drifting apart. When the war finally ends, Danny Ryan does not return, although they think they see him on a cinema newsreel one day...and when Granddad becomes ill they are in crisis once again.

We Must Be Brave


Frances Liardet - 2019
    --Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads SingSpanning World War II and the sweep of the twentieth century, We Must Be Brave explores the fierce love that we feel for our children and the power of that love to endure. Beyond distance, beyond time, beyond life itself.A woman. A war. The child who changed everything.December 1940. As German bombs fall on Southampton, England during World War II, the city's residents flee to the surrounding villages. In Upton village, amid the chaos, newly married Ellen Parr finds a girl asleep, unclaimed at the back of an empty bus. Little Pamela, it seems, is entirely alone.Ellen has always believed she does not want children, but when she takes Pamela into her home, the child cracks open the past Ellen thought she had escaped and the future she and her husband Selwyn had dreamed for themselves. As the war rages on, love grows where it was least expected, surprising them all. But with the end of the fighting comes the realization that Pamela was never theirs to keep. Spanning the sweep of the twentieth century, We Must Be Brave explores the fierce love that we feel for our children and the power of that love to endure. Beyond distance, beyond time, beyond life itself.

Beyond Forgetting


Christine Zimmerman - 2014
    She chose to drop college temporarily, and take the lead in caring for her beloved grandfather after he was unable to live alone due to Alzheimer's disease. In "Beyond Forgetting" you will read a harrowing tale-first of a kind and brilliant man's love for his granddaughter, and of her selfless return of that love. You will laugh and cry along with the Nelson family as that once-formidable man experiences many surprising, upsetting, and sometimes fascinating changes. You will be astounded by the admirable strength of Zimmerman in the face of shock, frustration, sadness, and guilt. Finally, you will watch her grandfather undergo the downward turn that makes Alzheimer's a singularly devastating illness.Alzheimer's is a cruel disease that can rob the sufferer of his dignity, memory, strength, and even basic functions. "Beyond Forgetting" is an important book with something to teach everyone. Never macabre, maudlin, or miserable, the book maintains a positive, loving tone. It is a rare insight into an often-closed moment in the hardest part of many people's lives. If you have a loved one with Alzheimer's disease, or know someone who does, it should be required reading."

Letters to Alice


Rosie James - 2015
    It’s a completely different from her quiet old world, but she’s determined to do her part. And the back-breaking work is made bearable with the help from her two new friends - bold, outspoken Fay and quiet, guarded Evie - and the letters that arrive from her childhood friend, Sam Carmichael...To Alice, Sam was always more than just a friend, but as the son of her wealthy employer, she never dared dream he could be more… But at least ever letter brings reassurance that he’s still alive and fighting on the frontline... Because it’s when all goes quiet on the letter front that nothing seems certain and it’s a reminder of how life – and hearts – are so fragile. A tale of true courage and the power of sheer determination, this un-put-downable WWII set saga is filled with warmth, humour and heart-wrenching emotion. Perfect for fans of Nadine Dorries, Katie Flynn and Dilly Court.

A Certain Summer


Patricia Beard - 2013
    But in 1948, after a world war has upended countless lives, it is not certain that the islanders will be able to return to “the old days”—and for Helen Wadsworth, the war is not over.Helen’s husband, Arthur was declared missing in action during an OSS operation in France, and she is unable to find out what happened, or whether he might, even now, be alive. Raising a teenage son, who, like his mother longs to know the truth, Helen turns to Frank Hartman, her husband’s best friend and his partner on the OSS mission on which Arthur was lost, while Frank escaped. But Frank seems more intent on filling the void in Helen’s life, which Arthur has left than in answering her questions.And then Peter Gavin, a young Marine who was captured and tortured by the Japanese returns to the island with his faithful war dog; and man and dog enter the lives of Helen and her son.Unsure of whom to trust, or what to believe, Helen takes matters into her own hands. As she seeks the truth, she makes a shocking discovery that will alter the course of her life, and change her perceptions of love and war.A mystery, a love story and an insider’s view of a private world, A Certain Summer resonates long after the last page is turned.“Equal parts novel of manners, historical fiction, and a quiet examination of social mores, A Certain Summer weaves important questions about class, gender, trauma and family through its seemingly simple narrative as artfully as an experienced hostess arranges the seating at a dinner table, so that conversations flow….But Ms. Beard shows that even magical retreats like Wauregan are subject to the vicissitudes of the modern world….In the end…it seems that Wauregan’s magic prevails in its very ability to change in a way that stays true to its origins, or even more precisely, that magic prevails as Wauregan learns it must change to stay true to its origins.”—The East Hampton Star“Woven into this tale of loss and romance are themes of intrigue, growth, betrayal, psychological trauma and a fulfilling healing process. Beard’s attention to historical details and understanding of the realities and shortfalls of privilege make a satisfying read.”—Publisher’s Weekly“A richly evocative debut novel.”—Goodreads“A really satisfying read…I’m crazy about A Certain Summer…a perfect summer book.”—Bookreporter.com

The Angel of Auschwitz: [Extended Version]


S.A. Falconi - 2014
    I vow to you and to the leaders that you set for me, absolute allegiance until death. So help me God!”The SS Oath of Loyalty – words that became the very death sentence for millions of Jews and Germans alike. Six decades later, we still ask ourselves why and how did it happen? "The Angel of Auschwitz", a tragic epic of historical fiction, explores these inquiries through the eyes of an unlikely antagonist-turned-protagonist – the Nazi soldier."The Angel of Auschwitz" chronicles the life of Wolfgang Bremmer, an adolescent boy from the hills of Hamburg during the Nazi occupation of Germany. As a Hitler Youth, Wolfgang is captivated by the prowess of the Nazis and thrust into the ideologies of Adolf Hitler. With an adoration for the new Fűhrer and the Third Reich, Wolfgang enlists as a young man in the SS-Death’s Head Division, the gatekeepers of the regime’s most lethal concentration camp, Dachau. It is here he is introduced to Theodor Eicke’s “School of Violence” and becomes one of the most ruthless guards the SS has ever seen. After joining Hitler’s Mobile Killing Units, he participates in the invasion of Poland and the evacuation and extermination of its Jewish inhabitants. Wolfgang is the ideal Nazi warrior: vicious, ruthless, and entirely intolerant.But evil erodes even the hardest of hearts and Wolfgang grows weary in the midst of all the death and destruction. His conscience begins to return and with that a gnawing guilt for what he and his fellow Germans have done and are about to do. But with the fear of punishment for treason, Wolfgang is trapped in the cyclone of violence. That is, until he is promoted as a guard at the Reich’s most sophisticated concentration camp, Auschwitz. In the belly of such a beast as Auschwitz, Wolfgang discovers a secret that will not only save his own life and salvation, but the lives of so many prisoners as well.

When the War is Over


Anja May - 2018
     The true account of a teenage soldier in World War 2 Germany. Germany, 1945. Ever since Anton Kohler first heard the vibrant sound of the violin, he’s dreamed of mastering the instrument. But when his father dies, the fifteen-year-old must give up his passion to support his seven younger siblings. As the Russian army marches closer to his hometown, Anton and his best friend Gerhard are pulled from their families and forced to help defend their home in a last desperate stand. When Anton witnesses the slaughter of concentration camp prisoners, he vows to escape the war and find a way home to his family and his girl, Luise. In the chaos of impending defeat, Anton is torn between his promise to protect the life of his best friend and his desire to survive the war with his conscience intact. Based on a true account, this coming-of-age story set in the last turbulent months of World War 2, Germany, is a tale of love and friendship, of hope and loss. Read When the War is Over now to experience the poignant journey of a teenage soldier.

On the Run


Joseph Flynn - 2020
    He refused to go on the Mob’s payroll. Refused to become one of organized crime’s stooges in blue. If the Mob let something like that go unchallenged, it’d be the end of them.So McGill had to go. Six feet under. Only the Mob made a serious mistake. The boss decided Charlie Hart, Dan’s best friend and the crooked police lieutenant who’d been given the task of roping Dan in, had to die, too. That was the price Charlie had to pay for failing to make Dan knuckle under.The Mob got Charlie, all right, but then Dan struck back. He killed the boss’s two sons and then the old man himself. He caught the boss just as he was about to blow town — with $3 million stuffed into two suitcases. Finders keepers, Dan thought after putting the boss down. He took the Mob’s money after all.From that moment on, a hunt began that would last four years. The mob would stalk its target throughout the United States and all the way into war-torn Europe after learning that Dan, now calling himself Charlie Hart, had joined the army. The boys in Chicago figured if they didn’t kill the bastard, the Nazis would get the job done.