Book picks similar to
The Unloved: From the Diary of Perla S. by Arnošt Lustig
czech
fiction
czech-literature
historical-fiction
Far to Go
Alison Pick - 2010
A fiercely patriotic secular Jew, Pavel Bauer is helpless to prevent his world from unraveling as first his government, then his business partners, then his neighbors turn their back on his affluent, once-beloved family. Only the Bauers' adoring governess, Marta, sticks by Pavel, his wife, Anneliese, and their little son, Pepik, bound by her deep affection for her employers and friends. But when Marta learns of their impending betrayal at the hands of her lover, Ernst, Pavel's best friend, she is paralyzed by her own fear of discovery—even as the endangered family for whom she cares so deeply struggles with the most difficult decision of their lives.Interwoven with a present-day narrative that gradually reveals the fate of the Bauer family during and after the war, Far to Go is a riveting family epic, love story, and psychological drama.
The Collaborators
Reginald Hill - 1987
From the bestselling author of the Dalziel and Pascoe series, a superb novel of wartime passion, loyalty – and betrayalWhen Janine Simonian was dragged roughly from her cell to face trial as a collaborator in the days of reckoning that followed the liberation of France, she refused to conceal her shaven skull from the jeering crowds that greeted her.Before the jury of former Resistance members pledged to extract vengeance on all who had connived in Nazi rule, Janine stood proudly in court – and pleaded guilty to the charges.Why did so many French men and women collaborate with the Nazi occupation forces whilst others gave their lives in resistance? Were the motives of those who betrayed their country always selfish – and those of the Resistance always noble?The Collaborators is a superb novel of conscience and betrayal that portrays the human dilemmas brought about by the Nazi occupation of France, and asks uncomfortable questions about the priorities of personal and national loyalty in time of war.
The Winter Agent
Gareth Rubin - 2020
A bitter winter grips occupied France, where Marc Reece leads a circuit of British agents risking their lives in order to sabotage the German war effort from within.But Reece has a second mission, secret even from his fellow agents - including Charlotte, the woman with whom he has ill-advisedly fallen in love. He must secure a document identifying a German spy at the heart of British intelligence. The fate of the Allied forces on D-Day is in his hands.But when his circuit is ambushed - with fatal consequences - Reece realizes there may be a traitor in its ranks, putting everything they've been fighting for at risk.Then Charlotte goes missing. Is she in danger, or has Reece been betrayed by the only person he thought he could trust?And with the clock ticking towards D-Day, can he find the truth before it's too late?A gripping and atmospheric thriller inspired by true events, this is the story of a deadly game of espionage, destined to change the course of the most crucial battle in the Second World War.
Address Unknown
Kathrine Kressmann Taylor - 1938
Published in book form a year later and banned in Nazi Germany, it garnered high praise in the United States and much of Europe. A series of fictional letters between a Jewish art dealer living in San Francisco and his former business partner, who has returned to Germany, Address Unknown is a haunting tale of enormous and enduring impact.
The Canal Bridge
Tom Phelan - 2005
A year later, while en route to India, their troop ship is recalled and they soon find themselves in the European slaughterhouse that was World War I. As stretcher bearers, the two men witness all too closely the horrors of the battlefield and the trenches, the savagery, and the unconscionable waste of human life on fields made liquid by “the blood and guts of boy soldiers” at the Somme, Ypres, and Passchendaele. Meanwhile, back home in Ireland, Con’s sister and Matthias’s lover, Kitty Hatchel, yearns for their safe return and reminds them of their carefree childhood on the banks of the local canal, as well as their hopes for the future.Brilliantly and movingly narrated by a chorus of voices from the community — Matt, Con, Kitty, and others — The Canal Bridge tells the story of how the young men take Ballyrannel to war with them, and how the war comes back home when hostilities end in Europe. The Ireland the friends left in 1913 no longer exists, for the political landscape has been transformed by the Rising against the British in 1916. It is now a land riven with sectarian tensions and bloodshed from which there is no escape.
Austerlitz
W.G. Sebald - 2001
A small child when he comes to England on a Kindertransport in the summer of 1939, one Jacques Austerlitz is told nothing of his real family by the Welsh Methodist minister and his wife who raise him. When he is a much older man, the fleeting memories return to him, and obeying an instinct he only dimly understands, he follows their trail back to the world he left behind a half century before. There, faced with the void at the heart of twentieth-century Europe, he struggles to rescue his heritage from oblivion.
Conspiracy of Lies
Kathryn Gauci - 2019
1940. With the Germans about to enter Paris, Claire Bouchard flees France for England. Two years later she is recruited by the Special Operations Executive and sent back into occupied France to work alongside the Resistance. Working undercover as a teacher in Brittany, Claire accidentally befriends the wife of the German Commandant of Rennes and the blossoming friendship is about to become a dangerous mission. Knowing that thousands of lives depended on her actions, Claire begins a double life as a Gestapo Commandant’s mistress in order to retrieve vital information for the Allied invasion of France, but ghosts from her past make the deception more painful than she could have imagined. Part historical, part romance and part thriller, Conspiracy of Lies takes us on a journey through occupied France, from the picturesque villages of rural Brittany to the glittering dinner parties of the Nazi elite, in a story of courage, heartbreak and secrecy.
Raking Light from Ashes
Relli Robinson - 2019
two families. and an incredible tale of survival…
Relli, a Jewish girl in Poland, was denied a normal childhood.When Relli was just a baby, the Nazis occupied Poland and she, together with her parents, were imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto, a way station before death.Her parents correctly assessed the new situation and decided to act heroically in order to save their only child. They succeeded in smuggling her out of the Ghetto and entrusted her to a Gentile Polish couple who agreed to hide her for the duration of the war under a false identity.Overnight, Relli became Lala.Yet hope did not remain alive for long.Destruction and devastation engulfed Poland and soon little Lala was forced to escape and hide along with her new parents, merely to survive.This is the amazing story of Relli Robinson, who, thanks to kindhearted, courageous people and a tenacious capacity for survival, was able to get through the most difficult times in the history of humankind. An orphan girl, the sole survivor of her entire family.
The Escape
Clare Harvey - 2019
One man catches her eye and she cannot forget him. The following day she receives an urgent message to contact the local priest: he needs her help. Miranda is a photography student in Berlin in 1989 as the Wall falls. Trapped in an abusive relationship, her one hope for escape is an old postcard of the village her grandmother, Detta, was born in. As Miranda flees through the rubble of the Berlin wall and into the East, she begins to suspect she’s being followed by the Stasi. Two very different timelines; two women who share a history and a dark secret. Can they save each other now the time has come to reveal it?Acclaim for Clare Harvey's novels: 'Had me enthralled' Kate Furnivall ‘Will delight all those who love a good wartime story’ Dilly Court 'A gripping story' Julie Cohen 'An exceptional talent' Kate Rhodes 'A triumph' Jill Mansell 'Heartwarming, enjoyable and full of surprises' Elizabeth Chadwick ‘A real page-turner’ Ellie Dean
When We Fall
Carolyn Kirby - 2020
Mourning her lover, Stefan, who was captured by the Soviets at the start of the war, Ewa is shocked to see him on the street one day.Haunted by a terrible choice he made in captivity, Stefan asks Vee and Ewa to help him expose one of the darkest secrets of the war. But it is not clear where everyone’s loyalties lie until they are tested.Published to coincide with the 75th anniversary of VE Day and based on WWII atrocity the Katyn Massacre, When We Fall is a moving story of three lives forever altered by one fatal choice.
The Hunger Journeys
Maggie de Vries - 2010
You are not trying to take a train to Germany. Second, your papers are false. Do you think you can trump up false papers and just walk onto one of our trains?”It’s World War Two in Amsterdam. Lena leaves her starving family to travel by train with her friend Sofie to Almelo, a town close to the German border, in search of food. It’s a risky plan. The girls have false papers and are quickly pulled off the train by German soldiers. Only by fluke do they get back on again-with the help of Albert, one of the soldiers. After Lena discovers that the train had also been used to transport Jews to concentration camps, she fears her new friendship with the well-meaning Albert may lead her into more danger. Sofie, too, befriends a soldier, a relationship that quickly turns serious and has unfortunate consequences for both girls.
Submerged on the Surface: The Not-So-Hidden Jews of Nazi Berlin, 1941–1945
Richard N. Lutjens Jr. - 2019
Drawing on a wealth of archival evidence and interviews with survivors, this book reconstructs the daily lives of Jews who stayed in Berlin during the war years. Contrary to the received wisdom that “hidden” Jews stayed in attics and cellars and had minimal contact with the outside world, the author reveals a cohort of remarkable individuals who were constantly on the move and actively fought to ensure their own survival.
Germania
Harald Gilbers - 2013
All of the victims are linked to the Nazi party. But according to one eyewitness account, the perpetrator is not an opponent of Hitler's regime, but rather a loyal Nazi.Jewish detective Richard Oppenheimer, once a successful investigator for the Berlin police, is reactivated by the Gestapo and forced onto the case. Oppenheimer is not just concerned with catching the killer and helping others survive, but also his own survival. Worst of all, solving this case is what will certainly put him in the most jeopardy. With no other choice but to futher his investigation, he feverishly searches for answers, and a way out of this dangerous game.
The Nazi Files: Chilling Case Studies of the Perverted Personalities Behind the Third Reich
Paul Roland - 2014
Now author Paul Roland turns the tables with this brilliant new exposé - a fascinating psychological profile of the leading Nazis and their lesser-known associates.
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.