Book picks similar to
Spies by Ellie Midwood


historical-fiction
hfvbt
womensfiction
historical-novels-europe

A Spy In Vienna: A Paul Muller Novel of Political Intrigue


William N. Walker - 2018
    It is the second Paul Muller novel set in Europe before World War II. Muller is recruited to become a spy to resist Hitler's campaign to absorb Austria into the German Reich and, from his perch in Vienna, finds himself at the epicenter of the desperate struggle to preserve Austrian independence. Muller plays a dangerous game in helping Austria oppose Hitler's demands and he hatches a bold plan to divert Austria's gold reserves so they stay out of Hitler's grasp. The novel captures this gripping drama in rich and vivid detail as political pressures mount and the threat of war looms. A Spy in Vienna re-creates for readers the fraught atmosphere of 1930's, when the threat of Nazi violence hung over Europe. Aficionados of that epoch will relish the authenticity of the novel, which reawakens the tensions and turbulence of the era, with its undercurrent of violence and fear. The narrative recaptures the urgency of the crisis as repeated confrontations escalated to an explosive conclusion. Today, sitting at the safe remove of eighty years, we know the outcome. Hitler's bald aggression prevailed; his takeover of Austria became a crucial stepping stone leading to World War II. But the characters in the novel know none of this; for them, the events they are caught up in are frightening and bewildering, confronting them with dire choices and fearful consequences. The novel transports the reader into that contemporary maelstrom of intrigue and danger—combining real history with a compelling story. Admirers of Paul Muller in Danzig will revel in his new adventures in Vienna, as once again he confronts Nazi tyranny.

Past Encounters


Davina Blake - 2014
    Though engaged to be married, their plans were interrupted when Peter enlisted, only to be captured by the German army and interred in a prisoner-of-war camp. Left at home and with only sporadic news from Peter, Rhoda has spent years apart from her fiancé, with no guarantees that he will return home. When a film crew arrives to capture the iconic scenes for David Lean’s Brief Encounter , Rhoda finds herself caught up in a love affair of her own… Ten years later, Rhoda and Peter are married, but their relationship is hanging by a thread. What secrets have they hidden from each other over the years? How did Peter manage to survive the brutal war years? And did Rhoda ever get over the man who captured her heart…? As they both reflect on their past encounters they have to decide if they can ever rebuild a relationship which was shattered by the war…

Act of Vengeance


Michael Jecks - 2012
     Cut adrift and superfluous in a changing world, he was discarded by British Intelligence. Then, after 9/11, rapid recruitment brought in a rash of new, talented young men and women. They were trained and put into the field swiftly - often too swiftly. And then the mistakes started to happen. Mistakes that should have been avoided. Mistakes that could be embarrassing to Her Majesty's Government. Thus, Jack was brought back into the intelligence fold, heading up a new team of "Scavengers" - experienced agents who could be sent to clear up the messes left behind by newer recruits before evidence incriminating MI5 and MI6 could be discovered. Jack is sent to tidy up one last case. In a quiet Alaskan backwater, a man named Danny Lewin has committed suicide with a handgun. But this was no ordinary suicide. This was an agent who held secrets. A man haunted by his past interrogating prisoners in Iraq. And British Intelligence fear that he put his secrets down on paper. For Jack, his mission is straightforward. He must travel to Alaska and retrieve Lewin’s journal before someone else can lay their hands on it. Before long, Jack realises that there are individuals just as skilled and determined as himself searching for the journal - individuals who are willing to kill in order to get what they want. Case is drawn into a manhunt that drags him into the murky underworld of contemporary espionage and leaves him questioning who his allies and who is enemies are. The rules of the game have changed since the days of the Cold War. Now Case must impose his own rules. Scavenger rules. Praise for Michael Jecks: 'An instant classic British spy novel - mature, thoughtful, and intelligent ... but also raw enough for our modern times. Highly recommended.' - Lee Child, author of the Reacher series 'More magic by the master of the medieval' - Quintin Jardine 'Michael Jecks is a national treasure' - Scotland on Sunday 'A textbook example of how to blend action and detection in a historical' - Publishers Weekly Michael Jecks is the author of the bestselling Knights Templar series, comprising thirty-two novels starring Baldwin de Furnshill. Fields of Glory is the first novel in a new trilogy, set around the Hundred Years' War. A regular speaker at library and literary events, he is a past Chairman of the Crime Writers' Association and a Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund at Exeter University. He was shortlisted for the Harrogate/Theakston’s Old Peculier prize for the best crime novel of the year 2007, the year Allan Guthrie won. He lives with his wife, children and dogs in northern Dartmoor. To find out more visit his website http://www.michaeljecks.com, follow him on twitter @michaeljecks, or find him on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Michael.Jecks...

Black Cross


Greg Iles - 1995
    To salvage the planned assault, two vastly different but equally determined men are sent to infiltrate the secret concentration camp where the poison gas is being perfected on human subjects. Their only objective: destroy all traces of the gas and the men who created it — no matter how many lives may be lost...including their own.Stunning....From the very first page, Greg Iles takes his readers on an emotional roller-coaster ride, juxtaposing tension-filled action scenes, horrifying depictions of savage cruelty, and heart-stopping descriptions of sacrifice and bravery. A remarkable story from a remarkable writer.” — Booklist

Sidekick to All the Light We Cannot See: by Anthony Doerr


Dave Eagle - 2014
     Warning: This is an independent companion to All the Light We Cannot See, meant to enhance your experience of the novel. If you have not yet bought All the Light We Cannot See , make sure to purchase it before buying this unofficial Sidekick. Blind since early childhood, Marie-Laure is only twelve years old when she is forced to flee her home as the Nazis occupy France. Werner, a German orphan, has a talent for fixing radios—a talent that the Nazi government is all too eager to embrace. As Doerr sweeps us forward, backward, and forward again in time, the lives of these two individuals weave together, intersecting at the bombing of Saint-Malo. With this Sidekick, you’ll: • Discover some of the novel’s fascinating hidden gems • Spend some more time with the characters you’ve come to know and love • Learn what you might have missed on your first read of All the Light We Cannot See • Explore a possible alternate ending and imagine ideas for a sequel • Get a chance to discuss the book with other readers on our Facebook forum Sidekicks are entertaining and insightful reading companions, filled with delightful commentary and thought-provoking questions. Readers have raved that Dave Eagle’s Sidekicks "really put you in touch with the many layers of the novel," "keep you entertained even longer," and are "perfect if you want a vivid understanding of the story." Designed to be read side by side with the novels they complement, they’ll give you even more reasons to love some of today’s best books.

Finding Lord Farlisle


Cassandra Dean - 2018
    Fascinated by spirits, she sets out to investigate rumours of a ghost at Waithe Hall, the haunt of her childhood. Its shuttered corridors stir her own ghosts: memories of the friend she’d lost. Maxim had been her childhood playmate, her kindred spirit, the boy she was beginning to love …but then he'd abandoned her, only to be lost at sea. She never expected to stumble upon a handsome and rough-hewn man who had made the Hall his home, a man she is shocked to discover is Maxim: alive, older...and with no memory of her.The girl he finally remembersEleven years ago, a shipwreck robbed Lord Maxim Farlisle of his memory. Finally remembering himself, he journeys to his childhood home to find Waithe Hall shut and deserted. Unwilling to face what remains of his family, Maxim makes his home in the abandoned hall only to have a determined beauty invade his uneasy peace. This woman insists he remember her and slowly, he does. Once, he and Alexandra had been inseparable, beloved friends who were growing into something more…but the reasons he left still exist, and how can he offer her a broken man?As the two rediscover their connection, the promise of young love burns into an overwhelming passion. But the time apart has scarred them both—will they discover a love that binds them together, or will the past tear them apart forever?

An Address in Amsterdam


Mary Dingee Fillmore - 2016
    She's falling in love, and her city has been the safest place in the world for Jewish people since the Spanish Inquisition. But when Rachel's Gentile boyfriend is forced to disappear rather than face arrest, she realizes that everything is changing, and so must she. Although she is often tired and scared, she delivers papers for the underground under the Nazis noses. But after eighteen months of ever increasing danger, she pushes her parents to go into hiding with her. The dank basement where they take refuge seems like the last place where Rachel would meet a new man but she does. An Address in Amsterdam shows that, even in the most hopeless situation, an ordinary young woman can make the choice to act with courage and even love.

The Spitfire Girl


Fenella J. Miller - 2018
     Perfect for fans of Nancy Revell, Rosie Archer and Daisy Styles. Praise for Fenella Miller: 'The perfect ingredients for a cracking good read. well recommended' Jean Fullerton. 'I've enjoyed all the books in this series' Cheryl. 'I love the way Fenella creates an escape from the real world for me every single time when I read her books' KMW. 'I would highly recommend this book' Mrs S Hall.

The Last Night in London


Karen White - 2021
    Beautiful and ambitious Eva Harlow and her American best friend, Precious Dubose, are trying to make their way as fashion models. When Eva falls in love with Graham St. John, an aristocrat and Royal Air Force pilot, she can’t believe her luck – she’s getting everything she ever wanted. Then the Blitz devastates her world, and Eva finds herself slipping into a web of intrigue, spies and secrets. As Eva struggles to protect everything she holds dear, all it takes is one unwary moment to change their lives forever.London, 2019. American journalist Maddie Warner travels to London to interview Precious about her life in pre-WWII London. Maddie, healing from past trauma and careful to close herself off to others, finds herself drawn to both Precious and to Colin, Precious’ enigmatic surrogate nephew. As Maddie gets closer to her, she begins to unravel Precious’ haunting past – and the secrets she swore she’d never reveal …

The Knife-Edge Path (WW2 Historical Fiction Book 3)


Patrick T. Leahy - 2019
    As Geli Straub becomes the seductive Mlle. Simone Miroux, on orders to discover whether SS officer Kurt Langsdorff is all he seems to be, her plot to betray him falters on conflicted feelings. Drawn past the point of no return into his life, she cannot sell him out. How, then, is she to save him without shedding the identity of the woman who deceived him, and on whom her life depends?

The Other Side of Paradise


Margaret Mayhew - 2009
    In Singapore Susan Roper, secure in the supremacy of the British Empire, enjoys dancing,clothes and fast cars, tennis and light flirtations with visiting naval officers- her life is devoted solely to pleasure. When she meets an Australian doctor who warns her of the danger that they all face she dismisses him as an ignorant colonial. Singapore goes on partying, oblivious to the threat of invasion. The British flag will, they believe, protect them from all enemies. But when Japan invades, Susan finds herself in grave danger. She become an ambulance driver and is taken prisoner by the Japanese. Gradually and reluctantly she realises that she has fallen in love with the tough, arrogant and totally unsuitable doctor, but she has to face many hardships and witness terrible events before she can acknowledge the truth.

The Spitfire Sisters (The Maitland Trilogy)


Margaret Dickinson - 2020
    Their Lincolnshire village of Doddington suffered terrible loss and it has taken great courage for the bereaved families to rebuild their lives without their loved ones.When war is declared again, it is Daisy Maitland and her peers who must now take up the fight for freedom. Feisty and a daredevil like her beloved Aunt Pips, who spent World War One on the front line serving with a flying ambulance corps, Daisy had persuaded a family friend to teach her to fly as a young woman. Now her country is at war, she is determined to put her skills to good use, enlisting in the Air Transport Auxiliary. There she forges new friendships – but she never forgets her childhood friend and cousin, Luke, who has joined the RAF as a fighter pilot.As war rages in the skies and on the ground, Daisy, her friends and her family – at home and across the Channel – will find their bravery and strength tested to the very limits in their determination to save their country. And they have learned one of the most valuable lessons of all: true love will find a way.

Eye of the Needle / Lie Down with Lions


Ken Follett - 2002
    

A Question of Loyalties


Allan Massie - 1989
    Etienne de Balafre, half French, half English and raised in South Africa, returns to post-war France to unravel the tangled history of his own father Lucien - was he a patriot who may have served his country as best he could in difficult times, or a treacherous collaborator in the Vichy government? This subtle and moving novel, rife with the anguish of hindsight and the irony of circumstance, explores the ties between fathers and sons and the pains of love and duty in a period in European history that is still characterised by wilful denial and hatred.

A cobra's bite doesn't hurt


Anil Nijhawan - 2020
    When Babu, their ruthless gang master, murders his best friend Ramesh, Kalu - fearing for his own life - runs away to Kolkata. While still being pursued by Babu he meets and falls in love with with Tanya, an educated girl from an upper middle-class family.This powerful novel presents life in contemporary India with vivid realism. Evocative and beautifully written, it embraces a wide range of human emotions and has many intensely dramatic scenes.