Book picks similar to
Mad Joy by Jane Bailey


fiction
historical-fiction
wwii
mtbr

The Silent War


Victor Pemberton - 1996
    Sunday lives for Saturday nights, when she makes the most of her Betty Grable looks at the Athenaeum Dance Hall. But Sunday's recklessly lived life is changed dramatically when, one summer morning in 1944, the laundry receives a direct hit from one of Hitler's V-1s, and she finds she is - and it seems permanently - deaf...

The Better Woman


Ber Carroll - 2009
    John Delaney, the boy next-door, is her best friend, her first love and the one who breaks her heart. Jodi Tyler is raised on Sydney's northern beaches amidst a loving family, but a terrible secret shadows her teenage years. On her eighteenth birthday, the awful burden she has been living with is finally exposed, with tragic consequences. This is a story of two remarkable women, their illustrious careers, their families, their friends, and the men they love. Sarah and Jodi, from opposite ends of the world, have more in common than they'll ever realise - they have their sights set on the same job. For both, it represents how far they've come to triumph over the tragedies of their pasts - but at what cost to their personal lives?

The Footman


A. O'Connor - 2015
     What the Footman saw . . . In 1930s Ireland, Joe Grady becomes the footman at the stately home Cliffenden, owned by the glamorous Fullerton family. Joe is enthralled by the intrigue and scandal above stairs, and soon becomes a favourite of the daughter of the house, Cassie. There is mounting pressure on Cassie to marry American banker Wally Stanton. But Cassie is having a secret affair with the unsuitable Bowden Grey. What the Footman did . . . When Cassie and Bowden’s affair is discovered in disgraceful circumstances, the lovers are banned from seeing each other. Joe risks his position at Cliffenden, becoming a messenger between them, until he finds himself making a choice that will change the lives of everyone at Cliffenden forever. Decades later, Joe has achieved great success as a barrister. When suddenly Cassieis arrested for a sensational crime, he sets out to discover what happened to her in the intermittent years. He realises his actions at Cliffenden set off a chain of events that led to murder. But is Cassie guilty? Innocent or guilty, can Joe ever make amends for his part in her downfall?

The Eight-Shilling Girl


Faye Godwin - 2021
    

Skylarks At Sunset


Rita Bradshaw - 2007
    And so when she meets and falls in love with Daniel Fallow, son of a successful businessman, she's quick to accept his proposal of his marriage. His family, though, are against the match, and so the young couple marry in secret. Grudging acceptance follows, and as the Depression worsens Daniel is persuaded to join the family business, unaware of his father's dodgy dealings. Tragedy is just around the corner, and worse is to come when war is declared in 1939: as Daniel leaves to fight and her children are evacuated, Hope wonders if she will ever have all her family around her again...

The Noose


Mark H. Newhouse
     What Ann Frank's Diary did to put a face to the plight of Dutch Jews in WWII, The Devil's Bookkeepers does for the Jew in the Lodz ghetto. Rita Boehm, Award-Winning Author “We need this book now more than ever.” – Wanda Luthman, Award-Winning AuthorLove and courage in the face of unrelenting terror as four men in the Lodz Ghetto struggle to document the tightening of the noose under Nazi rule. Written by the son of Holocaust survivors, this stunning novel based on events described in the Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto (Yale University Press, 1984), asks what you would have sacrificed to be one of the few to survive.Desperate people do desperate things…“…an emotionally riveting account of life inside the ghetto… You cannot read this story and remain unaffected.” – Kimberlee J Benart, 5 Stars Readers’ Favorite “… a riveting, emotionally charged novel… an amazing accomplishment… This is a must-read...” Louis Emond, English Professor

The Smallest Crack (A Holocaust Story, #1)


Roberta Kagan - 2019
    Eli knows that their only chance for survival may lie in the hands of Gretchen, a spirited Aryan girl. However, the forbidden and dangerous friendship between Eli and Gretchen has been a secret until now. Because, for Eli, if it is discovered that he has been keeping company with a woman other than his wife it will bring shame to him and his family. For Gretchen her friendship with a Jew is forbidden by law and could cost her, her life.

Bluebirds: A Battle of Britain Novel


Melvyn Fickling - 2018
    Bluebirds, a novel based on true stories, climaxes in 1940, the world's most dangerous year. A meticulously researched Battle of Britain novel based on the true stories of an East Anglian war hero and the first American volunteer to fire guns against the Nazis, a man who became his friend and brother-in-arms. The Battle of Britain defined the future for Britain, Europe and America. Bluebirds tells the story of four ordinary young men who are thrown together as Hitler plunges the European continent into its darkest hours. Andrew Francis and Gerry Donaldson were born on different sides of the Atlantic just before The Great War. Together with the mildly psychotic Bryan Hale, they fly Spitfires through the summer of 1940. Invasion is imminent and England faces almost certain defeat after Hitler’s unstoppable armies slice through France to the Channel coast. Fighter Command risks total destruction as they rise to meet the Fuhrer’s Luftwaffe hordes in what would become The Battle of Britain. Flying with The Few - Review in FlyPast Magazine October 2017 The first part of a proposed trilogy, Bluebirds stands alone as a gripping fictionalised account of The Battle of Britain, documenting how the lives of its four central characters become intertwined. This has clearly been a labour of love for author Melvyn Fickling, who writes with great clarity about the fast-moving events of that pivotal summer, and who imbues his descriptions of flight with boundless enthusiasm. Structured in time-linear format, Melvyn adheres closely to history, creating an increasingly tense atmosphere that becomes all too tragic when the cost of war is realised. The story follows the path of four pilots, starting with the formative years of three of them, and working its way forward, documenting the fears of war in Europe, and how the threat influences the decisions of all. Andrew Francis joins the pre-war RAF - idealistic and well-mannered, he is somewhat shocked at the fiery antics of fellow pilot Bryan Hale, with whom he nevertheless becomes friends. When war erupts, they are joined at Kenley by American pilot Gerry Donaldson, a volunteer facing pressure from British authorities to document his experiences - a propaganda bid to involve the US more closely in the conflict. Eventually Vincent Drew comes under their wing. Troubled by years of childhood abuse and hiding a serious health condition, with Vincent comes tragedy. In an excellent narrative, the author captures the mood of the times - the fear of invasion, the differing attitudes to the enemy, and the carry-on-regardless spirit that kept Britain in the war. FlyPast Magazine - At the heart of aviation heritage.

Newark Minutemen


Leslie K. Barry - 2020
    Inspired by a true American legend, a Jewish boxer trained by the mafia and FBI fights the rising American Nazi party. During his undercover mission to rid the country of the American Führer, he falls in love with the enemy’s daughter.

The 20th Christmas


Andrea Rodgers - 2014
    For two decades, she grieves the loss of Chase and struggles with her marriage to her husband, Alan. Meanwhile, Lydia Feller mourns the death of her estranged sister, who spent years living on the streets with mental illness and substance abuse. Lydia adopts the boy that she believes was her sister's son and raises him in a happy, stable home with her husband, Daniel, and their four children.God works in miraculous ways as, twenty years later, both women's worlds collide . . .

The Silent Child Boxset: A Collection of Riveting Kidnapping Mysteries


Roger Hayden - 2018
    These stories have accumulated over 300 five-star reviews and have been boxed together for the first time! The Missing A detective nearing retirement must solve a string of child abductions before it’s too late Detective Charles Knight has seen a lot in his long years as an investigator for the Melville County Police Department. Nothing, however, can prepare him for a missing children’s case involving two young girls, eerily abducted around the same time. The search leads to several potential suspects and one mysterious person who sends anonymous letters to Detective Knight’s home, promising more abductions to come. The clock is ticking, the town is on edge, and Knight must use all his resources to save the girls, with the aid of newly-arrived FBI Agent Tanya Garrett. Will they save the girls in time, or will the kidnapper’s deadly game spiral to the point of no return? The Secret Letter A mysterious chain letter is only the beginning to an inescapable nightmare. Homicide Detective Michael Dobson has seen many things in his long years on the force, but nothing can prepare him for a series of murders linked through the same mysterious chain letter mailed to the victims before their untimely demise. The answers lie in the victims’ pasts, leading Dobson and his rookie partner on a serpentine quest through the dark recesses of vengeance and betrayal. Can he stop the killer in time, or will a brutal fate await all who have made the killer’s list?

Worthy McGuire


Tim McGee - 2013
    Time is not on the side of the gruff World War II veteran racing to fulfill a promise he made amid the horrors of the D-Day invasion in Normandy. As he plans a pilgrimage from Michigan to the site of both his best and worst day, Worthy now must rely on those he trusts the least-his family. With no one else to help him meet the physical demands of the trip, Worthy grudgingly includes his grandchildren, David and Shannon, who are each battling their own insecurities. His controlling son, Ted, and his manipulative daughter-in-law, Angela, follow Worthy and his grandkids to France, and they have one goal: to drag the aging war vet back to Michigan where they hope to take command of his finances and place him in a nursing home. As Worthy searches for a family from his past, only time will tell if he can patch the crumbling relationships with his family before it is too late. In this historical tale, a World War II veteran takes a journey of honor and courage as he sets off to complete the most important mission of his long life.

Toys In The Dust


N.M. Brown - 2019
    He is sad that he doesn’t have a doll to play with like the girls do, so Suzy hurries home to fetch one. When she returns, Suzy discovers both Tina and the stranger have vanished. A short while later, traffic officer Leighton Jones, who is fighting his own demons, is driving home from the scene of a near-fatal accident. When Leighton sees a young girl race out in front of his car and vanish into the countryside, he reports the sighting. Unfortunately, his superiors, who are increasingly concerned about Leighton’s mental health, doubt the child exists. But after Tina’s mother confirms her daughter’s disappearance, Leighton risks his job by pursuing his own investigation of the case. Meanwhile, in the Californian countryside, a child killer is relentlessly searching for the one who got away. Leighton has his work cut out. But can he prove his sanity and find Tina before the stranger does? Toys in the Dust is a gripping and fast-paced serial killer thriller, which will appeal to fans of authors like Damien Boyd, Keith Houghton, Mark Edwards and Angela Marsons. It is loosely connected to N.M. Brown's previous thrillers, also featuring Leight Jones, The Girl on the Bus and Carpenter Road, and can be read as part of a series or as an unmissable stand-alone.

The Other Blue Sky: Surviving the Holocaust


Shari J. Ryan - 2018
    Disease, starvation, and much worse, prevented most prisoners from surviving. For infants, it was nearly impossible.I became an anomaly. I shouldn’t be alive. As a child, I didn’t know my life was different from that of others. I had nothing to compare it to, and I had no insight about the day I was born ... until the moment I overheard the truth.In a split second, I became a stranger to my reflection, my name, and my reason for being. I was not Annie anymore, and the people raising me were not my parents. Even the blue sky I cherished became an unfamiliar sight.I felt utterly alone in a foreign world, but that changed when I met another person who was lost, like me. Fisher offered his hand to hold and began to prove his theory of, “When two missing people find one another, they can consider themselves found.”Fisher enlightened me, and through him, I gained a deeper understanding of life. Now, I know there are two sides of the beautiful, blue sky. I’m on one side, and my lost loved ones are on the other, but at the end of it all, we’ll be together again under the one and only sky.

The New Neighbours


Diney Costeloe - 2013
    Dartmouth Circle is a quiet cul-de-sac on the edge of a university town. Its residents take pride in their little community. All gates are painted and front gardens weeded, and nobody ever forgets bin collection day. So when the news breaks that a neighbour has sold his house to students, the residents are aghast. Students are loud, irresponsible and messy. They have all night parties, dabble with illegal substances and revel in questionable hygiene. When Madeleine Richmond and her friends move in, their greeting is less than warm. But a few ruffled feathers soon reveal there's a lot more going on in the Circle than appearances suggest...