Book picks similar to
Fatherland / Enigma by Robert Harris


fiction
historical-fiction
dystopian
historical

The Light in the Ruins


Chris Bohjalian - 2013
    1943: Tucked away in the idyllic hills south of Florence, the Rosatis, an Italian family of noble lineage, believe that the walls of their ancient villa will keep them safe from the war raging across Europe. Eighteen-year-old Cristina spends her days swimming in the pool, playing with her young niece and nephew, and wandering aimlessly amid the estate’s gardens and olive groves. But when two soldiers, a German and an Italian, arrive at the villa asking to see an ancient Etruscan burial site, the Rosatis’ bucolic tranquility is shattered. A young German lieutenant begins to court Cristina, the Nazis descend upon the estate demanding hospitality, and what was once their sanctuary becomes their prison. 1955: Serafina Bettini, an investigator with the Florence police department, has her own demons. A beautiful woman, Serafina carefully hides her scars along with her haunting memories of the war. But when she is assigned to a gruesome new case—a serial killer targeting the Rosatis, murdering the remnants of the family one-by-one in cold blood—Serafina finds herself digging into a past that involves both the victims and her own tragic history. Set against an exquisitely rendered Italian countryside, The Light in the Ruins unveils a breathtaking story of moral paradox, human frailty, and the mysterious ways of the heart.

Atonement


Ian McEwan - 2001
    But Briony’s incomplete grasp of adult motives and her precocious imagination bring about a crime that will change all their lives, a crime whose repercussions Atonement follows through the chaos and carnage of World War II and into the close of the twentieth century.

Gondar


Nicholas Luard - 1988
    Richly created and lushly told, it is peopled with unforgettable characters both real and imaginary, set in an Africa of violence, spectacle and romance.

Forlorn Hope: The Storming of Badajoz


James Mace - 2012
    With Napoleon obsessed by the invasion of Russia, Wellington turns toward Spain. The way is barred by two fortresses, Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz. When Ciudad Rodrigo collapses after a short siege, Wellington prepares to break the fortress of Badajoz, the most formidable stronghold in Europe.Lieutenant James Webster is in mourning following the loss of his wife, and he volunteers to command the small group that will lead the assault. Second in command is Sergeant Thomas Davis; recently diagnosed with a fatal illness, he prefers a valiant death in battle. Breaches have been blown into the walls of the southern bastions, Trinidad and Santa Maria, and here Wellington will unleash the 4th and Light Divisions, while launching diversionary assaults on the northern San Vincente bastion, as well as the Badajoz castle. Together with one hundred volunteers, the Forlorn Hope, Webster and Davis will storm the breach.

Judgment of The Witch


Robert R. McCammon - 2003
     The Carolinas, 1699: The citizens of Fount Royal believe their town is cursed by a witch. What else could explain the sudden fires, crop failures and gruesome murders? Convinced that Rachel Howarth, the beautiful widow of the recently slain minister, is to blame, they throw her into a gaol to await trial and execution. Presiding over the trial is traveling magistrate Issac Woodward, aided by his astute young clerk, Matthew -- who, despite the evidence against Rachel, believes in her innocence. But soon he realizes that there truly is Evil at work in Fount Royal: a malevolent force more powerful than any witch could ever hope to conjure....

The French Resistance


Christopher Nicole - 2018
     When Captain James Barron arrives in France as an intelligence officer in May 1940, the extravagant welcome he receives from the prosperous de Gruchy family lures him into a sense of safety, despite the war that escalates daily around the world. Barron's stay at the wealthy wine merchant family home is suddenly interrupted when word reaches that Germany has crossed the border... What follows is an epic historical saga that stretches across France and encapsulates the real life stories of love, heroism and resistance that inspired Christopher Nicole's acclaimed series. Praise for Christopher Nicole: “Fast-paced, entertaining, appealing!” – Library Journal Christopher Nicole’s novels have been read by millions all over the world. Born and raised in Georgetown, Guyana, he later attended colleges in Guyana and in Barbados. In his long prolific career, Nicole has published over 200 novels and non-fiction works. From Severn House, his McGann family chronicles concluded with Raging Sea, Searing Sky and The Passion and The Glory, whilst more recent publications have included The Triumph, Dragon’s Blood and The Command.

The Ocean's Daughter


Corinne Beenfield - 2020
    Helen Danner is sure she will drown in it. The Nazis have taken everything from her. Laughter, light, love—they’d been so much a part of her life. Now in a home once filled with family, only her own lonely footsteps echo. Rejected from becoming a host parent during the mass child evacuation, her heart shatters once again. Thousands of children are fleeing to Wales by boat, seeking safety, comfort…and love. All she wants is one. But she’ll need to convince Stuart Adams, the handsome officer who rejected her application. When a mysterious child comes into her life, peculiar things happen that neither she nor Officer Adams can explain. As they learn more about the girl—and the strange tie she has to a world that wants her back—Helen forms a dangerous attachment to her. Can Helen risk loving the girl, knowing that losing her might destroy her completely?

Eleven Miles to Oshkosh


Jim Guhl - 2018
    His father, a deputy sheriff, has been murdered by the unknown "Highway 41 Killer." His mom has unraveled. And a goon named Larry Buskin has been pummeling Minnow behind Neenah High.Minnow finds support in the company of his roguish grandfather, his loyal pal Mark, and beautiful Opal Parsons, who has her own worries as the first African American student in their school. When the sheriff seems in no hurry to solve the murder, Minnow must seek justice by partnering with unlikely allies and discovering his own courage.

After the Event: Survival in a Powerless World Boxset


J.S. Donovan - 2020
    The sudden explosion of an EMP bomb hurls her and the rest of country back to the Stone Age. Pushed to her limit, Eva must pull out every stop to keep her kin alive. Meanwhile, a foreign threat rises from the rumble of a crippled society. Winter draws near. Will Eva’s preparation be enough or will she be buried beneath the snows of chaos? Aftermath Separated from her husband and daughter, thirty-nine-year-old psychologist Naomi Baxter finds herself trapped on the streets of Philadelphia. The brutal February cold gnaws at her skin as she strives to reunite with her family. Having a keen understanding of the human condition, Naomi knows that she must find her daughter before anarchy consumes the city. Lights Out The nation's power grid has failed. Hundreds of millions are left without basic utilities, and the enemy responsible for the EMP's detonation now wreaks havoc throughout the countryside.

The Sheikh And The Dustbin, And, Other Mc Auslan Stories


George MacDonald Fraser - 1988
    George MacDonald Fraser is the author of the "Flashman" novels.

Suite Française


Irène Némirovsky - 2004
    But she was also a Jew, and in 1942 she was arrested and deported to Auschwitz: a month later she was dead at the age of thirty-nine. Two years earlier, living in a small village in central France—where she, her husband, and their two small daughters had fled in a vain attempt to elude the Nazis—she'd begun her novel, a luminous portrayal of a human drama in which she herself would become a victim. When she was arrested, she had completed two parts of the epic, the handwritten manuscripts of which were hidden in a suitcase that her daughters would take with them into hiding and eventually into freedom. Sixty-four years later, at long last, we can read Némirovsky's literary masterpiece The first part, "A Storm in June," opens in the chaos of the massive 1940 exodus from Paris on the eve of the Nazi invasion during which several families and individuals are thrown together under circumstances beyond their control. They share nothing but the harsh demands of survival—some trying to maintain lives of privilege, others struggling simply to preserve their lives—but soon, all together, they will be forced to face the awful exigencies of physical and emotional displacement, and the annihilation of the world they know. In the second part, "Dolce," we enter the increasingly complex life of a German-occupied provincial village. Coexisting uneasily with the soldiers billeted among them, the villagers—from aristocrats to shopkeepers to peasants—cope as best they can. Some choose resistance, others collaboration, and as their community is transformed by these acts, the lives of these these men and women reveal nothing less than the very essence of humanity.Suite Française is a singularly piercing evocation—at once subtle and severe, deeply compassionate, and fiercely ironic—of life and death in occupied France, and a brilliant, profoundly moving work of art.

The Leader


Guy Walters - 2003
    He and his new bride, Wallis Simpson, are preparing for their coronation.Winston Churchill is a prisoner on the Isle of Man.The Prime Minister, Oswald Mosley consults the new Chancellor of Germany, and his close ally, Adolf Hitler on a more 'permanent' solution to the 'Jewish problem'.The secret police have Britain in an iron grip.But one man, James Armstrong , a hero of the Great War, is organising the resistance against the government . While 'the leader' is determined to see him hang, Armstrong, constantly on the run, is every bit as clever and resolute as his enemy.

Widow Maker: A Novel of World War II


E.R. Johnson - 2012
    The B-26--dubbed Widow Maker by the press and the aircrews who flew her--was one of the most controversial aircraft produced in the United States during the war. These young men find themselves confronted not only with doubts about the airplane they are given to fly, but also the sometimes fatal choices made by a military organization unprepared to employ them in combat. Against the setting of World War II Europe, the heart and minds of these young men are revealed as they are forces to make a swift and frequently terrifying journey into manhood. The differences between them, seemingly irreconcilable at first, fade away as they form the ancient bond between men whose lives must depend upon one another in combat. But even after these young Americans make the transition into seasoned warriors, they are still faced with the grim reality that some of them will survive--and some will not.

Friedrich


Hans Peter Richter - 1961
    At first, Friedrich seemed to be the more fortunate, but when Hitler came to power, things began to change. Friedrich was expelled from school and became an orphan when his mother died and his father was arrested and deported.This is a terrifying story of the destruction of a single Jewish family.

Sashenka


Simon Sebag Montefiore - 2008
    Outside the Smolny Institute for Noble Young Ladies, an English governess is waiting for her young charge to be released from school. But so are the Tsar’s secret police… Beautiful and headstrong, Sashenka Zeitlin is just sixteen. As her mother parties with Rasputin and her dissolute friends, Sashenka slips into the frozen night to play her part in a dangerous game of conspiracy and seduction. Twenty years on, Sashenka has a powerful husband with whom she has two children. Around her people are disappearing, but her own family is safe. But she's about to embark on a forbidden love affair which will have devastating consequences. Sashenka's story lies hidden for half a century, until a young historian goes deep into Stalin's private archives and uncovers a heart-breaking tale of passion and betrayal, savage cruelty and unexpected heroism - and one woman forced to make an unbearable choice.