Book picks similar to
1917 by Kelly Gardiner
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historical-fiction
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London, Part 1 of 3
Edward Rutherfurd - 1998
He brings this vibrant city's long and noble history alive through the ever-shifting fortunes, fates, and intrigues of half-a-dozen families, from the age of Julius Caesar to the 20th century. Generation after generation, these families embody the passion, struggle, wealth, and verve of the greatest city in the world.
The Nemesis File: The True Story of an SAS Execution Squad
Paul Bruce - 1995
During a police investigation (concluded in 1996), however, the author admitted that his claims were untrue. The investigation proved that the book was fraudulent, that the purported SAS "execution squads" did not exist, and that the book is not a memoir but a "work of fiction."'Paul Bruce' was the pseudonym of Paul Inman, a former mechanic in the British Army's Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, and he was never a member of the SAS (Special Air Service). 'The Nemesis File: The True Story of an SAS Execution Squad,' therefore, is a work of sensational fiction which only served to exacerbate the sectarian divide in Northern Ireland through which Inman and the publisher (John Blake, a former tabloid editor) could financially profit.
Sword of Rome: The Complete Campaigns
Richard Foreman - 2013
The stories are a blend of action, intrigue and Ancient History.Sword of Rome: The Complete Campaigns includes - Sword of Rome: Standard Bearer:Britain, 55 BC. Julius Caesar’s invasion of the wild and mineral-rich land is becalmed, a stalemate exists between the forces of Rome and Britain. But the standard bearer of the Tenth Legion, Lucius Oppius, is about to display a depth of courage that will change the course of the invasion – and history…Sword of Rome: Alesia:Alesia, 52BC. Caesar's army stands upon the brink of annihilation, caught between two enemy armies. Oppius is ordered to venture north of Alesia to capture Vercingetorix's war chest of gold. He will be accompanied in his mission by one of Caesar's agents, the beguiling Livia - the centurion's former lover.As Caesar and Mark Antony face a battle for their lives outside the walls of Alesia, Oppius will have to fight against the odds to find and secure the gold. Yet will completing the mission this time exact too high a price?Sword of Rome: Gladiator:Rome, 51BC. Lucius Oppius has left the battlefields of Gaul to venture to Rome. But he is about to discover the capital of the Empire can be every bit as dangerous as its provinces. Under orders from Caesar to secure an item of intelligence that will help him become a Consul again Oppius is manipulated into taking part in a gladiatorial contest. Oppius soon discovers that while in Gaul your the enemies stand before you in a shield wall in Rome they stab you in the back...Sword of Rome: Rubicon:Ravenna, 50BC. Caesar’s forces stand upon the borders of Gaul and Italy. The prospect of a civil war grows ever likelier each day.In Rome, Cicero attempts to secure a peace. Against him, a powerful faction in the Senate is bent upon destroying Caesar, for personal and political reasons.War hinges upon the will of Pompey, the only man capable of stopping Caesar. Caesar stands upon the banks of the Rubicon, an enemy of the state. The die is cast. An empire will now be at war, spearheaded by the two great men of the age...Sword of Rome: Pharsalus:Pharsalus, 48BC. The battle will decide the fate of a civil war and empire. Caesar's forces are outnumbered, but he believes his veterans will not be outmatched.For one veteran, Lucius Oppius, the battle will be about revenge rather than glory. Oppius has vowed to avenge his father's death. His enemy is Flavius Laco - a former gladiator and an agent of Pompey the Great.Against the backdrop of one of Ancient History's most momentous battles two soldiers will wage their own personal war...Caesar, Pompey, Mark Antony, Brutus and Cicero all feature in the climax to the bestselling Sword of Rome series.
The Last Will and Testament of Henry Hoffman
John Tesarsch - 2015
Afterwards, hisdaughter Eleanor discovers a will, in which he has left his entireestate to a woman she has never heard of before. Hiding it fromher siblings, she sets out to solve this mystery, and to unearth theconfronting truth about her reclusive father’s past.But Henry isn’t the only Hoffman with secrets. In the months thatfollow, his children learn things about each other they could neverpreviously have imagined.The Last Will and Testament of Henry Hoffman is a gripping andmany-layered story of love and loss, conflict and survival. Itexplores subjects that affect us all: guilt and redemption, theinescapability of the past, and how trauma resonates acrossgenerations.
Victory at Villers-Bretonneux
Peter FitzSimons - 2016
If the Australians can hold this, the very gate to Amiens, then the Germans will not win the war.'It's up to us, then,' one of the Diggers writes in his diary. Arriving at Villers-Bretonneux just in time, the Australians are indeed able to hold off the Germans, launching a vicious counterattack that hurls the Germans back the first time. And then, on Anzac Day 1918, when the town falls after all to the British defenders, it is again the Australians who are called on to save the day, the town, and the entire battle.Not for nothing does the primary school at Villers-Bretonneux have above every blackboard, to this day, 'N'oublions jamais, l'Australie.' Never forget Australia.And they never have
Office of Innocence
Thomas Keneally - 2003
As Sydney braces itself for a Japanese invasion, Father Frank Darragh finds his pastoral duties becoming increasingly challenging. How should he counsel an AWOL black American soldier who may face death for his involvement with a white woman? And what should he say to another woman—the distressingly beguiling Kate Heggarty—who impresses him with her virtue even as she edges toward sin? When Kate is found murdered, Darragh falls under suspicion. And even if the police clear him, his superiors—and his own conscience—may not. Office of Innocence is a book that’s impossible to put down, dense with moral complexity and alive with period detail.
There Was a Time
Frank White - 2017
A Lincolnshire village on a glorious summer's morning in 1940, the countryside as still as a painting. In the blue sky above, the fate of the whole war will soon rest with the RAF and their desperate effort to win the Battle of Britain. If they fail, Hitler's next step will be invasion. And as the scene comes to life before us over the next six months, this shadow of war will not disappear - the conflict will take husbands and sons away, bring in evacuees from the city and soldiers to defend the coast. There will be more money from war work, but less to spend it on - legitimately at least. Everywhere, the feeling of change is in the air. From the pub to the church, the humblest cottage to the biggest farm, from a struggling single mother to the lady of the manor, the paper boy to a traumatised bomb disposal volunteer, this superb jewel of a novel portrays a community of people and weaves together their stories with passion, betrayal, intrigue and suspense.
Land of Blood and Water
Martin Lake - 2015
A family at the mercy of men of power and violence. Brand and his family live simple lives in their quiet corner of Somerset. The war that Wessex wages against the heathen Danes takes place far away and is of no concern to them. But when a desperate war-band descends upon them one winter night their lives are changed forever. They are thrown into a dark world of savage warfare, lust, revenge and murder. Brand believes he can decide the path that he and his family must tread. But others have very different ideas. At stake is the survival of the kingdom. And now their lives are bound up with the fugitive King Alfred of Wessex. A gripping story from an accomplished author. Elaine Jeremiah. Author. The emotional content of the book is one of the highlights of the narrative. The characters are well written, the action flows seamlessly and the reader is left with a feeling as if they had been there. Paul Bennett. Fast paced from the start, the story blossoms as you read. A new novel from the author of The Lost King series.
Buckley's Chance
Garry Linnell - 2020
What happens next will become one of the most remarkable survival stories in history.The 19th century has just begun. The world is at war. England, ruled by a mad king, is exiling thousands of criminals to an old land that has become its newest dumping ground.One of those prisoners is William Buckley, barely 21, a former soldier sentenced to life for stealing two small pieces of cloth. He’s a giant for his times. But it’s not just his towering frame that sets him apart. It’s his desire for freedom that will make his story so unique - even in an era famous for outrageous acts of bravery and heroism.On a moonlit night Buckley escapes and disappears into the Australian bush. Discovered and adopted by an aboriginal tribe who regard him as a ghost, he is initiated into their rich and complex culture. Given up for dead by his white captors, he will not be seen again for more than 30 years until he emerges one day...carrying a spear, dressed in animal skins and having forgotten the English language.Buckley’s Chance is a profound journey into a turning point in history where cultures clash, bitter rivals go to war and the body count mounts.It’s also the story of a man who refuses to be held down.A man prepared to defy all odds and take a chance.Buckley’s chance.
The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Richard Flanagan - 2013
At its heart is one day in a Japanese slave labour camp in August 1943. As the day builds to its horrific climax, Dorrigo Evans battles and fails in his quest to save the lives of his fellow POWs, a man is killed for no reason, and a love story unfolds.
The Second World War, Vol. 3: The War at Sea (Essential Histories Book 1)
Philip D. Grove - 2003
The war at sea was a critical contest, as sea-lanes provided the logistical arteries for British and subsequent Allied armies fighting on the three continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe. Land forces ultimately won World War II, but the battles at sea fundamentally altered the balance of military power on the ground.
Survival: Hijacking into Freedom: Based on a True WW2 Story
M. Ben Yanay - 2016
When his brigade is put to the service of the fleeing German forces, at end of the Second World War, Janus finds himself driving an SS truck under heavy soviet attacks in the Hungarian woods. With his wife and children on his mind, he tries to escape.
An engulfing human drama based on real historical events
In the woods, Janus meets Bob, an Afro-American pilot from the famous all black "Tuskegee Squadron" unit. Bob is shot down at war and captured by a group of Partisans, where he meets Ina, a Russian medical officer who dreams of a new life in America. Against all odds, and despite their different backgrounds, religions and languages, these three uncommon heroes manage to capture a German train locomotive and try to drive it to their freedom.All the while, Janus's wife, Terry, endures war with their three children, first in the city, and then at the Ghetto of Debrecen, their hometown. After her middle child is murdered, the family is sent to extermination in Auschwitz, but miraculously saved at the last moment.
A remarkable view of World War II read with bated breath
Towards the end of the war, these four stories converge into one unbelievable drama, providing a gripping and multidimensional view of a most significant period in the history of humanity. Get your copy of Survival now!
The Red Pavillion
Jean Chapman - 1995
Liz Hammond and her mother Blanche are returning to the rubber plantation they were forced to abandon at the outbreak of war. The beautiful Malayan jungle and exotic estate of her childhood have remained in Liz's heart even after she was forced to leave it for the security of England in the war years. But as Liz and Blanche travel out to Singapore they are met with tales of Communist uprisings, violence, banditry and, most ominously, Liz’s father’s disappearance. Under the military protection of Major Sturgess and a young guardsman, Alan, they try to track Mr Hammond down. Liz quickly falls for Alan, but she knows she can’t let her love for him overshadow her concern for her missing father. She struggles with reconciling the treacherous country she now finds herself in with the paradise of her youth. And she no longer knows who she can trust. Old friends are called into question and new friends are shadowed with doubt as this tense plot unwinds with love, heartache and action.
All That I Am
Anna Funder - 2011
Ten years later, Ruth and Hans are married and living in Weimar Berlin when Hitler is elected chancellor of Germany. Together with Dora and her lover, Ernst Toller, the celebrated poet and self-doubting revolutionary, the four become hunted outlaws overnight and are forced to flee to London. Inspired by the fearless Dora to breathtaking acts of courage, the friends risk betrayal and deceit as they dedicate themselves to a dangerous mission: to inform the British government of the very real Nazi threat to which it remains willfully blind. All That I Am is the heartbreaking story of these extraordinary people, who discover that Hitler’s reach extends much further than they had thought.Gripping, compassionate, and inspiring, this remarkable debut novel reveals an uncommon depth of humanity and wisdom. Anna Funder has given us a searing and intimate portrait of courage and its price, of desire and ambition, and of the devastating consequences when they are thwarted.