20th Century

Two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France

Paris, 1943. The scent of fresh baguettes hangs in the air as Coralie unbolts the door to her bakery with trembling fingers.

Bold and fearless, Nina Markova always dreamed of flying. When the Nazis attack the Soviet Union, she risks everything to join the legendary Night Witches, an all-female night bomber regiment wreaking havoc on the invading Germans....

Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist....

An enthralling historical saga that recreates the danger, romance, and sacrifice of an era and brings to life one courageous, passionate American - Mildred Fish Harnack - and her circle of women friends who waged a clandestine battle against Hitler in Nazi Berlin....

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Calamity of Souls comes David Baldacci’s newest novel, set in London in 1944, about a bereaved book shop owner and two teenagers scarred by the second world war, and the healing and hope they find in one another.

This beautiful, illuminating tale of hope and courage is based on interviews that were conducted with Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov - an unforgettable love story in the midst of atrocity....

It is 1936, and Nancy Wake is an intrepid Australian expat living in Paris who has bluffed her way into a reporting job for Hearst newspaper when she meets the wealthy French industrialist Henri Fiocca....

Lina Meisel, a retired librarian in Florida, is reading the newspaper one morning when she freezes. Her eyes lock on a photograph of a book she hasn’t seen in 65 years - a book she recognizes as The Book of Lost Names....

For fans of fast-paced historical thrillers like Our Woman in Moscow and The Rose Code, Kelly Rimmer’s dramatic new novel follows two female SOE operatives whose lives will be determined by a double agent in their midst.

Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. He's a normal Italian teenager - obsessed with music, food, and girls....

From the New York Times bestselling author John Boyne, a devastating, beautiful story about a woman who must confront the sins of her own terrible past, and a present in which it is never too late for bravery....

Inspired by the real-life heroine who saved thousands of Jewish children during WWII, The Warsaw Orphan is Kelly Rimmer’s most anticipated novel since her bestselling sensation, The Things We Cannot Say....

From Robert Dugoni, Jeff Langholz, and Chris Crabtree comes an epic and inspiring novel—based on true events—about love, heroism, and resilience during the darkest chapters of World War II.

From bestselling authors Janie Chang and Kate Quinn comes a thrilling and unforgettable narrative about the intertwined lives of two wronged women, spanning from the chaos of the San Francisco earthquake to the glittering palaces of Versailles....

#1 New York Times bestselling author Danielle Steel delivers an exciting and moving historical novel about a courageous wife and mother hiding in occupied France.

Inspired by the true World War II history of the few bookshops to survive the Blitz, The Last Bookshop in London is a timeless story of wartime loss, love, and the enduring power of literature....

Los Angeles, 2005. Sienna Hayes, Hollywood’s latest It Girl, has ambitions to work behind the camera. When she meets Lena Browning, the enormously mysterious and famous Golden Age movie star, Sienna sees her big break....

From three bestselling authors comes an interwoven tale about a trio of World War II nurses stationed in the South Pacific who wage their own battle for freedom and survival.

From the author of The Secret Society of Salzburg comes a powerful and moving story of bravery and resilience in World War II Paris and one woman who must face impossible choices to survive....

An enchanting novel about fate, second chances, and hope, lost and found, by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Last of the Moon Girls....

An extraordinarily accomplished debut novel—33 Place Brugmann is a love story, mystery, and philosophical puzzle, told in the singular voices of the residents of a Beaux Arts apartment house in Belgium during World War II.

From the New York Times-bestselling author of We Were the Lucky Ones comes an unforgettable story of hardship and hope, courage and resilience, that follows one young woman’s journey through war-torn Italy.

A captivating, bighearted, richly tapestried story of people brought together by love, war, art, flood, and the ghost of E. M. Forster, by the celebrated author of Tin Man....

From the author of the number one best seller Beneath a Scarlet Sky comes a new historical novel inspired by one family’s incredible story of daring, survival, and triumph....

In July 1944, Arielle von Auspeck arrives at the glamorous Hotel Ritz in occupied Paris. Half French, half German, she is happy to be back in France, where her husband, Gregor, a retired colonel, will join her soon from Germany. Arielle and Gregor have thus far been able to hide their private opposition to Hitler. Then her world falls apart. She receives word that Gregor was part of Operation Valkyrie, a failed attempt to assassinate Hitler in Poland, and has been shot as a traitor.

1940, Emilia Romagna. Lili and Esti have been best friends since meeting at the University of Ferrara; when Esti’s son Theo is born, they become as close as sisters. There is a war being fought across borders, and in Italy, Mussolini’s Racial Laws have deemed Lili and Esti descendants of an ‘inferior’ Jewish race, but life somehow goes on—until Germany invades northern Italy, and the friends find themselves in occupied territory.

On the eve of the Nazi occupation, in the heart of Brussels, life for the residents of 33 Place Brugmann is about to change forever. Charlotte Sauvin, an art student raised by her beloved architect father in apartment 4L, knows all the details of the building and its people: how light falls on wood floors and voices echo off the marble staircase, the distinct knock of her dear friend, Julian Raphaël, the son of the art dealer’s family across the hall. Then the Raphaëls disappear, leaving everything behind but their priceless art collection, which has simply vanished.

After a devastating loss, Grania Ryan flees her life as an artist in New York and returns home to Ireland and the arms of her loving family. While out walking the windswept cliffs of West Cork, she comes across Aurora, an enigmatic eight-year-old girl. Mysteriously drawn to the troubled child, Grania soon discovers that the histories of their families are strangely and deeply entwined.

1940, England: Clementine Churchill is standing alone on a rooftop in London as bombs rain down on the city when a nearby explosion almost knocks her off her feet. Shaking, she rushes homewards to 10 Downing Street and breathes a sigh of relief when she sees the famous building is still there. It means the Prime Minister–her husband–is still alive.

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. They can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. A decade of monumental change and slaughter. Many of society’s telling questions are cast aside in times of that speak of greater needs, greater priorities. For these talented authors their ideas and words keep these magnificent stories at the forefront of our literary lives.

When Zosia arrives at Foxglove Cottage holding her small son's hand in hers, she is desperate for a new beginning. Her new job is to help 70-year-old Hazel transform her tumbledown cottage and re-open the enchanting old café, steeped in folklore. When neighbourly Leon arrives to help them restore the café, Zosia can't help falling for his rugged charm. But her heart has been shattered before, so she distracts herself by translating an old diary that’s been in Hazel's family for generations. She discovers an extraordinary love story from World War Two hidden in the yellowing pages.

1944, Germany. Louise struggles down from the cattle car, stumbling on the platform as guards shout harsh threats to keep moving. Blinking at the rows of terrified women, hope drains from her heart as her sister’s warnings ring in her ears…Seven months earlier, Paris. Louise Beaufoy ushers the American airforcemen down to her basement, heart racing and ears pricked. Will this group finally be the one that gets her caught?

Kitty learned early on in her marriage that her husband, Bill Dunbar, isn’t reliable with money. So when they inherit the Dunbar family hotel at the start of the war, she's hopeful that their financial worries are over… until the bailiffs turn up! With Bill away fighting, it’s up to Kitty to turn things around for her family, or risk ruin. Lily worked as a chambermaid at Dunbar’s before the war. She met Daniel there, but their relationship was complicated by class differences and the disapproval of Daniel’s mother.

May, 1915. Nineteen-year-old Isle Marie Stahl experiences tragedy travelling on board the RMS Lusitania with her parents from New York to a new life in England, when the ship is sunk by a German U-boat. Isle survives, but is all alone. She distracts herself from the pain by becoming a nurse tending to the casualties of war on the front line at Ypres.

After an unexpected heartbreak and a nasty accident on a busy Liverpool street, Lara Flynn is desperate to start afresh and leave painful memories behind her. She takes on a new job as a district nurse and midwife at a country practice, in the remote Lancashire village of Ingleside. But instead of the friendly rural idyll she pictures, Lara finds she must cycle vast distances to visit locals who harbour an innate suspicion of a newcomer from the city – as well as dealing with unpredictable livestock, an erratic senior doctor and often challenging medical cases.

Seventeen-year-old Maddie has grown up in a boarding house on one of Blackpool's poorest streets. Life is busy, but happy, as she works alongside her mother taking care of their visitors. But when war breaks out, her happiness is shattered as her fiancé is called up to fight for his country, and suddenly Maddie's future is filled with uncertainty.

Months before the start of the Pacific War in 1941, John Reeves – his career and marriage failing – is posted as British consul to the tiny Portuguese colony of Macao in southern China. The Japanese soon declare war on the West with their attacks on Pearl Harbor and Hong Kong. But because Portugal is neutral, Macao is left alone and becomes a tiny island of neutrality, an Asian Casablanca surrounded by Japanese-occupied China. Reeves, a lonely and awkward man, finds himself the only senior representative of the Allies within a radius of thousands of miles.

Echoes of Armageddon: Voices from the Second World War plunges listeners into the heart of history's most devastating conflict through a unique and gripping collection of fictionalized interviews. This is not a typical retelling of battles and dates; it's an exploration of the human experience of war, told through the imagined voices of those who lived it.

Auschwitz, established in 1940, stands as a profound symbol of the Holocaust, representing not only the systematic extermination of millions but also the resilience of the human spirit. Initially conceived as a concentration camp for Polish political prisoners, it expanded rapidly to become a major center for the Nazi regime's genocidal policies. By the time it was liberated in January 1945, over 1.1 million people, primarily Jews, had perished within its walls.

Sono gli anni del secondo conflitto mondiale; Katherine Lind è una ragazza straniera che ha trovato lavoro nella biblioteca di una piccola città della provincia inglese, diretta dall'insopportabile signor Anstey. Un giorno riceve una lettera: è di Robin Fennel, il suo vecchio amico di penna, una delle poche persone che conosce nel paese. Il pensiero di Katherine corre subito alla leggendaria estate dei suoi sedici anni, passata nella casa dei Fennel, e all'attrazione nata tra lei e Robin. Non si sono mai più sentiti da allora, ma lui - che è sotto le armi - le annuncia una visita.

Nach Als die Welt uns gehörte (Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis 2023) ein neuer bewegender realistischer Jugendroman über den 2. Weltkrieg von Bestsellerautorin Liz Kessler für Hörer:innen ab 11 Jahren. Holland, 1942. Die Welt befindet sich im Krieg, die Macht der Nazis wächst von Tag zu Tag, und jüdische Familien sind in großer Gefahr. Die zwölfjährige Mila und ihre ältere Schwester Hannie werden deshalb von ihren Eltern zu einer Familie in Amsterdam geschickt, mit neuen Identitäten und der strikten Anweisung, niemandem zu sagen, dass sie Juden sind.

A heart-wrenching wartime romance about second chances, courage, and choosing love despite fear… Five years after losing his beloved wife, renowned composer Victor Grayson lives as a recluse in his hillside cottage, his music silenced by grief. When determined nurse Clara Hensley arrives at his door requesting he play for departing soldiers, he reluctantly agrees to “one night.” Clara's unwavering spirit awakens something Victor thought long dead—the courage to feel again. As their connection deepens through shared music and quiet moments, Victor discovers his heart hasn't finished ...

A World War 1 infantry rifle calls itself The Rifle and narrates its life story. It reads the mind of the human holding it and senses the human’s emotions. The Rifle’s first owner is “FC,” and it reveals his emotional experiences fighting in WW1 in muddy trenches. After the war, The Rifle and FC go hunting in Africa, where FC befriends a Bushman living his historical 100,000-year-old hunter-gatherer lifestyle. The two humans become mutually respected friends for a lifetime and each learns the other's native language.

1941 год. Немецкие войска на подступах к Москве. Небольшому отряду советских солдат во главе с лейтенантом Игорем Ивановским поручено уничтожить склад боеприпасов в тылу врага. При переходе линии фронта группа несет потери, но несмотря ни на что оставшиеся в живых бойцы обязаны успеть выполнить приказ до рассвета. В 1974 году за повесть "Дожить до рассвета" Василь Быков был удостоен Государственной премии СССР.

The village trattoria, Casa Maria, is famed for its food and for Elena, the formidable matriarch who runs it. But now war has come to Umbria. Sophia di Luca cooks brilliantly and expects to take over the trattoria from Elena one day. But instead it is charismatic, unpredictable Giorgio Capaldi who has inherited it and now arrives from Rome to run it. While Sophia and Giorgio clash, the town falls under Nazi occupation. And when no one knows who to trust, it is Casa Maria that becomes the centre for secrets, dangerous passions and ultimately betrayal.

Baviera, 1944. C'è profumo di sapone di Marsiglia e di latte dolce nel reparto maternità di Heim Hochland dove Renée ha trovato rifugio. Nonostante non parli tedesco, tra tovaglie floreali e zuppiere fumanti quel posto le sembra piú una casa per vacanze che una clinica. Ci è arrivata esausta e impaurita dopo il duro viaggio dalla Francia. Appena ha scoperto di essere incinta di Artur, l'ufficiale delle SS, è scappata via.

Endphase Zweiter Weltkrieg - Ein packender Erlebnisbericht über den Endkampf ums Dritte Reich zwischen West- und Ostfront. April 1945: Unteroffizier Heinrich Peller wird als Angehöriger der eiligst aus dem Boden gestampften Infanterie-Division "Potsdam" General Wencks 12. Armee unterstellt. Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht wirft diese in den Endkampf um die Elbe und Berlin. Während die US-Armee aus dem Westen an die Elbe stürmt, rückt die Ostfront an Berlin heran. Die Rote Armee setzt zur Einkesselung der deutschen Hauptstadt an.

Una impactante inmersión en la Alemania nazi narrada desde el punto de vista de las mujeres. Baviera, 1944. Los rumores de la guerra apenas llegan a la primera maternidad nazi, la Heim Hochland, creada por Heinrich Himmler en 1936 como parte del programa llamado Lebensborn. En ese idílico lugar se hace todo lo posible para ofrecer un ambiente armonioso a los hijos recién nacidos de miembros de las SS y a sus madres. Allí trabaja Helga, una enfermera modélica y entregada, que cuida de mujeres embarazadas y bebés, pero que asiste a situaciones que harán tambalearse sus certezas.

A story of the extraordinary lives of ordinary people. Set between Victorian Liverpool and Dundee and the battlefields of the First World War, three families face the perils of life on the economic cliff-edge, where a single misstep can send lives plunging out of control. Crossing a century of dramatic change, their journey begins in the aftermath of the slave trade, moving through the era of Empire expansion and Industrial Revolution to a time of religious strife and global conflict.