Fiction Women World War

At the onset of the first World War, E.G. Lewis wielded his outsized charm and entrepreneurial spirit to attract legions of women to move across the country to build a new American dream in Atascadero, California. His new city, envisioned to rival Los Angeles and San Francisco, targeted the millions of subscribers to his national women's magazines who longed for a utopia designed for progressive women and their families.

The life of a Bomb Girl isn't usually glamourous. But Maggie is getting married, so she is going to make sure her wedding day is - even if she does have to spend every other day slaving on the factory floor. This blasted factory was not what Julia had in mind either. She had always dreamed of attending Oxford University rather than getting her hands dirty, and the easy laughter of the other women intimidates her terribly. But they are all here together in this munitions factory in a Lancashire mill town, sharing firsts, pitching in and getting on. These Bomb Girls are going to do their best at work and in love.

Ruth Amundsen grew up poor in Michigan’s rural Upper Peninsula during the 1920s and 1930s. As she ventured beyond the village of Big Bay, she left her real home - the shores of Lake Superior. After nursing training, she joined the US Army Nurse Corps, serving during the last year of World War II in the war-torn Philippines. When she returns to postwar America, she finds her independence, sense of contribution, and hard-earned status as a war nurse of little value to a country seeking to get back to an outdated normal, whatever the cost.

Jersey, 1940. Als Hedy eine Stelle als Übersetzerin für die deutschen Besatzer der Kanalinsel antritt, weiß niemand, dass die junge Frau Jüdin ist. Während sie durch heimliche Akte des Widerstands versucht, gegen die Nazis aufzubegehren, verliebt sie sich ausgerechnet in den deutschen Wehrmachtssoldaten Kurt, der ihre Gefühle erwidert. Doch Hedys Identität bleibt nicht lange verborgen. Gemeinsam mit Kurt und einer guten Freundin schmiedet Hedy einen mutigen Plan, um ihren Verfolgern zu entkommen.

Sometimes the past won't stay hidden, it demands to be uncovered. The Forgotten Life of Arthur Pettinger is a moving story from best-selling author Suzanne Fortin. Arthur Pettinger's memory isn't what it used to be. He can't always remember the names of his grandchildren, where he lives or which way round his slippers go. He does remember Maryse though, a woman he hasn't seen for decades, but whose face he will never forget.

Paris, 1942: Die Amerikanerin Jessica May soll als Fotojournalistin für die Vogue über den Krieg berichten, doch die Soldaten akzeptieren keine Frau an ihrer Seite. Erst mit Hilfe der Journalistin Martha Gellhorn und des Offiziers Dan Hallworth gelingt es Jessica, aus ihrem ganz eigenen - nämlich weiblichen - Blickwinkel von der Front zu berichten. Inmitten der Gräuel des Krieges verliebt sie sich in Dan und nimmt sich eines kleinen Waisenmädchens an. Doch dann werden Jess und Dan getrennt, und ihre Liebe droht zu tragisch zu enden.

Virginia Woolf's 1925 novel takes place over the course of a single June day in the lives of some very different Londoners: wealthy society hostess Clarissa Dalloway, who is preparing for a party; her old friend Peter Walsh, recently returned from India, whose proposal of marriage Clarissa rejected years ago; Septimus Warren Smith, a WWI veteran suffering from shell shock; and his Italian-born wife, Rezia, who is trying to care for him as best she can. Woolf's beautiful prose captures the minds and souls of these vivid characters.

The House of Izeiu is a novel inspired by the life and experiences of Sabine Zlatin, who, as a Jew using a fake identity, managed to find families to care for Jewish children who were in French refugee camps. She created a safe home for a number of other children called "The House of Izeiu" which is now a museum.

1942, New York. As war rages in Europe, Lily Rose is grateful for her perfect life: a wealthy family who love her and a dream job working uptown as a restaurant chef. Times are changing for women, and Lily is determined to run her own kitchen one day. She hopes handsome Tom Morelli, son of Sicilian immigrants, will be at her side. Together they work late, dreaming up delicious meals for New Yorkers struggling with wartime rationing and the threat of sons and sweethearts being called up. Then Tom receives a devastating telegram that changes everything: He is drafted to fight in Italy.

Texas, 1941. Die junge Audrey Coltrane ist eine leidenschaftliche Pilotin. Als sie die Möglichkeit erhält, auf Hawaii junge Soldaten zu trainieren, ist sie mit ganzem Herzen dabei - nicht einmal der charismatische Lieutenant James Hart kann sie ablenken. Bis der verhängnisvolle Tag kommt, der alles ändert: Bomben fallen auf Pearl Harbor, Audrey hat den Tod vor Augen. Um die Army zu unterstützen, schließt sie sich den "Women Airforce Service Pilots" an, wo sie in der eingeschworenen Gemeinschaft der Fliegerinnen eine neue Bestimmung findet.

1914: Nach einem erbitterten Streit mit seinem Bruder hat Alexander von Seydell seine Heimat verlassen und sich in Navarra eine neue Existenz aufgebaut. Als der erste Weltkrieg ausbricht, scheint ihn das nichts anzugehen, doch wegen einer Verwechslung muss er sich der französischen Armee anschließen. Auch sein leiblicher Sohn Robert muss an die Front, wo seine Vaterlandstreue auf eine harte Probe gestellt wird. Und dann stehen sich Vater und Sohn als Feinde auf dem Schlachtfeld gegenüber.

Eine starke Frau im Spiegel ihrer Zeit, eine verlorene Welt und eine große Liebe: der bewegende erste Band von Izabelle Jardins Familiensaga um die ostpreußische Familie von Warthenberg. Königsberg, 1930: Die selbstbewusste Constanze von Warthenberg ist neunzehn Jahre alt, als sie während einer Segelregatta dem weltläufigen Clemens Rosanowski aus Warschau begegnet. Es wird die große Liebe. Trotz einigen Widerstandes in Constanzes Familie heiratet das Paar und lässt sich in Danzig nieder.

When Frankie’s mother dies, she is sent to live with her aunt Bet in Worthing, Sussex. Life on their farm is happy - for a while. But when World War Two breaks out, Frankie must help her country by signing up to the women’s branch of the British Army. Soon, she meets Romare, an American Doctor who has come to the UK after facing terrible racism at home. But trouble is stirring in Britain, too, and it falls to Frankie to try to protect him. Can love triumph over a history of hate? Or will Frankie and Romare’s love pay the ultimate sacrifice?

As a young girl growing up in Vienna in the 1930s, Orly has an idyllic childhood filled with music. Her father plays the viola in the Philharmonic, her mother is a well-regarded opera singer, her beloved and charismatic older brother holds the neighborhood in his thrall, and most of her eccentric and wonderful extended family live nearby. Only vaguely aware of Hitler's rise or how her Jewish heritage will define her family's identity, Orly spends her days immersed in play with her best friend and upstairs neighbor, Anneliese.

On the eve of World War I, 21-year-old Georgie Hyde-Lees - on her own for the first time - is introduced to the acclaimed poet W. B. Yeats at a soirée in London. Although Yeats is famously eccentric and many years her senior, Georgie is drawn to him, and when he extends a cryptic invitation to a secret society, her life is forever changed. A shadow falls over London as zeppelins stalk overhead and bombs bloom against the skyline. Amidst the chaos, Georgie finds purpose tending to injured soldiers in a makeshift hospital, befriending the wounded and heartbroken Lieutenant Pike....

1940: Als die Deutschen Paris einnehmen, wird die Haute-Couture-Schneiderin Estella in eine Mission der Résistance verwickelt, bei der sie dem geheimnisvollen Alex begegnet. In letzter Sekunde verhilft Estellas Mutter ihr zur Flucht, und sie gelangt nach New York – mit nicht mehr in der Tasche als einem goldenen Kleid und einem Traum: sich als Designerin in der von Männern beherrschten Welt der Mode einen Namen zu machen. Und dann steht sie auf einmal Alex gegenüber, der mehr über das Schicksal ihrer in Frankreich gebliebenen Mutter weiß, als er preisgeben will...

New York, present day: On a whim, Juno Lambert buys a 1931 Underwood typewriter that once belonged to celebrated journalist Cordelia Capel. Within its case she discovers an unfinished novel, igniting a transatlantic journey to fill the gaps in the story of Cordelia and her sister and the secret that lies between them. Europe, 1936: Cordelia's socialite sister Irene marries a German industrialist who whisks her away to Berlin. Cordelia, feistier and more intellectual than Irene, gets a job at a newspaper in Paris, pursuing the journalism career she cherishes.

Corfu, Greece, 1943. Though they don’t know it, five-year-old Matilde and three-year-old Anna have kissed their mother for the last time. The Nazis have reached their sun-scorched home, and they are being taken to a place of safety, on the northeastern tip of the rocky island. They are to be hidden, at great risk, by kindly Agata and her husband, until the terrible war is over. Matilde and Anna’s tears are soothed by Agata’s bedtime stories, but she is always alert.

Enid Campbell, granddaughter of a duke, grew up surrounded by servants, wanting for nothing except love. But when her brother died in the First World War, a new heir was needed, and it was up to Enid to provide it. A troubled marriage and three children soon followed. Broken by postpartum depression, overwhelmed by motherhood and a loveless marriage, Enid made the shocking decision to abandon her family, thereby starting a chain of events—a kidnap, a court case, and selling her son to her sister for £500 - that reverberated through the generations.

Christmas 1889. A baby is born in the early hours at Vienna General Hospital, only to be abandoned by her unwed mother and entrusted to a foundling home and its loving caretaker. Fanny Schindler grows from a precocious girl into a strong-willed young woman. Undeterred by the rules of her station, she’s determined to rise above her humble origins and pursue her dreams at all costs, becoming an apprentice to one of the most glamorous fashion houses in Austria-Hungary.