Fiction Women World War

Author Christine Coulson spent twenty-five years writing for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her final project was to write wall labels for the museum’s new British Galleries. During that time, she dreamt of using The Met’s strict label format to describe people as intricate works of art. The result is this “jewel box of a novel” (Kirkus Reviews) that imagines a privileged 20th-century woman as an artifact—an object prized, collected, and critiqued.

As Nazi soldiers round up the Jews in their town, Róza and her five-year-old daughter, Shira, flee, seeking shelter in a neighbor’s barn. Hidden in the hayloft day and night, Shira struggles to stay still and quiet, as music pulses through her and the farmyard outside beckons. In this make-believe world, Róza can shield Shira from the horrors that surround them. But the day comes when their haven is no longer safe, and Róza must make an impossible choice: whether to keep Shira by her side or give her the chance to survive apart.

In Allison Montclair's The Lady from Burma, murder once again stalks the proprietors of The Right Sort Marriage Bureau in the surprisingly dangerous landscape of post-World War II London.

Alternating between an America still cocooned in its inability to grasp the danger at hand and a Europe being torn apart by war, The Postmistress gives us two women who find themselves unable to deliver the news, and a third woman desperately waiting for news yet afraid to hear it. Sarah Blake's The Postmistress shows how we bear the fact that war goes on around us while ordinary lives continue. Filled with stunning parallels to today, it is a remarkable novel.

Istanbul, 2001. Maya Duran is a single mother struggling to balance a demanding job at Istanbul University with the challenges of raising a teenage son. Her worries increase when she is tasked with looking after the enigmatic Maximilian Wagner, an elderly German-born Harvard professor visiting the city at the university’s invitation. Although he is distant at first, Maya gradually learns of the tragic circumstances that brought him to Istanbul 60 years before, and the dark realities that continue to haunt him.

June 1910. Fighting her corner in a man’s world, Dr. Margaret Demeray works as a pathologist in a London hospital for the poor. Suppressing her worry that she’s breaching confidentiality, Margaret gives a stranger called Fox information about a dead down-and-out, in the hope he’ll use it to raise awareness of bad working conditions. But when a second man appears to die the same way, Margaret starts to wonder why the enigmatic Fox keeps turning up to ask ever more complex questions. She decides to work alone, uncertain of his motives and wary of her attraction to him.

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.

As character actress Edie O'Dare finishes the final year of her contract with FWM Studios, the clock is ticking for her to find a new gig after an undistinguished stint in the pictures. She's long supplemented her income moonlighting for Hollywood's reigning gossip columnist, providing her with the salacious details of every party and premiere.

Anna Cavanaugh is a restless young widow and brilliant French teacher at an all-girls school in Washington, DC. Everything changes when she’s recruited into the Office of Strategic Services by family friend and legendary WWI hero Major General William Donovan. Donovan has faith in her - and in all his “glorious amateurs” who are becoming Anna’s fast friends: Maggie, Anna’s down-to-earth mentor; Irene, who’s struggling to find support from her husband for her clandestine life; and Julia, a cheerful OSS liaison.

London, 1933. At first glance, Austrian opera singer Elsa Mayer-Braun has little in common with the young English typist she encounters on tour. Yet she and Hattie Featherstone forge an instant connection—and strike a dangerous alliance. Using their friendship as a cover, they form a secret society with a daring goal: to rescue as many Jews as possible from Nazi persecution. Though the war’s outbreak threatens Elsa and Hattie’s network, their efforts attract the covert attention of the British government, offering more opportunities to thwart the Germans.

Charlotte, NC. 1918. Broadway darling Calla Connolly had it all: a rising career on the stage and a loving fiancé, a fellow stage actor. But after his tragic death early in the war, Calla is touring the American training camps, hoping to convince General Pershing to let her tour the French front to cheer the men and honor her fiancé's memory. But her hopes are dashed when she contracts Spanish flu while performing at Camp Greene.

In the quiet town of Houghton, Michigan, sixteen-year-old Nancy Harkness discovers a passion that ignites her heart in ways she never expected. The arrival of barnstormer pilots brings more than just the thrill of their daring stunts; it brings the promise of adventure. Nancy vows she will be a pilot someday. Years later, as the dark clouds of World War II gather on the horizon, Nancy’s dreams take a new and daring turn. With unwavering determination, she envisions a squadron of female pilots. Yet, her path is far from clear.

Lena has lived a long, quiet life on her farm in Wales, alongside her husband and child. But as her end approaches, buried memories begin to return. Of her childhood in Poland, and her passion for science. Of the early days of her marriage, reluctant wife to an army officer. Of the birth of her daughter, whose arrival changed everything.

Adele Astaire was a glittering, glamorous star, dancing with her brother, Fred, endearing herself to audiences from New York to London. But although she is toasted by royalty and beloved by countless fans, Adele Astaire has dreams of a loving husband and a houseful of children. And when she meets Lord Charles Cavendish, her wishes may just come true—but at what cost?

The classic 1939 collection of three novellas by the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author and journalist, including the famous title story set during the influenza epidemic of 1918.

The ATA is calling upon its most trusted pilots to deliver precious bombers wherever they're needed. Ellie Simpson, who can fly a Spitfire as well as the boys, is their newest recruit. Giving her all to a job she loves leaves Ellie precious little time for squadron leader Jack Reynolds. And while Ellie is brave enough to take the controls of a Spitfire, it takes a different kind of courage to open her heart to love once again. With her friends and family in constant danger, she realises that their love is strong enough to stand the test of all the hardship the war can throw at them.

París, 1942. Los alemanes están por ocupar la Ciudad Luz, pero a la glamurosa Estelle Allard no puede importarle menos. Ella vive en un mundo de opulencia, alejado de las penurias de la guerra, rodeada de lujos y arte. Sin embargo, cuando los nazis comienzan a llevarse a sus amigos, Estelle no duda en ayudarlos sin importar que esto pueda hacerle perder todas sus comodidades e, incluso, la vida. Londres, 2017. Cuando Aurelia Leclaire hereda un fantástico departamento en París, se sorprende al descubrir los secretos ocultos de su abuela.

Viena, 1933. Para Hedy Kiesler, joven actriz judía, su belleza ha sido salvación y tormento: la protegió de los nazis pero la condujo a un opresivo matrimonio con el traficante de armas de Hitler y Mussolini. Subestimada por todos a su alrededor, escuchó los planes secretos del Tercer Reich cuando acompañaba a su esposo a fiestas y cenas de negocios. Dividida entre el glamour y la culpa por ser una privilegiada, decide escapar hacia Hollywood, con un nuevo nombre: Hedy Lamarr.

Spring 1900. Ever since she was nine years old, Mairi McGloughlin has known she wants to be a farmer, but by the law of the land it's her scholarly brother, Ian, who will someday inherit. The next best thing might be to marry a farmer, and charming, confident Jack could be the perfect answer. But then there's Robin, her brother's best friend, more a man of books than of the land - and yet there's something about him.... But with the outbreak of the Great War, their choices change completely, and neither Mairi, Ian nor Robin can hope to escape unscathed.

Living through World War II working in a Paris bookstore with her young daughter, Vivi, and fighting for her life, Charlotte is no victim, she is a survivor. But can she survive the next chapter of her life? Alternating between wartime Paris and 1950s New York publishing, Ellen Feldman's Paris Never Leaves You is an extraordinary story of resilience, love, and impossible choices, exploring how survival never comes without a cost.