WWII and the aftermath is a period of history that we find we simply can’t learn enough about. Whether you’re in the mood for to learn some new facts and uncover underrepresented truths about this point in time or you simply want to dive into a thrilling fictional tale—we’ve got you covered with recommendations for both categories.
Fiction
Before the Storm by James D. Shipman
Set in 1948, the war may be over but the effects of it are not, Berlin has been divided and a store in West Berlin has been vandalized with swastikas. Sara Strum is dispatched to investigate. She begins working with Max and Karl Portnoy, two Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. As they work together Sara and Max grow closer, and as their bond grows stronger their assignment grows more dangerous. Based on a real-life husband and wife Nazi hunter team, this novel takes readers on a thrilling adventure from Berlin to the mountainous backroads of Bavaria to the Soviet border.
The Book Spy by Alan Hlad
Inspired by true stories of the heroic librarian spies of WWII, this story follows Maria Alves, a microfilm expert dispatched to Lisbon, there she works with a charming bookstore owner and acquires vital information, like the directory of arms factories in Germany, that she hands over to the Allied forces. Her job is dangerous and challenging but rewarding, and when she is asked to work as a double agent, tasked with feeding misinformation to a Nazi sympathizer, Maria jumps at the chance to further aid the war effort, and lands right in the heart of danger.
The War Girls by V.S. Alexander
Focusing on Hanna and Stefa, two Jewish sisters—one imprisoned in Poland and the other who joins the Special Operations Executive in a daring attempt to free her family from the Nazis—this is a story of family and the power of the human spirit. Hanna may have thought she left her past behind when she moved to London, but when the German bombing of London begins and her family is trapped in the Warsaw Ghetto, Hanna will have to gather all of her courage and do everything she can to save them. Stefa, will join forces with Hanna and her friend Janka to aid in the Jewish resistance and free her family and the thousands of others trapped with them.
Nonfiction
Churchill’s Great Escapes by Damien Lewis
From #1 internationally bestselling author, war reporter, and award-winning historian Damien Lewis, comes the thrillingly-told stories of the seven most daring WWII escapes executed by the legendary British fighting force known as the Special Air Force or SAS. From the earliest years of the war to its explosive closing stages readers are plunged into the dark heart of Mussolini’s Fascist Italy, held captive in a heavily fortified POW camp in Greece and in the coastal fortress of Tobruk in Occupied Libya.
Operation Underworld by Matthew Black
Never has the saying “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” had more truth than when the US government and the criminal underground joined forces to defeat the Nazi menace. This is the full story of how Charles “Lucky” Luciano—the U.S. Mafia boss—was recruited by U.S. Naval Intelligence in 1942 to aid the Allied war effort in the U.S. invasion of Sicily, a turning point in WWII. This is a tale of espionage and crime like no other, the unbelievable account of the ingenious strategy carried out by some of history’s most infamous, improbable, and unsung heroes on both sides of the law.
Three Ordinary Girls by Tim Brady
The astonishing true story of three fearless female resisters during WWII whose youth and innocence belied their extraordinary daring in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands. It also made them the underground’s most invaluable commodity. Recruited as teenagers, Hannie Schaft, and Dutch sisters Truus and Freddie Oversteegen fulfilled their harrowing missions as spies, saboteurs, and Nazi assassins with remarkable courage, but their stories have remained largely unknown…until now.
