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Historical Fiction – WW II

Last Updated: September 28, 2023

The Paper Man by Billy O'Callaghan

The Paper Man
by Billy O’Callaghan

In 1930s Vienna, Austria, Matthias Sindelar is an internationally renowned soccer player known as “The Paper Man,” who speaks out against Hitler, and he’s placed under Gestapo surveillance. Sindelar falls in love with a young Jewish girl named Rebekah, who flees to Cork, Ireland. Only once she’s there does she realize she’s pregnant with his child. The following year, Sindelar is found dead in his apartment. In the 1980s in the Jewish Quarter of Ireland, Rebekah’s son Jack Shine finds a bundle of German letters and newspapers, and with the help of his German-speaking father-in-law, Jack translates and attempts to piece together his family history and hopefully solve the mystery of his father’s identity.

Under the Golden Sun by Jenny Ashcroft

Under the Golden Sun
by Jenny Ashcroft

Rose Hamilton is in desperate need of a life change when she reads the want ad for a companion needed to escort a young orphaned child to Australia. Within weeks she is boarding an enormous convoy, already too attached to five-year-old Walter. Unfortunately, Walter’s station home isn’t anything like they were told, and Rose can’t leave this little boy who she’s grown to love until he is happy and settled. But how will she ever part with Walter?

Those Who Are Saved by Alex Landau

Those Who Are Saved
by Alexis Landau

Given hours to report to an internment camp when Nazis occupy France, a Jewish-Russian émigré places her young daughter in the care of a trusted governess before an unexpected opportunity to escape to America leads to a heartbreaking separation.

The Perfume Thief by Timothy Schaffert

The Perfume Thief
by Timothy Schaffert

In 1941, the German’s stranglehold on Paris tightens, and Clementine, sometimes known as Judge, is a 72-year-old reformed con artist who has settled down and opened a legitimate shop bottling her favorite extracts for the ladies of the cabarets. This attracts the notice of Oskar Voss, a Francophile Nazi bureaucrat who demands Clem’s expertise and loyalty in his mysterious play for Hitler’s favor. Clem, with no choice but to surrender to the con, tells Oskar the full story of her life, without the cover of lies, in order to win his trust.

The Gown by Jennifer Robson

The Gown
by Jennifer Robson

London, 1947: Britain is postwar and Anne Hughes and Miriam Dassin are embroiderers in the famed Mayfair fashion house of Norman Hartnell. They form an unlikely friendship and are chosen to take part in the creation of Princess Elizabeth’s wedding gown. Toronto, 2011: Heather Mackenzie seeks to unravel the mystery of how her beloved Nan come to possess priceless embroidered flowers, so similar to the exquisite motifs that embellished the stunning gown work by Queen Elizabeth II at her wedding?

Spy by Danielle Steel

Spy
by Danielle Steel

Delicate, blonde Alexandra Wickham seems fated to lead a privileged life, but by 1939, Europe is on fire and England is at war. Alex makes her way to London as a volunteer in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, and draws the attention of another branch of the service- she’s a secret agent, and no one can know what she does, not even the pilot she’s in love with.