Showing titles in World War II

Based on the harrowing life of Eleonore Hodys, The Mistress of Auschwitz follows the true story of a political prisoner detained in the notorious concentration camp. While experiencing all the horrors of the holocaust, Eleonore turns to friendship for survival. Through companionship with another female prisoner, Eleonore must decide if she has the courage to join the resistance movement which is planning the overthrow of their wicked oppressors.

Born Nigerian royalty, Princess Adenrele Ademola trained as a nurse at Guy’s Hospital in London and stepped up to serve the people of Britain when war broke out – facing both the devastation of the Blitz and the prejudice of some of the people she was trying to help. 80 years later, Ade’s great niece Yemi arrives in London clutching the Princess’s precious diaries and longs to uncover the mysteries they hold.

Bristol 1939. At forty years of age, Mary Anne Randall still turns heads. With an abusive husband spending most of his wages on beer, she has resigned herself to be the sole breadwinner to protect her family and keep the wolves from the door. In order to make ends meet, Mary Anne runs a pawnbroking business from the wash house at the end of the garden. Following the outbreak of war an opportunity presents itself to escape her loveless marriage and find true love. Will she take that chance, or carry on living just for her children and not for herself?

The brand new heartwarming instalment in the Cornish Girls series perfect for fans of Ginny Bell and Elaine Everest

In Secrets at Bletchley Park by Margaret Dickinson, two young women from very different backgrounds meet in the Second World War and are plunged into a life where security and discretion are paramount. But both have secrets of their own to hide.

Peter and Paul, the two sons of German businessman Harald Winter, are bonded together by a childhood trauma. But as they grow up, the brothers also grow apart. When the shadow of the Third Reich falls, they become divided by war and their differing ideals - only to meet again years later at the Nuremberg trials. An epic prelude to the Bernard Samson Game, Set and Match trilogy, Winter is a rich, tragic portrait of the fortunes of a family, and a nation, over half a century.

Berlin, 1939. Tears pouring down her cheeks, Rosa pushes through the crowds and thrusts the basket containing her darling newborn twins at the woman closing the door to the carriage. All she can say is please take them. Then she runs, praying the train will reach England safely…

At 18, Alexandra Wickham is presented to King George V and Queen Mary in an exquisite white lace and satin dress her mother has ordered from Paris. With her delicate blond looks, she is a stunning beauty who seems destined for a privileged life. But fate, a world war, and her own quietly rebellious personality lead her down a different path. By 1939, Europe is on fire and England is at war. From her home in idyllic Hampshire, Alex makes her way to London as a volunteer in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. But she has skills that draw the attention of another branch of the service.

As the Nazis march toward Paris in 1940, American ballerina Lucie Girard buys her favorite English-language bookstore to allow the Jewish owners to escape. Lucie struggles to run Green Leaf Books due to oppressive German laws and harsh conditions, but she finds a way to aid the resistance by passing secret messages between the pages of her books.

After the death of their mother, Mollie and Annemarie decide to escape from their tiny Irish village and head to Liverpool to board a ship to New York. But in a cruel twist of fate, the girls are separated when the boat leaves without Mollie.

When nine-year-old Liesel arrives outside the boxlike house of her new foster parents at 33 Himmel Street, she refuses to get out of the car. Liesel has been separated from her parents, "Kommunists", forever, and at the burial of her little brother, she steals a gravedigger's instruction manual, which she can't read. It is the beginning of her illustrious career.

As war is declared once more, a shadow falls over Britain. The staff at the luxurious Buckingham hotel must do all that they can to keep their important guests happy, but behind the scenes, they are scared. Away from the glitz and the glamour of the ballroom, they must face this new reality. Newlywed Nancy knows that her brave husband, debonair dancer Raymond de Guise, will want to fight for his country and enlist. She loves and supports him but is heartbroken at the thought of them being apart and the dangers he will face.

September 1943: German forces occupy Rome. SS officer Paul Hauptmann rules with terror. The war's outcome is far from certain. An Irish priest, Hugh O'Flaherty, dedicates himself to helping those escaping from the Nazis. His home is Vatican City, the world's smallest state, a neutral, independent country within Rome where the occupiers hold no sway. Here Hugh brings together an unlikely band of friends to hide the vulnerable under the noses of the enemy. But Hauptmann's net begins closing in on the Escape Line and the need for a terrifyingly audacious mission grows critical.

In A Presumption of Death, Jill Paton Walsh tells how World War II changed the lives of Peter, Harriet and their growing family. The story opens in 1940. Harriet Vane - now Lady Peter Wimsey - has taken her children to safety in the country. But the war has followed them: glamorous RAF pilots and even more glamorous land-girls scandalise the villagers; the blackout makes the nighttime lanes as sinister as the back alleys of London.

While the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has descended, young Roland Baines's life is turned upside down. Stranded at boarding school, his vulnerability attracts his piano teacher, Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade. Twenty-five years later, as the radiation from the Chernobyl disaster spreads across Europe, Roland's wife mysteriously vanishes and he is forced to confront the reality of his rootless existence and look for answers in his family history.

September 1940. As the skies split apart and bombs rain down on London, it's all the staff at the famed Buckingham Hotel can do to keep their guests in the luxury they're accustomed to, and evoke the magic of the Grand ballroom for them each night. Home on leave and still reeling from the tragic events at Dunkirk, the dashing Raymond de Guise struggles to define his role in this new world, and to do his duty both to his country, and his beloved wife Nancy- who needs him now more than ever.

When Emily Emerson is made redundant from her reporting job, she finds herself completely adrift. Then, one day, she receives a beautiful painting of her grandmother standing at the edge of a sugarcane field under a violet sky, and a handwritten note saying, 'He never stopped loving her' . . . Emily begins to dig and soon uncovers a trail leading her to the POW internment camps of 1940s Florida, where German prisoners worked for American farmers - and sometimes fell in love with American women. But how does this all connect to the painting?

When Kathleen 'Kick' Kennedy left London four years ago, Europe was facing war and Billy Cavendish, the man she loved, had told her he could never marry her. Now, as London stands a shell of its former self, Kick returns to volunteer with the Red Cross, determined to do what she can for the city that holds a part of her heart, and to reconnect with Billy - despite what London society thinks of her.

Only a few months after the end of the Second World War, a new battle is beginning in the little village of Chawton. Once the final home of Jane Austen, the Chawton estate is dwindling and the last piece of Austen's heritage is at risk of being sold to the highest bidder.... Drawn together by their love of her novels, eight very different people - from a local farmer to a glamorous film star - must unite to attempt something remarkable.

The battle at Stalingrad during World War II has been called the bloodiest campaign in the history of war. Success was measured in meters, and corpses piled high amid the charred wreckage of the Russian city. In this grisly setting, David L. Robbins stages an unforgettable contest. On the Russian side is Zaitsev, the Hare, who has been trained since childhood in hunting and tracking. As a sniper, he kills a German with each bullet. Berlin has sent its best marksman, the Headmaster, to find and kill the Hare. The Headmaster's accuracy is phenomenal, and his cunning is legendary.