World War II

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz is a bestselling 2020 work of narrative nonfiction by Erik Larson recounting Winston Churchill’s first year as prime minister of Great Britain—a year marked by the Blitz, or Nazi bombing of England. Britain’s top naval official, Churchill is chosen prime minister on May 10, 1940 amid widespread discontent with the current leader, Neville Chamberlain. Parliament revolts against Chamberlain because of... Read The Splendid and the Vile Summary

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The Storyteller is a best-selling novel by prolific author Jodi Picoult. Published in 2013, it is Picoult’s 20th novel. Picoult is a prolific author known for tackling complex social themes and is the recipient of many awards, including the 2019 Hale Award and a lifetime achievement award from the Romance Writers of America. In The Storyteller, she weaves together several different narratives, delving into complex power dynamics and exploring themes of forgiveness, morality, and freedom... Read The Storyteller Summary

The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal is a book of non-fiction. The first section, also titled “The Sunflower,” is an account of Wiesenthal’s experience as a concentration camp prisoner under the Nazi regime. In the account, Wiesenthal describes his life in Poland prior to the German occupation, his experiences of anti-Semitism within the Polish culture, and his life as a concentration camp prisoner. He describes life in the concentration camp, the continuous humiliations, the hunger, the... Read The Sunflower Summary

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The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a historical novel by New Zealand author Heather Morris. Published in 2018, the narrative retells the true story of Lale Sokolov (born Ludwig Eisenberg), a Slovakian Jew and Holocaust survivor. The novel centers on the love between Lale and Gita, a young woman he meets while tattooing prisoners. Lale is the titular tattooist, forever marking his fellow Jews and other prisoners with the numbers that replace their identities in the... Read The Tattooist of Auschwitz Summary

English academic and writer A. S. Byatt uses the Blitz—Nazi Germany’s bombing campaign against London and other British cities—as the context for her short story “The Thing in the Forest,” which was first published in The New Yorker in January 2002. This work of historical fiction is one of many by the acclaimed author and critic, whose historiographic, metafictional novel Possession won the Booker Prize in 1990. Other work by this author includes the novel... Read The Thing in the Forest Summary

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Louise Murphy’s The True Story of Hansel and Gretel is a work of historical fiction originally published in 2003. Loosely based upon the classic fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, the novel reimagines Hansel and Gretel’s story as a World War II narrative. The San Francisco Chronicle selected it as a “Best Book of the Year,” and it received a starred review from Kirkus. This guide references the 2003 paperback edition.Plot SummaryIt is the winter... Read The True Story of Hansel and Gretel Summary

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The Upstairs Room (1972) is a novel based on the experiences of author Johanna Reiss as a Jewish girl during World War II. The novel follows protagonist Annie de Leeuw and her sister Sini as they hide from the Nazis during the German occupation of Holland. Annie’s story, which is told from her first-person perspective, celebrates human resilience and compassion while exploring themes concerning the loss of childhood innocence, the sacrifices people make during wartime... Read The Upstairs Room Summary

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The War I Finally Won is a work of historical fiction written by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley. The novel is intended for middle grade readers. It was published in 2017, and has won numerous awards, including qualifying for the New York Times Best Seller list, winning the California Young Reader’s Medal, and being named one of the Washington Post’s Best Children’s Books of the Year. The War I Finally Won is a sequel to Bradley’s highly... Read The War I Finally Won Summary

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The War That Saved My Life is a work of historical fiction by bestselling author Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. The novel is intended for middle-grade readers and was published in 2015. It has won several awards, including the Newbery Honor for being among the most distinguished American children’s book of its year. The Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly listed the book as among the best children’s books in 2015, and it won 14 state book... Read The War That Saved My Life Summary

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