Elinor Florence, Author

Bestselling Historial Fiction Author

Best Wartime Fiction

Wartime fiction makes great reading. Since I’m less concerned with military strategy, and more interested in how war affects people’s hearts and minds, my best wartime fiction is laden with drama and romance.

Stack of wartime fiction sits on a table beside a coffee mug bearing an image of a Lancaster bomber

This is by no means a complete list. I’ve included some oldies but goodies along with the best of the new novels. Don’t let the hokey vintage covers fool you, because there is pure gold inside. Many of these novels are now available digitally, either online or free through your public library.

Wartime Fiction for Women

(and for men who enjoy all books)

1. A Town Like Alice, by Nevil Shute. My all-time favourite wartime fiction novelist wrote so many great books that I’m including two of them. A Town Like Alice brings to life my favourite theme in literature: a strong woman battling the odds. The British heroine Jean Paget is taken prisoner by the Japanese when World War Two begins, and survives by sheer force of will. The post-war romance in Australia is equally compelling. It was made into a terrific 1981 Australian miniseries.

A Town Like Alice, by Neil Shute, wartime fiction paperback cover illustration showing dark-haired woman in ragged skirt and blouse and straw hat, while a parade of other women and children march behind her guarded by a Japanese soldier.

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2. Pastoral, by Nevil Shute. Royal Air Force bomber pilot Peter Marshall leads the most successful bombing crew at his airbase. Then he falls hopelessly in love with an attractive female officer who insists that duty should come first, with disastrous consequences for his flying ability. This story couldn’t be more commonplace, yet it’s a hang-onto-the-edge-of-your-seat thriller, with heart-pounding drama and knee-melting romance.

Pastoral, by Nevil Shute, wartime fiction paperback cover illustration shows woman in blue air force uniform talking on the telephone, her eyes wide with fear, while a bomber in the background is coned in searchlights.

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3. Sophie’s Choice, by William Styron. When I first read this book back in 1982, I did not know what choice the concentration camp survivor Sophie had to make. The unveiling of the secret is so moving and profound that you will never forget it. It’s not a happy book, but if you want to escape from your own petty problems this book will take you far away. Meryl Streep won the Oscar for Best Actress in the 1982 movie.

Sophie's Choice, by William Styron, wartime fiction book cover illustration shows beautiful blonde woman gazing sadly into the distance, while the figures of two other men with serious faces are seen in the background.

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4. The Avenue Goes to War, by R. F. Delderfield. Four families who live on the same avenue in London face down the bombing with stubborn determination. Some family members are in Europe fighting, while others keep the home fires burning. Delderfield is a wonderful writer and this is the second book about the same characters previously featured in The Dreaming Suburb, about pre-war England. It was a British TV miniseries in 1978.

The Avenue Goes to War, by R. F. Delderfield, wartime fiction cover illustration shows a couple standing close together beside a pond in the foreground, with the ruins of a castle silhouetted against a blue sky in the background.

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5. The Winds of War, by Herman Wouk. This great author, who also wrote The Caine Mutiny, really knows how to tug at the heartstrings in this work of wartime fiction. This family saga written in 1971 revolves around an American naval officer, his wife and children. His son is married to a Jewish girl, which heightens the drama. The book ends shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbour. To find out what happens to the characters, read the sequel called War and Remembrance. Robert Mitchum starred in the 1983 miniseries.

The Winds of War, by Herman Wouk, wartime fiction cover illustration shows a collage of faces, the largest a handsome man in a U.S. naval uniform, a young couple embracing, and Hitler saluting in front of three flags bearing swastikas.

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6. The Eye of the Needle, by Ken Follett. He’s better known for Pillars of the Earth, but this 1978 novel by Follett is a real nail-biter. It involves a heroine marooned on an island with a ruthless German spy, each determined to outwit the other. It was turned into a good movie starring two Canadians: Kate Nelligan as the heroine, and Donald Sutherland as the spy.

Eye of the Needle, by Ken Follett, wartime fiction cover shows a Nazi sword bearing a golden eagle and a swastika on the hilt, the point dipped in scarlet blood.

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7. My Friend Monica, by Jane Duncan. This novel forms part of the overlooked and under-rated My Friends series. Duncan was a brilliant writer and the somewhat flippant titles disguise the passion, sorrow and joy she experienced throughout her life in these semi-autobiographical novels. I love My Friend Monica because it takes place in part during the Second World War, when Jane was serving in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, and thus falls into the category of wartime fiction.

My Friend Monica, by Jane Duncan, wartime fiction cover illustration shows a black silhouette of a bouquet of flowers against a cream background, in the distance a man and his dog are walking away.

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8. Rilla of Ingleside, by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Many contemporary readers are unaware that the Anne of Green Gables author had her dark side. This wonderful, moving story features Anne’s youngest daughter Rilla, whose two brothers (Anne’s sons) and Rilla’s true love are fighting in the trenches of France. This is the only Canadian novel written from a woman’s perspective about the First World War. You will feel the pain of those left behind.

Rilla of Ingleside, by L.M. Montgomery, book cover illustration shows a young woman with long, curly red hair and a green dress sitting with a letter in one hand, gazing pensively into the distance, while the silhouette of marching soldiers is seen over her shoulder.

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9. Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. This is perhaps one of the best contemporary wartime fiction works about World War Two. The book has a funny, charming cast of characters who live on the Channel Islands while occupied by the Germans, who aren’t all bad guys. It has an unusual setting and a fresh twist. And a really catchy title.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, book cover illustration shows the silhouette of a woman leaning on the railings of a pier and gazing over the sea, while the title appears as an envelope tied up with red ribbon.

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10. The All-Girl’s Filling Station Last Reunion, by Fannie Flagg. The title doesn’t reflect the main theme, which concerns three sisters from the Deep South who flew military aircraft around the United States during the Second World War. This novel by the author of Fried Green Tomatoes is light and entertaining, and popularizes an important contribution made by women flyers to the war effort.

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion, by Fannie Flagg, wartime fiction book cover illustration shows a vintage brick service station with a green roof, a blue 1940s vintage car is parked at the gas pumps outside while two young women stand beside the car.

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11. The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak. Originally billed as a book for Young Adults, this is an excellent read for people of all ages. Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist: books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids, as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement. It’s now been made into a movie.

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, book cover illustration is a rather macabre drawing of two figures, a little girl with pigtails in a dotted dress, dancing hand in hand with death, shown as a hooded skeleton.

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Wartime Fiction for Men

(and for women who enjoy all books)

1. Bomber, by Len Deighton. This 1970 novel is a fictionalized account of an RAF bombing raid on the Ruhr Valley in June 1943. The progress is viewed through the eyes of the protagonists on both sides. The most poignant passage for me described a group of German women who were assigned to start peeling potatoes for soup, knowing that thousands of homeless victims would need food that night after the bombers flew back home to Britain.

Bomber, by Len Deighton, book cover shows a moody dark sky with the yellow moon peeking from behind the clouds, and the title in large red capital letters.

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2. The Young Lions, by Irwin Shaw. Written shortly after World War Two ended, this novel tells the intertwining stories of three soldiers: a German drawn to Nazism by despair for his future and willing to sacrifice Jews if necessary; an American Jew facing discrimination of the American kind; and an American Protestant who struggles with lack of meaning in his life. It was made into a movie with Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and Dean Martin, of all people.

The Young Lions, by Irwin Shaw, a red cloth-bound cover with the title stamped across the front in navy blue ink.

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3. The Cruel Sea, by Nicholas Monserrat. This 1951 novel takes place during the Battle of the Atlantic: the struggle between the German submarines and the convoys keeping Britain supplied with food and weapons. The overarching enemy is the Atlantic itself, always ready to claim another victim. The word “cruel” doesn’t begin to cover it. It was made into a movie in 1953.

The Cruel Sea, by Nicholas Monserrat, shows a corvette leaning into a rough sea, waves breaking over her bow, and the title in yellow type against a gray, stormy sky.

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4. Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks. This powerful novel by this acclaimed British author tells the story of a man called Stephen Wraysford at different stages of his life both before and during World War One. Birdsong is part of a trilogy of novels by Sebastian Faulks, together with  The Girl at the Lion d’Or, and Charlotte Gray. It was turned into a 2012 television miniseries.

Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks, acclaimed wartime fiction about the First World War, book cover shows the black silhouette of a soldier with a helmet and rifle over one shoulder, his head bowed, standing in front of a cross.

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5. Three Day Road, by Joseph Boyden. Fascinating on several levels, it’s about two Cree guys from Moose Factory, Ontario who become snipers in the killing fields of France during World War One. Again, this book isn’t for the faint of heart, but brilliantly written.

Three Day Road by Josephy Boyden, book cover shows a sepia photograph of a group of soldiers with fixed bayonets charging over the edge of a trench, with a scarlet feather hovering over the title.

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6. All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Remarque, a German veteran of World War One. This classic novel describes the German soldier’s extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the detachment from civilian life felt upon returning home. The book and its sequel, The Road Back, were later banned and burned in Nazi Germany.

All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, book cover illustration shows a rough sketch of a young German soldier wearing a helmet, blue eyes and a weary expression, surrounded by strands of barbed wire.

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7. Master and Commander, by British author Patrick O’Brian. I had to sneak this one in although the period goes back to the Napoleonic War. It is the first of twenty-one gripping novels featuring Captain Jack Aubrey and the naval surgeon Stephen Maturin. I have read the whole series and look forward to reading it again! Every novel is as exciting and fascinating as the one before. A version the first book was made into a movie in 2003 (although even Russell Crowe doesn’t do justice to my mental picture of Jack Aubrey).

Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian shows a detailed illustration of a sailing ship with a group of men rowing away from it in a small boat over a turquoise sea, a row of white buildings with red roofs on the shore behind.

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8. Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand. Not a novel, but reads like one because it is so filled with colour, drama and suspense. And also because this true story about an American flyer who was shot down and then captured by the Japanese is so unbelievable that it might have been fiction. Do yourself a favour and read it before seeing the 2014 movie directed by Angelina Jolie, which can’t possibly be as good as the book.

Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, wartime fiction book cover shows a sepia toned sea and a stormy sky against which a tiny aircraft is seen above the clouds.

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9. Three Cheers for Me, By Donald Lamont Jack. Finally, a laugh-out-loud book about Bartholomew Bandy, Canadian World War One flying ace. His bumbling adventures abroad are simply hilarious. There are another eight books in the series that take him right through World War Two.

Three Cheers for Me, by Donald Jack, warmth fiction paperback cover shows a First World War Royal Canadian Air Force biplane in the sky being pursued by a German biplane.

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10. Evidence in Camera, by Constance Babington Smith. This non-fiction book about photographic interpretation inspired my own novel, Bird’s Eye View. In it the author describes her own crucial role in studying aerial photos and finding the first jet-propelled weapon in history.

Evidence in Camera, by Constance Babington Smith cover shows a black and white photo of the author herself in an air force uniform pointing to an aerial photograph while another man looks on.

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11. The Forgotten Soldier, by Guy Sajer. Some people say that this is the most powerful war memoir they have ever read. This book recounts the horror of World War Two on the eastern front, as seen through the eyes of a teenaged German soldier. At first an exciting adventure, the German invasion becomes a desperate struggle for survival against cold, hunger, and above all the terrifying Soviet artillery.

The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer, book cover shows a black and white photograph of a young man in a German helmet with a haunted expression on his face.

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12. Bird’s Eye View, by Elinor Florence. I couldn’t resist adding my own wartime novel. Named a Canadian bestseller,  Bird’s Eye View is fact-based fiction, the story of a Saskatchewan farm girl who joins the air force and serves as an aerial photo interpreter.

Bird's Eye View, by Elinor Florence, wartime fiction cover shows a young woman's face with green eyes and red lipstick gazing into the distance while a Lancaster bomber flies overhead against a turquoise background.

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STAR WEEKLY AT WAR

The Star Weekly was a Canadian newsmagazine published by the Toronto Star. During the Second World War, a beautiful colour illustration appeared on the cover each week with a wartime theme. This one dated March 21, 1942 reminded me of Monserrat’s The Cruel Sea. It shows a ship steaming down the Thames River under the London Bridge, having safely arrived after running the gauntlet of German U-boats. To see my complete collection of covers, click here: Star Weekly at War.

Star Weekly magazine cover illustration shows a ship sailing under the Tower Bridge in London, while the sky is red with smoke and fire, reflected in the water, and barrage balloons dot the sky.

About Elinor Florence<br>

Letters From Windermere

I’m a lover of history and all things vintage. My passion for the past is reflected in my novels, my collections, my travels, my home on Lake Windermere, and the monthly letter that I have been sending to my dear followers for the past eleven years. You are warmly invited to join my list. I don’t ask for anything but your email address. However, you are welcome to tell me something about yourself because I love hearing from my readers.
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Lest We Forget

While researching my wartime novel Bird’s Eye View, I interviewed people who lived through the greatest conflict the world has ever known, both on the home front and overseas.
I uncovered some truly inspirational stories, indexed here by subject.
Please feel free to read, reflect, and share.
Please Note: All stories and photos are copyrighted to Elinor Florence unless otherwise indicated. You are welcome to copy and share them as long as you give me proper credit.

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