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World war two fiction
http://www.the-cbb.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=7256
Author:  brie [ Wed Jan 27, 2010 9:00 pm ]
Post subject:  World war two fiction
Could anyone possibly recommend any world war two fic? I'm considering a drabble set during the war, and i would like to improve my rather meagre knowledge prior to trying to write anything. I'm a huge michelle magorian fan and i'm really looking for things along those lines detailing day to day life in britain.

Ta muchly,

Brie
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Wed Jan 27, 2010 9:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
I read a brilliant one called 'The Soldier's Return' by Melvyn Bragg. So heartbreaking, it really was wonderful. It's set after the war, and just follows a soldier whose returned from fighting a campaign in, I think, Japan, and has to try and fit back into home life.

Can't think of any more off of the top of my head, but I'll ponder it. *sprinkles bunny food*
Author:  Nightwing [ Wed Jan 27, 2010 9:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
You might try "War Boy: A Country Childhood" by Michael Foreman - it's a children's book, so not gritty, but it does have some interesting anecdotes.
Author:  JB [ Wed Jan 27, 2010 9:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
I love The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley (although it's hardly gritty either). There's a Persephone reprint of Saplings by Noel Streatfield which should be quite easy to find (it's an adult novel and quite dark).

I very much like WWII fiction but my mind's a blank at the moment (long day) but i'll check the shelves when I go upstairs. If you're looking for fiction published during WWII, I have Women and Children First which is about the fiction of both WWs and I could have a look in that.
Author:  Artemis [ Wed Jan 27, 2010 10:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
Ok, how about this as a sprinkle of bunny feed:

The Boy in the Blitz:the diary of Colin Perry (can't remember publisher)
Carrie's War by Nina Bawden
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, by Judith Kerr
Candle in the Dark, by Adele Geras,
Friend or Foe, by Michael Morpurgo
I am David, by Anne Holm
The Silver Sword, by Iain Serraillier
Private Peaceful, by Michael Morpurgo is First WW I think and about conscientious objecting.

All findable if you google them

Some of the 'My Story' range - look for them on Amazon: there's one about a girl resistance fighter, one about a blitz child, one about living through the battle of Britain. All on Amazon.

The BBC have lots of eye-witness accounts in their history section.
For non-fic what about 'Nella Last's Diary (or War: can't remember the exact title) for extracts from a genuine diary of an ordinary woman during the war. Would be good for Madge/ Jem angst.

Do look at Rose Blanche by Ian Mc Ewan - it's short, but heartrending.

Hope this helps :)
Author:  JB [ Wed Jan 27, 2010 10:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
[quote="Artemis"] For non-fic what about 'Nella Last's Diary (or War: can't remember the exact title) for extracts from a genuine diary of an ordinary woman during the war. Would be good for Madge/ Jem angst. quote]

How could I have forgotten Nella Last? She lived very close to me. A couple of months ago I drove past her house. :banghead:

There are two books taken from her mass observation diaries - Nella Last's War and Nella Last's Peace.
Author:  Artemis [ Wed Jan 27, 2010 10:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
(Removes wall from JB, being quite concerrned about the head banging!) Thanks for remembering the Nella Last book titles, simply could not bring them to mind.

If you go on doing that :banghead: you'll have as big a bruise as the one I gave myself today after a close encounter with a swimming pool wall underwater . . .
Author:  ammonite [ Thu Jan 28, 2010 12:56 am ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
The Nevil Shutes are good as well.

What happened to the Corbetts was actually written before the war but accuaratly predicted much of the happenings - so much so copies werer distributed to the coucils at the time. Others of his deal with the aftermath of the war.

R..L.Delafield is also good.
Author:  LizzieC [ Thu Jan 28, 2010 3:33 am ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
Artemis wrote:
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, by Judith Kerr


When Hitle Stole Pink Rabbit is excellent, especially as it's essentially autobiographical, but stops before war really breaks out and almost as soon as they get to Britain. It's really a refugee story rather than a World War II story.

For World War II in the UK by Kerr, you probably want Bombs on Aunt Dainty (book 2), though you'll need to read When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit first I think, so you have a feel of where the other books come from. They're all published as one, along with book 3, A Small Person Far Away, called "Out of the Hitler Time: When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, Bombs on Aunt Dainty, A Small Person Far Away".*

As for anything else, I'll put my thinking cap on and perhaps get back to you :)

*Amazon reviews suggest that the 3 in 1 book has considerable cuts. Wonder if Armada were involved ;)
Author:  Joey [ Thu Jan 28, 2010 9:32 am ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
As far as I know, the middle book is called The Other Way Round. I had the first two for ages and then got the three-in-one because I couldn't get the third on its own. My copy is quite clearly called Out of the Hitler Time: When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit, The Other Way Round, A Small Person Far Away. I really hope they are not abridged. I may have to look out for cheap standalones of the three to make sure.

Anyway, Brie, I concur with the recommendation of Judith Kerr's books. Incidentally, just in case you haven't joined the dots, she wrote the Mog books and The Tiger who Came to Tea.

Robert Westall has some excellent books set in the second world war - The Machine Gunners springs instantly to mind. Also, some of Noel Streatfeild's books, such as When the Siren Wailed, were actually written during the war.
Author:  JB [ Thu Jan 28, 2010 10:05 am ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
They're the Judith Kerr titles I have, Joey. Mine were standalones.

Is that Noel Streatfeild a war title, Joey? I may well be wrong but I thought that one was written later, although Curtain Up (Theatre Shoes), Party Frock (Party Shoes) and The Children of Primrose Lane were definitely written during the war. I do like Siren though.

Dawn of Fear by Susan Cooper is a brilliant story about a group of boys living on the edge of London. My copy is a 1970s Puffin paperback and I don't think it's that hard to find.

Time to Go Back by Mabel Esther Allan is one of my all-time favourite books. It's a time slip story with a girl from the 1970s going back to Merseyside during WWII but it's very evocative of time and place.

Someone mentioned Carrie's War by Nina Bawden up the thread. Her autobiography, which was published by Virago, has her first hand account of being evacuated to South Wales and Shropshire.
Author:  Joey [ Thu Jan 28, 2010 10:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
JB wrote:
They're the Judith Kerr titles I have, Joey. Mine were standalones.

Is that Noel Streatfeild a war title, Joey? I may well be wrong but I thought that one was written later, although Curtain Up (Theatre Shoes), Party Frock (Party Shoes) and The Children of Primrose Lane were definitely written during the war. I do like Siren though.


I think you're right about Streatfeild. Siren is set in the war but was written later.

I have checked Amazon and The Other Way Round seems to have been re-named as Bombs on Aunt Dainty, so we were all right.

Some more recommendations (I've had my thinking cap on) are Time of Fire and Blitzcat by Robert Westall. Several of Eva Ibbotson's books are affected by the outbreak of war in 1939, particularly The Morning Gift and A Song for Summer.

If you're interested in autobiographical writing, I Was There and Friedrich by Hans Peter Richter are very good, as is Mischling, Second Degree by Ilse Koehn. All written for children, but I don't think that will put off any CBB-ers! There is also Ian Serraillier's The Silver Sword, an adventure story set in Europe during the war.
Author:  JB [ Thu Jan 28, 2010 10:36 am ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
[quote="Joey I have checked Amazon and The Other Way Round seems to have been re-named as Bombs on Aunt Dainty, so we were all right. [/quote]

For a moment there, i thought i'd have to go and look for another book in the series. :)
Author:  Tor [ Thu Jan 28, 2010 10:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
Miss Ranskill Comes Home!! (see my other thread). It is ACE. and a completely different take on the war experience.
Author:  violawood [ Thu Jan 28, 2010 11:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
The Provincial Lady in Wartime
Monica Baldwin's I Leap Over The Wall - I've only read parts of it on the web but has a fair bit of war detail.
Strangers at the Farm School has two children who have come to the UK on the Kindertransport.
Virago did two anthologies - Hearts Undefeated - non-fiction and Wave Me Goodbye - short stories and both are interesting.
One Pair of Feet by Monica Dickens is about wartime nursing.

Mostly non-fiction, but I think they could all be helpful.
Author:  judithR [ Thu Jan 28, 2010 1:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
Lucilla Andrews No Time for Romance is another & some of her romances are set during WWII and very atmospheric.
Author:  Jenefer [ Thu Jan 28, 2010 5:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
As a teenager, I loved Last Year's Broken Toys by Barbara Ker Wilson. It was published in the Sixties as a Peacock paperback and describes the different experiences of 4 girls
Strangers at the Farm School by Josephine Elder is good too.
No Time for Romance by Lucilla Andrews describes her experiences as a VAD and Student Nurse.
As well as One Pair of Feet, Monica Dickens wrote a novel based on her time working in a munitions factory but I cannot remember the name
Author:  andydaly [ Thu Jan 28, 2010 7:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
I really enjoyed Night Watch by Sarah Waters- it wasn't written at the time, but I got a great sense of the atmosphere of the Blitz, and she seems to me to have done her research very thoroughly.
Author:  Amanda M [ Thu Jan 28, 2010 8:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
Some Robert Westall books have been mentioned, but I'd also consider 'Fathom Five', very descriptive of the second world war by the coast/river mouth.
Author:  tiffinata [ Thu Jan 28, 2010 10:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
A couple of the Biggles books are set during WW2.
And what about Dimsie Carries on?
Author:  jmc [ Fri Jan 29, 2010 9:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
Anne Frank's Diary
Author:  brie [ Fri Jan 29, 2010 1:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
Wow!

I never expected such a response! I'll have to scurry off to amazon now. Thanks so much for all the suggestions.

Brie
Author:  cestina [ Fri Jan 29, 2010 1:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
I've never joined up the Judith Kerr dots - thanks for pointing that out. "When Hitler stole pink rabbit" was such a "there but for the grace of God go I" book for me......I often think about what would have happened had my parents actually married in pre-war Czechoslovakia instead of my father leaving Prague in 1938, followed by my mother in 1941....

And "The Tiger that came to Tea" was the all-time favourite book when my children were small.
Author:  cestina [ Fri Jan 29, 2010 3:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
I don't think Margery Allinghams "The Oaken Heart - the story of an English village at war" has been mentioned. Non-fiction though. Wasn't someone else asking about books on village life, though not sure if it was wartime that was wanted? I can't find the post, sorry.

ETA oops, sorry. Just noticed I spreed...... :oops:
Author:  Emma A [ Fri Jan 29, 2010 5:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
Margery Allingham's 'Traitor's Purse' is set during the war, IIRC.

Also Patricia Wentworth's 'The Clock Strikes Twelve', 'The Chinese Shawl' and 'Miss Silver Comes To Stay' are all set during WW2. I really like the atmosphere in these, and Miss Silver is an engaging sleuth.

Jill Paton Walsh's Dorothy L Sayers continuation 'A Presumption of Death' is rather good for wartime conditions (rationing, research, and so on), though Sayers' own books don't mention the war.

I don't remember many of Agatha Christie's novels being explicitly set during the war; although 'Taken at the Flood' has characters being killed in an air raid, the rest of the book is set somewhat later.

Nevil Shute's 'Pastoral' is good - life on an RAF bomber station in Oxford. Also try Nicholas Monsarrat's 'The Cruel Sea' about life at sea during WW2. Or Alastair Maclean's 'HMS Ulysses' (not as good as The Cruel Sea, but worth reading anyway) or 'South By Java Head' - though the latter is set mostly in Malaya - or 'San Andreas', which is actually about a hospital ship, not the fault!

Hope this helps!
Author:  Catriona [ Fri Feb 05, 2010 5:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
The Monica Dickens book is called "The Fancy" - well worth a read. Weren't some of Malcolm Saville's Lone Pine books set during the war - in fact, thinking about it, isn't that why the Mortons end up in Shropshire?
Author:  JB [ Fri Feb 05, 2010 6:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
The first two Lone Pine books - Mystery at Witchend and Seven White Gates - are set during the war. I'd recommended the unabridged versions as the Armada versions cut out some of the period detail (where've I heard that before? :? )

Agatha Christie's N or M story is set during the war. Tommy and Tuppence are looking for spies.
Author:  Liz K [ Wed Feb 10, 2010 10:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
Goodnight Mr Tom?
Author:  julieanne1811 [ Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
Oh dear ... I have just found this post and spent more money than I have buying on Amazon ... But it is so nice to find the kind of books one loves to read ... Thank you everyone!
Author:  Tor [ Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
How about Restless by William Boyd - real page turner, and makes me think of abbeygirl's drabble Rosalie's Redemption
Author:  Lindsay [ Wed Feb 24, 2010 6:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: World war two fiction
I second "Restless", it's very gripping.

I've just finished reading "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer/Annie Barrows and absolutely loved it - it is WW2 related, in that it's essentially about Guernsey during the Occupation.
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