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Books > Fiction > Genre fiction > War fiction > First World War fiction
A young recruit. A legendary battle. A cataclysmic war. A baptism
by fire...Kelly Maguire knew from a young age that he could
accomplish great things. As World War I begins, Kelly enlists in
the Royal Navy, hoping to win both the war and glory. But from the
barbarous battles of Gallipoli to the nightmarish action of
Antwerp, Kelly learns the trials a soldier must face: trials that
will forge him into a man. As the epic battle of Jutland
approaches, everything is at stake. From acclaimed novelist Max
Hennessy comes a gritty naval adventure, full of blood, guts and
heroism in the face of danger.
It is late summer in East Sussex, 1914. Amidst the season's
splendour, fiercely independent Beatrice Nash arrives in the
coastal town of Rye to fill a teaching position at the local
grammar school. There she is taken under the wing of formidable
matriarch Agatha Kent, who, along with her charming nephews, tries
her best to welcome Beatrice to a place that remains stubbornly
resistant to the idea of female teachers. But just as Beatrice
comes alive to the beauty of the Sussex landscape, and the
colourful characters that populate Rye, the perfect summer is about
to end. For the unimaginable is coming - and soon the limits of
progress, and the old ways, will be tested as this small town goes
to war.
A mysterious song in the forest . . . A discovery in war-torn
France . . . A journey toward hope. The trenches of the Great War
are a shadowed place. Though Platoon Sergeant Matthew Petticrew
arrived there with a past long marked by shadow, the realities of
battle bring new wounds--carving within him a longing for light,
and a resolve to fight for it. One night, Matthew and his comrades
are enraptured by a sound so pure, a voice so ethereal, it offers
reprieve--even if only for a moment. Soon, rumors sweep the
trenches from others who have heard the lullaby too. "The Angel of
Argonne," they call the voice: a mysterious presence who leaves
behind wreaths on unmarked graves. Raised in the wild depths of the
Forest of Argonne, Mireilles finds her reclusive world rocked when
war crashes into her idyllic home, taking much from her. When
Matthew and his two unlikely companions discover Mireilles, they
must embark on a journey that will change each of them forever . .
. and perhaps, at long last, spark light into the dark. On the
100th anniversary of the dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier comes an emotive tale inspired by the courageous soldiers
of World War I.
WINNER OF THE VONDEL PRIZE 2017 LONGLISTED FOR THE 2017 MAN BOOKER
INTERNATIONAL PRIZE Selected as a Book of the Year 2016 in The
Times, Sunday Times and The Economist, and one of the 10 Best Books
of 2016 in the New York Times Shortly before his death, Stefan
Hertmans' grandfather Urbain Martien gave his grandson a set of
notebooks containing the detailed memories of his life. He grew up
in poverty around 1900, the son of a struggling church painter who
died young, and went to work in an iron foundry at only 13.
Afternoons spent with his father at work on a church fresco were
Urbain's heaven; the iron foundry an inferno. During the First
World War, Urbain was on the front line confronting the invading
Germans, and ever after he is haunted by events he can never
forget. The war ends and he marries his great love, Maria Emelia,
but she dies tragically in the 1919 flu epidemic. Urbain mourns her
bitterly for the rest of his life but, like the obedient soldier he
is, he marries her sister at her parents' bidding. The rest is not
quite silence, but a marriage with a sad secret at its heart, and
the consolations found in art and painting. War and Turpentine is
the imaginative reconstruction of a damaged life across the
tumultuous decades of the twentieth century; a deeply moving
portrayal of family, grief, love and war.
The book John Kelly reads every time he gets a promotion to remind
him of 'the perils of hubris, the pitfalls of patriotism and duty
unaccompanied by critical thinking' The most vivid, moving - and
devastating - word-portrait of a World War One British commander
ever written, here re-introduced by Max Hastings. C.S. Forester's
1936 masterpiece follows Lt General Herbert Curzon, who fumbled a
fortuitous early step on the path to glory in the Boer War. 1914
finds him an honourable, decent, brave and wholly unimaginative
colonel. Survival through the early slaughters in which so many
fellow-officers perished then brings him rapid promotion. By 1916,
he is a general in command of 100,000 British soldiers, whom he
leads through the horrors of the Somme and Passchendaele, a
position for which he is entirely unsuited and intellectually
unprepared. Wonderfully human with Forester's droll relish for
human folly on full display, this is the story of a man of his time
who is anything but wicked, yet presides over appalling sacrifice
and tragedy. In his awkwardness and his marriage to a Duke's
unlovely, unhappy daughter, Curzon embodies Forester's full powers
as a storyteller. His half-hero is patriotic, diligent, even
courageous, driven by his sense of duty and refusal to yield to
difficulties. But also powerfully damned is the same spirit which
caused a hundred real-life British generals to serve as high
priests at the bloodiest human sacrifice in the nation's history. A
masterful and insightful study about the perils of hubris and
unquestioning duty in leadership, The General is a fable for our
times.
No.1 New York Times bestseller Justin Scott's gripping thriller
follows an undercover spy, battling in the frozen wastes of Russia
to protect his country and confront his past The Russian Empire,
1916: at war with Germany, racked with dissent. King George V sends
Kenneth Ash, a naval officer, on a secret mission into this deadly
world of violence and intrigue. Undercover in the frozen wastes of
Russia, Ash must kidnap the King's cousin, Tzar Nicholas II, before
the Bolsheviks take control. Soon he's drawn into a dangerous race
across the globe - through London, Berlin and the deadly trenches
of the First World War - to protect his country and confront his
past.
The Call of the Wrens introduces the little-known story of the
daring women who rode through war-torn Europe carrying secrets on
their shoulders. An orphan who spent her youth without a true home,
Marion Hoxton found in the Great War something other than
destruction. She discovered a chance to belong. As a member of the
Women's Royal Naval Service-the Wrens-Marion gained sisters. She
found purpose in her work as a motorcycle dispatch rider assigned
to train and deliver carrier pigeons to the front line. And despite
the constant threat of danger, she and her childhood friend Eddie
began to dream of a future together. Until the battle that changed
everything. Now twenty years later, another war has broken out
across Europe, calling Marion to return to the fight. Meanwhile
others, like twenty-year-old society girl Evelyn Fairchild, hear
the call for the first time. For Evelyn, serving in the war is a
way to prove herself after a childhood fraught with surgeries and
limitations from a disability. The re-formation of the Wrens as
World War II rages is the perfect opportunity to make a difference
in the world at seventy miles per hour. Told in alternating
narratives that converge in a single life-changing moment, The Call
of the Wrens is a vivid, emotional saga of love, secrets, and
resilience-and the knowledge that the future will always belong to
the brave souls who fight for it. Historical, stand-alone novel
Book length: approximately 94,000 words Includes discussion
questions for book clubs
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The Way Back
(Paperback)
Erich Maria Remarque; Translated by Brian Murdoch
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The sequel to All Quiet on the Western Front, one of the most
powerful novels of the First World War and a twentieth-century
classic. After four gruelling years the survivors of the Great War
finally make their way home. Young, spirited Ernst is one. Finding
himself inexplicably returned to his childhood bedroom, restless,
chafing, confused, he knows he must somehow resurrect his life. But
the way back to peace is far more treacherous than he ever
imagined. If All Quiet on the Western Front was a lament for a lost
generation, this sequel speaks with the same resonant voice for
those who came back. The is a new definitive English translation by
expert Remarque translator Brian Murdoch. 'Remarque is a craftsman
of unquestionably first rank' New York Times Book Review
They stand by side on the rock, facing out to sea. They are hidden
from land here. Even spies would see nothing of them. It is spring
1917 in the Cornish coastal village of Zennor, and the young artist
Clare Coyne is waking up to the world. Ignoring the whispers from
her neighbours, she has struck a rare friendship with D.H. Lawrence
and his German wife, who are hoping to escape the war-fever of
London. In between painting and visits to her new friends she
whiles away the warm days with her cousin John, who is on leave
from the trenches, harbouring secrets she couldn't begin to
understand. But as the heat picks up, so too do the fear and the
gossip that haunt the village. And the freedom to love will come at
a steep price. ______________________________________________
**Winner of the McKitterick Prize** 'Highly original and
beautifully written' Sunday Telegraph 'Electrifying . . . Helen
Dunmore mesmerizes you with her magical pen' Daily Mail 'Deceit
gives Helen Dunmore's novel a jagged edge. Secrets, unspoken words,
lies that have the truth wrapped up in them somewhere make
Dunmore's stories ripples with menace and suspense' Sunday Times
'We believe in Clare's intelligence, talent and passion. A triumph'
Independent on Sunday
An enchanting tale of secrets and deception that stretches from the
heaths of Suffolk to the banks of the Seine.Annie Sancerre is
looking for love. After her husband was killed in the trenches of
the Great War, she found herself putting motherhood before
everything else, whatever the cost. So when the kind and gentle
Fergus Cameron proposes, Annie realises a life with him could bring
both comfort and security. Then she meets debonair lawyer Richard
Ross near her home in Kew and her future is thrown into doubt. But
why does Richard seem to know more about her past than she does?
From bestseller Teresa Crane comes an elaborate mystery of love
both lost and found. Praise for Treacherous Waters 'This is
compulsive reading' Marina Oliver, author of The Accidental
Marriage
This was no ordinary war. This was a war to make the world safe for democracy. And if democracy was made safe, then nothing else mattered--not the millions of dead bodies, nor the thousands of ruined lives...This is no ordinary novel. This is a novel that never takes the easy way out: it is shocking, violent, terrifying, horrible, uncompromising, brutal, remorseless and gruesome...but so is war.
Winner of the National Book Award
'A gripping murder mystery and a vivid recreation of Paris under
German Occupation.' ANDREW TAYLOR *WINNER OF THE HWA GOLD CROWN
AWARD FOR BEST HISTORICAL FICTION* *SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA
HISTORICAL DAGGER AWARD* 'Terrific' SUNDAY TIMES, Best Books of the
Month 'A thoughtful, haunting thriller' MICK HERRON 'Sharp and
compelling' THE SUN * * * * * Paris, Friday 14th June 1940. The day
the Nazis march into Paris, making headlines around the globe.
Paris police detective Eddie Giral - a survivor of the last World
War - watches helplessly on as his world changes forever. But there
is something he still has control over. Finding whoever is
responsible for the murder of four refugees. The unwanted dead, who
no one wants to claim. To do so, he must tread carefully between
the Occupation and the Resistance, between truth and lies, between
the man he is and the man he was. All the while becoming whoever he
must be to survive in this new and terrible order descending on his
home... * * * * * 'Lloyd's Second World War Paris is rougher than
Alan Furst's, and Eddie Giral, his French detective, is way edgier
than Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther ... Ranks alongside both for its
convincingly cloying atmosphere of a city subjugated to a foreign
power, a plot that reaches across war-torn Europe and into the
rifts in the Nazi factions, and a hero who tries to be a good man
in a bad world. Powerful stuff.' THE TIMES 'A tense and gripping
mystery which hums with menace and dark humour as well as immersing
the reader in the life of occupied Paris' Judges, HWA GOLD CROWN
AWARD 'Excellent ... In Eddie Giral, Lloyd has created a character
reminiscent of Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther, oozing with attitude
and a conflicted morality that powers a complex, polished plot.
Historical crime at its finest.' VASEEM KHAN, author of Midnight at
Malabar House 'Monumentally impressive ... A truly wonderful book.
If somebody'd given it to me and told me it was the latest Robert
Harris, I wouldn't have been surprised. Eddie Giral is a wonderful
creation.' ALIS HAWKINS 'A terrific read - gripping and well-paced.
The period atmosphere is excellent.' MARK ELLIS 'The best kind of
crime novel: gripping, thought-provoking and moving. In Detective
Eddie Giral, Chris Lloyd has created a flawed hero not just for
occupied Paris, but for our own times, too.' KATHERINE STANSFIELD
A little girl is found abandoned on a beach one chilly Monday in
October, alone apart from the body of her mother, cold beside her.
Rendered completely silent by her traumatic experience, she is
given the name Monday by the woman who discovers her and takes her
to the Red Cliffs Ragged School - an old, crumbling building
perched above the Torquay bay. Her saviour, twenty-two-year old
Sarah Sullivan, has also had a tough life. But when she was
summoned to help out at Red Cliffs - a haven for poverty-stricken
children from the cities - by her godfather Samuel she also found
her own second chance within its walls. Now she will do anything to
help the mischievous, loveable children there. Especially Monday
whose continued silence tears at her heart. But with Samuel's
health failing and his grasping nephew Christian eager to inherit,
Red Cliffs is under threat. Sarah needs to fight - the children
need her, and surprisingly she find she needs them. Will she be
able to save the school and protect the little girl she's come to
love so much, the one she's named Monday's Child? Monday's Child is
the first in the Red Cliff Ragged School series, soon to be
followed by Orphans and Angels. Praise for Linda Finlay 'Warm and
atmospheric, you can practically taste the sea breeze' The Express
'Take time out for a page-turner about family mysteries and
betrayal' Take-a-Break 'A compelling saga . . . with a surprising
and emotional ending which weaves together the storylines in a most
satisfying way. Strongly recommended and a great read on a Cornish
holiday' cjbrownecrimewriter.com 'A captivating and emotional novel
about a strong woman struggling to find her own way in the world
when others wish to see her fail' Winstone Books
"What the historian must describe factually, Gee Svasti brings to
life through the experience of Chai, Sumet and their comrades who
traveled to war-torn Europe to bring honor and glory to their king.
This is history made intimate, written in a gripping and
heart-warming style." Stefan Hell, author of Siam and World War
One. France 1918: with the war entering its last, critical chapter,
a company of Thai drivers is late to the scene. Commanded by the
prudish Captain Sumet and his hard-pressed deputy, Chai, their
missions see them thrown into the chaos of the Meuse-Argonne front,
delivering shells to the artillery batteries and Grand Cru vintages
to the high command and medicine to beleaguered platoons, before
their trucks are stolen by an American tank courts. Last to the
Front is about the clash of empires, and social and historical
change. It is also a personal story of the lives of young Siamese
soldiers, thousands of miles from home, thrown into the world's
most brutal catastrophe, battling language, prejudice and
intolerance, as much as shells bayonets and machine guns. Chai,
wounded in Germany, goes back to Bangkok more sanguine and wiser,
but he also leaves behind deep friendships and love.
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The Eyes Of Asia
(Paperback)
Rudyard Kipling; Introduction by Charles Allen
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R294
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Kipling's The Eyes of Asia takes the reader on a remarkable journey
of discovery into the heart and soul of four soldiers of the Indian
Army who fought for King and the British Empire in the First World
War.Their touching stories are narrated through a series of
imagined letters written in the blood-drenched battlefields of
war-torn France and makeshift hospitals on England's coastline to
their loved ones back home in the relative peace of their villages
in India and the North-West Frontier. Kipling brings the
experiences of these uneducated Sikh, Hindu and Muslim military men
to life, weaving the horrors of a foreign war like no other with
acts of kindness arising from cultural encounters with French
farmers and British military personnel.Through unofficial access to
translations of scores of intercepted Indian Army letters, Kipling
gained an intimate understanding of the plight and humanity of men
neglected in Western literature after the War. To Kipling, they
were unsung heroes whose sacrifices had made a decisive impact on
the British war effort.
'The doctor hits the spot and deserves to be read' - Jeffrey Archer
'A story to get the heart racing' - Daily Express 'An enthralling
tale' - Daily Mirror 'Dr Hilary is a master storyteller' - Lorraine
Kelly CBE ___________LOVE GAVE THEM STRENGTH. LOVING EACH OTHER
GAVE THEM COURAGE. Britain and her allies are engaged in a long war
with Germany. Grace is the daughter of landed gentry, volunteering
as a nurse on the Western Front. Will is the son of a dockworker,
driven to enlist by a sense of patriotism and the thrill of
adventure. When their lives collide in a field hospital in France,
they form a passionate connection. This is a sweeping and sumptuous
WW1 drama and historical epic, perfect for fans of Ken Follett,
Kate Mosse and Jeffrey Archer.
WINNER OF THE PRIX LANDERNEAU DES LECTEURS 2018 Described as 'eerie
and sensual' by The Guardian, Wild Dog tells the story of a young
couple who discover dark secrets in the remote French countryside.
'Reads like a modern fairy tale' New York Journal of Books Franck
and Lise, a French couple in the film industry, rent a cottage in
the quiet hills of the French Lot to get away from the stresses of
modern life. In this remote corner of the world, there is no phone
signal. A mysterious dog emerges, looking for a new master. Ghosts
of a dark past run wild in these hills, where a German lion tamer
took refuge in the First World War ... Franck and Lise are
confronted with nature at its most brutal. And they are about to
discover that man and beast have more in common than they think. A
literary sensation in France, Wild Dog is a dark, menacing tale of
isolation, human nature and the infinite savagery of the wild.
"A crackling portrayal of everyday American heroines...A triumph."
- Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of
Fifth Avenue A group of young women from Smith College risk their
lives in France at the height of World War I in this sweeping novel
based on a true story-a skillful blend of Call the Midwife and The
Alice Network-from New York Times bestselling author Lauren Willig.
A scholarship girl from Brooklyn, Kate Moran thought she found a
place among Smith's Mayflower descendants, only to have her
illusions dashed the summer after graduation. When charismatic
alumna Betsy Rutherford delivers a rousing speech at the Smith
College Club in April of 1917, looking for volunteers to help
French civilians decimated by the German war machine, Kate is too
busy earning her living to even think of taking up the call. But
when her former best friend Emmeline Van Alden reaches out and begs
her to take the place of a girl who had to drop out, Kate
reluctantly agrees to join the new Smith College Relief Unit. Four
months later, Kate and seventeen other Smithies, including two
trailblazing female doctors, set sail for France. The volunteers
are armed with money, supplies, and good intentions-all of which
immediately go astray. The chateau that was to be their
headquarters is a half-burnt ruin. The villagers they meet are in
desperate straits: women and children huddling in damp cellars,
their crops destroyed and their wells poisoned. Despite constant
shelling from the Germans, French bureaucracy, and the threat of
being ousted by the British army, the Smith volunteers bring
welcome aid-and hope-to the region. But can they survive their own
differences? As they cope with the hardships and terrors of the
war, Kate and her colleagues find themselves navigating old
rivalries and new betrayals which threaten the very existence of
the Unit. With the Germans threatening to break through the lines,
can the Smith Unit pull together and be truly a band of sisters?
The Poppy Girls is the first title in The Maitland Trilogy, by
bestselling author Margaret Dickinson. Even amidst the horror of
the trenches, friendship will survive . . . Thwarted in her desire
to become a doctor like her brother Robert, Pips Maitland rebels
against her mother's wishes that she settle down and raise
children. However, when Robert brings home a friend from medical
school, Giles Kendall, it seems perhaps Pips might fall in love
with an acceptable suitor after all. But the year is 1914 and the
future is uncertain. Hearing that her father's friend, Dr John
Hazelwood, is forming a flying ambulance corps to take to the front
lines, Pips is determined to become one of its nurses and asks
Alice Dawson, her maid, to go with her. Robert and Giles offer
their services as doctors, and Alice's brother William joins them
as a stretcher bearer. Nothing could have prepared them for the
horrific sights they encounter. Moving their unit close to the
fighting to offer first aid as quickly as possible puts them all in
constant danger. But even amidst the barrage of shelling and
gunfire, the unending stream of injured being brought to their
post, the love between Pips and Giles survives and blossoms just
like the poppies of Flanders fields. Fans of Dilly Court and Rosie
Goodwin will love The Poppy Girls. Continue the story of the
Maitland family with The Brooklands Girls.
While Vili has neither the multi-generational sweep nor the moral
gravitas of Singer's family sagas, its themes are nonetheless
timeless, its struggles archetypal. A father and son grapple with
each other, and, in the process, a richly compact narrative
emerges: a rebellious son leaves his ancestral home-an unnamed
village in Poland-to find adventure among strangers and lose
tradition and family along the way. Their respective stories define
what is lost and what is gained in the immigrant passage to the new
world. The eponymous hero, Volf Rubin-or Willy (Vili) Robin in
America-is the rare agon who must share center stage with his
antagonist, that is, his more voluble paterfamilias. The
sententious Hirsh-modeled on Singer's own painful childhood
interactions with the savage brutality of the chief rabbi of
Nyesheve-tenaciously holds onto some of the more merciless and
"bone- breaking" pronouncements derived from a literalist reading
and application of Jewish law. Such is the heavy baggage which,
according to Volf, should have been left behind in steerage. Volf's
lapsed Judaism is his father's dystopian nightmare. He much prefers
nature and farm animals to any form of classroom. Eventually, he
leaves home for the New World, and there a whole new story
unfolds-or is it so "new"?
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