Tags:post-world war ii
An Eye for an Eye (William Warwick Novels)
The unputdownable new rollercoaster read from the Sunday Times bestseller Jeffrey Archer – a must read book of 2024! ‘An absolute page-turner’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reader review ‘Impossible to put down’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reader review ‘So many turns and twists’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reader review 'Master of the pager turner' – Daily Mail 'Compelling' – David Baldacci Selected as one of Waterstones’ Best Books for 2024 *** In one of the most luxurious cities on earth... A billion-dollar deal is about to go badly wrong. A lavish night out is about to end in murder. And the British government is about to be plunged into crisis. In the heart of the British establishment... Lord Hartley, the latest in a line of peers going back over two hundred years, lies dying. But his will triggers an inheritance with explosive consequences. Two deaths. Continents apart. No obvious connection. So why are they both at the centre of a master criminal's plot for revenge? And can Scotland Yard's William Warwick uncover the truth before it's too late... The ultimate race-against-time is about to begin.
The Mermaid from Jeju
An “entrancing” historical fiction debut “brimming with lyricism and magic” that explores what it means to truly love in the wake of devastation—inspired by true events on Korea’s Jeju Island (Jennifer Rosner, The Yellow Bird Sings). In the aftermath of World War II, Goh Junja is a girl just coming into her own. She is the latest successful deep sea diver in a family of strong haenyeo. Confident she is a woman now, Junja urges her mother to allow her to make the Goh family's annual trip to Mt. Halla, where they trade abalone and other sea delicacies for pork. Junja, a sea village girl, has never been to the mountains, where it smells like mushrooms and earth. While there, she falls in love with a mountain boy Yang Suwol, who rescues her after a particularly harrowing journey. But when Junja returns one day later, it is just in time to see her mother take her last breath, beaten by the waves during a dive she was taking in Junja's place. Spiraling in grief, Junja sees her younger siblings sent to live with their estranged father. Everywhere she turns, Junja is haunted by the loss of her mother, from the meticulously tended herb garden that has now begun to sprout weeds, to the field where their bed sheets are beaten. She has only her grandmother and herself. But the world moves on without Junja. The political climate is perilous. Still reeling from Japan's forced withdrawal from the peninsula, Korea is forced to accommodate the rapid establishment of US troops. Junja's canny grandmother, who lived through the Japanese invasion that led to Korea's occupation understands the signs of danger all too well. When Suwol is arrested for working with and harboring communists, and the perils of post-WWII overtake her homelands, Junja must learn to navigate a tumultuous world unlike anything she's ever known. “Hahn creates a world alive with dreams, with gods, with tradition, and the richness of a rural Korean culture.” —New York Journal of Books
No Longer Human
The poignant and fascinating story of a young man who is caught between the breakup of the traditions of a northern Japanese aristocratic family and the impact of Western ideas. Mine has been a life of much shame. I can’t even guess myself what it must be to live the life of a human being. Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai’s No Longer Human narrates a seemingly normal life even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. His attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a “clown” to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness. Still one of the ten bestselling books in Japan, No Longer Human is an important and unforgettable modern classic: “The struggle of the individual to fit into a normalizing society remains just as relevant today as it was at the time of writing.” (The Japan Times)
The Setting Sun
This powerful novel of a nation in social and moral crisis was first published by New Directions in 1956. Set in the early postwar years, it probes the destructive effects of war and the transition from a feudal Japan to an industrial society. Ozamu Dazai died, a suicide, in 1948. But the influence of his book has made "people of the setting sun" a permanent part of the Japanese language, and his heroine, Kazuko, a young aristocrat who deliberately abandons her class, a symbol of the anomie which pervades so much of the modern world.
A Matter of Honour
'If there were a Nobel Prize for storytelling, Archer would win' - The Daily TelegraphThe opening of a letter leads to a desperate chase across Europe in A Matter of Honour by Jeffrey Archer, one of the world’s bestselling novelists.Adam Scott listens to the reading of his father’s will, aware that the contents can only be meagre. The Colonel, after all, had nothing to leave – except a letter he had never opened himself, a letter that could only bring further disgrace to the family name.Against his mother’s advice, Adam opens the letter. Immediately, he realizes that his life can never be the same again. The contents leave him with no choice but to follow a course of action – one his father would have described as a matter of honour . . .*****Praise for Jeffrey Archer: 'Probably the greatest storyteller of our age' – Mail on Sunday'Archer has a gift for plot that can only be described as genius' – The Daily Telegraph'Stylish, witty and constantly entertaining' – The Times
Queuing for the Queen
'Beautifully sensitive, quietly reflective, this absorbing tale about a group of strangers brought together following the death of Queen Elizabeth II is an absolute triumph.' LoveReading debut of the monthOne queue. 250,000 people. Twenty-four life-changing hours.A young boy wearing a cereal box crown, impatiently dragging his mother behind him.A friendly man in a khaki raincoat, talking about his beloved Leeds United to anyone who will listen.An elderly woman who has lived her life alongside the Queen, and is just hoping she'll make it to the end of the queue to say goodbye.And among them, a British Indian mother and daughter, driven apart by their differences, embarking on a pilgrimage which neither of them yet know will change their lives forever.Full of secrets and surprises, this uplifting novel celebrates not only the remarkable woman who defined an era and a country, but also the diverse and unique people she served for so long.
The Little Liar
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER'Moving' Daily Mail'It will stay with you' Independent'Profound' Irish Examiner____________________A moving new novel from the beloved author of Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in HeavenWhen the Nazis invade Salonika, Greece, eleven-year-old Nico Crispi is offered a chance to save his family. He is instructed to convince his fellow Jewish residents to board trains heading towards the east, where they are promised jobs and safety. He dutifully goes to the station platform every day and reassures the passengers that the journey is safe. Only after it is too late does Nico discover that the people he loved would never return. In The Little Liar, Nico's story is interweaved with other individuals impacted by the occupation: his brother Sebastian, their schoolmate Fanni and the Nazi officer who radically changed their lives. As the decades pass, the consequences of what they endured come to light.Exploring honesty, survival, revenge and devotion, The Little Liar is a timeless story about the harm we inflict with our deceits, and the power of love to redeem us.____________________Five-star reader reviews of The Little Liar'An amazing story about truth, war, humanity and loss' 'Another beautiful piece of work by the author. He makes you feel like you are there, know everybody and feel every emotion''Within an exciting and thought-provoking story, without preaching or proselytising, the author invites us to contemplate Truth, and how it is often the first causality of war'''Excellent interwoven stories by a master storyteller. Meaningful insights we can use today''This book nearly broke me''I love Mitch's books, but this is the best of all of them'
Every Time We Say Goodbye
The bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls returns with a brilliant novel of love and art, of grief and memory, of confronting the past and facing the future.In 1955, Vivien Lowry is facing the greatest challenge of her life. Her latest play, the only female-authored play on the London stage that season, has opened in the West End to rapturous applause from the audience. The reviewers, however, are not as impressed as the playgoers and their savage notices not only shut down the play but ruin Lowry's last chance for a dramatic career. With her future in London not looking bright, at the suggestion of her friend, Peggy Guggenheim, Vivien takes a job in as a script doctor on a major film shooting in Rome’s Cinecitta Studios. There she finds a vibrant movie making scene filled with rising stars, acclaimed directors, and famous actors in a country that is torn between its past and its potentially bright future, between the liberation of the post-war cinema and the restrictions of the Catholic Church that permeates the very soul of Italy.As Vivien tries to forge a new future for herself, she also must face the long-buried truth of the recent World War and the mystery of what really happened to her deceased fiancé. Every Time We Say Goodbye is a brilliant exploration of trauma and tragedy, hope and renewal, filled with dazzling characters both real and imaginary, from the incomparable author who charmed the world with her novels The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls.
A Shadow in Moscow
In the thick of the Cold War, a betrayal at the highest level risks the lives of two courageous female spies: MI6’s best Soviet agent and the CIA’s newest Moscow recruit.Vienna, 1954After losing everyone she loves in the final days of World War II, Ingrid Bauer agrees to a hasty marriage with a gentle Soviet embassy worker and follows him home to Moscow. But nothing within the Soviet Union’s totalitarian regime is what it seems, including her new husband, whom Ingrid suspects works for the KGB. Inspired by her daughter’s birth, Ingrid risks everything and reaches out in hope to the one country she understands and trusts—Britain, the country of her mother’s birth. She begins passing intelligence to MI6, navigating a world of secrets and lies, light and shadow.Moscow, 1980A student in the Foreign Studies Initiative, Anya Kadinova finishes her degree at Georgetown University and boards a flight home to Moscow, leaving behind the man she loves and a country she’s grown to respect. Though raised by dedicated and loyal Soviet parents, Anya soon questions an increasingly oppressive and paranoid regime at the height of the Cold War. Then the KGB murders her best friend and Anya chooses her side. Working in a military research lab, she relays Soviet plans and schematics to the CIA in an effort to end the 1980s arms race.The past catches up to the present when an unprecedented act of treachery threatens all agents operating within Eastern Europe, and both Ingrid and Anya find themselves in a race for their lives against time and the KGB.“Eloquently portrays the incredible contributions of women in history, the extraordinary depths of love, and, perhaps most important, the true cost of freedom.” —Kristy Woodson Harvey, New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding VeilAn exciting story of two brave female spies in Cold War MoscowIncludes discussion questions for book clubs
The Lion Women of Tehran
NATIONAL BESTSELLER An “evocative read and a powerful portrait of friendship, feminism, and political activism” (People) set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran—from nationally bestselling author Marjan Kamali. In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless grievances, Ellie dreams for a friend to alleviate her isolation. Luckily, on the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions of becoming “lion women.” But their happiness is disrupted when Ellie and her mother are afforded the opportunity to return to their previous bourgeois life. Now a popular student at the best girls’ high school in Iran, Ellie’s memories of Homa begin to fade. Years later, however, her sudden reappearance in Ellie’s privileged world alters the course of both of their lives. Together, the two young women come of age and pursue their own goals for meaningful futures. But as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences. “Reminiscent of The Kite Runner and My Brilliant Friend, The Lion Women of Tehran is a mesmerizing tale” (BookPage) of love and courage, and a sweeping exploration of how profoundly we are shaped by those we meet when we are young.
The Forgotten Names
For fans of The Book of Lost Names and The Way We Hide!In August 1942, French parents were faced with a horrible choice: watch their children die, or abandon them forever. Fifty years later, it becomes one woman's mission to match the abandoned names with the people they belong to.Five years after the highly publicized trial of Klaus Barbie, the "Butcher of Lyon," law student Valérie Portheret began her doctoral research into the 108 children who disappeared from Vénissieux fifty years earlier, children who somehow managed to escape deportation and certain death in the German concentration camps. She soon discovers that their rescue was no unexplainable miracle. It was the result of a coordinated effort by clergy, civilians, the French Resistance, and members of other humanitarian organizations who risked their lives as part of a committee dedicated to saving those most vulnerable innocents.Theirs was a heroic act without precedent in Nazi-occupied Europe, made possible due to a loophole in the Nazi agenda to deport all Jewish immigrants from the country: a legally recognized exemption for unaccompanied minors. Therefore, to save their children, the Jewish mothers of Vénissieux were asked to make the ultimate sacrifice of abandoning them forever.Told in dual timelines, The Forgotten Names is a reimagined account of the true stories of the French men and women who have since been named Righteous Among the Nations, the children they rescued, the stifled cries of shattered mothers, and a law student, whose twenty-five-year journey allowed those children to reclaim their heritage and remember their forgotten names. With its gripping narrative and thought-provoking themes, The Forgotten Names is a must-read for history enthusiasts and book clubs alike. Dive deeper into the novel with included discussion questions, a historical timeline, and insightful author notes.Also by author: Auschwitz Lullaby, Children of the Stars, Remember Me, The Librarian of Saint-Malo, The Teacher of Warsaw, and The Swiss Nurse
The Unravelling
The Unravelling is a captivating historical fiction set in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, and the United Kingdom during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The novel depicts the military, political, and tribal intrigues that led to the country's collapse as its disenfranchised black population, with the support of two global super powers, China and Russia, took up arms to break free from Rhodesia’s colonial past. You will meet two young men, Nick and Sipho, who have a deep love for the country of their birth and for its endangered elephant and rhino herds which are facing an existential threat from poaching. During the Rhodesian Bush War both men had served with distinction with the Rhodesian African Rifles (RAR) and had become stalwart brothers in armsFollowing his demobilisation from the RAR in July 1980 Nick had been accepted into the University of Edinburgh. He travels to the UK to begin this new chapter of his life. There he meets Rachel Dixon who is a student at Oxford University. Rachel is the only daughter of a controversial but highly successful English businessman named Stuart Dixon. Stuart had worked with Nick’s father, Matthew Sinclair, to help broker some of Rhodesia’s tobacco sanction busting deals.The two students fall in love and in July 1981 Nick brings Rachel back to Zimbabwe for a month long holiday.Sipho remains in Zimbabwe. He is a patriot from the Ndebele nation. He loves his tribal heritage but loves his country more. Following the disbandment of the RAR he joins the new Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) and serves it with distinction. However, despite such service he becomes the victim of shameful tribal discrimination by the ZNA hierarchy.You will also meet Johannes du Toit. Johannes is a callous white man with a love for power and money. During the Rhodesian Bush War, he had served with the elite Rhodesian Light Infantry which was the country’s pre-eminent counter-insurgency unit. Johannes had however gone AWOL in September 1978 when he fled from the country when his illegal poaching activities came to light. Johannes returns to Zimbabwe in July 1981 to resurrect his nefarious rhino poaching activities.Fate had predestined that circumstances would bring Nick, Sipho, Rachel and Johannes together at a place called Mhuka Ranch in southeast Zimbabwe in 1981. Here a lethal encounter takes place which leaves three people dead. The truth of what happened on that fateful day remains unknown to the public but will be revealed to the reader.