Lit Hit List: Women of World War II
I was scrolling through my Goodreads earlier recently, and I realized there was a preponderance of books with a similar cover: women walking off into the distance, usually with some sort of flower border. Weirdly, most of those books seem to be about the quiet heroics of women in the World War II era. I love this because these antics and adventures seem to be largely left out of the history books (a topic for another day?).
For those blog readers that don’t know me in person, I am a big World War II history nerd. My older cousin gave me “The Winds of War” between my junior and senior year, and I fell in love. I ended up a British history major, and I ultimately wrote my honors thesis on Winston Churchill (I know, totally original scholarship). I only tell you this to say that I am at least somewhat qualified to review these books. Plus, it may explain why I’ve read over a dozen within the genre in the past 18 months.
I’ve already mentioned a few here on SFOL: The Gown | Accelerated Reader 1 | Time After Time (that one may be a stretch) | City of Girls (same but also just a fave around here)
I placed them
"Resistance Women" by Jennifer Chiaraveri (3.75): This one is based on the true-ish story of some of the women who passed intelligence in Hitler’s Germany and suffered the consequences. I did enjoy this one, as I loved reading about the lead up to the World War II, but it wasn’t my favorite of the bunch. I felt that it dragged at times, and I honestly think that it could have been about 150 pages shorter. That said, it is an incredibly ambitious book, spanning 1929 - 1946, and it covers the rise of several factions (socialism, fascism) from the perspective of young academics in Germany. Of the three, I liked Sara the most, but all of them are inspiring: real people who did what they could to fight for their beliefs.
“The Alice Network” by Kate Quinn (4.5) - I know you’ve most likely read this one, and you should have — it’s amazing. I couldn’t have a list without it, though. This is the story of Charlie St. Clair, an American teen looking for her missing cousin (Charlie has also been sent to Europe to take care of a “little problem”), who meets Eve, a washed-up former spy. The Alice Network was a real network of female spies in France, and I just love reading stories about the feats of brave women. Admittedly, I found Eve’s story more compelling (that is, the 1915 chapters more than 1947), but all in all, it’s a great read. Two strong women, two world wars, one horrible man? Right up my alley.
“The Huntress” by Kate Quinn (4.25) - Wow, did Kate Quinn write an incredible adventure book here. I picked this one up this spring (actually, on a trip to Bermuda with Shannon), and I didn’t want to put it down (even though I was in Bermuda). Again, this is the story of three people who don’t seem totally connected at first glance: Nina Markova, a Russian Night Witch; Ian Graham, a Nazi hunter; and Jordan McBride, an American teen. Just like in “The Alice Network”, none of our characters are perfect; they are flawed humans, even going so far as to have romantic flings in the middle of life-or-death situations. I don’t need everything to have a love story, as I find it does take me out of the war-related plot that I want to read, but it wasn’t too distracting here.
“The Lost Girls of Paris” by Pam Jeninoff (3.75): I enjoyed this read, even though it was one of those with two timelines — it was the story of Grace, who found a mysterious suitcase in Grand Central Terminal in 1946, and the women whose photographs were in that suitcase: British spies and couriers sent into occupied France during WWII. In this instance, I did feel that these interecting stories served the story well, most likely because they were pretty temporally close together. I had no idea about this initiative, and I loved hearing about it. Plus, Pam Jeninoff is an exceptionally gifted writer, and she made me feel the urgency that Marie felt. However, I do want to let you know that there is much more romance in this book than I anticipated, and at times, that took me out of the story a bit. I would like to think that women wouldn’t give up secrets just because of a man, but that seems to be fairly common in both life and fiction?
“The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah (4) - This is a sudsy melodrama set in the middle of occupied France during World War II but that doesn’t make it any less readable or enjoyable. “The Nightingale” is the story of two sisters who are each impacted by the war, their role in it, and their family situation in different ways. This isn’t full of action like some of the other books on the list; Kristin Hannah has a more flowery, character-driven writing style that may turn some readers off. What am I talking about, if you’re reading a book blog, you’ve likely already read this book — and if you haven’t, you should. And then you should pick up “The Great Alone.” Fair warning, she does get a little flack from me for always having a happy ending, even if it is tonally discordant with the rest of the story.
“The Winemaker’s Wife” by Kristin Harmel (3.5) - Honestly, I had a hard time with this one because I'm not sure that I liked any of the characters. They all annoyed me for different reasons, and due to that, it took me much longer than it should have to get through this book. I hate that because I love the premise: occupied France, champagne makers, smuggling people and helping the resistance. Again, this is one of those with two timelines: a mysterious older woman taking her granddaughter to France to visit a vineyard, and the events that took place on that vineyard during World War II. It’s a good story, plot wise, but it lacks the emotional depth or soul that I would expect from such an ambitious work.
“The Lilac Girls” by Martha Hall Kelly (4.5) - I loved this one. Full stop, read it in an afternoon, loved this one. Kelly tells the (inspired by true events) story of three incredibly disparate women: Carolina, a New York socialite; Herta, a “good German” doctor; and, Kasia, a Polish teenager-turned-courier. Their stories intersect at Ravensbruck concentration camp, and it is such a compelling story. I adore reading about things I know from a uniquely feminine perspective, and it is done so well here. The book is ambitious (it covers 1939 - 1959, three continents, and many perspectives), but it didn’t feel forced or labored. Also, WTF Germany with what you did to these women? I didn’t know anything about “The Rabbits” before I read this book, but I am glad to know their stories.
“The Girls of Atomic City” by Denise Kiernan (4): You guys know I love a good microhistory, and this one is one of the best; it tells the story of the women who were brought to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for an unknown-to-them reason: building the atomic bomb. 75,000 people were relocated to this secret city, and many of them didn’t know what exactly they were doing there until the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While it does get dense at times, this is an easy read — absolutely compelling work done by the author.
If you liked this one, I’d also recommend “Code Girls” by Lisa Mundy, which tells the story of the female codebreakers that worked for Army and Navy intelligence during the war.
Tell me! Did I miss any of your favorites?
