Five WWII Books {Five on Friday}

Yesterday was World Book Night and as a giver for the fourth year I had a great time giving out books! I gave the majority to moms and dads on the school ground. They are the worst culprits for saying they have no time to read. Everyone I talked to say they would try there best to start reading despite their “busy” schedules.

I say “busy” because we are all busy. It’s all about our priorities and where I appreciate that reading a book isn't everyone’s first priority I do believe it is a past time that everyone should attempt whenever they can.

In my last post I am running a giveaway for a copy of my World Book Night book Custard Tarts and Broken Hearts by Mary Gibson. So, head over there and enter all you have to do is follow the instructions in the rafflecopter gadget.

I have read all of these books! I laughed and cried and lived in another time in different ways with each of these books. I couldn't recommend them more! 

Custard Tarts and Broken Hearts is about life and love in England during WWI. If you’re looking for something to read after such a great book then here are my five WWII recommendations. If you haven’t read Custard Tarts and Broken Hearts but are interested in fictional and non-fictional books on WWII these are worth a look!

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

synopsis: (from the front flap) ***HERE IS A SMALL FACT*** You are going to die 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier. Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall. . .

The Story Teller by Jodi Picoult

synopsis: For seventy years, Josef Weber has been hiding in plain sight. He is a pillar of his local community. He is also a murderer. When Josef decides to confess, it is to Sage Singer, a young woman who trusts him as her friend. What she hears shatters everything she thought she knew and believed.

As Sage uncovers the truth from the darkest horrors of war, she must follow a twisting trail between terror and mercy, betrayal and forgiveness, love - and revenge.

Life after Life by Kate Atkinson

synopsis: What if you had the chance to live your life again and again, until you finally got it right? During a snowstorm in England in 1910, a baby is born and dies before she can take her first breath. During a snowstorm in England in 1910, the same baby is born and lives to tell the tale.

What if there were second chances? And third chances? In fact an infinite number of chances to live your life? Would you eventually be able to save the world from its own inevitable destiny? And would you even want to? Life After Life follows Ursula Todd as she lives through the turbulent events of the last century again and again.

Clara Vine series:

synopsis - Black Roses: 1933. War is in the air. And in Berlin one woman is torn between love, loyalty and duty… Clara Vine is young and ambitious, and determined to succeed as an actress. A chance meeting in London leads her to Berlin, to the famous Ufa studios and, unwittingly, into an uneasy circle of Nazi wives, among them Magda Goebbels.

synopsis - The Winter Garden: Berlin. 1937. The city radiates glamour and ambition. But danger lurks in every shadow… Anna Hansen, a bride-to-be, is a pupil at ne of Hitler’s notorious Nazi Bride Schools, where young women are schooled on the art of being an SS officer’s wife. Then, one night, she is brutally murdered and left in the gardens of the school.

synopsis – A War of Flowers: August, 1938. Paris is a city living on its nerves and the threat of war hangs heavy as a distant thunderstorm on a summer’s day…With war becoming increasingly likely, Clara is approached by an undercover British operative, Guy Hamilton, who askes her to perform a task for her country: to befriend Eva Braun, Hitler’s girlfriend, and to pass on any information she can gather.

The Endless Steppe (non-fiction) by Esther Hautzig

synopsis: Esther Rudomin was ten years old when, in 1941, she and her family were arrested by the Russians and transported to Siberia. This is the true story of the next five years spent in exile, of how the Rudomins kept their courage high, though they went barefoot and hungry.

I had a great World Book Night! I love talking about books with readers and non-readers alike and I love sharing the gift of books. However I am always looking for new book recommendations! If you have any book reviews on your blog please link up here! They can be old or new and they can be fiction or non-fiction. It can be a cookbook or children’s book. Any book review can be linked up! 

The only rules are: Please only link up to 5 different posts and please visit and comment on the link before yours! If you want to visit and comment on more then that please do! And if you have a minute please share this linky on any of your social media sites! It is optional not a must! If you tag me (@unitedcakedom) on twitter or instagram I will try my best to like/retweet/comment!


notes: images were used from amazon and synopsis' were taken from the back and front flaps of the books. If you didn't see my previous post on World Book Night check it out here! I bought all of these books except A War of Flowers which was given to me in a giveaway. All opinions are my own!