Operation Tulip by Deborah Swift Book Review

Publication Date: 12th September 2024
Publisher: HQ Digital
Series: Secret Agent Series
Pages: 410
Genre: Historical Fiction

Book Description

Holland, 1944: Undercover British agent Nancy Callaghan has been given her toughest case yet. A key member of the Dutch resistance has been captured, and Nancy must play the role of a wealthy Nazi to win over a notorious SS officer, Detlef Keller, and gain crucial information.

England: Coding expert Tom Lockwood is devastated that the Allies have failed to push back the Nazis, leaving Northern Holland completely cut off from the rest of Europe, and him from his beloved Nancy. Desperate to

The Shadow Network by Deborah Swift Book Review (Blog Tour)

Publication Date: 13th February 2024
Publisher: HQ Digital
Page Length: 376
Series: Secret Agent Series (but can be read as a stand-alone)
Genre: Historical Fiction / WW2

Synopsis

One woman must sacrifice everything to uncover the truth in this enthralling historical novel, inspired by the true World War Two campaign Radio Aspidistra…

England, 1942: Having fled Germany after her father was captured by the Nazis, Lilli Bergen is desperate to do something pro-active for the Allies. So when she’s approached by the Political Warfare Executive (PWE), Lilli jumps at the chance. She’s recruited as a

War Sonnets by Susannah Willey Read an Excerpt

Publication Date: 5 July 2023
Publisher: Utter Loonacy Press
Page Length: 364
Genre: Historical Fiction / World War II

Synopsis

1942: In the war-torn jungles of Luzon, two soldiers scout the landscape. Under ordinary circumstances they might be friends, but in the hostile environment of World War II, they are mortal enemies.

Leo Baldwin, a US Army sergeant, writes sonnets. His sights are set on serving his country honorably and returning home in one piece. But the enemy is not always Japanese…Dooley wants Leo’s job, and he’ll do whatever it takes to get it…Leo finds himself fighting for his reputation and freedom.

Lieutenant Tadashi Abukara prefers haiku. He has vowed to serve his emperor honorably, but finds himself fighting a losing battle. Through combat, starvation, and the threat

Murder After Christmas by Rupert Latimer Book Review

Synopsis

Good old Uncle Willie - rich, truculent and seemingly propped up by his fierce willpower alone - has come to stay with the Redpaths for the holidays. It is just their luck for him to be found dead the morning after Christmas day, dressed in his Santa Claus costume, seemingly poisoned by his favourite chocolates. Or was there something sinister in the mince pies? If so, was it the ones stashed in his room or those sent to him mysteriously by post? More importantly, since his will was recently redrafted, who stands to gain by this unseasonable crime?

First published in 1944, Murder After Christmas is a lively riot of murder, mince pies and misdirection, cleverly playing with beloved murder mystery tropes to create

Where the Sky Begins by Rhys Bowen Book Review

Synopsis

London, 1940. Bombs fall and Josie Banks’s world crumbles around her. Her overbearing husband, Stan, is unreachable, called to service. Her home, a ruin of rubble and ash. Josie’s beloved tearoom boss has been killed, and Josie herself is injured, with nothing left and nowhere to go.

Evacuated to the English countryside, Josie ends up at the estate of the aristocratic Miss Harcourt, a reluctant host to the survivors of the Blitz. Awed as she is by the magnificent landscape, Josie sees opportunity. Josie convinces Miss Harcourt to let her open a humble tea shop, seeing it as a chance for everyone to begin again. When Josie meets Mike Johnson, a handsome Canadian pilot stationed at a neighboring bomber base, a

The Secret Keeper by Siobhan Curham Book Review

Publication Date: July 27, 2022
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: Print, ebook and audio
Genre: Historical Fiction/Womens Fiction

Synopsis

Nazi-occupied Paris, 1942. “I want to create a world where we are free to be together, to be in love,” he whispered. I gulp down the sobs building in my throat. “I want that too. I’ll come back to you. I swear I’ll come back.”

Elena Garcia knows that the mission she has been tasked with is her most dangerous yet. With a tearful goodbye to the man she has grown to love, the dark-eyed and warm-hearted Santiago Lozano, she hurries to catch the train to the drop-off point, the coded maps she is delivering for the resistance concealed

The Crimson Thread by Kate Forsyth Book Review + Blog Tour Giveaway (US only)

Publication Date: July 5, 2022
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

In Crete during World War II, Alenka, a young woman who fights with the resistance against the brutal Nazi occupation, finds herself caught between her traitor of a brother and the man she loves, an undercover agent working for the Allies.

May 1941. German paratroopers launch a blitzkrieg from the air against Crete. They are met with fierce defiance, the Greeks fighting back with daggers, pitchforks, and kitchen knives. During the bloody eleven-day battle, Alenka, a young Greek woman, saves the lives of two Australian soldiers.

The Lost Sister of Fifth Avenue by Ella Carey Book Review

Publication Date: July 7, 2022
Publisher: Bookouture
Series: Daughters of New York #4
Format: ebook, print and audio
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

New York, 1938: Martha pulled the door of her Fifth Avenue apartment closed, her heart thumping, re-reading the telegram she’d been dreading. Her beloved sister Charlotte needed her help. She was alone in Paris, and the threat of Nazi invasion was growing ever stronger. The time had come for Martha to make the bravest decision of her life. She needed to bring Charlotte home.

As Martha looks out of her bedroom window at the blossom-covered trees in Central Park,

The Angel of Vienna by Kate Hewitt Book Review

Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: June 16, 2022
Format: ebook, print and audio
Genre: Historical Fiction, WWII

Synopsis

Nazi-occupied Vienna, 1940: A young nurse finds herself with the chance to save innocent children. An unmissable and heartbreaking story—based on devastating real events—about tragedy, hope and courage in the face of impossible odds.

“These children, who the Nazis don’t even see as human, these children are innocent. And, Hannah, if you have the chance to save even one of them, you know what you have to do. Even if it puts your own life at risk.”

The Paris Network by Siobhan Curham Book Review

Publication Date: February 15, 2022
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: ebook, print and audio
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

Paris, 1940: He pressed the tattered book into her hands. ‘You must go to the café and ask at the counter for Pierre Duras. Tell him that I sent you. Tell him you’re there to save the people of France.’

Sliding the coded message in between the crisp pages of the hardback novel, bookstore owner Laurence slips out into the cold night to meet her resistance contact, pulling her woollen beret down further over her face. The silence of the night is suddenly shattered by an Allied plane rushing overhead, its tail

The London House by Katherine Reay Book Review

Publication Date: November 2, 2021
Publisher: Harper Muse
Length: (368) pages
Format: Trade paperback, eBook, & audiobook 
Genre: Historical Fiction, Women’s Fiction

Synopsis

Uncovering a dark family secret sends one woman through the history of Britain’s World War II spy network and glamorous 1930s Paris to save her family’s reputation.

Caroline Payne thinks it’s just another day of work until she receives a call from Mat Hammond, an old college friend and historian. But pleasantries are cut short. Mat has uncovered a scandalous secret kept buried

A Letter From Pearl Harbor by Anna Stuart Book Review

Publication Date: November 5, 2021
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: ebook, print and audio
Genre: Historical Fiction, World War II

Synopsis

Ninety-eight-year-old Ginny McAllister’s last wish is for her granddaughter to complete a treasure hunt containing clues to her past. Clues that reveal her life as one of the first female pilots at Pearl Harbor, and a devastating World War Two secret.

1941, Pearl Harbor: On the morning of December 7th, Ginny is flying her little yellow plane above the sparkling seas when she spots an unknown aircraft closing in on her. She recognises the red symbol of the Japanese fighter planes almost too late. Somehow, she manages to land unscathed but

The Girls from the Beach by Andie Newton Book Blast

Digital Publication Date: July 8, 2021
Paperback Publication Date: January 2022
Publisher: Aria Fiction
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

'We'd heard stories about the nurses in tent seven. A secret mission, stolen money, and spies...'

In 1944, four American nurses disappeared for five days. No one knew what happened to them. Until now.

When Kit and Red set foot on French soil during the Normandy landings, they know they have to rely on each other. As they head for the battlefield, their aim is simple: save lives. But when they're called away on a top-secret

Beyond the Olive Grove by Kate Hewitt Book Review

Publication Date:13 August , 2021
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: ebook & paperback
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

The place seemed utterly still, the only sound was the wind rustling high in the pines above. Standing there, realizing she didn’t even know which house had belonged to her grandmother, Ava wondered just how crazy and desperate she’d been to come all this way with no hope or plan.

When Ava arrives in Greece, it’s with a heart that’s shattered into a thousand pieces. But as she pulls up in a tiny village nestled on a cliff above the glittering Ionian Sea, and steps out in front of a tumbledown house that once

The Secret Diary by Anna Stuart Book Review

Publication Date: August 3, 2021
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: ebook & paperback
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

Two women. One house. And a wartime secret that spans decades…

Norfolk, 1945: Only a few months ago Nancy Jones was fighting for her country as a gunner girl. Now she’s struggling to adjust to her responsibilities as a gamekeeper’s wife. After a whirlwind romance, Nancy is deeply in love with her handsome husband Joe but there is still so much they don’t know about each other. When a secret from Nancy’s war years threatens to resurface, will the terrible truth about the worst night of her life shatter their

The Rainbow by Carly Schabowski Book Review

Publication Date: July 28, 2021
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: ebook & paperback
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

There, on the dusty floorboards, was a piece of paper, folded neatly. A newspaper article from 1941, written in German, alongside a faded picture of two men in Nazi uniforms staring at the camera. I was about to place it back in the box of forgotten things when something in the text jumped out at me. My breath caught in my chest. I know that name.

London, present day. Isla has grown up hearing her beloved grandad’s stories about his life as a child in pre-war Poland and as a young soldier bravely fighting the Germans to protect his people. So she is shocked and

Last Flight to Stalingrad by Graham Hurley Read An Excerpt

Today I'm bringing you an excerpt from Graham Hurley's latest World War II thriller, Last Flight to Stalingrad.

Publication Date: July 1, 2021
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Series: Spoils of War #5
Genre: Historical Fiction, World War II, Thriller

Synopsis

Berlin, 1942.

For four years, the men in field grey have helped themselves to country after country across Western Europe.

For Werner Nehmann, a journalist at the Promi – the Ministry of Propaganda – this dizzying series of victories has felt like a party without end. But now the Reich's attention has turned towards the East, and as winter sets in, the mood is turning.

Werner's boss, Joseph Goebbels, can sense

The Edelweiss Sisters by Kate Hewitt Book Review

Publication Date: 8 June 2021
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: Paperback and ebook
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

1938, Salzburg. A powerful story of hope, forbidden love, and incredible courage, about three sisters who will risk everything—even their own lives—as part of the resistance movement in Nazi-occupied Austria.

Johanna, Birgit and Lotte Eder have always lived quiet lives, working in their father’s clockmaking shop and helping their mother in the house. But like many other Austrians, they find it impossible to ignore the changes in the

The Librarian of Saint-Malo by Mario Escobar Book Review + Giveaway (US Only)

Publication Date: June 1, 2021
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Format: Paperback & eBook; 384 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction/Literary

Synopsis

Through letters with a famous author, one French librarian tells her love story and describes the brutal Nazi occupation of her small coastal village.

Saint-Malo, France: August 1939. Jocelyn and Antoine are childhood sweethearts, but just after they marry, Antoine is called up to fight against Germany. As the war rages, Jocelyn focuses on comforting and encouraging the local population by recommending books from her beloved library in Saint-Malo. She herself finds hope in her

Sisters at War by Clare Flynn Book Review

Publication Date: 1st May 2021
Publisher: Cranbrook Press
Page Length: 314 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

1940 Liverpool. The pressures of war threaten to tear apart two sisters traumatised by their father’s murder of their mother.

With her new husband, Will, a merchant seaman, deployed on dangerous Atlantic convoy missions, Hannah needs her younger sister Judith more than ever. But when Mussolini declares war on Britain, Judith's Italian sweetheart, Paolo is imprisoned as an enemy alien, and Judith's loyalties are