Tag: World War II

We Are On Our Own: A Memoir by Miriam Katin

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Miriam Katin was born in Hungary during World War II. She doesn’t remember much about the war except that this war reminded people of other wars and that other wars were going to also come. War was expected, intruders to the land were a given, and upheaval was just how she lived. Her young childhood was a jumble.

In an attempt to gather all she remembers, she wrote We Are On Our Own, a memoir about a mother and her daughter’s survival in World War II. Miriam writes and illustrates the story of her and her mother’s escape from the Nazis in Budapest, Hungary from 1944-1945. It’s compiled from her memories, her parents’ memories, as well as whatever primary source material she could find.

Miriam’s father was off fighting for the Hungarian army when she and her mother were forced out of their home. Desperate to survive, the two faked their deaths and fled to the countryside on foot with few possessions. Miriam was understandably confused and distraught about what was happening: where is her beloved dog, Rexy, after all? He would never leave her. Disguising themselves as illegitimate child and peasant servant woman, the two manage to stay steps ahead of the German soldiers. Miriam’s mother managed to hold onto hope that her husband would survive and that they would one day all be reunited.

Miriam was only a toddler when her world dissolved. Her childhood memories were fragmented, full of chocolate, forests, snow, strange men, and the noise and brutality of war. This memoir is her way of gathering those fragments and forming something that makes sense. Besides their physical crises, Miriam and her family go through a crisis of faith. The two contemplate God, His decisions, and why He would allow devastation and destruction across the world. This is a constant crisis for the two and for many other survivors of the Shoah/Holocaust. Miriam merges her broken pieces into a beautifully told story of her childhood innocence amidst unbelievable violence.

Bluebird by Sharon Cameron

- Stephanie 1 Comment

“Reality is the condition we create for ourselves.”
― Sharon Cameron, Bluebird

Bluebird by Sharon Cameron is an Iowa High School Book Award nominee for 2023-2024. Having already read a couple of the other nominees and enjoyed them, I wanted to dive into more!

Bluebird is a historical novel set in post World War II. There are flashbacks, as well as back and forth, but once you get used to it, the book flies by! While this book is artfully detailed and lengthy, it doesn’t have any long drawn-out descriptions. Although this is fiction, there is a section of notes at the very end that discusses how the author researched her book, plus the relevant real history.  If you’re like me and tend to skip the notes, read these ones! They gave me a jumping off point to some more research. (I also listened to the audiobook which added to the experience.) Now let’s talk Bluebird.

Eva grew up in Germany, but in 1946, she leaves the rubble and destruction of Berlin behind to head to New York City. Traveling with her friend, Eva has no idea what they are headed into, only that she hopes it will lead to justice for her, her friend, and her family. As soon as they settle, Eva realizes that New York may be full of more danger than Germany. Believing in something doesn’t mean anything when you’re up against men with power, but Eva knows what she’s fighting for is more important. As she searches for the truth, she realizes that those she once trusted may be lying to her.

Eva is more valuable than others realize though. She holds the key to Project Bluebird, a horrific experiment project that could tip the balance of world power if its truth is exposed. More than just the Germans want to know about Project Bluebird. The Americans and Soviets are desperate to have that power, although if either is successful, lives would drastically change.

Eva doesn’t care about Project Bluebird. She doesn’t care about what other countries want. She came to America for one thing: justice. She wants the Nazi who escaped from her. She wants to finally hold him accountable for what he did to her and to others.

This title is also available as a Libby eBook, Libby eAudiobook, and Playaway Audiobook.

Tokyo Rose – Zero Hour by Andre Frattino and Kate Kasenow

- Stephanie Leave a comment

As a librarian, I like to tell people that I know a little about a lot with some deep wells of specific knowledge. If I don’t know the answer, I can find the resources to answer your question. As I was shelving graphic novels, I found Tokyo Rose – Zero Hour: A Japanese American Woman’s Persecution and Ultimate Redemption after World War II with story by Andrew Frattino and illustrated by Kate Kasenow. This book immediately caught my eye as propaganda artists of any kind during wars have been an interst of mine for years, but I had never heard of Tokyo Rose. It was time for a dive. This graphic story was the perfect place to start.

The term ‘Tokyo Rose’ was a nickname given to female English-speaking radio broadcasters of Japanese propaganda during World War II. Allied servicemen in the South Pacific coined this name. This book is not a broad look at World War II, but instead is a focused deep dive into the life of one woman who was branded the legendary infamous Tokyo Rose, even though there were actually many Tokyo Roses.

Iva Toguri was a Japanese American woman born in the States who was sent to visit relatives in Tokyo shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor. After the attack, Iva was trapped in Japan, unable to get back to the United States. Visited by officials, Iva was pressured to renounce her American citizenship and fully become a Japanese citizen. She refused this deal whole-heartedly, saying she was an American citizen and would never denounce her country. This caused issues with her family in Tokyo, forcing Iva to move out and forge a new life for herself.

A friend got her a job at Radio Tokyo, where she was eventually forced to become the host of ‘Zero Hour’, a propaganda broadcast that was created to destroy morale of American troops. She became the infamous Tokyo Rose, ‘The Siren of the Pacific’. Her role made her a target of angry Americans. She was arrested, released, and then eventually made her way back to the United States where after public outcry she was arrested again and prosecuted for treason. Her trial was a joke, the prosecrutors were incredibly dishonest, and the judge skewed not in her favor. She spent time in prison, but was eventually pardoned by President Ford in 1977. Iva’s experience is something not discussed much in the history books, but is something that should be taught.

This book was a good introduction to the Tokyo Rose phenomenon, but remember this is only the story of one woman who was targetted as Tokyo Rose in the media. All in all, I enjoyed this graphic novel, but it was a tad uneven for me. The plot and story is necessary to learn however because after all, those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Online Reading Challenge – July

- Ann Leave a comment

Hello and welcome to the July edition of the Online Reading Challenge!

This month our theme is about the Holocaust and those who survived. Living through this terrible, dark time is pretty much unimaginable to those of us that were not touched by it’s horrors. Simply reading about the Holocaust is difficult, but I think it’s important that we do read about it and never forget how terrible events can happen. We must always be vigilant so that this never happens again, a job that is neverending.

This month’s main title is We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter.

An extraordinary, propulsive novel based on the true story of a family of Polish Jews who scatter at the start of the Second World War, determined to survive, and to reunite. It is the spring of 1939, and three generations of the Kurc family are doing their best to live normal lives, even as the shadow of war grows ever closer. The talk around the family Seder table is of new babies and budding romance, not of the increasing hardships facing Jews in their hometown of Radom, Poland. But soon the horrors overtaking Europe will become inescapable and the Kurc family will be flung to the far corners of the earth, each desperately trying to chart his or her own path toward safety.

Also available as an ebook.

Alternate titles are:

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When his captors discover that he speaks several languages, he is put to work as a Tätowierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners. Imprisoned for more than two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism–but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion.

Also available as an ebook, e-audiobook and Large Print.

The Last Train to London by Meg Waite Clayton

Truus Wijsmuller, a member of the Dutch resistance, risks her life smuggling Jewish children out of Nazi Germany to the nations that will take them. It is a mission that becomes even more dangerous after the Anschluss – Hitler’s annexation of Austria – as, across Europe, countries close their borders to the growing number of refugees desperate to escape. Tante Truus, as she is known, is determined to save as many children as she can.

Night by Eli Wiesel

Born in the town of Sighet, Transylvania, Elie Wiesel was a teenager when he and his family were taken from their home in 1944 to the Auschwitz concentration camp, and then to Buchenwald. This book is the terrifying record of Elie Wiesel’s memories of the death of his family, the death of his own innocence, and his despair as a deeply observant Jew confronting the absolute evil of man.

Also available as an e-audiobook and as a book-on-cd

Look for these books and many others on display at each of our buildings.

Online Reading Challenge – April Wrap-Up

- Ann Leave a comment

Challengers! How was your month? Did you read one of the books from our April Book Flight?

The main title this month was The Alice Network by Kate Quinn.  I loved this book. I read it several years ago shortly after it was published and quickly became completely immersed in the historic setting and the work of these brave women.

This is a book about two wars, of the price paid both by those who died and those who survived, of sisterhood and loyalty and immeasurable bravery.

Before reading this I was unaware of the extent of the spy network whose work was instrumental in fighting World War I, and I had no idea that so many women sacrificed so much working behind enemy lines. There really was an “Alice Network” made up of women who worked in France, gathering information and passing it along to the Allies. This work was incredibly dangerous since they often had to pose as neutral and even supportive of the Germans, usually in close contact, posing as waitresses, store clerks and secretaries and sometimes becoming their lovers, all to gather information.

Although the scenes set during World War I were by far the most riveting, I also enjoyed the post-World War II storyline. The parallels between the wars, especially the brutality and suffering, were eerily similar. And again, it brought to light a true story from the Second World War that I had never heard, that of the lost village of Oradour-sur-Glane in France.

What did you think about the women that worked as spies from any of our Book Flight books? Were you, like me, astonished by their sheer courage, their ability to overcome the fear of torture and death to complete a mission and to stay cool under pressure? What do you think motivated them – was it loyalty to a family member or loved one, or was it patriotism for a country? And what about their enemies, were they simply pure evil, or were they more complex?

Be sure to share your thoughts on this month’s Book Flight in the comments below!

 

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

- Ann Leave a comment

This gem of a book is a compelling combination of hope and tragedy, of sacrifice and friendship, of loyalty and brilliant  intelligence and of trust and love in Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein.

Maddie is a working class girl who dreams of becoming a pilot. “Verity” is  casually wealthy and carefree. Despite their very different backgrounds, they become fast friends, creating  an unbreakable bond that strengthens and deepens as they train to be spies in World War II.

In 1943 the two women are to sent to war-torn France on a spy mission. However, their plane crashes behind enemy lines; “Verity” is captured by the Gestapo while the Maddie is left for dead. The French Resistance is able to help Maddie and she begins searching, against all hope, for “Verity”.

Meanwhile, “Verity” is being tortured by the Nazi’s for information. After horrible pain and suffering, she agrees to write out her confession which she promises will provide information on the Allies and their plans. This is where the book opens, with “Verity’s” confession except that she is taking her time, writing in detail about her friendship with Maddie and other stories unrelated to the war, with just enough information sprinkled throughout that the Germans allow her to continue.

This book is often heartbreaking, but it also has a lot of humor and even joy. The friendship gives both women, even when they’re apart, great strength and perseverance. And the ending holds a brilliant twist. Highly recommended.

If you are joining us for the 2022 Online Reading Challenge, this title works perfectly with our April theme of women spies, intelligence work and sacrifice.

Online Reading Challenge – April

- Ann Leave a comment

Welcome Readers!

It’s time for a new Online Reading Challenge assignment! Our theme is female spies, intelligence work and sacrifice. There are some brilliant books to explore this month, covering spycraft from World War I through the Cold War. I highly recommend The Alice Network and Code Name Verity, two of my favorite books, and I also recommend Our Woman in Moscow.

This month’s main title is The Alice Network by Kate Quinn. In 1915, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance to serve when she’s recruited to work as a spy for the English. Sent into enemy-occupied France during The Great War, she’s trained by the mesmerizing Lili, the “Queen of Spies”, who manages a vast network of secret agents, right under the enemy’s nose. Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn’t heard in decades, and launching them both on a mission to find the truth … no matter where it leads.

This title is also available as an e-book and an e-audiobook.

Alternate titles include: Code Girls: the untold story of the American women code breakers of World War II by Liza Mundy. This documents the contributions of more than ten thousand American women who served as codebreakers during World War II, detailing how their efforts shortened the war, saved countless lives, and enabled their subsequent careers.

Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams. Autumn, 1948: Iris Digby, her American diplomat husband Sasha, and their two children vanish from London. Were they eliminated by the Soviet intelligence service? Or have the Digbys defected to Moscow with a trove of the West’s most vital secrets? Four years later Ruth Macallister receives a postcard from Iris, the twin sister she hasn’t seen since their catastrophic parting in Rome in the summer of 1940. Now Ruth is on her way to Moscow, posing as the wife of counterintelligence agent Sumner Fox in a precarious plot to extract the Digbys from behind the Iron Curtain.

This title is also available in Large Print and as an e-book.

American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson. It’s 1986, the heart of the Cold War, and Marie Mitchell is an intelligence officer with the FBI. She’s brilliant, but she’s also a young black woman working in an old boys’ club. Her career has stalled out, so when she’s given the opportunity to join a shadowy task force aimed at undermining Thomas Sankara, the charismatic revolutionary president of Burkina Faso whose Communist ideology has made him a target for American intervention, she says yes. In the year that follows, Marie will observe Sankara, seduce him, and ultimately have a hand in the coup that will bring him down. But doing so will change everything she believes about what it means to be a spy, a lover, a sister, and a good American.

This title is also available as an e-audiobook.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. In 1943, a British fighter plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France and the survivor tells a tale of friendship, war, espionage, and great courage as she relates what she must to survive while keeping secret all that she can.

This title is also available as a Book on CD and as an e-book.

Check for these titles and more featured in displays at each of the Davenport Library buildings!

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

- Ann 1 Comment

I really hesitated to post this review. I read this book several months ago, before it was published, with a Reader’s Advance copy. As a fan of Kate Quinn I couldn’t wait to read it and, typical of Quinn’s other titles, I couldn’t put it down. Since then, the world has changed dramatically and, while this book takes place in 1941 during World War II, the locations and circumstances are eerily, heartbreakingly similar to the current situation in Ukraine. Please read with caution.

All Mila Pavlichenko wants to do with her life is study, work as an archivist and raise her son. Unfortunately, history intervenes and she is forced into a role she never wanted when Germany invades her homeland in World War II in The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn.

While war had been simmering for months, Germany’s invasion into the Soviet Union is sudden and brutal. Mila’s careful and ordered life is thrown into chaos and she volunteers for the army almost immediately. Having been part of a shooting club while in school, she already knows how to shoot. Her sharp eye and steady hand soon advance her to sniper and she is soon recognized as one of the best. Mila is tough, determined and nearly fearless making daring forays into enemy territory to hit the enemy at it’s weakest points.

Her job is also incredibly dangerous. More than once Mila is shot as the Germans learn how to locate and eliminate the snipers that harass their troops. The Germans refer to her as Lady Death, a lethal hunter of Nazis. She also suffers the loss of fellow soldiers, many of whom she has relied on to watch her back and provide back-up. Yet the war grinds on, bloody and unforgiving.

When Mila records her three hundredth kill she is declared a national heroine and the Soviet government pulls her from the battlefields and sends her on a goodwill tour of America. Still suffering from serious wounds and devastated by loss, Mila is leery of and isolated from the glittering world of Washington, DC, so shockingly different from the battlefields. She strikes up an unexpected friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt – who seems to understand that Mila is worn down by grief behind the facade of the perfect Soviet soldier – and is then thrust into a deadly duel with another sniper.

As with Kate Quinn’s other titles (The Alice Network, The Huntress and The Rose Code), The Diamond Eye is based on a true story about an incredibly strong-willed woman who sets aside her own personal comfort to defend and protect. It is sharp and fast-moving and frequently devastating, a reflection of the sacrifice shown in the book.

The reason I had so many doubts about posting the review is that it takes place in Ukraine (although Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union during World War II) and much of the action takes place in Kyiv and Odessa. It is different governments and different enemies, but here is Ukraine in 2022, fighting again for their homeland and suffering devastating losses. It is difficult to read now, but it is also a reminder of how history repeats itself and how freedom and democracy are never a sure thing, but must be defended always.

 

The Librarian of Saint-Malo by Mario Escobar

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Mario Escobar’s latest novel The Librarian of Saint-Malo tells the story of a French librarian’s stand against the German occupation as they descend upon the small coastal village of Saint-Malo. While World War II novels are plentiful, the timeline covered as well as the perspectives shown during this particular title were refreshing and set this novel apart.

Jocelyn is determined. Having just married her high school sweetheart Antoine in August 1939, Jocelyn wishes to begin their married life in bliss. But soon after they are married, Antoine is drafted to fight against Germany, leaving Jocelyn behind in the village of Saint-Malo to manage the tiny library there. World War II brings destruction to their doors, while Jocelyn works to bring comfort and encouragement to those residents who can escape to the library to check out books.

Wanting to do more, Jocelyn begins writing secret letters to a famous author who lives in Paris. Having someone smuggle those letters to him is a great risk, but Jocelyn is desperate that her story, as well as that of Saint-Malo, lives on in the face of the war’s destruction. When France falls and Nazis start to occupy Saint-Malo, Jocelyn wants to do more. With the city now a fortress, the devastation only worsens.

Across the country, Nazis begin to destroy libraries. Armed with lists of unsuitable books, Nazis burn books and even steal the priceless and more rare books. Jocelyn refuses to let her library be destroyed, so despite the risk to herself, she manages to hide the books the Nazis seek to destroy. While terror reigns around her, Jocelyn waits for news from Antoine, who is now a prisoner in a German camp.

The more Jocelyn writes, the more readers see that all she wants is to protect people and her beloved books. This novel tells the story of those who were willing to sacrifice anything to save the people they loved, as well as the true history of their lives.

The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin

- Anna Leave a comment

“Books are what have brought us together. A love of the stories within, the adventures they take us on, their glorious distraction in a time of strife.”

Published just this past April, The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin is a historical fiction novel set during World War II, offering a candid glimpse into life in London during the Blitz. While I have read several excellent novels in this time period before (as I’m sure you have, too!) , I don’t recall one exclusively focusing on the Blitz in London, so this title was a unique perspective I had not yet afforded!

After losing her mother and essentially being disowned by her uncle in a rural town in England, Grace and her best friend, Viv, journey to London to live with her mother’s best friend. While both women had long dreamed of coming to London, neither expected it to happen forcibly, let alone on the brink of a second great war. While Viv quickly finds a job at the glamorous Harrods, Grace is offered a position at a local bookshop which, as someone who didn’t read, was a less-than-ideal assignment. With the intention of working just six months to gain a letter of recommendation to find a better position, Grace begins working in a disheveled, dusty, and dingy bookstore with a seemingly irritable owner who barely tolerates her presence.

As rumblings of the war draw closer to home, however, Grace slowly finds herself becoming more and more committed and interested in her work at the bookshop. This is in no small part due to George Anderson, a particularly attractive and frequent patron who shares his authentic love of reading with Grace before leaving to serve as a Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot. Although initially doubtful about the impact reading would have on her own life, Grace becomes enraptured with The Count of Monte Cristo (one of George’s recommendations) and quickly becomes a voracious reader herself. With her newly found love of reading, Grace naturally begins to develop special relationships with several patrons, as well as with the owner himself, as she works to make the bookshop as accessible as possible. Not long after this, though, London itself becomes suspended in the throes of war, putting everything Grace loves at risk.

All in all, this is a wonderful story about someone who comes to learn the value of reading and eventually helps others in the community not only survive, but thrive in the stories of others during the unbearably difficult circumstances of wartime; it is truly an ode to the power of literature, and there were many lovely and moving quotes that warmed my heart as a librarian. I also really appreciated reading about a female protagonist who not only immerses herself, but thrives in a wartime position typically reserved for men; on top of working at the bookshop, Grace volunteers as an Air Raid Protection (ARP) warden to help those impacted by the daily bombings that would occur overnight. Lastly, I reveled in the obvious research Martin did on the Blitz to portray a captivating account of life in London during this time in history.

While there were some moments toward the conclusion that seemed to tie up a little too conveniently, I would still highly recommend this novel to anyone looking to dip their toes in a new perspective on WWII or just for a new historical fiction read in general! I would also like to note that, while Martin is a well-known historical romance author, this novel was not primarily focused on romantic themes or aspects.