Posts with the custom taxonomy term 1940s

The French Kitchen by Kristy Cambron

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1943/1952 – France

As Paris rebuilds in the aftermath of World War II, Kat Fontaine never expected the skills she learned in a French chateau kitchen to be the key that unlocks the secrets swirling in her new post-war life.

Paris, 1952–Still haunted by the years she spent serving in the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during WWII, ex-pat Kat Fontaine, now living in Paris, finds a simple cookery class led by indomitable chef Julia Child unearths the tangle of gut-wrenching memories of war. Determined to find her brother who went missing during the war and is presumed dead, Kat questions everything, especially her high-ranking society husband whose past is as murky as her own. But when the puzzle pieces start to come together–and her carefully crafted Paris world begins to fall apart–Kat must confront her own secrets against the mounting suspicions of the husband she thought she knew . . .

Rue, 1943–Deep in the heart of Nazi-controlled northern France, Manon Altier shifts between working for the enemy by day–as a French chef at the famous Chateau du Broutel, where names like Himmler, Rommel, and Goebbels frequent the guest list–and running with underground networks against the Vichy regime at night. Working undercover to filter critical information to agents within the burgeoning OSS presence in France, Manon digs deep into the glitz and glamour of a Nazi stronghold that has her teetering on the edge of being discovered at any turn. But when an intriguing stranger appears at the chateau claiming to work with the French Resistance, Manon must lean on her instincts to judge whether to run and hide or stand firm–even as a terrifying discovery tests her resolve to continue the fight.

The Bicycle Messenger by Joan Elizabeth Bauer

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1942/1970/2016 – Poland/Illinois

In the 1970s, when a distant cousin dies unexpectedly, Mary Ellen and Charles Hawley agree to take his seven-year-old son Steven into their home. Steven’s birth mother, a Polish immigrant, has schizophrenia and can’t assume custody. But in a last traumatic visit, she convinces her son that a mysterious presence called the bicycle messenger has followed him into his new life.

Years later, Steven, a recovering alcoholic with a history of bipolar disorder, is working as a short-order cook. To Megan Helmsworth, a college student waiting tables, he is a sweet, doting boyfriend. But Steven becomes more and more preoccupied with his lost family of origin, and when a manic swing sends him on a quixotic journey to Poland, Megan seizes her chance to escape. In a well-meaning attempt to shelter her fragile son, Mary Ellen agrees to harbor a secret no mother should ever keep.

Told through the eyes of the three women who love Steven best-Mary Ellen, Megan, and his adoptive sister Margaret-The Bicycle Messenger is a story of generational trauma that stretches from the last days of the Kraków ghetto in 1942 all the way to 2016. But it is also a story of unexpected grace.

Unending Hope by Cindy Kay Stewart

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1940 – Norway

As WWII expands across Europe, members of the Circle of Hope are drawn deeper into the struggle to survive in the face of overwhelming adversity.

Nazi Germany carries out a devastating invasion, trapping Americans David Jensen and Natalie Thompson in Norway. Determined to use their medical skills to aid the Norwegians, David and Natalie embark on a harrowing journey to treat the injured and evade the Nazis.

Natalie, a dedicated Red Cross worker, values deep relationships. Fearful of settling for a shallow marriage, she broke off her engagement to David several years before. But she never stopped loving him and spending time working together in Norway plays havoc with her heart.

David, a charismatic and confidant doctor with the Red Cross, desires to advance his career and rekindle his relationship with Natalie. Even though she once rejected him, he believes she is the only woman for him. But years of keeping others at arms’ length guarantees that winning Natalie back will be the biggest challenge he’s ever faced.

The Collector of Burned Books by Roseanna M White

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1940 – France

In this gripping World War II historical about the power of words, two people form an unlikely friendship amid the Nazi occupation in Paris and fight to preserve the truth that enemies of freedom long to destroy.

Ever since the Nazi Party began burning books, German writers exiled for their opinions or heritage have been taking up residence in Paris. There they opened a library meant to celebrate the freedom of ideas and gathered every book on the banned list . . . and even incognito versions of the forbidden books that were smuggled back into Germany.

For the last six years, Corinne Bastien has been reading those books and making that library a second home. But when the German army takes possession of Paris, she loses access to the library and all the secrets she’d hidden there. Secrets the Allies will need if they have any hope of liberating the city she calls home.

Christian Bauer may be German, but he never wanted anything to do with the Nazi Party—he is a professor, one who’s done his best to protect his family as well as the books that were a threat to Nazi ideals. But when Goebbels sends him to Paris to handle the “relocation” of France’s libraries, he’s forced into an army uniform and given a rank he doesn’t want. In Paris, he tries to protect whoever and whatever he can from the madness of the Party and preserve the ideas that Germans will need again when that madness is over, and maybe find a lost piece of his heart.

The Codebreaker’s Daughter by Amy Lynn Green

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1917/1944 – Illinois/Washington DC

Dinah Kendall’s role in the US capital for the Office of Strategic Services is far from the thrilling espionage career she dreamed of. Instead of covert missions, she crafts rumors aimed at undermining Axis morale while trying to live up to the expectations of her demanding mother, Lillian. Yet, as Dinah navigates her duties, she uncovers a startling revelation: Lillian was once a codebreaker during the Great War alongside some of the nation’s most brilliant minds. The deeper Dinah dives into her mother’s journal, the more the secrets of the past come to light—including the heavy cost of high-stakes codebreaking.

Just when Dinah begins to excel in her new position, she is implicated in a series of suspicious activities that cause others to question her loyalty. As she navigates a web of intrigue, she must piece together the truth in time to confront the shadowy threat that could compromise the impending D-Day invasion.

 

From the Valley We Rise by Elizabeth Musser

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1944 – France

Loyalty during Peril
In the heart of war-torn France, Isabelle Seauve’s resolve is tested after her father sacrifices his life to protect her involvement in the French Resistance. Heartbroken, Isabelle becomes more dedicated to hiding Jewish children in and near the village of Sisteron despite the growing danger when she discovers a traitor within the Resistance ranks.

Truth amid Deception
As the shadow of betrayal looms, Isabelle’s world collides with that of US Army Chaplain Peter Christensen, who carries emotional scars from his first position in Kentucky and his service in North Africa. Together, they face the brutal reality of war as the second D-Day–the Allied invasion of Provence–unfolds.

Bravery through Trial
Fifteen-year-old René Amblard narrowly escapes a devastating German attack that claims the lives of his mother and their fellow Maquis fighters. With a Jewish orphan girl at his side, René seeks out his cousin, Isabelle, for refuge while he contemplates revenge.

When the bombs of Operation Dragoon begin to fall, this unlikely group of heroes must find freedom in their souls before they can rebuild what has been destroyed.

These Long Shadows by Jennifer Mistmorgan

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1945 – England

How do they rebuild a marriage that wasn’t real in the first place?

Two years ago, Jonty Ables married Katie Baines to save her and her unborn baby from shame. But now the war is all but over, the baby is gone and they must work out where their shaky marriage fits into lives irrevocably changed by war.

Clinging to the memory of a time before all happiness evaporated, Katie works hard during the day as a seamstress. At night she comes home to a tiny terrace on a bomb-scarred street, crammed with her extended family and their problems. Years of estrangement sit between her and her recently demobilised husband. She’s not even sure she loves him. So why is she so crushed that he calls out another woman’s name in his sleep?

Jonty is determined to honor the vows he made no matter how many ghosts plague him. But with such separate lives, his wife is more of a stranger than ever. When Katie’s friend goes missing, Jonty seizes the opportunity to help her find him just so they have reason to talk. But the war casts long shadows over their efforts, and fighting for their future might just be the hardest battle of them all.

No Leaves in Autumn by Terri Wangard

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1943 – Iceland

Marie Foubert grew up in an orphanage and struggles with feelings of rejection. As a Red Cross recreation worker, she interacts with the American men based in Iceland during World War II. Her growing attraction to seaplane pilot Stefan Dabrowski excites and concerns her. Won’t he disappear from her life like everyone else?

Stefan hears his commanding officer describe him as exciting as last night’s bathwater. One of his colleagues constantly berates him because of his Polish heritage and his superior flying skill. Despite being the squadron’s most productive pilot, he is threatened with court martial. A showdown approaches to prove who’s the better pilot and the better man.

Marie’s cousin, passing through Iceland, tries to see her after spotting her photo in Life magazine. She declines to meet him, but Stefan encourages her to do so and learn why no one wanted her. She may gain a family after all.

Midnight on the Scottish Shore by Sarah Sundin

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1941 – Scotland

In a time of war, danger lurks beneath the water–and in the depths of the human heart.

As the German war machine devours the Netherlands, the only way Cilla van der Zee can survive the occupation is to do the unthinkable–train to become a spy for the Nazis. Once dispatched to Britain, she plans to abandon her mission and instead aid the Allies. But her scheme is thwarted when naval officer Lt. Lachlan Mackenzie finds her along the Scottish shore and turns her in to be executed.

Yet perhaps she is more useful alive than dead. British intelligence employs her to radio misleading messages to Germany from the lighthouse at Dunnet Head in Scotland–messages filled with naval intelligence Lachlan must provide. If the war is to be won, Lachlan and Cilla must work together. But how can he trust a woman who arrived on his shores as a tool of the enemy–a woman certain to betray both him and the Allied cause?

Packed Together by Kim Garee

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1946 – Ohio

On the day of her sister’s wedding, Rosie Graham and all the guests find themselves snowed in by the holiday blizzard of 1946 at the last place she wants to be: the inn owned by Fairchild Resorts at Buckeye Lake. Instead of preparing for Christmas at home, she must dodge her summer sweetheart from a decade ago and pray no one guesses the secret she has kept ever since.

That fateful summer, Rosie allowed herself to be talked into the biggest compromise of her life by Keith, the Fairchild heir. She refuses to call that compromise a mistake because it resulted in her son, Charlie. Even though the stigma she’s lived under as a result now may block her from adopting a little girl who desperately needs her love.

But don’t expect a holiday romance that reunites former sweethearts.

Gabe Adams, Keith’s best friend and the Fairchilds’ business manager, is spending the holidays with the Fairchilds at the resort. He has come to the lake with a proposal in mind: a power match that has nothing to do with a single mother and artist, but rather her best friend, fashionable, clever, ambitious Dot Berkeley.

The chaos of the wedding guests invading the sleepy hotel mirrors the chaos in Gabe’s heart as his plans unravel, even as Rosie fears she has no faith in her own heart as she’s drawn to him.

Rosie and Gabe tell themselves the whole mess may simply stem from the unpredictability of the weather or the sentimentality of the holidays. As soon as the wedding guests can leave the hotel, their lives will return to normal.

But do they want to return to normal and the plans they’ve made?

They’ll both need a great deal of discernment to step out in faith for this kind of love.

The Last Fashion House in Paris by Renee Ryan

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1942 – France

In the heart of occupied WWII Paris, an elegant fashion house is the unlikely headquarters of a daring resistance network. Behind closed doors, courageous women vie to save loved ones and strangers alike from the Nazis in this powerful story of survival, friendship and second chances.

Once, Paulette Leblanc spent her days flirting, shopping and drawing elegant dresses in her sketch pad. Then German tanks rolled into France, and a reckless romance turned into deep betrayal. Blaming herself for her mother’s arrest by the Gestapo, Paulette is sent away to begin a new life in Paris, working as apprentice to fashion designer Sabine Ballard.

But Maison de Ballard is no ordinary fashion house. While seamstresses create the perfect couture gowns, clandestine deals and secrets take place out of sight. Mademoiselle Ballard is head of a vast network of resistance fighters—including Paulette’s coworker and friend Nicolle Cadieux—who help escort downed military men and Jewish families to safety.

Soon Paulette is recruited as a spy. Working as a seamstress by day, gathering information at glamorous parties by night, Paulette at last has a chance to earn the redemption she craves. But as the SS closes in, and Nicolle goes missing, Paulette must make life-and-death decisions about who to trust, who to love and who to leave behind…

Even if We Cry by Terrie Todd

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1940 – Canada

Nina’s one task is to keep her family together while a world war threatens to rip them apart.

Warned they “mustn’t cry,” British teenager Nina Gabriel and her two young siblings board a ship bound for Canada as part of the WWII child evacuee program in 1940. Nina’s mischievous brother and seasick sister test her limits on the long voyage—but her burden of responsibility grows still heavier in Canada.

Determined to fulfill her promise to her parents, Nina battles to keep the siblings together through what they all hoped would be no more than one school term. Months turn into years. Unfamiliar Canadian customs, a foster sister who resents them, the mysterious deaths of their host family’s other children, and the birth of a new brother back in England complicate Nina’s world. It doesn’t help when David, the boy she’s grown to love, enlists in the air force with no end to the war in sight.

When a telegram arrives after a London bombing, will Nina find a way to fulfill her promise for the brother she’s never met? Will the Gabriel siblings learn that each of them is loved, even if they cry?

A Season for the Heart by J. M. Hochstetler

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1945 – Indiana

Can they find their way home to the land, to the Lord—and to each other?

Germany has surrendered to the triumphant Allied forces, while the war against Japan grinds toward a bloody end. Just graduated from high school, Ellie Hershberger longs to explore the wider world, unrestricted by her conservative Mennonite church. But when all her dreams are suddenly shattered, she questions whether home is a place to escape from—or where her heart’s deepest desires really lie.

Refusing to join the Mennonite church he grew up in, Jude Mast enlisted in the Marines and ended up in the South Pacific. Now battle-scarred and crippled, he’s forced to return to the community he thought he’d left behind forever. Yet here, where he believes he’ll never be forgiven or accepted, could he discover a grace he never conceived of and a love that changes everything?

During that scorching summer, while the war rages toward its climax in the Pacific, the skies remain as hard and unyielding as iron. But in God’s gracious time there will come a season for the heart.

All We Thought We Knew by Michelle Shocklee

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1942/1969 – Tennessee

She was so sure she knew her family’s story . . . Now she wonders if she was wrong about all of it.

1969. When Mattie Taylor’s twin brother was killed in Vietnam, she lost her best friend and the only person who really understood her. Now, news that her mother is dying sends Mattie back home, despite blaming her father for Mark’s death. Mama’s last wish is that Mattie would read some old letters stored in a trunk, from people Mattie doesn’t even know. Mama insists they hold the answers Mattie is looking for.

1942. Ava Delaney is picking up the pieces of her life following her husband’s death at Pearl Harbor. Living with her mother-in-law on a secluded farm in Tennessee is far different than the life Ava imagined when she married only a few short months ago. Desperate to get out of the house, Ava seeks work at a nearby military base, where she soon discovers the American government is housing Germans who they have classified as enemy aliens. As Ava works to process legal documents for the military, she crosses paths with Gunther Schneider, a German who is helping care for wounded soldiers. Ava questions why a man as gentle and kind as Gunther should be forced to live in the internment camp, and as they become friends, her sense of the injustice grows . . . as do her feelings for him. Faced with the possibility of losing Gunther, Ava must choose whether loving someone deemed the enemy is a risk worth taking, even if it means being ostracized by all those around her.

In the midst of pain and loss two women must come face-to-face with their own assumptions about what they thought they knew about themselves and others. What they discover will lead to a far greater appreciation of their own legacies and the love of those dearest to them.

Born of Gilded Mountains by Amanda Dykes

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1948 – Colorado

A lost treasure. A riddled quest. The healing power of friendship.

Legends are tucked into every fold of the Colorado mountains surrounding the quaint town of Mercy Peak, where residents are the stuff of tall tales, the peaks are taller still, and a lost treasure has etched mystery into the very terrain.

When outsider Mercy Windsor arrives after a scandal shatters her gilded world as Hollywood’s beloved leading lady, she is determined to forge a new life in obscurity in this time-forgotten Colorado haven. She purchases Wildwood, an abandoned estate with a haunting history, and begins to restore it to its former glory.

But as she does, her every move tugs at the threads of the mountain’s lore, unearthing what became of her long-lost pen pal Rusty Bright, and the whereabouts of the infamous Galloping Goose Railcar No. 8, which vanished years ago–along with the mailbag it carried, whose contents could change the course of countless lives. Not to mention the fabled treasure that–if found–could right so many wrongs.

Among the towering mountains that stand as silent witnesses, the ghosts of the past entangle with the courage of the present to find a place where healing, friendship, and hope can abide amid a world forever changed.

Darkness Calls the Tiger by Janyre Tromp

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1933 – Burma

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Imperial Japan devours the southern portion of Burma, intent on taking over mainland Asia. Unaware of the coming darkness, Kailyn Moran drifts in her role as the only daughter of a widowed missionary.

As whispers of war snake through the Kachin mountains, Kai’s father is convinced God will protect the mission. He entrusts the village to her and the kind yet inexperienced new missionary, Ryan McDonough, while he makes routine visits to neighboring villages.

War descends like a tempest upon the mountain peaks, and an unbreakable bond forms between Kailyn and Ryan as they unite to provide solace to both villagers and the flood of refugees. Despite their tireless efforts, a brutal enemy shatters almost everything they love, pushing Kailyn to embark on a path of unrestrained vengeance.

Afraid he’s losing the woman he loves, Ryan fights to protect Kai from the deadly consequences of her choices. But in the face of destruction, can he convince her of the power and freedom of forgiveness?

The British Booksellers by Kristy Cambron

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1913/1940 – England

Inspired by real accounts of the Forgotten Blitz bombings, The British Booksellers highlights the courage of those whose lives were forever changed by war—and the stories that bind us in the fight for what matters most.

A tenant farmer’s son had no business daring to dream of a future with an earl’s daughter, but that couldn’t keep Amos Darby from his secret friendship with Charlotte Terrington…until the reality of the Great War sobered youthful dreams. Now decades later, he bears the brutal scars of battles fought in the trenches and their futures that were stolen away. His return home doesn’t come with tender reunions, but with the hollow fulfillment of opening a bookshop on his own and retreating as a recluse within its walls.

When the future Earl of Harcourt chose Charlotte to be his wife, she knew she was destined for a loveless match. Though her heart had chosen another long ago, she pledges her future even as her husband goes to war. Twenty-five years later, Charlotte remains a war widow who divides her days between her late husband’s declining estate and operating a quaint Coventry bookshop—Eden Books, lovingly named after her grown daughter. And Amos is nothing more than the rival bookseller across the lane.

As war with Hitler looms, Eden is determined to preserve her father’s legacy. So when an American solicitor arrives threatening a lawsuit that could destroy everything they’ve worked so hard to preserve, mother and daughter prepare to fight back. But with devastation wrought by the Luftwaffe’s local blitz terrorizing the skies, battling bookshops—and lost loves, Amos and Charlotte—must put aside their differences and fight together to help Coventry survive.

Pressed Together by Kim Garee

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1946 – Ohio

World War II is over at last, and the pier amusement park at Buckeye Lake, the “Playground of Ohio,” is lit up, loud, and ready to welcome a summer of better days. The energy of dance hall and roller coaster, though, is disorienting for Sgt. Drew Mathison, weary from battle and trying to track down the one man who can testify in his brother’s murder trial.

He’s not in the mood to celebrate when he simply cannot find that witness. Especially when he suspects Emily Graham, publisher of the Buckeye Lake Beacon, is hiding him. Doesn’t she understand the danger the fugitive has brought to Buckeye Lake?

Determined to save her childhood friend, the beautiful and quirky young woman manages to frustrate not just Drew but her family and community as she tries to fix a whole host of problems by herself.

As Drew and Emily square off amidst secrets and a dangerous game of hide-and-seek, falling in love might be the only way to save the summer … and another life.

The Mapmaker’s Secret by Jennifer Mistmorgan

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1943 – England

Grace Deroy’s family estate is requisitioned by the Air Ministry, so she takes a job in the new cartography facility to protect what used to be her home, a small cog in the vast machinery of war. When the new American intelligence officer Jack Marsden arrives, she has no idea he’s been sent to spy on her.

Jack has little experience with espionage, but his real task is simple enough: get close to Grace and find out whether she’s leaking Air Ministry secrets to the enemy. It should be a dream assignment, but Jack finds himself tongue tied and awkward every time he comes in contact with his target––a sure sign he’s falling in love.

Grace isn’t the Nazi sympathizer that MI5 suspects, but that doesn’t mean she’s got nothing to hide. When compromising stories about her appear in the press, Grace fears someone she trusts––someone working in her own home––is trying to expose her. Can she find out who before all the shameful secrets from her past are laid bare? And can she trust this quiet new American to help her work out who the real traitor is?

Priscilla by Jenny Knipfer

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1946 – Wisconsin

ONE COOKBOOK CONNECTS THEM ALL…

In the post WWII era of 1946, Priscilla Hadley dreams of being a wife and homemaker, but there’s one big obstacle in her mind—Priscilla has been told she can’t cook to save her life. However, she’s out to prove that wrong, especially to handsome but annoying Aaron Johnson, her twin brother Jeremy’s friend and fishing buddy, who also happens to be the local police lieutenant.

In an effort to polish up her culinary shortcomings, Priscilla joins a local cooking club. A woman from the club gifts Priscilla a cookbook that could very well put her on the path to realizing her dreams. Much to their surprise, Priscilla and her family find much more than recipes within the cookbook’s pages. What will be its greatest blessing?

With an ailing father and the Wisconsin family farm to help keep afloat, in the absence of two brothers who died in the war, where will Priscilla find the time to learn to cook? Will she renew her faith in the presence of adversity or allow her present fears and past losses dictate her future?