The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a charming and moving novel set in the aftermath of World War II. In January 1946, London is in the process of reconstruction, and writer Juliet Ashton is on a quest for her next literary project. Unexpectedly, she receives a letter from a man she has never met, Dawsey Adams from Guernsey, who found her name in a book by Charles Lamb.
Through their exchange of letters, Juliet becomes captivated by the idiosyncratic world of Dawsey and his friends. They are members of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a book club that was inadvertently formed as a clever ruse during the German occupation of the island. The society comprises a delightful mix of characters, including pig farmers and phrenologists, all united by their love of literature.
As Juliet learns more about the islanders and the impact that the occupation has had on their lives, she is irresistibly drawn to visit Guernsey. What she discovers on the island will forever alter the course of her life. Told with genuine affection and humor, this epistolary novel celebrates the power of books and the profound connections that can emerge from the most unexpected circumstances.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a charming and moving novel set in the aftermath of World War II. In January 1946, London is in the process of reconstruction, and writer Juliet Ashton is on a quest for her next literary project. Unexpectedly, she receives a letter from a man she has never met, Dawsey Adams from Guernsey, who found her name in a book by Charles Lamb.
Through their exchange of letters, Juliet becomes captivated by the idiosyncratic world of Dawsey and his friends. They are members of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a book club that was inadvertently formed as a clever ruse during the German occupation of the island. The society comprises a delightful mix of characters, including pig farmers and phrenologists, all united by their love of literature.
As Juliet learns more about the islanders and the impact that the occupation has had on their lives, she is irresistibly drawn to visit Guernsey. What she discovers on the island will forever alter the course of her life. Told with genuine affection and humor, this epistolary novel celebrates the power of books and the profound connections that can emerge from the most unexpected circumstances.
While flying an Allied fighter plane from Paris to England, American ATA pilot and amateur poet, Rose Justice, is captured by the Nazis and sent to RavensbrĂĽck, the notorious women's concentration camp. Trapped in horrific circumstances, Rose finds hope in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery, and friendship of her fellow prisoners. But will that be enough to endure the fate that's in store for her?
Elizabeth Wein, author of the critically-acclaimed and best-selling Code Name Verity, delivers another stunning WWII thriller. The unforgettable story of Rose Justice is forged from heart-wrenching courage, resolve, and the slim, bright chance of survival.
From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, All the Light We Cannot See is a stunningly ambitious and beautiful novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II. Marie Laure lives with her father in Paris within walking distance of the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of the locks (there are thousands of locks in the museum). When she is six, she goes blind, and her father builds her a model of their neighborhood, every house, every manhole, so she can memorize it with her fingers and navigate the real streets with her feet and cane.
When the Germans occupy Paris, father and daughter flee to Saint-Malo on the Brittany coast, where Marie-Laure's agoraphobic great uncle lives in a tall, narrow house by the sea wall. In another world in Germany, an orphan boy, Werner, grows up with his younger sister, Jutta, both enchanted by a crude radio Werner finds. He becomes a master at building and fixing radios, a talent that wins him a place at an elite and brutal military academy and, ultimately, makes him a highly specialized tracker of the Resistance. Werner travels through the heart of Hitler Youth to the far-flung outskirts of Russia, and finally into Saint-Malo, where his path converges with Marie-Laure.
Doerr's combination of soaring imagination with observation is electric. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. Ten years in the writing, All the Light We Cannot See is his most ambitious and dazzling work.
The Dark Room tells the stories of three ordinary Germans, each ensnared by the tumultuous events of history. Helmut, a young photographer in Berlin during the 1930s, channels his patriotic fervour into his craft, yet his keen eye fails to comprehend the true significance behind the images he captures. Lore, a twelve-year-old girl, finds herself leading her younger siblings on a harrowing journey across a ravaged Germany in 1945 after their Nazi parents are taken by the Allies.
Half a century later, Micha, a young teacher, grapples with his family's past and the actions of his grandfather during the war. His quest for the truth is met with silence and resistance, and the only person willing to assist carries a burdened history of their own. The Dark Room delves into these individual experiences with profound emotional depth and psychological authenticity, shedding light on the complex and dark moments of the twentieth century.
Joe Kavalier, a young Jewish artist with training in the art of Houdini-esque escape, has just managed to smuggle himself out of Nazi-invaded Prague and lands in New York City. He is quickly joined by his Brooklyn cousin Sammy Clay, who is eager to find a partner to craft heroes, stories, and art for the latest American craze - the comic book.
With their combined fears and dreams fueling their creativity, Kavalier and Clay bring to life the Escapist, the Monitor, and Luna Moth, drawing inspiration from the enchanting Rosa Saks, who becomes deeply entwined in the lives of both men. Author Michael Chabon delivers an exhilarating narrative that captures the essence of American romance and the boundless possibilities of the era.
The Complete Maus, a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel by Art Spiegelman, is a profound narrative that recounts the chilling experiences of the author's father, Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe. This volume includes both Maus I: A Survivor's Tale and Maus II, presenting the complete story.
Through the unique medium of cartoons—with Nazis depicted as cats and Jews as mice—Spiegelman captures the everyday reality of fear and survival during the Holocaust. This artistic choice not only shocks readers out of any sense of familiarity but also draws them closer to the harrowing heart of the Holocaust.
More than just a tale of survival, Maus is also an exploration of the author's complex relationship with his father. The narrative weaves together Vladek's harrowing story with the author's own struggles, framing a life of small arguments and unhappy visits against the backdrop of a larger historical atrocity. It is a story that extends beyond Vladek to all the children who bear the legacy of their parents' traumas.
Maus is not only a personal account of survival but also a broader examination of the impact of history on subsequent generations. It is an essential work that studies the traces of history and its enduring significance.
Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished.
Based on his own experience and the experiences of others he treated later in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. Frankl's theory-known as logotherapy, from the Greek word logos ("meaning")-holds that our primary drive in life is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful.