WWI Historical Fiction
Known as the Great War, the First World War, the Kaiser's War, and even the war to end all wars, WWI is one of the most momentuous wars in history. It touched nearly all parts of the globe, was the first war that used modernized weaponry, exacerbated the rise of nationalism, and greatly traumatized those who participated in it. The novels below will introduce you to some of the experiences that people went through during and after the war.
The Lie, by Helen Dunmore
Daniel Branwell has survived the First World War and returned to the small fishing town where he was born in Cornwall. Behind him lie the trenches and the most intense relationship of his life. As he struggles to make a living in the aftermath of war, he is drawn deeper and deeper into the traumas of the past and is haunted by unforeseen consequences of a lie.
War and Turpentine, by Stefan Hertmans
The life of Urbain Martien, who lived in the Belgian city of Ghent and was an artist, soldier, and survivor of World War I, lies contained in two notebooks he left behind when he died in 1981. His grandson, a writer, retells his story, the notebooks giving him the impetus to imagine his way into the locked chambers of Urbain's memory.
Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War, by Jessica Brockmole et al.
Top voices in historical fiction deliver an unforgettable collection of short stories set in the aftermath of World War I--featuring bestselling authors such as Hazel Gaynor, Jennifer Robson, Beatriz Williams, and Lauren Willig.
The Care and Management of Lies, by Jacqueline Winspear
In this poignant novel of love and friendship tested by separation and war, Kezia struggles to keep her ordered life from unraveling after her husband enlists to fight for his country, while Thea, her best friend, sister-in-law and suffragette, is drawn reluctantly to the battlefield.
We That Are Left, by Clare Clark
Two sisters, born into privilege in England, are forced to make their way in a world turned upside down by the Great War. With elegance and insight, in prose characteristically "stirring and seductive" ( The Economist) Clark brings us a new story of a kind of old family whose reckoning with change will haunt and resonate for many generations.
At the Edge of Summer, by Jessica Brockmole
Luc Crépet's maman has a new project: the taking in of Clare Ross, a 15 year old Scottish girl who inspires Luc in ways he never thought possible. Just as suddenly as Clare arrives, she is gone, whisked away by her grandfather. When she returns years later, World War I is raging. Will Luc and Clare, both altered by the conflict and the many years apart, be able to find each other and recapture what was lost?
Not All Bastards Are from Vienna, by Andrea Molesini
Molesini portrays the depths of heroism and horror within a Northern Italian village toward the end of the Great War. While a family's villa is requisitioned by enemy troops, they are forced to intimately confront war's injustice as their involvement with its sinister underpinnings grows more and more complex.
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