20th Century

Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist....

Tasmania, 1874. Growing up in the impoverished tenements along the Hobart Rivulet, Harriet Brown is used to doing whatever it takes to survive. Including, at just twelve years old, shearing off her hair and pretending to be a boy to secure a job.

Berlin, 1945: Ester Pasternak walked out of the gates of Auschwitz barely alive. She survived against devastating odds, but her heartbreaking journey is only just beginning. In the camp, Ester gave birth to a tiny fair-haired infant....

Through years of war and devastation, Tatiana and Alexander suffered the worst the twentieth century had to offer. Miraculously reunited in America, they now have a beautiful son, Anthony, the gift of a love strong enough to survive the most terrible upheavals....

From the bestselling author of The London Girls comes a story of courage and resilience amidst the horror of Auschwitz—and one woman’s last chance to share it with the world....

Annie Mayer arrives in France with dreams of becoming a ballerina. But when the war reaches Paris, she's forced to keep her Jewish heritage a secret. Then a fellow dancer offers her a lifeline: a ballroom partnership that gives her a new identity.

1945, Auschwitz: I stumble out of the gates, tightly grasping the hands of two smaller children. Hunger swirls in my stomach and the barren landscape swims before my eyes. I can barely believe it. We’re free. We survived. But what happens now…

Carrie Anderson’s business selling books at her local train station is thriving and, with her beloved Mike returned from war, everything feels as though it is falling into place. That is, until Mike is sent to Washington as a liaison between Britain and America.

A heartbreaking story of friendship, loyalty and the true cost of love, from the bestselling author of The Secret Midwife and Wives of War.

In Paris 1940, survival means sacrifice. Like most in the city, Detective Eddie Giral has already lost so much under Occupation. And when a German trader is the next to die, the authorities decide it's innocent civilians who will pay the price - unless Eddie can find the killer in time....

Berlin, 1944. Ariella Bannon is being hunted. Someone is determined to betray her as a Jew, but she has survived against incredible odds, and the end is in sight. She will be reunited with her precious children, no matter what it takes....

Ariella Bannon has no choice: she must put her precious children, Liesl and Erich, on that train or allow them to become prey for the Nazis....

Two women. One shocking wartime secret. And a family mystery just waiting to be discovered....

In this gripping portrait of war and its aftermath from bestselling author Lynn Austin, a young woman searches for the truth her childhood friend won’t discuss after returning from World War II, revealing a story of courage, friendship, and faith....

Meet Me at Rainbow Corner follows the lives of Dot, Lilly and their friends, as they dance the nights away, fall in and out of love, and navigate the horrors of war. Lilly goes on a secret mission with her Colonel to France, and Dot becomes pregnant and returns to Liverpool.

All over Paris, families are being pulled from their beds in the middle of the night. And ever since her husband was shot in cold blood, Brigitte Goldstein has known she is running out of time. She and her daughter Sophie are Jewish, so it won’t be long until the Nazis bang on their door.

The Legionnaire swings the MG-muzzle. The smoke eats its way into the officers’ stomachs. They drop to the snow-covered ground, coloring it red....

1922. Twenty-year-old Eleanor Mackridge is horrified by the future mapped out for her – to serve the upper classes or find a man to marry (preferably kind).

Frances Sweet can’t really remember her real parents. Brought up by her uncle, her cousins Ruby and Mary have always treated her like their little sister.

Millions of people walked through Auschwitz’s gates, but she was the first woman who escaped. This powerful novel tells the inspiring true story of Mala Zimetbaum, whose heroism will never be forgotten, and whose fate altered the course of history....

Germany is at war. The Nazis have absolute power. Evil men carry out their crimes without fear, knowing that the police dare not defy the regime. But Criminal Inspector Schenke - a good man living in terrible times - believes in justice. Whatever the personal cost....

Paullina Simons's internationally bestselling blockbuster The Bronze Horseman told the heart-soaring tale of a young Russian woman's transcendent love affair with a Red Army soldier during the siege of Leningrad in the dark days of World War Two. The epic story continues in Tatiana and Alexander....

Paris, 1940: Madeline tries to scream, but she can’t breathe. A German soldier is working to free her from the rubble–but if he reaches her, he will find the books hidden beneath her clothes…

The war is over; Hitler is dead - and yet his evil legacy lives on. Saffron Courtney and her beloved husband, Gerhard, only just survived the brutal conflict, but Gerhard's Nazi-supporting brother, Konrad, is still free and determined to regain power....

January 1945, Dachau, Germany. As the train rattles through the bright, snowy Bavarian countryside, the still beauty outside the window hides the terrible scenes inside the train, where men and women are packed together, cold and terrified....

1940, England: Clementine Churchill is standing alone on a rooftop in London as bombs rain down on the city when a nearby explosion almost knocks her off her feet. Shaking, she rushes homewards to 10 Downing Street and breathes a sigh of relief when she sees the famous building is still there. It means the Prime Minister–her husband–is still alive.

La neve è macchiata di sangue, attorno alla torre del castello di Kransberg. A pochi metri di distanza, il Führer è asserragliato in un bunker, preda di deliri e paure dopo l’attentato del luglio 1944. Ma Johann Maria Adami non ha tempo di pensare al poco spazio che lo separa dal dittatore, ultimo responsabile del suo internamento a Dachau. Il professor Adami ha un incarico: scoprire la verità che si cela dietro la morte sospetta di un soldato nazista. Suicidio? O un complotto alle spalle di Hitler?

1940: Weeks after the evacuation of Dunkirk, Germany is poised to invade a near-defenseless Britain. To safeguard the Crown Jewels from the Nazis, Winston Churchill devises a daring gamble to have them shipped overseas. The priceless artifacts will be secretly removed from the Tower of London and driven north to Scotland by two operatives posing as a young married couple, to be taken from there to Canada.

When Zosia arrives at Foxglove Cottage holding her small son's hand in hers, she is desperate for a new beginning. Her new job is to help 70-year-old Hazel transform her tumbledown cottage and re-open the enchanting old café, steeped in folklore. When neighbourly Leon arrives to help them restore the café, Zosia can't help falling for his rugged charm. But her heart has been shattered before, so she distracts herself by translating an old diary that’s been in Hazel's family for generations. She discovers an extraordinary love story from World War Two hidden in the yellowing pages.

Kitty learned early on in her marriage that her husband, Bill Dunbar, isn’t reliable with money. So when they inherit the Dunbar family hotel at the start of the war, she's hopeful that their financial worries are over… until the bailiffs turn up! With Bill away fighting, it’s up to Kitty to turn things around for her family, or risk ruin. Lily worked as a chambermaid at Dunbar’s before the war. She met Daniel there, but their relationship was complicated by class differences and the disapproval of Daniel’s mother.

Der internationale Bestseller erzählt die wahre Geschichte eines Diplomaten-Ehepaars, das sein Leben riskiert hat, um Tausenden Juden zur Flucht aus Wien zu verhelfen. Wien, 1938. Dr. Ho Fengshan, der Generalkonsul von China, macht sich Sorgen um seine Ehefrau Grace. Die schüchterne US-Amerikanerin fühlt sich nicht wohl mit den gesellschaftlichen Verpflichtungen einer Diplomatenfrau, und der aufkommende Nationalsozialismus bereitet ihr immer mehr Unbehagen. Als Grace sich mit der Jüdin Lola Schnitzler anfreundet, erkennt Dr. Ho sofort das Risiko, das die Beziehung für sie birgt.

Una impactante inmersión en la Alemania nazi narrada desde el punto de vista de las mujeres. Baviera, 1944. Los rumores de la guerra apenas llegan a la primera maternidad nazi, la Heim Hochland, creada por Heinrich Himmler en 1936 como parte del programa llamado Lebensborn. En ese idílico lugar se hace todo lo posible para ofrecer un ambiente armonioso a los hijos recién nacidos de miembros de las SS y a sus madres. Allí trabaja Helga, una enfermera modélica y entregada, que cuida de mujeres embarazadas y bebés, pero que asiste a situaciones que harán tambalearse sus certezas.

Nach Als die Welt uns gehörte (Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis 2023) ein neuer bewegender realistischer Jugendroman über den 2. Weltkrieg von Bestsellerautorin Liz Kessler für Hörer:innen ab 11 Jahren. Holland, 1942. Die Welt befindet sich im Krieg, die Macht der Nazis wächst von Tag zu Tag, und jüdische Familien sind in großer Gefahr. Die zwölfjährige Mila und ihre ältere Schwester Hannie werden deshalb von ihren Eltern zu einer Familie in Amsterdam geschickt, mit neuen Identitäten und der strikten Anweisung, niemandem zu sagen, dass sie Juden sind.

Seventeen-year-old Maddie has grown up in a boarding house on one of Blackpool's poorest streets. Life is busy, but happy, as she works alongside her mother taking care of their visitors. But when war breaks out, her happiness is shattered as her fiancé is called up to fight for his country, and suddenly Maddie's future is filled with uncertainty.

Though Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower is Supreme Commander of Operation Overlord, the invasion of France, he doesn’t have absolute power over the Allied forces. He fights with the Bomber Barons and Prime Minister Winston Churchill for control of the Allied heavy bombers to support the invasion. As D-Day approaches, Mother Nature interferes, and Eisenhower must decide whether to go forward, risking catastrophic defeat in stormy seas. After breaching Hitler’s Atlantic Wall, Eisenhower’s dueling prima donna generals Montgomery and Patton cause him unending headaches.

The village trattoria, Casa Maria, is famed for its food and for Elena, the formidable matriarch who runs it. But now war has come to Umbria. Sophia di Luca cooks brilliantly and expects to take over the trattoria from Elena one day. But instead it is charismatic, unpredictable Giorgio Capaldi who has inherited it and now arrives from Rome to run it. While Sophia and Giorgio clash, the town falls under Nazi occupation. And when no one knows who to trust, it is Casa Maria that becomes the centre for secrets, dangerous passions and ultimately betrayal.

Ein packendes Panorama mit einer glühenden Heldin. Sommer 1928: Anita Berber liegt geschwächt in einem Berliner Krankenhaus. Gerade noch war sie ein Star, verkörperte die neue Zeit, auf der Bühne, in Dutzenden Filmen, lebte und liebte exzessiv. Bis zu den Anfeindungen in Wien, in denen eine dunkle Zukunft aufschien ... Anita Berber denkt zurück an ihre geliebte Großmutter Lu, bei der sie aufwuchs.

Echoes of Armageddon: Voices from the Second World War plunges listeners into the heart of history's most devastating conflict through a unique and gripping collection of fictionalized interviews. This is not a typical retelling of battles and dates; it's an exploration of the human experience of war, told through the imagined voices of those who lived it.

Months before the start of the Pacific War in 1941, John Reeves – his career and marriage failing – is posted as British consul to the tiny Portuguese colony of Macao in southern China. The Japanese soon declare war on the West with their attacks on Pearl Harbor and Hong Kong. But because Portugal is neutral, Macao is left alone and becomes a tiny island of neutrality, an Asian Casablanca surrounded by Japanese-occupied China. Reeves, a lonely and awkward man, finds himself the only senior representative of the Allies within a radius of thousands of miles.

Months before the start of the Pacific War in 1941, John Reeves–his career and marriage failing–is posted as British consul to the tiny Portuguese colony of Macao in southern China. The Japanese soon declare war on the West with their attacks on Pearl Harbor and Hong Kong. But because Portugal is neutral, Macao is left alone and becomes a tiny island of neutrality, an Asian Casablanca surrounded by Japanese-occupied China.

Sono gli anni del secondo conflitto mondiale; Katherine Lind è una ragazza straniera che ha trovato lavoro nella biblioteca di una piccola città della provincia inglese, diretta dall'insopportabile signor Anstey. Un giorno riceve una lettera: è di Robin Fennel, il suo vecchio amico di penna, una delle poche persone che conosce nel paese. Il pensiero di Katherine corre subito alla leggendaria estate dei suoi sedici anni, passata nella casa dei Fennel, e all'attrazione nata tra lei e Robin. Non si sono mai più sentiti da allora, ma lui - che è sotto le armi - le annuncia una visita.

Baviera, 1944. C'è profumo di sapone di Marsiglia e di latte dolce nel reparto maternità di Heim Hochland dove Renée ha trovato rifugio. Nonostante non parli tedesco, tra tovaglie floreali e zuppiere fumanti quel posto le sembra piú una casa per vacanze che una clinica. Ci è arrivata esausta e impaurita dopo il duro viaggio dalla Francia. Appena ha scoperto di essere incinta di Artur, l'ufficiale delle SS, è scappata via.

VOVEMOD, KÆRLIGHED OG FORRÆDERI UNDER ANDEN VERDENSKRIG. 1939, Nice. Overdådige fester, hurtige biler og smukke festkjoler – den unge Violet St. Croix har tilsyneladende alt. Men inderst inde længes hun efter en dybere mening med livet. Da Tyskland invaderer Frankrig, tager hun derfor beslutningen om at slutte sig til modstandsbevægelsen og kæmpe for friheden.Violet bliver sendt på en farlig mission, hvor hendes evne til at tænke hurtigt og køre stærkt kommer i spil. Men missionen udvikler sig til et mareridt.

UNA TRAGEDIA DIMENTICATA DELLA SECONDA GUERRA MONDIALE. UN'INGIUSTIZIA E UN RICORDO CHE FA ANCORA MALE. Londra, 1940. Jacopo Abramo Errera, giovane ebreo veneziano, ha abbandonato l'Italia per sfuggire alle retate del governo fascista. Dopo la dichiarazione di guerra di Mussolini, però, il governo inglese lo etichetta come nemico e collaboratore del regime. Il suo è il destino di moltissimi innocenti che hanno raggiunto il Regno Unito: Churchill ha ordinato di rastrellare italiani, tedeschi e austriaci senza distinzione.

Cosa saresti disposto a fare per il tuo migliore amico? Pola, 1946. La guerra è finita, ma la pace è ancora un’illusione. Mentre l’Italia cerca di risollevarsi, nella città di Pola due ragazzi, Zeno e Alvise, vivono quella che potrebbe essere la loro ultima estate insieme. Hanno appena terminato le scuole elementari e cercano di aggrapparsi alla loro amicizia, l’unico punto fermo in un mondo che sta cambiando troppo in fretta. È un’estate di scoperte e di prime volte.

Inspired by the life and work of Charlotte Salomon, this novel shows an artist intent on pursuing her art against all odds. As a young German-Jewish art student at The Berlin Art Academy during Hitler's rise to power in 1938, Charlotte's first place prize is denied because she is a Jew, her enrollment annulled. After Kristallnacht, she is sent from Berlin into exile with her grandparents.

Paris, 1941. At the height of World War II, young and headstrong Josephine Portier is the protégé of a wealthy family in the highest echelons of Paris society. When she meets the arrogant but handsome Gabriel, she wants nothing to do with him—until he reveals a shocking secret about her adoptive family that puts her in grave danger. With her life turned upside down and the Nazi forces ever advancing, Josephine finds a new calling when she joins the French underground Resistance. Her dislike for Gabriel soon flourishes into love, but their romance is short lived.

Appena vieni a sapere chi ha potuto fare del male ad Ariane, o chi la conosceva meglio degli altri, appena hai un nome... devi dirmelo. Hai la mia parola di ex prigioniero: ti aiuterò a evadere. È il 1945, è quasi estate, quasi tempo di pace. La Francia del sud è stata liberata ma le ferite della guerra sono ancora aperte e il terreno è pieno di insidie: sotto la sabbia della Costa Azzurra, milioni di mine inesplose intrappolano la riviera.

Cosa saresti disposto a fare per il tuo migliore amico? Pola, 1946. La guerra è finita, ma la pace è ancora un’illusione. Mentre l’Italia cerca di risollevarsi, nella città di Pola due ragazzi, Zeno e Alvise, vivono quella che potrebbe essere la loro ultima estate insieme. Hanno appena terminato le scuole elementari e cercano di aggrapparsi alla loro amicizia, l’unico punto fermo in un mondo che sta cambiando troppo in fretta. È un’estate di scoperte e di prime volte.

Auschwitz, established in 1940, stands as a profound symbol of the Holocaust, representing not only the systematic extermination of millions but also the resilience of the human spirit. Initially conceived as a concentration camp for Polish political prisoners, it expanded rapidly to become a major center for the Nazi regime's genocidal policies. By the time it was liberated in January 1945, over 1.1 million people, primarily Jews, had perished within its walls.