Having just read Sian Busby’s crime novel, A Commonplace thrilling, set just after World War II made me think about my top 5 novels either set in war-time or about living with the legacy of war.
One set in a small English town during World War I is Worthless Men written by the talented Andrew Cowen
Another favourite of mine from World War I is the weepy from Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind
5*’s
From War II my favourite has to be The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
My final offering is a poem from the poet Wilfred Owen
Anthem for Doomed Youth
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.
What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.
Wilfred Owen
What are your favourite war stories or poems?
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Related articles
- Anthem for Doomed Youth (morethoughtslesswords.wordpress.com)
- Soldier poets of the Great War (VII): The enduring power of Wilfred Owen’s words (ricks.foreignpolicy.com)
Cleopatra Loves Books 
For a point of view of the war that we don’t often get to hear, you should try and get hold of Ibuse Masuji’s Black Rain (about the atomic bomb in Hiroshima). Not easy to find, but a very moving read.
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Thanks for the recommendation I will look out for that one
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Mine are The Book Thief (fiction) by Markus Zusak and In My Hands (non-fiction) by Irene Opdyke both set in World War II. ~Deanna
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Thanks for the suggestions, I have read The Book Thief. In My Hands is now on my TBR list – Irene’s story sounds fascinating
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It is fascinating. She was such a brave young woman!
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