Fans of dazzling historical fiction are likely familiar with the beautiful story All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. This influential WWII novel is not only a Pulitzer Prize winner, but is soon to be a limited series on Netflix, starring Mark Ruffalo. If you haven’t read the book, we’re sure this trailer will inspire you to pick it up before the series release in November 2023.
The story is about a blind French Girl and a German boy whose lives intersect while they both try to survive World War II. Already read this one and just waiting for the premiere date of the series adaptation? Looking for something to read that will give you the same feels? Here are a few other books to check out if you enjoyed All the Light We Cannot See.
The Woman with the Blue Star by Pam Jenoff
Sadie is an eighteen year old whose family has just been forced to seek refuge in the tunnels beneath the city after the Nazis liquidate the ghetto they lived in during WWII. One day, Sadie sees Ella, a Polish girl her own age buying flowers. Ella has developed close alliances with the Germans and still finds herself developing a friendship with Sadie. Together, the two must stick together as the outside world tests the bond of their friendship.
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
Following four tumultuous years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne has just returned to Australia to be a lighthouse keeper along with his wife, Isabel. The island itself is isolated, with only one visit from a supply boat per season. After years together, Isabel is grieving as the two struggle to have a baby. One night, a boat washes up on shore with a dead man and a baby that is very much alive. Although Tom wants to report this, Isabel convinces him to tell no one and have them raise the baby as their own.
The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn
In 1937 Kiev, book smart history student Mila Pavlichenko is a librarian and a mother who has just been handed a rifle and is being forced to be a sniper after Hitler’s invasion of Ukraine and Russia. Mila is then sent to Washington, DC on a goodwill tour after her hundredth kill and forms an unexpected friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Even though she is still reeling from the war, things take an unexpected turn when an old enemy from Mila’s past begins to find their way to her present.
The World and All that It Holds by Aleksandar Hemon
In 1914 Sarajevo, Rafael Pinto once thought he would chase his dreams of being a poet but is crushing herbs and grinding tablets at the pharmacy he inherited from his father instead. Then, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand arrives and the world changes drastically as it is plagued with the effects from war. All Pinto can find for happiness in this cold world is fellow soldier Osman, Pinto’s lover. The two form a plan to escape Sarajevo and risk it all to make it to Shanghai.
The Porcelain Maker by Sarah Freethy
In 1929 Germany, art is what brings Max and Bettina together. He is an architect and she is a painter. Their whirlwind romance is soon devastated by the threat of Nazism and Max is thrown into a concentration camp, his only saving grace is his ability to make porcelain figures. In 1993 Bettina’s daughter can’t understand why her mother won’t tell her a thing about her father. So in a quest to discover her roots, Clara digs into the dark past of World War II in search of answers.
The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel
A woman is finding herself alone and free after her kidnapper dies in 1941. This kidnapper had abducted her from her rich German family and kept her in the wilderness of eastern Europe. After a chance encounter with a group of Jews fleeing the Nazis and shocked to find out what is happening in the world, she teaches the group to survive in the wilderness. After a brutal betrayal, the woman finds that her past and her present are about to collide and change everything.
At the Water’s Edge by Sara Gruen
After a New Year’s Eve party in Philadelphia in 1944, Madeline Hyde and her husband, Ellis, found themselves cut off financially from Ellis’s father. Ellis’s father is already ashamed of him as he is unable to serve in the war, so Ellis and his best friend, Hank, come up with a plan to hunt down the Loch Ness monster—something Ellis’s father publicly failed to do. Madeline agrees to go with them and soon the trio is in a remote village in the Scottish Highlands. While Ellis and Hank go searching, Madeline stays behind and finds herself falling in love with the area and becoming quite close with the locals.
City of Women by David R. Gillham
In 1943, the city of Berlin is full of women as the men are away at war. To a blind eye, Sigrid is the perfect wife of a German soldier. She works hard and keeps her home-life under control, but behind closed doors, Sigrid dreams of her former Jewish lover. Sigrid is about to find out that she’s not the only one with secrets as she finds herself at a crossroads between right and wrong.
Leave A Comment