The best novels on captivating love stories against the backdrop of World War II

This is a beautiful novel, and I fell in love with Marie-Laure, the twelve-year-old girl who, despite being blind, manages, with the help of her father, to learn how to navigate her way around the dangerous neighborhood of Saint-Malo as the war gets closer and closer.

Eventually, so close that the echo of German boots can be heard in the house where she is alone and hiding. I was especially in awe of Anthony Doerr’s magical storytelling and his ability to seamlessly converge the stories of Marie-Laure and Werner, a German orphan and an expert in fixing radios. This is the story of a different kind of love—innocent, selfless, and heartwarming amidst the horrors of war. 

I absolutely loved how this book shed light on a part of history few of us know about—the courageous and triumphant fight of women against the Nazis during World War II.

The story takes place in the sleepy village of Carriveau in France, where two brave sisters, quite different in character, face one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after another. Forced to make one impossible decision after another, they nevertheless decide to break one cultural barrier after another to realize their dreams.

This is a tender and often heart-wrenching book, despite unimaginable evils that transpired in Auschwitz-Birkenau during World War II.

This book is a testament to human resiliency and courage. Here is a tender love story between Lale, a Jewish prisoner, whose Nazi captors assign him with the abhorrent task of permanently tattooing his fellow prisoners, and Gita whom he first meets when he is about to permanently mark her with a tattoo.

Heather Morris has done an admirable job documenting her interviews with holocaust survivors and bringing to life, both the evil and human side of mankind.

This novel swept me away to Shanghai during World War II and learned much I didn’t know about Shanghai, the Chinese culture at the time, and the consequences of World War II on the country and her people.

And above all, I kept turning the pages as I rooted for our brave Shanghai Heiress and a Jewish refugee, with nothing to his name, to consummate their forbidden love.

Dr. Habib Levy, the author of this book, is my grandfather, who spent half a century researching and writing the first comprehensive source on the history of the Jews of Iran. 

I have often referred to this wealth of information for my historical novels. But never has it been a more important source and inspiration than for my most recent novel.