The World At War, the first and arguably best documentary about the Second World War, was on television when I was 14. It fuelled my interest in history, especially about the reasons for the rise of the Nazis. History has many lessons to teach–if we are willing to listen–and one of the great teachers is Germany between the wars. It was a time of extremes: economic crises, social unrest, much of which was caused by the Nazis, and a flourishing bohemian, liberal culture. This febrile environment in which characters struggle with their personal conflict makes for great story-telling potential.
I love Kerr’s fastidious attention to detail, which makes me feel I am watching the action he depicts. Set in Berlin during the 1936 Olympic Games, March Violets is the first in the Bernie Gunther thriller series.
Gunther is a former policeman, now a private eye, who has been hired to find out who was responsible for two murders. The world has bruised Gunther, who is a sarcastic but witty and likable hero. From this novel, I learned a lot about Berlin and the period.
Discover the first crime novel in the late Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series - Berlin Noir - set in Hitler's Germany during the 1930s . . .
Winter, 1936. A man and his wife shot dead in their bed, their home burned. The woman's father, a millionaire industrialist, wants justice - and the priceless diamonds that disappeared along with his daughter's life. He turns to Bernhard Gunther, a private eye and former cop.
As Bernie follows the trail into the very heart of Nazi Germany, he's forced to confront a horrifying conspiracy. A trail that ends in the hell that…
As I read this riveting account, I felt like I was watching the events leading to the Munich Agreement of 1938. We all know the result of the agreement, but this book is much more than a historical account of what happened.
Harris tells the story through two friends who met at Oxford University in the 1920s. Now, one is an aide to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, and the other a senior German Foreign Office official. They join forces to try to stop Chamberlain from signing the agreement.
I was impressed with the skillful way Harris revealed the story, which the exemplary writing is matched in detail and tension.
Emmitt’s plans collapse when his wife, Mirai, suddenly backs out of purchasing their dream home. Disappointed, he’s surprised to discover her subtle pursuit of a life and career in Tokyo.
In his search for a meaningful life in Japan, and after quitting his job, he finds himself helping his mother-in-law…
One of Rory Clements’ many writing skills is the ability to create tension and explore an angle of an historical event.
It’s London 1936, and the king is about to abdicate. A woman is murdered in Berlin, and a fascist-leaning couple in Britain are killed. I liked how Clements joins these seemingly separate tragedies into a memorable story. I liked his hero, an academic drawn into the world of spying, Professor Tom Wilde.
I think a great novel's elements are believable characters, forensic attention to detail, and terrific tension, and they are all here.
A gripping spy thriller for fans of ROBERT HARRIS and WILLIAM BOYD from award-winning Sunday Times bestseller Rory Clements and author of the 2018 CWA HISTORICAL DAGGER WINNER, NUCLEUS
1936. Europe is in turmoil. The Nazis have marched into the Rhineland. In Russia, Stalin has unleashed his Great Terror. Spain has erupted in civil war.
In Berlin, a young Englishwoman evades the Gestapo to deliver vital papers to a Jewish scientist. Within weeks, she is found dead, a silver syringe clutched in her fingers.
In an exclusive London club, a conspiracy is launched that threatens the very heart of government.…
Hitler’s rise to power was not inevitable. That’s the key point of this excellent, detailed account of the days leading to President Hindenburg’s appointment of Hitler to the chancellorship of Germany.
I liked Ashby Turner’s novel-like writing style and his high standard of scholarship. He writes about the wheeling and dealing, the tension of the history-changing event, and the internal conflicts of some of the key actors.
It’s one of the best nonfiction books about the Weimar period I have read.
In Hitler's Thirty Days to Power, distinguished Yale historian Henry Ashby Turner makes an important and influential addition to his life-long study of Nazi Germany. Providing vivid portraits of the main players of the drama of January 1933, and using newly available documents, Turner masterfully recreates the bewildering circumstances surrounding Hitler's unexpected appointment as chancellor of Germany. The result is a work that Booklist calls "first rate ...a gripping, foreboding narrative."
It is 1948 in Berlin. The economy is broken, the currency worthless, and the Russian bear is preparing to swallow its next victim. In the ruins of Hitler's capital, former RAF officers and a woman pilot start an air ambulance company that offers a glimmer of hope. Yet when a…
A book that takes me into the hallowed halls of Nazi power is an immediate drawcard for me. And with a brave and determined woman protagonist who overcomes the odds, this book didn’t disappoint. Jane Thynne’s angle of exploring the lives of the wives of the leading Nazis is new, different, and works well.
Clara Vine has left Britain in less than happy circumstances and goes to Berlin, where she gets a job as an actor at the famous Ufa studios. After a chance meeting, she becomes part of the Nazi wives’ social circle. When Magda Goebbels discloses a life-threatening secret and asks Clara for her help, the tension is on.
Warning bells ring across Europe as Hitler comes to power
Clara Vine is young and ambitious, and determined to succeed as an actress. A chance meeting at a party in London leads her to Berlin, to the famous Ufa studios and, unwittingly, into an uneasy circle of Nazi wives, among them Magda Goebbels.
Then Clara meets Leo Quinn who is undercover, working for British intelligence. Leo sees in Clara the perfect recruit to spy on her new acquaintances, using her acting skills to win their confidence.
But when Magda Goebbels reveals to Clara a dramatic secret and entrusts…
When the Third Reich rises, one reluctant Nazi must decide how far he’ll go for love, even if it means murder. Berlin, 1932 and Karl Bauer look at the Nazi ideal. But underneath the blond facade, the German soldier hides a dangerous secret. He’s falling in love with another man.
When a betrayal sparks an unlikely friendship between Karl and a Nazi zealot, the two men vow to take a stand. To preserve his love, Karl’s only choice is bloodshed. But he quickly learns that in war, vowing vengeance is easier said than done, and freedom may be impossible.
This book is an elegiac meditation on the will to survive. Tor, a beluga whaler, and his wife, Astrid, a botanist specializing in Arctic flora, are stranded during the dark season of 1937-38 at his remote whaling station in the Svalbard archipelago when they misjudge ice conditions and fail to…
The Model Spy is based on the true story of Toto Koopman, who spied for the Allies and Italian Resistance during World War II.
Largely unknown today, Toto was arguably the first woman to spy for the British Intelligence Service. Operating in the hotbed of Mussolini's Italy, she courted danger…
