Why am I passionate about this?

I’m the author of seven published novels and a recently retired English professor. I was the founder and director of the Fairfield University MFA program. My latest novel is called Lebensborn and is set in Germany near the end of World War II. The novel concerns a little-known project hatched by Heinrich Himmler called Lebensborn (“the fount of life”). Concerned about Germany’s falling birth rate, Himmler began the program in 1935 hoping to encourage unwed mothers not to have abortions but to give birth to their babies at Nazi-run homes and then to give their babies up for adoption to “pure Aryan” officers. Lebensborn follows the story of Renate Dressler, a young German girl who falls in love with an SS officer. 


I wrote

Beautiful Assassin

By Michael C. White,

Book cover of Beautiful Assassin

What is my book about?

Loosely based on actual events, Beautiful Assassin is a tale of love, loyalty and intrigue set during World War II,…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of All the Light We Cannot See

Michael C. White Why did I love this book?

What fascinates me about World War II novels in general and Doerr's novel, in particular, is an author's unearthing of some little-known aspect of the war or fresh point of view that breathes new life into a subject about which much has already been written. Doerr's novel brings two original perspectives to bear with his young main characters, Marie-Laure, the blind, French girl, and Werner, the talented, pacifist German student, both of whom find themselves thrust into the forefront of war and all of its brutality. In addition to brilliant characterizations, Doerr's electrifying prose and original plot structure make this Pulitzer-prize-winning novel a must-read.

By Anthony Doerr,

Why should I read it?

51 authors picked All the Light We Cannot See as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

WINNER OF THE 2015 PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR FICTION

A beautiful, stunningly ambitious novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II

Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever.'

For Marie-Laure, blind since the age of six, the world is full of mazes. The miniature of a Paris neighbourhood, made by her father to teach her the way home. The microscopic…


Book cover of The Glass Room

Michael C. White Why did I love this book?

One of the most remarkable aspects of this war novel is the fact that perhaps its most important character is the setting—the house or “glass room” where the main characters live. Viktor Landauer, a Jew, and his gentile wife Liesel, along with their modernist architect Rainer von Abt, build a house that they hope represents the vibrancy and faith in the future of a new and fresh world order in Europe, casting off the centuries of old-world class constraints. However, with the rise of Nazism, the house, ironically, becomes another Holocaust site used to oppress and kill Jews. Great characters and written in nuanced prose, The Glass Room is a fresh take on the subject of the Holocaust.

By Simon Mawer,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Glass Room as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE

The inspiration for the major motion picture The Affair, now available on demand.

Cool. Balanced. Modern. The precisions of science, the wild variance of lust, the catharsis of confession and the fear of failure - these are things that happen in the Glass Room.

High on a Czechoslovak hill, the Landauer House shines as a wonder of steel and glass and onyx built specially for newlyweds Viktor and Liesel Landauer, a Jew married to a gentile. But the radiant honesty of 1930 that the house, with its unique Glass Room, seems to engender quickly tarnishes…


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Book cover of Astral Travel

Astral Travel by Elizabeth Baines,

Jo Jackson believes she has put behind her difficult childhood with a charismatic but sometimes violent father. One day, however, out of the blue, she is moved to write about him. Immediately she comes unstuck, face to face with things that don't add up, and a growing sense of mystery…

Book cover of Suite Française

Michael C. White Why did I love this book?

Murdered at Auschwitz, Irène Némirovsky left this quietly stunning novel behind as a testament to her remarkable talent. Hidden in a suitcase among her daughter’s things for sixty-four years, the novel wasn’t published until 2004. Actually two related novels, the first part tells the story of Parisians fleeing the invasion of the Germans in 1940. With a poet's insight and sharp clarity, Némirovsky presents not only German brutality but the selfishness and foibles of human nature, including the French. In the second part the French learn to live with—and in one case, fall in love with—their oppressors. A complex, multifaceted view on war.

By Irene Nemirovsky,

Why should I read it?

12 authors picked Suite Française as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In 1941, Irene Nemirovsky sat down to write a book that would convey the magnitude of what she was living through, not in terms of battles and politicians, but by evoking the domestic lives and personal trials of the ordinary citizens of France. She did not live to see her ambition fulfilled, or to know that sixty-five years later, "Suite Francaise" would be published for the first time, and hailed as a masterpiece. Set during a year that begins with France's fall to the Nazis in June 1940 and ends with Germany turning its attention to Russia, "Suite Francaise" falls…


Book cover of We Were the Lucky Ones

Michael C. White Why did I love this book?

What I appreciate about Hunter's novel is that it takes a new approach to the subject of the Holocaust. With the outbreak of WWII, the Kurcs, a Polish-Jewish family, find themselves driven into another diaspora, with their family members cast to the four corners of the globe. Hunter touches on the plight of Poland during the early years of the war when the country was torn asunder by Germany from the west and the Soviet Union from the east. The plot follows the various family members as they struggle to survive the Holocaust in Poland, in Stalin's Gulag, and as one member tries to flee to South America. A big, sprawling, family epic filled with tragedy and humanity, brutality and heroism.

By Georgia Hunter,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked We Were the Lucky Ones as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The New York Times bestseller with more than 1 million copies sold worldwide

Inspired by the incredible true story of one Jewish family separated at the start of World War II, determined to survive-and to reunite-We Were the Lucky Ones is a tribute to the triumph of hope and love against all odds.

"Love in the face of global adversity? It couldn't be more timely." -Glamour

It is the spring of 1939 and three generations of the Kurc family are doing their best to live normal lives, even as the shadow of war grows closer. The talk around the family…


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Book cover of Norvel: An American Hero

Norvel by Kenneth F. Conklin,

NORVEL: An American Hero chronicles the remarkable life of Norvel Lee, a civil rights pioneer and Olympic athlete who challenged segregation in 1948 Virginia. Born in the Blue Ridge Mountains to working-class parents who valued education, Lee overcame Jim Crow laws and a speech impediment to achieve extraordinary success.

He…

Book cover of City of Thieves

Michael C. White Why did I love this book?

Reminiscent of the earthy humor and frank insight of Huck Finn, the novel concerns the siege of Leningrad. Hungry like so many in the city, the main character, Lev Beniov, a young Soviet boy, is arrested for looting for food. Along with an older prisoner Kolya, they are given a chance at saving their necks by a strange edict: they must find a dozen eggs for a Soviet colonel to use in his daughter’s wedding cake. Set against the hellish world of suffering, starvation, and death that was Leningrad, the two boys set off on a quest for the eggs both in the city and behind enemy lines. Both hilarious and horrifying, the novel is a stunning bildungsroman against the backdrop of a city under siege.

By David Benioff,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked City of Thieves as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the critically acclaimed author of The 25th Hour and When the Nines Roll Over and co-creator of the HBO series Game of Thrones, a captivating novel about war, courage, survival - and a remarkable friendship that ripples across a lifetime.

During the Nazis' brutal siege of Leningrad, Lev Beniov is arrested for looting and thrown into the same cell as a handsome deserter named Kolya. Instead of being executed, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful Soviet colonel to use in…


Explore my book 😀

Beautiful Assassin

By Michael C. White,

Book cover of Beautiful Assassin

What is my book about?

Loosely based on actual events, Beautiful Assassin is a tale of love, loyalty and intrigue set during World War II, a story in which a decorated Russian sniper finds herself caught between two suspicious allies. As the beleaguered Soviets try to hold back the invading Germans, a brave and talented female Russian sniper named Tatyana Levchenko gains international fame at the battle of Sevastopol. With over 300 kills, she becomes so renowned that Woody Guthrie writes a song about her and Eleanor Roosevelt invites her to come to the White House. For the Soviets, the invitation is an opportunity to garner support for the Allies to open a desparately needed second front. But it is also a chance to gather information on secret tests the Americans are conducting behind the Soviets' back. Tat'yana thus becomes a vulnerable pawn in a dangerous game played between the Americans and Soviets, one that will have international consequences well after the war's end.

Book cover of All the Light We Cannot See
Book cover of The Glass Room
Book cover of Suite Française

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