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War fiction

  • Auteur:
    Barr, Damian
    Sommaire:

    South Africa, 1901: At the height of the Second Boer War, Sarah van der Watt and her son are taken from their farm by force to Bloemfontein Concentration Camp where, the English promise, they will be safe.Johannesburg, 2010: Sixteen-year-old outsider Willem just wants to be left alone with his books and his dog. Worried he's not turning out right, his mother and her boyfriend send him to New Dawn Safari Training Camp. Here they “make men out of boys.” Guaranteed.You Will Be Safe Here is a deeply moving novel of two connected parts. Inspired by real events, it uncovers a hidden colonial history and present-day darkness while exploring our capacity for cruelty and kindness.

  • Auteur:
    Argo, Ronald
    Sommaire:

    Acclaimed as one of the most important novels of the Vietnam War, Year of the Monkey takes us not only into the savage jungles where death waits in every paddyfield and triple canopy, but into the apocalyptic world of political corruption, where friendship and betrayal become unavoidable, where murder and love are common as body counts. It is the gripping story of two American soldiers trapped in a sinister web of cold-blooded murder during the shattering Tet Offensive of 1968. In the poisoned soul of Saigon, Russ Payne is an army journalist partying his nights away when a wild grunt named Willingham is lobbed into his life like a grenade. Willingham, the lone survivor of a Special Forces squad, has been reassigned, inexplicably, to Payne's cushy rear unit. Suddenly Payne's fragile peace is shattered when he's forced to spy on his new friend as part of a secret CIA investigation. On a mind-bending odyssey into the depths of the war-torn jungle, he follows Willingham in his bloody quest to avenge the massacre of his former unit— and discovers a hell of his own. Cutting through an apocalyptic jungle of intrigue, Payne falls in love with a woman who welcomes him into the fold of a Viet Cong camp, witnesses the death of his childhood friend, discovers the horrific meaning of attrition... and ultimately leads to him committing a crime beyond redemption. In stunning scenes of combat and intrigue, we glean as in no other novel or movie the patch-quilt nature of the Vietnamese people and the murderous deceit of sinister body count politics. In the year of the monkey, Payne will come to understand the terrible consequences of following orders— and of ignoring them.

  • Auteur:
    Clavell, James
    Sommaire:

    The sixth book in James Clavell's epic Asian Saga tells the story of three weeks in Tehran in February 1979-three weeks of passion, self-sacrifice, and heartbreak. When the shah is thrown out of Iran, the nation's turmoil becomes world headlines. Caught in this shifting world of fanaticism, ambition, duplicity, and violent death are the foreign helicopter pilots who have been servicing the oil fields up and down the country. Their one objective is to make a bold, concerted escape to safety across the Gulf.

  • Auteur:
    MacNeil, Beatrice
    Sommaire:

    In 1941, three young men enlist in the legendary Cape Breton Highlanders and sail off to war, leaving their families to wait and wonder at home in Beinn Barra, Nova Scotia. Fisherman Hector MacDonald, gifted musician Benny Doucet, and hopeful medical student Calum MacPherson are all eager for the excitement of life in the famous regiment, but on the homefront, they leave behind only the anxiety and pain of their loved ones. Heart-wrenchingly told in smart, lyrical, evocative prose, Where White Horses Gallop is a novel that strikes at the heart of war in its glory, and in all its stark legacy.

  • Auteur:
    Oksanen, Sofi, Rogers, Lola
    Sommaire:

    From the internationally acclaimed author of Purge comes a chillingly suspenseful, deftly woven new novel that opens up a little-known yet still controversial chapter of history: the occupation, resistance, and collaboration in Estonia during and after World War II. 1941: In Communist-ruled, war-ravaged Estonia, two men are fleeing from the Red Army — Roland, a fiercely principled freedom fighter, and his slippery cousin Edgar. When the Germans arrive, Roland goes into hiding; Edgar abandons his unhappy wife, Juudit, and takes on a new identity as a loyal supporter of the Nazi regime . . . 1963: Estonia is again under Communist control, independence even further out of reach behind the Iron Curtain. Edgar is now a Soviet apparatchik, desperate to hide the secrets of his past life and stay close to those in power. But his fate remains entangled with Roland’s, and with Juudit, who may hold the key to uncovering the truth . . . In a masterfully told story that moves between the tumult of these two brutally repressive eras — a story of surveillance, deception, passion, and betrayal — Sofi Oksanen brings to life both the frailty, and the resilience, of humanity under the shadow of tyranny.

  • Auteur:
    Lazurko, Anne
    Sommaire:

    For readers of Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See and Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, a transportive historical novel about finding morality in the throes of war and colonization Released from Nazi forced labor as World War II ends, 20-year-old Sam is quickly drafted and sent to the island of Java to help regain control of the colony. But the Indonesian independence movement is far ahead of the Dutch, and Sam is thrown into a guerilla war, his loyalties challenged when his squad commits atrocities reminiscent of those he suffered at the hands of the Nazis. Sam falls in love with both Sari and the beautiful island she calls home, but as he loses friends to sniper fire and jungle malady, he also loses sight of what he wants most — to be a good man.

  • Auteur:
    Korman, Gordon
    Sommaire:

    There are two things Trevor loves more than anything else: playing war-based video games and his great-grandfather Jacob, who is a true-blue, bona fide war hero. At the height of the war, Jacob helped liberate a small French village, and was given a hero's welcome upon his return to America. Now it's decades later, and Jacob wants to retrace the steps he took during the war -- from training to invasion to the village he is said to have saved. Trevor thinks this is the coolest idea ever. But as they get to the village, Trevor discovers there's more to the story than what he's heard his whole life, causing him to wonder about his great-grandfather's heroism, the truth about the battle he fought, and importance of genuine valor.

  • Auteur:
    Bear, Greg
    Sommaire:

    The Gurus were a highly advanced species who brought amazingly sophisticated technology to the human race. But now they face a far more malevolent life form. Master Sergeant Michael Venn and his band of brothers must turn back the Antag tide.

  • Auteur:
    McKay, Sharon E.
    Sommaire:

    Unbelievable facts about an amazing specimen—YOU! Most of us eat, run, or sleep without thinking about it. But our bodies are masterful machines of intricate design that perform amazing feats daily. The fifth book in Annick’s successful 50 Questions series guides readers through the details of how our bodies function, from the miracles of genetics, to immune cells shaped like sea monsters. With her engaging, lucid style, Lloyd Kyi incorporates recent scientifc research to explain our body’s complex workings. Kids will love fnding the answers to questions such as: • Do blood cells travel single fle? (In our capillaries, blood cells have to squeeze through one at a time.) • How is your spine like a racetrack? (Messages race down the nerves in your spinal cord faster than a NASCAR driver.) • Is your brain like plastic? (Your brain’s ability to change is called “plasticity.”) • Can your lungs take a hike? (Your lungs and blood vessels adapt to altitude changes.) • Are there aliens inside you? (The invasion of microscopic living organisms started the moment you were born.) You’ll discover how people avoided epidemics in ancient Pakistan and why your goldfsh can see things you can’t. Hilarious illustrations will keep kids laughing as they learn.

  • Auteur:
    Thériault, Gabriel
    Sommaire:

    Janvier 1943. URSS. Cinq Allemands, cinq camarades affrontent l'enfer blanc à bord du char d'assaut tigre. La bête d'acier rencontre désormais toutes ses promesses. Par le fer et le feu, elle sème la mort et la destruction partout sur son passage. Pourtant, le front s'enlise et le sort des armes vacille. Désormais les victoires faciles échappent à l'Allemagne. Le Reich connaîtra-t-il une défaite pire encore que celle de 1918? Froid, faim, souffrances et peur poussent au Mal. Même les meilleures volontés trempent les mains dans le sang, tandis que s'efface la ligne entre le front et l'arrière. Au milieu de l'horreur, la politisation ne suffit plus. Le mythe d'Hitler perd de son lustre. Les hommes n'ont que la camaraderie pour tenir. À chacun de protéger son compagnon et de le protéger des griffes de la mort. Dans la tourmente, deux hommes refusent de croire en la croisade que leur pays mène. Enfin ils ouvrent les yeux et tentent d'arrêter la machine de meurtres.

  • Auteur:
    Henderson, Dee
    Sommaire:

    Air Force pararescueman Bruce "Striker" Stanton spends his life rescuing pilots downed behind enemy lines, and Grace Yates flies an F/A-18 Hornet for the Navy. On their dangerous jobs away from home, they exchanged love letters. Now a fight between Syria and Turkey over water rights on the Euphrates has spiraled into a confrontation NATO finds itself struggling to prevent. For the military deployed in the region, it's not just the occasional news headline--it's their daily problem. And when a missing Navy pilot turns out to be Gracie, Bruce has got one mission: get her out alive.

  • Auteur:
    Atkinson, William Illsey
    Sommaire:

    The battle of Ten–Go comes to life in this reimagining of one man’s life as a naval officer

    April 1945: the aftermath of the battle for Okinawa. Tommy stands on the deck of the USS Bataan, the Independence–class aircraft carrier he’s called home for a year, and, like everyone and everything else, he’s utterly changed. A lieutenant commander and expert navigator, he’s long understood the horrors, the toll of this war. He’s spent his military career battling — both the enemy and the brass. He’s challenged military procedure with mathematical genius and refined naval ballistics in an effort to save both American ships and lives. And now, Ten–Go: almost another three dozen vessels sent to their watery grave; 368 others damaged from the air. Five thousand American sailors wounded; another 5,000 dead — and his best friend among them. The numbers could have been worse; his math, as always, had been correct.

    This story of a brilliant though reluctant warrior moves from hardscrabble Dorris, California, to the classrooms of MIT and on to the briny hell of the South Pacific. In Tommy, the history of 20th century North America comes alive.

  • Auteur:
    Graham, Genevieve
    Sommaire:

    In the summer of 1916, Private Daniel Baker marches into battle with the boys of Nova Scotia's 25th Battalion. Out of brutal necessity, Danny has steeled himself against the trials and horrors of war, but he is completely unprepared to meet the love of his life in war-torn France. Audrey Poulin has the soul of an artist. She lives alone with her grandmother in the quiet French countryside, where her only joy is in her brush and palette. When, by chance, she encounters Danny, the handsome young soldier captures her heart and inspires her painting. The young lovers believe that only together can they face the hardships the war brings. But love is just the beginning. Mere months later, Danny is gravely wounded at the Battle of the Somme, and his future is thrown into uncertainty. Soon, he and Audrey find themselves struggling to build a new life in Halifax, a city grieving its lost men. As the grey winter of 1917 sets in, Danny's lack of purpose and Audrey's isolation continue to mount, pulling the two apart just as a new catastrophe threatens their existence.

  • Auteur:
    McKay, Sharon, Gerszak, Rafal
    Sommaire:

    Best friends Tamanna and Yasmine cannot believe their good fortune when a school is set up in their Afghan village; however, their dreams for the future are shattered when the Taliban burns down the school and threatens the teacher and students with death. As Tamanna faces an arranged marriage to an older man, and the Taliban targets Yasmine’s western-educated family, the girls realize they must flee. Traveling through the heart of Taliban territory, the two unaccompanied young women find themselves in mortal danger. After suffering grave injuries—Tamanna from a fall and Yasmine from a suicide bombing—the girls are left without the one thing that has helped them survive—each other. Filled with tension and drama, Thunder over Kandahar, paints a vivid portrait of the perils of contemporary Afghanistan.

  • Auteur:
    Goodspeed, Michael J.
    Sommaire:

    Three to a Loaf is the First World War story of Rory Ferrall, a young Canadian officer of Anglo-German descent who, after being wounded and disfigured at Ypres, comes to the attention of British military intelligence. Ferrall’s German background is valuable to the war’s planners. Hundreds of German-Americans had returned to the Fatherland to fight for the Kaiser at the outbreak of war in August 1914 and the British captured one. Cleverly trained to impersonate the captured German-American officer, Ferrall is smuggled into wartime Germany to infiltrate the German General Staff and discover their top-secret plan to break the stalemate on the Western Front. A page-turning novel of war and espionage, Three to a Loaf is also a portrait of societies and individuals pushed to the breaking point, and in some cases, beyond. Michael Goodspeed artfully blends the tension of a thriller with period detail, the detached commentary of a nitty-gritty travelogue, and psychological understanding of a harried man facing soul-destroying ethical decisions.

  • Auteur:
    Hamilton, Cicely
    Sommaire:

    When war breaks out in Europe - modern, aerial war whose tactics include displacing entire populations - British civilization collapses overnight. The ironically named Theodore Savage, an educated and idle civil servant, must learn to survive by his wits in a new Britain...one where science and technology swiftly come to be regarded with superstitious awe and terror.

  • Auteur:
    Hannah, Kristin
    Sommaire:

    From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah's The Women - at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided. Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances "Frankie" McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path. As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets - and becomes one of - the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost. But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam. The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm's way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.

  • Auteur:
    Jenoff, Pam
    Sommaire:

    Life is a constant struggle for the impoverished eighteen-year-old Nowak twins as they raise their three young siblings in rural Poland under the shadow of the Nazi occupation. The constant threat of arrest for even the most minor infraction has made everyone in their village a spy, and turned neighbour against neighbour. Though rugged, independent Helena and pretty, gentle Ruth couldn’t be more different, they are staunch allies in protecting their family from the threats and hardships the war brings closer to their doorstep with each passing day. Then Helena discovers an Allied paratrooper stranded outside their small mountain village, wounded, but alive. Risking the safety of herself and her family, she hides Sam -- a Jew -- but Helena's concern for the American grows into something much deeper and the dream of a life beyond the mountains beckons. Defying the perils that render a future together all but impossible, Sam and Helena make plans for the family to flee. But Helena is forced to contend with the jealousy her choices have sparked in Ruth, culminating in a singular act of betrayal that endangers them all -- and setting in motion a chain of events that will reverberate across continents and decades.

  • Auteur:
    Kingsnorth, Paul
    Sommaire:

    Set in the years after the Norman invasion of England, The Wake tells the story of a fractured band of guerrilla fighters who take up arms against the invaders. Based on known historical facts about the almost forgotten war of resistance that spread across England in the decade after 1066, it is a story of the brutal shattering of lives, a tale of lost gods and haunted visions, narrated by a man of the Lincolnshire fens bearing witness to the end of his world. 2014.

  • Auteur:
    Hatcher, Robin Lee
    Sommaire:

    Margo King fears for her son fighting on the North African front and tries to hide her painful past. Dotty King searches for forgiveness from her mother and God after committing a single ardent mistake. Lucy Anderson struggles to resist temptation while her husband is away in England. And Penelope Maxfield longs for a new life free from her husband and children.

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