Historical fiction novels about war-torn love you must read
Usually, war and love don’t go hand in hand. Being the opposites of each other, it is difficult to fathom romance brewing during a conflict. However, that’s not always the case. From fiction to reality, we have innumerable instances of people falling in love with war and fighting in the backdrop. In a way, this proves that love knows no bounds and can happen in the unlikeliest of places. To dive deeper into this, here are 7 must-read historical fiction novels about war-torn love.
'The Things We Cannot Say' by Kelly Rimmer
Set in 1942 with Europe at war, the novel centers on Alina Dziak, who knew she would marry her best friend, Tomasz when she was nine years old. But then the Nazi occupation takes hold and everyone is divided by fear and hate. "It is an unshakable reminder of the devastation when the truth is silenced and how it can take a lifetime to find our voice before we learn to trust it," says the novel's blurb.
Pic credit: Graydon House
'To the End of the Land' by David Grossman
The novel centers on Ora, a middle-aged Israeli mother who is about to celebrate her son's release from army service when he returns to the front for a major offensive. As a result, Ora drags along Avram, her former best friend and former, who in fact turns out to be her son's biological father.
Pic credit: Vintage
'Exit West' by Mohsin Hamid
The novel revolves around Nadia and Saeed, who fall in love in a world turned upside down. Civil war has come to the city where they live and they will need to leave their motherland behind. As per the blurb, "They will join the great outpouring of people fleeing a collapsing city, hoping against hope, looking for their place in the world."
Pic credit: Penguin
'The Post Office Girl' by Stefan Zweig
The novel centers on Christine, who toils in a provincial post office in Austria just after World War One, a country gripped by unemployment. Though it starts as a vivid, humorous Cinderella story, soon it becomes a tragedy. Two young lovers, a discharged soldier and a post-office girl (Christine) wander the streets of Vienna, longing to make love, but can’t afford a decent room.
Pic credit: Sort of Books
'Cold Mountain' by Charles Frazier
The book's blurb best describes its inside contents: A soldier wounded in the Civil War, Inman turns his back on the carnage of the battlefield and begins the treacherous journey home to Cold Mountain, and to Ada, the woman he loved before the war began. As Inman attempts to make his way across the mountains, through the devastated landscape of a soon-to-be-defeated South, Ada struggles to make a living from the land her once-wealthy father left when he died. Neither knows if the other is still alive.”
Pic credit: Sceptre
'For Whom the Bell Tolls' by Ernest Hemingway
The novel centers on Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer on the republican side of the Spanish Civil War who has been sent to handle the dynamiting. There he discovers Maria, a young woman who has escaped from Franco's rebels. It is through her that he rediscovers his passion for life.
Pic credit: RHUK
'The Tattooist of Auschwitz' by Heather Morris
As per the novel's blurb, it is "based on the true story of Lale and Gita Sokolov, two Slovakian Jews who survived Auschwitz. When Lale, given the job of tattooing the prisoners, saw Gita waiting in line, it was love at first sight. At that moment he was determined to keep them both alive."
Pic credit: Bonnier Zaffre
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