The Canal Bridge: A Novel of Ireland, Love, and the First World War by Tom Phelan ISBN: 9781843510758
Published by Dufour Editions on October 23rd 2005
Genres: Fiction, Historical
Pages: 280
Len's Summary: A novel of Ireland and Irish volunteers during WWI. The author will speak at the WFA New England-New York Chapter Seminar at Hartford in November 2006. Available new for $25 postpaid from Glanvil Enterprises, Ltd., 237 Church Street, Freeport, NY 11520, or online from Irish Books & Media (irishbook@aol.com), or Dufour Editions (http://www.dufoureditions.com)
A Test of Wings
A Test of Wings by Owen J. McNamara ISBN: 9781595260185
Published by Llumina Press on July 1st 2005
Genres: Fiction, Religious, War & Military
Pages: 224
Len's Summary: Novel of a US Navy officer flying anti-submarine patrols off the southern and eastern coasts of England in 1918. Favorably reviewed in Naval History magazine.
A Soldier of the Great War
A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin ISBN: 9780156031134
Published by Harcourt on June 1st 2005
Genres: Fiction, Historical, Literary
Pages: 860
Len's Summary: An Italian veteran remembers his war. Reprint of a classic novel first published in 1991.
The First Casualty
The First Casualty by Ben Elton ISBN: 0593051114
Published by Transworld Publishers on November 1st 2005
Pages: 389
Len's Summary: A WWI crime novel involving an improbable combination of trench warfare, shell shock, crime detection and conscientious objection. The author is best known as a comic novelist and wrote parts of the Black Adder series. Drew decidedly mixed reactions from readers and reviewers alike.
A Long Long Way
A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry ISBN: 0143035096
Published by Penguin Books on September 8th 2005
Pages: 304
Len's Summary: The tragic story of a young, conflicted Irish patriot serving in the British Army who attempts unsuccessfully to straddle two worlds as Irish nationalists fight for independence while war rages on the Western Front. Includes an excellent bibliography of books on the Irish experience in the Great War.
Messenger of Truth: A Maisie Dobbs Novel
Messenger of Truth: A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear ISBN: 0805078983
Published by Henry Holt and Co. on August 22nd 2006
Pages: 322
Len's Summary: Murder at a convalescent home for disfigured British WWI veterans. Fourth in the Maisie Dobbs series about an English private detective who served as a nurse behind the Western Front.
Megiddo’s Shadow
Megiddo’s Shadow by Arthur Gregory Slade ISBN: 9780385747011
Published by Wendy Lamb Books on October 10th 2006
Genres: Young Adult, Animals, Military & Wars
Pages: 290
Len's Summary: For young adults. The story of a 16-year-old Canadian who, inspired by the deaths of his two brothers in WWI, enlists in the cavalry and is sent to fight in Palestine.
Severed Branch
Severed Branch by Andrew R. H. Mowatt ISBN: 0595389945
Published by iUniverse on November 13th 2006
Genres: Fiction, Historical, War & Military
Pages: 320
Len's Summary: This story of the RFC’s air war in northern France moves back and forth from a present day protagonist to dream sequences, flashbacks to Royal Flying Corps aerial battles.
An Ace Minus One
An Ace Minus One by Timothy M. Morrisroe ISBN: 0595391354
Published by iUniverse on August 22nd 2006
Pages: 620
Len's Summary: A novel of WWI in the air. A 14 year-old American flees home after killing a man, and finds himself in France first as an ambulance driver at Verdun and then as a volunteer in a French fighter squadron. Look for a review in Camaraderie.
By a Slow River: A Novel
By a Slow River: A Novel by Philippe Claudel, Hoyt Rogers ISBN: 1400042801
Published by Knopf on December 18th 2007
Pages: 208
Len's Summary: A French village policeman unravels the thicket of lies and deceit surrounding the 1917 death by strangulation of a young girl. Winner of the Prix Renaudot.
The Emperor’s Coloured Coat
The Emperor's Coloured Coat by John Biggins ISBN: 1590131088
Published by McBooks Press on May 1st 2006
Pages: 349
Len's Summary: The hapless Otto Prohaska, Hero of the Habsburg Empire almost, but not quite averts World War One. Second in a series; the third book, The Two-Headed Eagle, is coming soon.
My French Whore
My French Whore by Gene Wilder ISBN: 9780312360573
Published by Macmillan on March 6th 2007
Pages: 178
Len's Summary: A serious historical novel by one of America’s top comedians about a German-speaking Doughboy, Paul Peachy from Milwaukee who impersonates a famous German spy after being captured on the Western Front. American Heritage favorably reviewed this novel in its April/May 2007 edition.
The Last Summer of the World: A Novel
The Last Summer of the World: A Novel by Emily Mitchell ISBN: 0393064875
on June 18th 2007
Genres: Fiction, Historical
Pages: 390
Len's Summary: A novel about photographer Edward Steichen’s return to wartime France and his reckoning with his painful past.
The Brother Keepers: The Great War Odyssey of Sable MacInnes and His Brothers
The Brother Keepers: The Great War Odyssey of Sable MacInnes and His Brothers by John MacNintch ISBN: 0978750500
on May 1st 2007
Pages: 779
Len's Summary: A novel encapsulating and placing in perspective Canada’s Great War experience through the story of the fictional MacInnes brothers from Nova Scotia. Appendices contain a glossary of terms and identification of principal historical characters, as well as the Canadian order of battle. Look for a full review in a WFA journal.
Dizzy City: A Novel
Dizzy City: A Novel by Nicholas Griffin ISBN: 1586421328
Published by Steerforth Press on August 21st 2007
Genres: Fiction, Historical
Pages: 384
Len's Summary: Englishman Benedict Cram deserts the Western Front trenches and stows away on a ship bound for New York City where he falls under the sway of urbane grafter, Julius McAteer. A sting within a sting; a crime novel with historic detail. Recommended by WFA editor-publisher Susan Hall-Balduf.
In Pale Battalions
In Pale Battalions by Robert Goddard ISBN: 0385339208
Published by Delta on May 29th 2007
Genres: Fiction, Mystery & Detective
Pages: 368
Len's Summary: Reprint of a 1988 Bantum thriller by British novelist Robert Goddard (Into the Blue), a family mystery based on WWI.
Between the Sword and the Wall: A Novel of World War I
Between the Sword and the Wall: A Novel of World War I by Thomas De Angelo ISBN: 0974990639
on March 17th 2007
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 130
Len's Summary: A novel about British Nurse Edith Cavell and the German occupation of Brussels.
Horizon Blue: A Novel of the Great War
Horizon Blue: A Novel of the Great War by Jake Bumgardner ISBN: B005LSDM74
Published by Pastis Press on September 4th 2011
Pages: 285
Len's Summary: Available from the author at www.lulu.com/content/1765825. This is the story of a friendship between a captured French officer and a German prison camp official. Well constructed fiction weaving in actual WWI situations.
The Air We Breathe
The Air We Breathe by Andrea Barrett ISBN: 0393333078
on October 17th 2007
Genres: Fiction, Historical, Literary
Pages: 320
Len's Summary: Story set in 1916 in an Adirondack tuberculosis asylum. America is still at peace, but a well-meaning patient initiates a discussion group which brings The Great War home sparking anti-immigrant prejudice and vigilantism in an isolated rural community.
An Incomplete Revenge: A Maisie Dobbs Novel
An Incomplete Revenge: A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear ISBN: 9780312428181
Published by Picador on November 25th 2008
Genres: Fiction, Mystery & Detective
Pages: 352
Len's Summary: Fifth in the Maisie Dobbs series of crime novels with a WWI tie-in investigated by a British wartime VAD nurse turned private eye.
A Duty to the Dead: A Bess Crawford Mystery
A Duty to the Dead: A Bess Crawford Mystery by Charles Todd ISBN: 9780061791765
Published by William Morrow on August 25th 2009
Genres: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Historical
Pages: 329
Len's Summary: First in a series of Bess Crawford novels in which, Bess, daughter of a distinguished army officer, volunteers to become a nurse in WWI.
A Good Woman
A Good Woman by Danielle Steel ISBN: 0739494686
on 2008
Pages: 336
Len's Summary: Best-selling author Steel weaves a story of a woman who loses her father and brother on the Titanic and later throws herself into the war effort doing medical work in France.
Empire of Sand
Empire of Sand by Robert Ryan ISBN: 0755329244
Published by Headline Review on April 3rd 2008
Pages: 384
Len's Summary: A novel of T. E. Lawrence before he became famous fomenting Arab revolt in the Hejaz. His foil is Wilhelm Wassmuss, a real life German agent provocateur already fictionalized by John Buchan in Green Mantle.
Buck’s Story: A Marine in the Great War
Buck’s Story: A Marine in the Great War by Wayne A. Pettyjohn ISBN: 978-1456817671
Published by Xlibris on November 20th 2010
Len's Summary: A fast-paced historical novel, an entertaining mix of fact and fiction based on stories recounted by veterans of the Fourth Marine Brigade of the Second Division, AEF. To purchase, contact the author at wpettyj@aol.com (405) 372-1981.
The Overcoat
The Overcoat by Conrad Larson ISBN: 9781931916530
Published by OVERCOAT on 2008
Pages: 224
Len's Summary: A mystery novel of WWI.
The Given Day
The Given Day by Dennis Lehane ISBN: 0688163181
Published by William Morrow on September 23rd 2008
Pages: 704
Len's Summary: A sprawling novel of post-World-War-One upheaval and uncertainty in Boston, by the author of Mystic River. A fictionalized account of events surrounding the Boston Police strike of 1919, racial and ethnic strife, anarchist and Bolshevik agitation, the catastrophic collapse of the North End molasses tank, the influenza pandemic, Irish politics, and Babe Ruth.
Time Is the Fire: A Novel of the Great War
Time Is the Fire: A Novel of the Great War by William Breedlove Martin ISBN: 9781606101186
Published by PublishAmerica on 2008
Genres: Fiction, Historical
Pages: 312
Len's Summary: Deals mainly with the family left behind in Georgia by two brothers serving in the US First Pursuit Group.
Life Class
Life Class by Pat Barker ISBN: 0307387801
Published by Anchor on January 6th 2009
Genres: Fiction, General, Historical
Pages: 320
Len's Summary: From the Booker Prize-winning (Ghost Road) author of the Regeneration trilogy, this novel takes on the issue of art and war-time censorship.
Among the Mad: A Maisie Dobbs Novel
Among the Mad: A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear ISBN: 9780312429256
Published by Picador on November 24th 2009
Genres: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Women Sleuths, Historical
Pages: 336
Len's Summary: In her sixth Maisie Dobbs detective novel, Winspear has her heroine join a high power Scotland Yard team in attempting to forestall cataclysmic disaster in 1931 London. Maisie, a WWI VAD, again uses her WWI experience to crack the case.
Slum and Guns: Tales of the Marines in the Great War
Slum and Guns: Tales of the Marines in the Great War by Wayne A. Pettyjohn ISBN: 1456818082
Published by Xlibris Corporation on November 18th 2010
Pages: 166
Len's Summary: Available from the author at phidwaye@aol.com. The second novel in a planned Marine Corps trilogy, this one a series of short stories based on the exploits of the Fourth Marine Brigade on the Western Front.
The Ace
The Ace by Jack D. Hunter ISBN: 9780979924064
Published by Blue River Press on September 1st 2008
Genres: Fiction, Historical, War & Military
Pages: 300
Len's Summary: Story of the political intrigue and corruption surrounding American combat aviation in World War One written by the author of The Blue Max, his 17th and final novel published the year before his death in 2009.
A Sacrifice of Innocents: A Novel of the Great War
A Sacrifice of Innocents: A Novel of the Great War by Alan James Barker ISBN: 0955569877
Published by Tommies Guides on February 1st 2009
Pages: 340
Len's Summary: A believable work on the experiences of a British battalion on the Western Front from September 1915 to March 1916.
The Secret Battle: A Tragedy of the First World War
The Secret Battle: A Tragedy of the First World War by A.P. Herbert, Winston S. Churchill, Malcolm Brown ISBN: 1848325215
Published by Frontline Books on April 1st 2009
Genres: History, Military, General
Pages: 216
Len's Summary: The fictionalized story of an idealistic young British officer first published in 1919. // First published by Methuen in 1919 and in print virtually ever since, this semi-autobiographical novel follows the career of a young man who left Oxford to enlist later taking a commission and serving at Gallipoli and on the Western Front. This was the first book to freely discuss executions for desertion in the British forces.
The Mapping of Love and Death: A Maisie Dobbs Novel
The Mapping of Love and Death: A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear ISBN: 9780061727665
Published by Harper Collins on 2010
Genres: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Women Sleuths, Historical
Pages: 338
Len's Summary: Set in 1932, this is the seventh novel in the Maisie Dobbs series in which Maisie, a former WWI VAD, investigates the mysterious death of an American cartographer believed killed in battle. Winspear’s sixth Maisie Dobbs novel, Among the Dead, was published in 2009.
A Bitter Truth: A Bess Crawford Mystery
A Bitter Truth: A Bess Crawford Mystery by Charles Todd ISBN: 9780062015716
Published by HarperCollins on May 1st 2012
Genres: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, General
Pages: 368
Len's Summary: Todd’s (actually a mother and son writing team) second mystery featuring British nurse Bess Crawford involved in a murder while on Christmas leave from war torn France.
An Impartial Witness: A Bess Crawford Mystery
An Impartial Witness: A Bess Crawford Mystery by Charles Todd ISBN: 0061791784
Published by William Morrow on August 31st 2010
Genres: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Historical
Pages: 352
Len's Summary: A British nurse crisscrosses England investigating mysterious deaths during WWI. Recommended by Susan Hall-Balduf.
Armistice
Armistice by Nick Stafford ISBN: 9781849160230
on 2010
Genres: Fiction, Historical, Thrillers, General
Pages: 311
Len's Summary: Set in post-1918 London, a Manchester seamstress searches for news of her fiancée killed on the Western Front. A tangled web of deceit.
The Scent of Roses in Winter
The Scent of Roses in Winter by Michael P. Kihntopf ISBN: 1452080372
Published by AuthorHouse on October 5th 2010
Pages: 184
Len's Summary: A well-crafted novel about the experiences of a German soldier on both eastern and western fronts, as well as in the postwar freicorps. Written by the chairman of WFA’s Southwest Chapter who has also published two histories of the Eastern Front.
Sunnyside
Sunnyside by Glen David Gold ISBN: 9780307454980
Published by Vintage Books on May 4th 2010
Genres: Fiction, Literary
Pages: 675
Len's Summary: A rollicking comic novel set on a single day in the winter of 1916; a tale of perversity and misfortune involving, among others, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Elsie Janis.
Beneath Hill 60
Beneath Hill 60 by Will Davies ISBN: 9781448125265
on 2010
Genres: History, Military, World War I, World
Pages: 288
Len's Summary: Just released as a motion picture in Australia, this recounts the story of Australian miners digging a massive mine under German trenches on Hill 60 in Flanders 1916.
President’s Quarterly Update—April 2024
Dear Members and Friends,
I’m extremely pleased with the level of WW1HA’s activities, some of which may be unseen by you.
Our Journal, “World War One Illustrated,” is now published three times a year with an average length of 48 pages. Each issue is filled with high-quality articles covering a variety of topics, including the popular “My Kin in the Great War” series.
Our electronic newsletter, “Here and There with the WW1HA” is published monthly, with an assortment of Association events and articles covering WW1 topics.
Sal Compagno’s San Francisco Bay Area Chapter continues to hold monthly meetings via Zoom, while Mark Benbow’s Eastern Chapter is holding quarterly meetings.
As President, I am also hosting a quarterly “Fireside Chat” online. The last one emphasized WW1 poetry. The next one will emphasize WW1-era music.
If you’re already a member, I thank you for your membership and encourage you to take part in these activities. If you’re not a member, I ask you to join and participate in these activities. Participate in the events and consider submitting an article for the journal or newsletter.
Reach out to me with your comments: lavarennes@meuse-argonne.com.
Regards,
Randy Gaulke
