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This week events took place to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day on 6th June 1944 when Allied forces staged the largest seaborne invasion in history on the beaches of Normandy. This decisive event changed the course of the Second World War.

Here are some books I’ve read set in the WW2. I hope there’s something for everyone in this list whether you favour adventure, mystery, crime, thriller or romance in your historical fiction or have an interest in reading books written during the war. Links from each title will take you to my review.

1. Mr Bunting At War by Robert Greenwood
2. A Better Place by Stephen Daisley
3. Darkness Does Not Come At Once by Glenn Bryant
4. The Night Raids by Jim Kelly
5. The Blood of Others by Graham Hurley
6. Dead of Night by Simon Scarrow
7. The Lace Weaver by Lauren Chater
8. My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor
9. SBS: Special Boat Squadron by Iain Gale
10. A Sunlit Weapon (Maisie Dobbs #17) by Jacqueline Winspear
11. These Days by Lucy Caldwell
12. Hitler’s Taster by V.S. Alexander
13. Dear Mrs Bird by A.J. Pearce
14. Stella by Takis Wurger
15. A Prince and A Spy by Rory Clements
16. Blitz Writing: Night Shift & It Was Different At The Time by Inez Holden
17. City of Spies by Mara Timon
18. A Ration Book Wedding by Jean Fullerton
19. Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans
20. The Bird in the Bamboo Cage by Hazel Gaynor

Today is Earth Day. First held in 1970 by Earthday.org it’s described as ‘the largest civic event on Earth, activating billions across 192 countries to safeguard our planet and fight for a brighter future’. It seems appropriate, therefore, to feature a novel which has environmental activism at its heart.

Land Marks by Maryann Lesert was published by She Writes Press on 16th April 2024. It’s described as ‘suspenseful, poignant, and galvanizing’ and ‘a tribute to the waterways that connect us, the land that sustains us, and the moments that inspire us to rise up together to say, “No more!”

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About the Book

Once you’ve experienced the devastation of fracking, nothing but stopping it makes sense. After a year of well site visits and protests, four college student activists become determined to protect the people and the places they love.

In the river-crossed northwoods of Michigan, Kate, Brett, Sonya, and Mark, mentored by their former professor Rebecca, keep watch as North American Energy (NorA) connects a corridor of frack well sites deep in the state forests. When NorA expands in unexpected directions and their awful, bigger plan becomes clear, the action begins.

As grassroots activists gather and prepare to stop NorA’s dangerous superfrac, stresses other than the fracturing of the bedrock appear. Sonya is arrested, Rebecca reveals her hidden past, and the one person who knows both women’s stories arrives in camp. Love and solidarity want to win, even if most showdowns with Big Oil don’t end well for those who take a stand.

Format: Paperback (288 pages) Publisher: She Writes Press
Publication date: 16th April 2024 Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Find Land Marks on Goodreads

Purchase Land Marks from Bookshop.org [Disclosure: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops]

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About the Author

Maryann Lesert writes about people and place in equal measure. Her first novel, Base Ten (Feminist Press, 2009) followed an astrophysicist’s quest for self among Lake Michigan’s forested dunes and the stars. Her current novel, Land Marks, is based on two years of boots-on-well-sites research on fracking in the state forests. Her plays have been published by New Issues (2008) and in Smith & Kraus’s Best Ten Minute series. Her articles have appeared in EcoWatch and In These Times, and she is a regular presenter on art and activism. Maryann lives in west Michigan, where she teaches creative writing and writes by the big lake. (Photo/bio: Goodreads author page)

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