18 books like The Great War

What to read after The Great War — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

The dark forest Hugh Walpole · 1916 · 324p · ≈ 10h · Challenging John Durward and John Trenchard are two Englishmen who join a company of Russian doctors, nurses, and orderlies working on the Russian side of the Eastern Front at the height of World War I. Durward, the primary narrator, is a detached and seemingly-objective observer of events; his friend Trenchard is a dreamy, clumsy, and naive man whose fiancee, Marie Ivanova, is serving alongside him as a… Shares: World War I, World War, Historical Fiction

The appetite of tyranny Gilbert Keith Chesterton · 1915 · 46p · ≈ 1h · Challenging The mere facts of the story are about the present European conflagration, includes other short works and essays. Shares: World War I, World War

In Secret Robert W. Chambers · 1919 · 246p · ≈ 8h · Challenging The case in question concerned a letter in a yellow envelope, which was dumped along with other incoming mail upon one of the many long tables where hundreds of women and scores of men sat opening and reading thousands of letters for the Bureau of P. C. - whatever that may mean. Shares: World War I, World War

Death Comes to the Village Catherine Lloyd · 2013 · 332p · ≈ 11h · Moderate Major Robert Kurland has returned to the quiet vistas of his village home to recuperate from the horrors of Waterloo. However injured his body may be, his mind is as active as ever. Too active, perhaps. When he glimpses a shadowy figure from his bedroom window struggling with a heavy load, the tranquil facade of the village begins to loom sinister. Unable to forget the incident, Robert confides… Shares: Soldiers, History

Private Peaceful Michael Morpurgo · 1962 · ★ 4.1 · 202p · ≈ 6h · Moderate When Thomas Peaceful's older brother is forced to join the British Army, Thomas decides to sign up as well, although he is only fourteen years old, to prove himself to his country, his family, his childhood love, Molly, and himself. Shares: World War I, Soldiers, World War, History

The Burning Shore Wilbur Smith · 1998 · 636p · ≈ 21h · Moderate 'Smith will take you on an exciting, taut and thrilling journey you will never forget' - Sun'With Wilbur Smith the action is never further than the turn of a page' - Independent'No one does adventure quite like Smith' - Daily Mirror LOVE IN A TIME OF WAR. HOPE IN A TIME OF CRISIS. One of the greatest fighter pilots of the Great War, Michael Courtney, is saved by the French noblewoman Centaine… Shares: World War I, World War

Enormous Room E. E. Cummings · 1949 · 248p · ≈ 8h · Challenging "Edward Estlin Cummings (1894-1962), famously known as E. E. Cummings, was an American poet, essayist, painter, author, and playwright. His body of work encompasses 2,900 poems, two autobiographical novels, four plays and several essays, as well as numerous paintings and drawings. He is remembered as an unsurpassed voice of 20th century poetry, as well as one of the most popular, even today.… Shares: World War I, Soldiers, World War

To the Last Man Jeff Shaara · 2004 · ★ 4.5 · 636p · ≈ 21h · Moderate Jeff Shaara has enthralled readers with his New York Times bestselling novels set during the Civil War and the American Revolution. Now the acclaimed author turns to World War I, bringing to life the sweeping, emotional story of the war that devastated a generation and established America as a world power.Spring 1916: the horror of a stalemate on Europe's western front. France and Great Britain… Shares: World War I, World War, War, Historical Fiction

The Runagates Club John Buchan · 1928 · 342p · ≈ 11h · Challenging John Buchan’s The Runagates Club is a classic of British interwar short fiction. These twelve stories appeared from 1913 to 1927, when he was at the peak of his powers, and feature Richard Hannay, Edward Leithen, and many newcomers to the Buchan canon. John Buchan designed The Runagates Club as a showcase for the best of his 1920s magazine fiction. He repurposed these stories with new… Shares: World War I, World War, Short Stories

Gravity's Rainbow Thomas Pynchon · 1973 · ★ 4.0 · 1160p · ≈ 38h · Challenging Winner of the National Book Award"The most profound and accomplished American novel since the end of World War II." —The New Republic“A screaming comes across the sky. . .” A few months after the Germans’ secret V-2 rocket bombs begin falling on London, British Intelligence discovers that a map of the city pinpointing the sexual conquests of one Lieutenant Tyrone Slothrop, U.S. Army, corresponds… Shares: Soldiers, World War, History

Maisie Dobbs Jacqueline Winspear · 2003 · ★ 4.4 · 294p · ≈ 9h · Moderate Maisie Dobbs isn’t just any young housemaid. Through her own natural intelligence—and the patronage of her benevolent employers—she works her way into college at Cambridge. When World War I breaks out, Maisie goes to the front as a nurse. It is there that she learns that coincidences are meaningful and the truth elusive. After the War, Maisie sets up on her own as a private investigator. But her… Shares: World War I, World War, Historical Fiction, History

Im Westen nichts Neues Erich Maria Remarque · 1928 · ★ 4.1 · 192p · ≈ 6h · Challenging This is the testament of Paul Bäumer, who enlists with his classmates in the German army of World War I. These young men become enthusiastic soldiers, but their world of duty, culture, and progress breaks into pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches. Through years of vivid horror, Paul holds fast to a single vow: to fight against the hatred that meaninglessly pits young men of the… Shares: World War I, Soldiers, World War, History

The Winter Soldier Daniel Mason · 2018 · ★ 4.5 · 336p · ≈ 11h · Moderate "Vienna, 1914. Lucius is a twenty-two-year-old medical student when World War I explodes across Europe. Enraptured by romantic tales of battlefield surgery, he enlists, expecting a position at a well-organized field hospital. But when he arrives--at a commandeered church tucked away high in a remote valley of the Carpathian Mountains--he discovers a freezing outpost ravaged by typhus. The other… Shares: World War I, World War, Historical Fiction

The Moon is Down John Steinbeck · 1942 · ★ 4.3 · 208p · ≈ 6h · Challenging Also contained in: The Grapes of Wrath / The Moon is Down / Cannery Row / East of Eden / Of Mice and Men Shares: Soldiers, World War, War, History

Waiting for sunrise William Boyd · 2012 · ★ 3.5 · 368p · ≈ 12h · Moderate Vienna, 1913. It is a fine day in August when Lysander Rief, a young English actor, walks through the city to his first appointment with the eminent psychiatrist Dr Bensimon. Sitting in the waiting room he is anxiously pondering the particularly intimate nature of his neurosis when a young woman enters. She is clearly in distress, but Lysander is immediately drawn to her strange, hazel eyes and… Shares: World War I, World War, Historical Fiction, History

Ungeduld des Herzens Stefan Zweig · 1927 · ★ 4.4 · 435p · ≈ 14h · Challenging Der junge Leutnant Anton Hofmiller lernt die gelähmte Adelstochter Edith kennen und entwickelt Gefühle für sie – aber er weiß nicht, ob es sich dabei um Liebe oder Mitleid handelt. Hofmiller macht ihr Hoffnungen auf Liebe und Genesung. Aber aus Angst vor gesellschaftlichem Spott verleugnet er schließlich seine wahren Gefühle, bis die Katastrophe unausweichlich ist.Zweig, der Meister der Novelle,… Shares: World War I, World War, History

Gedichte Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · 1700 · ★ 4.1 · 439p · ≈ 14h · Demanding Wer sich die Muße nimmt, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe abseits der üblichen Pfade zu erkunden, wer sich mit dieser Anthologie in Goethes Zeit und seine Denkweise einführen lässt, wird feststellen: Goethe ist zeitgemäß. Hier finden sich neben klassischen Gedichten und Balladen, Anakreontik und volksliedhaften Versen auch für den Augenblick verfasste Gelegenheitspoesie und immer wieder Absagen an… Shares: World War I, Soldiers

Pan Michael An historical novel Henryk Sienkiewicz · 1893 · ★ 4.2 · 542p · ≈ 18h · Challenging The third and final book of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s Trilogy takes a closer and more intimate look at one of the series’ protagonists: Pan Michael Volodyovski. The Polish Commonwealth has been through intense periods of war, and the peace that follows leaves one of its greatest heroes, Pan Michael, finally free to marry his beloved Panna Anusia. But in a twist of fate, she falls ill and dies, leaving… Shares: Historical Fiction, History

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