War fiction and non-fiction 2

Talking Books

The titles in this booklist are just a selection of the titles available for loan from the RNIB National Library Talking Book Service.

Don’t forget you are allowed to have up to 6 books on loan. When you return a title, you will then receive another one.

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Fiction

Great soldiers' tales. 1991. Read by Garard Green, 9 hours 26 minutes. TB 9739.

All the heroism, sacrifice and humour of the soldier at war, captured in a superb collection of short stories with a wartime theme. Contributors include C. S. Forester, Leo Tolstoy, Kipling and Monsarrat. TB 9739.

Wave me goodbye: stories of the Second World War. 1988. Read by Carol Marsh, 12 hours 43 minutes. TB 7599.

This collection of 28 short stories of the 2nd World War, by leading authors, is a moving evocation of every aspect of life on the home front during wartime. Full of courage and compassionate observation, this compilation focuses on the heroism of the women who "did their bit" for the war effort at home. TB 7599.

Alexander, Peter

Ryfka. 1988. Read by Robert Ashby, 9 hours 44 minutes. TB 7617.

Based on real-life events during the Second World War, this exciting novel tells a dramatic story of a chase across occupied France to find a high-ranking RAF Officer who has been shot down and who has information which can imperil the planned Allied invasion. The order is to bring back or eliminate, by decree of SOE. TB 7617.

Allbeury, Ted

The lonely margins. 1995. Read by David Thorpe, 6 hours 51 minutes. TB 10818.

To live in the shadowland of espionage, where the only certainties are death and deceit is to live on the lonely margins. James Harmer and Jane Frazer, brought together by the French Resistance and broken apart by the Gestapo, are haunted by a sense of betrayal and a thirst for revenge. TB 10818.

Andrews, Lucilla

Front line 1940. 1993. Read by Gretel Davis, 11 hours 42 minutes. TB 10085.

London, September 1940. As the Battle of Britain rages overhead, Ann Marlowe, young staff nurse at St Martha's Hospital, battles to save the lives of wounded airmen, who are being admitted faster than she can hope to treat them. American war correspondent, Josh Adams is caught in St Martha's during London's first daytime bomb raid. What he sees dispels his professional detachment for ever, for nowhere is the indomitable spirit of the people more apparent. As the capital faces the fury of the blitz, Josh's admiration turns to love, but he cannot persuade Ann to leave, even when St Martha's is razed to the ground. TB 10085.

Auchincloss, Louis

Watchfires. 1982. Read by James Tillitt, 10 hours 36 minutes. TB 5147.

Political differences and general dissatisfaction with their marriage cause a rift between complacent New York lawyer, Dexter Fairchild and his fiercely abolitionist wife, Rosalie on the eve of the American Civil War - the watchfires of the title are those in the battle hymn of John Brown. The war is to change the lives of both. TB 5147.

Banks, Lynne Reid

Casualties. 1986. Read by Pauline Munro, 8 hours 49 minutes. TB 6666.

A week's holiday in Holland with an old friend she has not seen for 20 years seems a good idea to Sue McClusky: she senses that Mariolain wants to unburden herself of her marriage problems, and as Sue and her husband, Cal, are on the rocks also, she feels it could be useful. But Mariolain and her husband, Niels, are both unwounded casualties of the Second World War, she from the German occupation of Holland in 1940, whilst he had been in Indonesia when the Japanese invaded... TB 6666.

Barker, Pat

Double vision. 2003. Read by Robert Glenister, 8 hours 17 minutes. TB 15378.

Stephen Sharkey and Ben Frobisher, journalist and photographer respectively, are regularly faced with the reality of war. After Ben dies on assignment in Afghanistan, Stephen embarks on a book about the images of war - a book that will be based largely on Ben's work. But the demands of the present - recurring nightmares of his time in Sarajevo, an affair with a woman twenty years his junior, and a sudden emergency in the shape of masked intruders - are turning Stephen's life into a war zone and threatening his peace of mind. Contains violence. TB 15378.

Barry, Sebastian

A long long way. 2005. Read by John Cormack, 9 hours 20 minutes. TB 14367.

A long long way evokes the camaraderie and humour of Willie and his regiment, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, but also the cruelty and sadness of war, and the divided loyalties that many Irish soldiers felt. Tracing their experiences through the course of the war, the narrative brilliantly explores and dramatises the events of the Easter Rising within Ireland, and how such a seminal political moment came to affect those boys off fighting for the King of England on foreign fields - the paralysing doubts and divisions it caused them. Contains strong language. TB 14367.

Bates, H E

The purple plain. 1947. Read by Franklin Engelmann, 8 hours 21 minutes. TB 1090.

The story of a young British pilot in Burma, and of the Burmese girl whose love inspired him to live. TB 1090.

Bingham, Charlotte

The chestnut tree. 2002. Read by Judy Bennett, 10 hours 35 minutes. TB 14819.

Bexham; book 1. 1939, and the residents of Bexham are preparing for war. Beautiful Judy Melton, social butterfly Meggie Gore-Stewart, Mathilda Eastcott, and Rusty Todd, tomboy daughter of the local boatyard owner, are all determined to be active while their men are away fighting. But knitting socks and dodging bombs are not what they have in mind. Meeting under the chestnut tree on the green, the women look over the landscape they have helped to alter. They too have changed, and yet, as the men return, they are expected to play "mother", "daughter", "grandmother" once again. TB 14819.

Blake, Sarah

The postmistress. 2011. Read by Lorelei King, 9 hours 57 minutes. TB 18622.

It is 1940, and bombs fall nightly on London. In the thick of the chaos is young American radio reporter Frankie Bard. She huddles close to terrified strangers in underground shelters, and later broadcasts stories about survivors in rubble-strewn streets. But for her listeners, the war is far from home. Listening to Frankie are Iris James, a Cape Cod postmistress, and Emma Fitch, a doctor's wife. Iris hears the winds stirring and knows that soon the letters she delivers will bear messages of hope or tragedy. Emma is desperate for news of London, where her husband is working - she counts the days until his return. But one night in London the fates of all three women entwine when Frankie finds a letter - a letter she vows to deliver. TB 18622.

Burgh, Anita

Clare's war. Read by Jilly Bond, 15 hours 13 minutes. TB 13108.

1938: At seventeen Clare Springer is sent to Paris to complete her education. Relishing freedom, she's too busy to notice the onset of war. France is invaded and Clare is trapped, though happy to be so when her French lover Fabien is reported missing. She is determined to find him. Yet despite her wish not to become involved, Clare is sucked into the chaos and suffering around her, for how can she not help this country and people she has come to love? TB 13108.

Collins, Norman

London belongs to me. 1945. Read by Robert Gladwell, 30 hours 45 minutes. TB 1961.

A realistic novel of London people in wartime, especially the inhabitants of one particular boarding house. TB 1961.

Cook, Gloria

Touch the silence. 2003. Read by Daniel Philpott, 10 hours 33 minutes. TB 14241.

It is 1917 and the First World War is casting its shadow over the Harvey family of Ford Farm. One brother has been killed, Tristan is at the Front and Ben is desperate to go but is declared unfit. Tensions mount as he is forced to stay at home with older brother, Alec, who has secrets of his own. TB 14241.

Cornwell, Bernard

Sharpe's Christmas: two short stories. 2003. Read by Jonathan Oliver, 3 hours 32 minutes. TB 15016.

Sharpe's Christmas contains two short stories, Sharpe's Christmas and Sharpe's Ransom. Sharpe's Christmas is set in 1813, towards the end of the Peninsular War and falls after Sharpe's Regiment (book 17, TB 10728). Sharpe's Ransom comes after Sharpe's Waterloo (book 20, TB 11396), is set in peacetime and provides a glimpse of Sharpe's life in Normandy with Lucille. TB 15016.

Cornwell, Bernard

Azincourt. 2009. Read by Damien Goodwin, 13 hours 45 minutes. TB 16640.

Agincourt, fought on October 25th 1415, on St Crispin's Day, is one of the best known battles, in part through the brilliant depiction of it in Shakespeare's Henry V, in part because it was a brilliant and unexpected English victory and in part because it was the first battle won by the use of the longbow - a weapon developed by the English which enabled them to dominate the European battlefields for the rest of the century. Bernard Cornwell's Azincourt is an account of this momentous battle and its aftermath. From the varying viewpoints of nobles, peasants, archers, and horsemen, Azincourt skilfully brings to life the hours of relentless fighting, the desperation of an army crippled by disease and the exceptional bravery of the English soldiers. TB 16640.

Crisp, N J

Yesterday's gone. 1983. Read by Bruce Montague, 12 hours 22 minutes. TB 6443.

The log book which belonged to Squadron Leader David Kirby, DSO, DFC, is still in existence, a relic of a forgotten era. There are 29 operations recorded. 28 are against familiar targets; Stettin, Berlin, Hamburg, but the final raid is against a target so secret at the time that it is scarcely appears in histories of the air war, its tragedy virtually ignored. TB 6443.

Davies, Peter Ho

The Welsh girl. 2007. Read by Charlotte Stevens, 12 hours 2 minutes. TB 15662.

It is Wales 1944 and Captain Rotheram, a Jewish refugee working for British Intelligence, arrives to interrogate the infamous captive, Rudolf Hess. In a prison camp near a remote Snowdonian village, a young German soldier wrestles with the shame of his surrender. And among the curious locals is seventeen-year-old Esther Evans, who longs to experience the wider world. When their paths connect, all three will come to question their deepest loyalties, as the war irrevocably alters the course of their lives. Contains strong language. TB 15662.

Delderfield, R F

The Avenue goes to war. 1958. Read by Stephen Jack, 22 hours 30 minutes. TB 118.

The Avenue Story; book 2. Sequel to: The dreaming suburb, TB 108. War has overtaken the families in the Avenue, and we see how its privations bring out the best and the worst in them. TB 118.

Deighton, Len

Goodbye Mickey Mouse. 1982. Read by Ian Craig, 13 hours 41 minutes. TB 4622.

A group of young fighter pilots wait for their orders on an American airbase in East Anglia. It is the penultimate winter of the war and the war is seen through the eyes of Captain James Farebrother, his friend, the tough, ambitious Mickey Mouse and many other equally different characters. TB 4622.

Dobbs, Michael

Winston's war. Read by Terry Wale, 19 hours 33 minutes. TB 13840.

Winston Churchill; book 1. Saturday 1 October, 1938. Two men meet. One is elderly, the other in his twenties. One will become the most revered man of his time, and the other known as the greatest of traitors. Winston Churchill met BBC journalist Guy Burgess at a moment when the world was about to explode. The encounter was the first of the extraordinary events that propelled Churchill from the lowest point of his career to Downing Street, changing the course of the Second World War. In contrast, the man who played a part in Churchill's return would later be revealed as a Soviet spy. TB 13840.

Dorfman, Ariel

Widows. 1983. Read by Jonathan Oliver, 5 hours 19 minutes. TB 5233.

The setting for this story is Nazi-occupied Greece in 1941-42, but it could belong equally to El Salvador or Chile or any other oppressive military dictatorship, for it is about the horror of being "disappeared". When the men are taken from a patriarchal society, the women must find strength in each other. Their courage, and their insistence on knowing who is alive and who is dead, is a compelling indictment of the cruelty and indifference of such regimes. TB 5233.

Elgin, Elizabeth

Whisper on the wind. 1992. Read by Diana Bishop, 20 hours 1 minute. TB 10117.

World War Two. Against the express wishes of her absent husband Barney, Kath joins up as a land girl and moves from Birmingham to work on Mat Ramsden's farm in the Yorkshire countryside. Next door the Fairchild estate has been harnessed for the war effort. Roz, exempted from call-up to work on the land, has something to hide from her grandmother, who has secrets of her own. A moving story of women caught in the emotional crossfire of war. TB 10117.

Fallada, Hans

Alone in Berlin. 2009. Read by Steve Hodson, 25 hours 46 minutes. TB 17820.

Berlin, 1940, and the city is filled with fear. At the house on 55 Jablonski Strasse, its various occupants try to live under Nazi rule in their different ways: the nervous Frau Rosenthal, the bullying Hitler loyalists the Persickes, the retired judge Fromm and the unassuming working-class couple Otto and Anna Quangel. Then the Quangels receive the devastating news that their beloved son has been killed fighting in France. Shocked out of his quiet existence, the usually taciturn factory foreman Otto is provoked into an action that will endanger both his and Anna's life. TB 17820.