I will keep reading historical fiction about WWII as long as they keep pumping out books about it, even if all the titles start sounding the same!
My most recent read, however, was a pleasant change from novels set in Paris (not that there is anything wrong with being set in Paris I have enjoyed so many of those too!)
Once We Were Here: A Novel
by Christopher Cosmos
This novel is set in Greece as they are defending their country from Italian and then German occupation. I didn’t previously know much about this side of the war. The Greek army won the first Allied victory in the war, and the Greeks were such brave fighters they earned the respect of even their enemies.
The book, told from the point of view of two best friends who volunteer to fight, included many more actual fighting scenes than I’m used to in the genre but it also included love, family, and small village stories, and snippets of insight into Greek culture.
“In so many books that he loved, he’d read about moments in people’s lives. Moments when what they did mattered, because it changed everything else, for one way or the other. And that’s what our lives are built on, these choices, and these moments. English doesn’t have a word for it, but the Greeks have a word for everything.
Kairos.”
It was a wonderful read!