The result is like spending a night at the bar with some of the most exceptional agents of the war. Miller also does a great job of giving the reader the information they need to put the stories in context and then lets his subjects speak.

I know, it doesn’t sound like a page turner! But I loved this book and am so grateful to Miller for gathering the stories of these remarkable men and women working behind the lines in Europe and preserving them in their own words. I saw someone describe his books as ‘paper time machines’ once and that seems right to me.īehind The Lines The Oral History of Special Operation in WWII - Russell Miller Furst is a master at keeping the reader and characters on edge and at the same time his novels are so textured and rich in detail you can feel the texture of his characters lives. In The World at Night the spoiled, selfish, charming and talented filmmaker Jean Casson has to confront the fact his life will not go on undisturbed by the German occupation. This is the first of Alan Furst’s WWII novels I read and I still remember that glow of discovery I felt as I began it, knowing this was a writer I was going to be spending a lot of time with.

Boyd is one of those writers who make you feel you are right next to your characters, but still manages to surprise you at every turn. Eva’s story, and how it comes to a climax which tears through her daughter’s life, is utterly compelling. Restless is a brilliant unpacking of a woman’s hidden past - a maze of a book with the sort of compulsive narrative drive to it that I love in thrillers. Restless has a sort of urgency to it which is a million miles away from his bestseller, Any Human Heart, but it asks similar questions about what truth is, and how well you can truly know a person. I’m a huge fan of William Boyd he’s such a versatile writer, you never know what you are going to get when you pick up one of his books - other than an excellent story. SOME OF OUR FAVORITE WORLD WAR II SPY NOVELS

Alan furst the world at night