War stories, personal tales

Pat St. Germain suggests authors to hole up with.

The War Widow Tara Moss Harper Avenue

Australian-canadian multitasker Tara Moss adds another feather to her crime-novelist cap with this multi-faceted foray into postwar noir. Set in Sydney in 1946, The War Widow introduces private investigator Billie Walker, a former war correspondent who has lost the two main men in her life: Her photographer husband is missing in Europe and presumed dead, and her father died while she was en route to Sydney after the war. Like many women, Billie is forced out of her job to make way for returning soldiers, so she takes over her father’s business. It isn’t long before danger comes knocking. When the son of immigrant jewellers goes missing, the boy’s mother hires Billie to bring him home alive. Next thing you know, Billie has a target on her back. With help from her male secretary Sam — and the assistance of her mother Ella and housekeeper Alma — Billie is more than capable of solving the case. But it wouldn’t hurt to get some co-operation from a local cop, a tall drink of water named Hank Cooper.

All We Left Behind Danielle R. Graham Harpercollins Canada

Although Canada is at war, life on Mayne Island, B.C., is sweet for young lovers Chidori and Hayden. Off the beaten path between Vancouver and Salt Spring Island, their corner of the world is a peaceful little paradise. But it all goes south when the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and racist paranoia takes hold. Chidori’s family is among the thousands of Japanese-canadians torn from their homes and imprisoned in internment camps, leaving Hayden with only one option — join the air force and help end the war. Danielle R. Graham, who splits her time between Vancouver and Mayne Island, has written several young adult novels, as well as historical fiction.

The Girl He Left Behind Beatrice Macneil Harpercollins Canada

Fifteen years after Willow Alexander’s high school sweetheart skipped out on the eve of their wedding day, word gets around that he’s moving back to their small Cape Breton town. A newly married doctor, his timing could not be worse for Willow. Her best friend, Kathleen, and Kathleen’s husband, who was also a doctor, have been found dead, and Willow is afraid she might be responsible. Imagining she is about to be carted off to jail, Willow spends a pivotal day alone with her memories in her old family home, recalling a long-held secret and facing her fears. Beatrice Macneil is the author of four previous novels, including Where White Horses Gallop, a war story longlisted for the international Dublin Literary Award.