Part 2: Writing About World War II

An In-Depth Roundtable, Part Two of Four

Part Two

Hosted by Kristin Harmel

Last week, I talked to a dozen incredible, bestselling authors about what has made them write about World War II. (You can read that conversation HERE.) In this week’s newsletter, I asked them about the challenges they’ve faced with research and getting the nuances of history right. Make sure to follow along every week this month as we discuss writing World War II fiction, in commemoration of the upcoming 80th anniversary of D-Day.

Read on for more, and find a full list of the authors at the bottom.

Kristin Harmel: It can be overwhelming to get all the details right in a novel set in a different country and a different time period – but I know that all of us spend months and years doing our research and trying to make sure every single detail we include is pitch perfect. I’m curious: what do you think some of the biggest challenges are with getting the story and the nuances of history just right? Are there things that have been especially challenging? 

Patti Callahan Henry: My challenges were much different than these authors writing about the war, its spies, and its horrors. My story is secluded in the countryside with two children, so my research was much more about how those on the homefront survived the lean and terrifying years. Even if thost at home weren’t seeing the battles, or fighting the fights, they were reading about it and worried about those they loved. I wanted to look at that time period from a different angle – the children. I read much about child evacuees and interviewed a ninety-one year old survivor of that evacuation. The challenges for me had to do with narrowing down the many, many stories of those evacuees – there are as many experiences as there were children (over 800,00 children evacuated in four days).

Kristin Harmel: That’s so interesting, Patti. Jennifer Rosner said something similar last week about writing about children during and after World War II, and I’ve also spent some time looking at the war through the perspective of children. That viewpoint shifts everything, doesn’t it?

Kristina McMorris: I agree, it does! And this is coming from a writer who—and I say this laughing—somehow keeps winding up spinning tales that feature “sad historical orphans.” Staying true to youthful points-of-view from a very different time and even various countries can certainly be a challenge. The same can be said of reconciling conflicting historical information, whether from two different sources or even between verifiable facts versus legends that through time and repetition have been widely accepted as truth by readers. 

Jennifer Rosner: Finding the resources needed to ensure accuracy can be challenging. So many details are packed into historical novels! When writing about the Holocaust—at a time when there are people denying that it even took place—it feels crucial to get every detail right. For me, travel (to Poland, France, and Israel) enabled me to find the resources I needed: access to historians, archival materials, museums, guides, and much more. 

Kristin Harmel: So true, Jennifer! Putting your feet on the ground in the location you’re writing about feels vital. I think those details that truly bring a book alive–the tastes, the smells, the ground beneath your feet–require an in-person visit.

Jennifer Rosner: Yes, I love getting the sensory feel of a place, so that I can bring those details to my books!

Genevieve Graham: I would say research isn’t really much of a problem for me, though I envy you the ability to travel to those physical locations. The tricky part is that there is just so much to learn, I sometimes have trouble finding the plot! I start out with what I think the book is going to be about, then I take a sharp right down a rabbit hole, and suddenly I have a whole new world of information I somehow need to incorporate …

Madeline Martin: Research is one of my favorite things about writing historical fiction. My most recent release, The Keeper of Hidden Books, incorporated over 100 nonfiction books and two weeks of travel in Warsaw, resulting in over fifteen spiral bound notebooks filled with handwritten notes. I wish I could say every piece of historical detail I wrote down went into my book, but maybe only about 30% of it makes its way onto the page. Trying to parse out what to keep and what to incorporate into the story is one of the hardest parts. There are so many incredible stories and so many brave people I want to share!  

Kristin Harmel: Yes, Madeline and Genevieve, I totally agree! One of my biggest challenges is always deciding which miniscule percentage of what I’ve gleaned from the research actually makes it in. As writers, I think we learn a ton about our subject matter, and there’s an urge to include it all, because it’s all so interesting…. But then a 2,000-page novel would take years to write and would be quite boring to read, wouldn’t it? So we have to be very selective about which pieces we leave in and what we leave on the cutting room floor, so to speak.

Kate Quinn: The challenges of researching WWII? What comes to me primarily is the necessity for sensitivity. This is very painful history, and there’s a real obligation to paint the nuances and be cognizant that this isn’t just history in a book–that there are people still living with terrible experiences from the war; people still grappling with the legacy passed from parents or from personal heritage (Kristin, you mentioned generational trauma earlier). We owe it to these people to portray their pain honestly and not exploit it or simplify it for the sake of story. 

Kristin Harmel: So true, Kate. And there’s so much about the war years that’s so complex; it’s a balance making it simple enough to understand without, as you say, simplifying for the sake of story. Good point.

Erika Robuck:  I try to reach out to descendants or family members, when possible, to humanize my subjects, to understand the family connections, and how the family wishes their loved ones to be remembered. It also helps me understand the real men and women from history in three dimensions. The greatest compliment of my life was when Virginia Hall’s niece told me she never fully knew or understood her aunt until she read my novel The Invisible Woman.  

Kristin Harmel: What a wonderful and incredible compliment!

Stephanie Dray: The biggest challenge I faced in researching for The Women of Chateau Lafayette was in writing about real historical figures, many of whom have living descendants or a mixed legacy. France was, of course, a conquered nation in WWII, which forced very difficult moral choices on people. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to me that some information might be kept hidden to protect reputations. Ultimately, I was forced to change the shape of my story several times to accommodate the fact that I couldn’t research my way around certain roadblocks because I was not comfortable accusing someone of collaboration, or excusing them from it. I can tell you I’ve never had to face that kind of thing writing in the ancient world! If there are any descendants of Emperor Augustus who don’t like what I have to say about him, that’s just too bad, LOL.

Lisa Barr: The biggest challenge I found when I deep dove into the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was finding an actual survivor … not a descendant – but someone who was there in the Ghetto. And then a crazy thing happened … Through a series of twists and a network of people, it turns out that a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto and FIVE concentration camps(!!!) lived fifteen minutes away from me. Crazy, right? I spent an entire afternoon with Estelle and it was as if we were soulmates … She is in her early 90s … still beautiful and strong … We held hands the whole interview and there were so many moments that I had to bite my lip so I didn’t cry. She told me powerful tidbits  – the kind of inside information that is NOT written in research books but only someone who actually LIVED IT would know. Estelle was so generous and kept saying how proud she was of me.. It was so emotional – all of it. It was like sitting with my beloved Grandma again … I will forever treasure that afternoon.

Kristin Harmel: Oh, Lisa, that’s everything.

Julia Kelly: There are so many great points here! I would just add that I try to think about balancing what a seasoned reader of historical fiction might know off the top of their head because of all of the books they’ve consumed and a brand-new-to-the-genre reader might be discovering for the very first time. Finding those little details that can really bring a setting or time period to life are so important, so I’m always trying to tease out fresh pieces of research that can help me do that book to book.

Martha Hall Kelly: My biggest challenge in writing Lilac Girls was learning as much as I could about the Rabbits–the many surgical experiments performed on them, and their individual stories. Each one of them wrote a short memoir so that was helpful. I traveled to Poland, to the Rabbits’ hometown of Lubin, to the Ravensbruck Memorial twice and met two of the Rabbits.

Pam Jenoff:  I always say that there are three challenges with historical fiction: 1) doing the research (finding the sources, etc.); 2) weaving the historical material into the story so that the reader does not get a big “dump” of information that stops the story just because I thought it was interesting; and 3) ensuring that there are no historical mistakes.  But really it is so much more than that.  There are key questions about how much history and how much fiction and how to tell a good story without compromising truth or integrity.  And I think it is important to be clear about how much of the story is “true” because authors can get into trouble by staking too large a claim around what is real in a book.  Anytime someone writes that my book is “Based on” a true story, I always cross that out and say “inspired by” and I always try and note any deviations from history in the Author’s Note.

Kristin Harmel: I’m glad you mentioned the Author’s Note, Pam. I love reading those, because I think writers generally do a pretty thorough job of explaining the history behind their stories there; I know I always try to!

Remember to tune in to Friends & Fiction, where Patti Callahan Henry, Kristy Woodson Harvey, Kristin Harmel, and Mary Kay Andrews interview the authors of some of the year’s most buzzed-about books every Wednesday at 7pm ET on Facebook and YouTube. Join our Facebook group now, and join us in next week’s newsletter as we chat about finding World War II stories that feel unique and new. Read last week’s roundtable discussion about writing World War II novels HERE.

Friends & Fiction Co-Host Kristin Harmel’s latest novel is The Paris Daughter, new in paperback this month, set in 1940s Paris and 1960 New York.

Friends & Fiction Co-Host Patti Callahan Henry’s latest novel is The Secret Book of Flora Lea, new in paperback, set in England both during World War II and in the 1960s.

Jennifer Rosner’s latest novel is Once We Were Home, new in paperback, set in Europe and Israel and spanning the years from 1942-1968. Her debut novel, The Yellow Bird Sings, is also set in WWII.

Madeline Martin’s latest novel is The Keeper of Hidden Books, set in Warsaw, Poland spanning 1939-1945. The Book Lover’s Library, also set during World War II, is out in August.

Genevieve Graham’s latest novel is The Secret Keeper, set in both WWII-era Canada and the skies over England.

Kate Quinn’s latest WWII-era novel is The Diamond Eye, set in Ukraine and America. Her newest book, co-written with Janie Chang, is The Phoenix Crown, set in 1906 San Francisco. The Briar Club, set in 1950s Washington, D.C., is out in July.

Erika Robuck’s most recent World War II novel is Sisters of Night and Fog. Her forthcoming novel, The Last Twelve Miles (June 4, 2024), is set largely along Florida’s coast during the “Rum Wars” of Prohibition,.

Stephanie Dray’s latest novel is Becoming Madam Secretary, set largely in NYC and Washington DC during the Great Depression and the run-up to WWII. Her most recent novel directly involving World War II is The Women of Chateau Lafayette.

Lisa Barr’s latest novel The Goddess of Warsaw, set in 1943 Warsaw and in Hollywood in 2005, is out this month.

Julia Kelly’s most recent World War II books are The Lost English Girl and A Traitor in Whitehall, which is the first book in her Evelyne Redfern historical mystery series. Its sequel Betrayal at Blackthorn Park comes out October 1, 2024.

Martha Hall Kelly’s WWII-set novels are Lilac Girls and The Golden Doves and the upcoming The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club. 

Pam Jenoff’s most recent World War II novel is Code Name Sapphire, set largely in Belgium during the war.

Kristina McMorris's latest WWII novel is The Ways We Hide, set in America and the Netherlands.

---

Stay in Touch with Friends & Fiction!

Subscribe to our PODCAST.
Join our FACEBOOK group.
Follow us on INSTAGRAM.
Subscribe to our YOUTUBE channel.
Find details about everything F&F on our WEBSITE.
Shop our guests’ & hosts’ books in our shop on BOOKSHOP.
Join the F&F Official BOOK CLUB with Brenda & Lisa.

Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for bonus content from our hosts and guests.