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SHADOW WARRIORS OF WORLD WAR II

One of our recommended books for 2017 is Shadow Warriors of World War II by Gordon Thomas

I hate wars and violence, but if they come then I don’t see why we women should just wave a proud good-bye and then knit them balaclavas. —Nancy Wake, SOE agent

“I discovered how easy it was to make highly trained, professionally closemouthed patriots give away their secrets in bed.” —Betty Pack, agent with the British Secret Intelligence Service and the Office of Strategic Services

In a dramatically different tale of espionage and conspiracy in World War II, Shadow Warriors of World War II unveils the history of the courageous women who volunteered to work behind enemy lines.

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INTO THE SUN

Kabul—Ten Years After 9/11: After a car explodes in the city, a Japanese-American journalist discovers that its passengers were acquaintances—three fellow expats who had formed an unlikely love triangle—and becomes convinced that a deeper story lies behind the moment of violence. The investigation that follows takes the journalist from Kabul to Louisiana, Maine, Québec, and Dubai, from love to jealousy to hate—and acutely reveals how the lives of individuals overseas have become inseparable from the larger story of America’s imperial misadventures.

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WONDER WOMEN

Smart women have always been able to achieve amazing things, even when the odds have been stacked against them. In Wonder Women, author Sam Maggs tells the stories of the brilliant, brainy, and totally rad women who broke barriers as scientists, engineers, mathematicians, doctors, inventors, spies, and more. She also includes interviews with modern-day women in STEM careers, an extensive bibliography, and a guide to women-centric science and technology organizations—all to show the many ways the geeky girls of today can help build the future.

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BLOOD FOR BLOOD

For the resistance in 1950s Germany, the war may be over, but the fight has just begun. Death camp survivor Yael is on the run. This gripping, thought-provoking sequel to Wolf by Wolf will grab readers by the throat with its cinematic writing, fast-paced action, and heart-stopping twists.

Read our interview with the author on the Reading Group Choices blog!

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SURVIVORS CLUB

In 1945, in a now-famous piece of archival footage, four-year-old Michael Bornstein was filmed by Soviet soldiers as he was carried out of Auschwitz in his grandmother’s arms. Here is the unforgettable story of how a father’s courageous wit, a mother’s fierce love, and one perfectly timed illness saved his life, and how others in his family from Zarki, Poland, dodged death time and again with incredible deftness. Working from his own recollections as well as extensive interviews with other family members and survivors who knew the family, Michael relates his inspirational story with the help of his daughter, Debbie Bornstein Holinstat.

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WOLF BY WOLF

One of our recommended books for 2017 is Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin

Her story begins on a train.

The year is 1956, and the Axis powers of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan rule. To commemorate their Great Victory, they host the Axis Tour: an annual motorcycle race across their conjoined continents. The prize? An audience with the highly reclusive Adolf Hitler at the Victor’s Ball in Tokyo.

Yael, a former death camp prisoner, has witnessed too much suffering, and the five wolves tattooed on her arm always remind her of the loved ones she lost. The resistance has given Yael one goal: Win the race and kill Hitler.

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