Tag Archives: war

376S: Pilot hidden in attic

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So I read this book in 2020 or 2021 and I believe it was written roughly around that time. The author is a woman with a unique name (which for the love of cheese, I cannot recall) and her bio said she lives on an island off the coast of England (could be Channel Islands) or possibly coast of Australia! Oh man, I’ve really forgotten!

The story is written first person from the perspective of a girl as she grows up, and then also as she is an adult. I forget how her father died, but I think he was on a boat at sea and never returned. The girl is sent to live in a house on the coast with a woman guardian, who is not her mom or stepmom, and their relationship is curt. There is a creepy male family friend who drives up every other week or so to check in on them and I think gives them money.
At some point, a German pilot crashes his plane into the ocean, swims to shore, and comes to their house. They help him and hide him in their attic. As I recall, he speaks little English. The little girl develops a loving sweet relationship with him, and he teaches her to draw. The girl’s guardian woman falls for him, and the little girl feels jealous of their relationship.  At some point later in the book, the creepy man is coming over and the girl is upset with her guardian, and intentionally leaves the door to the attic open where the creepy man will hear them talking. The creepy man discovers them and basically tells the man to walk into the ocean, knowing he will not survive the freezing water.
In the meantime, in the present, the now  adult little girl is planning the day she will die and leaving a note for her neighbor letting him know. She is visited by a teen girl who is sitting on her fence (and I think she is the daughter of the creepy man and her guardian). I know it’s complicated!
The grown little girl does end her life as she planned, but it’s not graphic or violent.
I cannot remember any names, but I think the time is WW2 because of the German pilot.
Thank you so much for any ideas! I’ve searched so many searches and authors and come up empty.

354T: War Orphan Adopted by GI

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I’m looking for a book I read as a boy in the mid 1970s . It probably was written in the 1950s or 1960s.  My memory says it was titled the journey home or long journey home but having searched for that for years with no luck I’m prepared to believe my memory is incorrect.  It was about a war orphan making his away to America to be adopted or having been adopted by a GI.

364Z: The Parachuting Duck

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I’m trying to help a friend track down a kids’ book she remembers from her childhood. She was born in the late 1970s, so the date of publication would be no later than the mid-1980s; likely earlier. She remembers the plot as having to do with farm animals – ducks, in particular – fighting in a war, and recalls an illustration of a duck or duckling using a parachute. Sound familiar to anyone? Very grateful for any leads people can offer.

364J: Russian (?) siblings go live on a farm when orphaned (Solved!)

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This is actually two books that I remember reading many times in the 70’s. These were two novels. The plot was that two siblings were orphaned and went to live on a farm. Maybe they were Russian or Ukrainian? I remember the description of the girl being given a special costume to wear that had many many skirts. I also remember a description of the Wax, Dyed Eggs at Easter. I think they went to the special fair and got a very decorated cookie. The Farm was stocked with lots of food, including sausages hung in the pantry. The second novel was a little darker, because I believe there was a war.
Thank you for any help you can give with these two books.

363U: China Doll Buried in Earth Years Ago (Solved!)

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I am not sure where to start. First of all, I think it was one of those books where a little girl is sent to a relative for the summer. This book would be from the 1980’s at the earliest. Not sure on that. But during the time she is wherever she is – and it IS in the country – she finds out about a doll that’s been lost for a long time. It’s a china doll and I am pretty sure there’s a silver or pewter tea set. Again, not positive, but I think the doll was buried to protect her from something real or imaginary. Somewhere in the story there was a bunny salad bowl with a hole in one of the bunny legs. A map or directions of some kind were wadded up in that hole. I am nearly sure it was a Scholastic book.

I think it was something about the British coming and the little girl was worried about her doll. Then years later this little girl comes along and hears the story and tries to find the doll. It could be as much difference as 80+ years later. The mystery was solved a great many years after the doll was buried. Her cloth body was gone, it was just her china parts. And the bowl with the bunnies decorating it was important to the mystery. It might have been a bunny platter or big plate instead of bowl, but there was a hole in a rabbit’s leg and the map was wadded up in it.

There is no magic or otherworldly parts to this book. I THINK the little girl learns about the doll through either an old letter or a diary she reads. I THINK the doll doesn’t get found for a long time because the girl that buried her years ago moved.  I really wish I could remember more. Its a chapter book and was probably for tweens, so we are looking for a paperback. Although it could have come in a hardback. But its not a picture book.

363M: Quaker seamstress in Philadelphia during American revolutionary war (Solved!)

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Cheryl Hill, chill4hhorse@comcast.net[/private[

I am looking for a book I read as a teen and young adult in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  I recall finding it at my local library and I believe the author’s last name began with the letter A.  The story was historical fiction and the main character was a seamstress in Philadelphia during the revolutionary war.  She was a member of the Quaker religion and her fiancé fought with George Washington.  She worked in the home of Peggy Shippen’s family and was able to overhear some of the plans made by Benedict Arnold and his wife.

350K: Battle of Trafalgar

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Sometime in 1960-62 I took an English History course in college. We were assigned reading for extra credit. I read a book about the Battle of Trafalgar, which I remember as riveting. I specifically remember a fulsome description of life aboard the battleship, including descriptions of how food was prepared, how surgery was performed during the battle, and other daily concerns of the sailors. I do not think this was a biography of Lord Nelson, rather a blow by blow of the lead-up to the Battle and the Battle itself. Clearly it had to have been written prior to 1960. I would really like to find this book.

346Y: Medieval Girl Watches Battle Out of Castle Window

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The book was older and faded back in the early 90s, the art reminded me of the style of Stephen Kings Dark tower. It was found at a school library in the older kids/adult section and was defending fiction. The cover had a young girl with a solemn look in a red medieval dress sitting at a castle window. I remember something about a war or battle and it may have even been what she was watching out the window. I also remember a tilted drafting type table or needlework stand beside the girl. I was 9 when I started to read it and was told it was “too old” for me so it was taken before I could read more than the first couple of chapters. 

344R: Historical American romance pregnant heroine with amnesia

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I read this book as a teenager in the early 1990s.  It was a paperback, but I don’t think it was a Harlequin.

Hero                     

  • An American soldier/person of importance

 Heroine

  • An American from an upstanding family who were sympathetic to the plight of the Native American Indians

 Location

  • America

 Era         

  • During a war – not sure which one, but it involved Native American Indians

 Main plot                           

  • Hero and heroine marry in a traditional Native American Indian ceremony.
  • Heroine is given a necklace with a carved wooden charm (I think a turtle) in lieu of a wedding ring.
  • Heroine is kidnapped on her wedding night.  She suffers a head injury and gets amnesia and finds out she is pregnant while imprisoned.
  • The hero finds her, but she does not recognise him.
  • The hero claims her and they are married in a traditional Christian ceremony.
  • Heroine gives birth to their child – a girl  – and regains her memory.

 Other plot twists

  • Heroine’s brother is fighting in the war.  He secretly marries a Native American Indian known to the family.  Heroine’s brother is killed in the war, and his wife dies in childbirth, and the heroine cares for their child – a son named Andrew (I think) after his father (the heroine’s brother).
  • One particularly gruesome scene where a preacher is tortured and burned.