Books like The Enemy Among Us

I of course knew about Germany occupying France during WWII, and I knew the Netherlands was occupied also. But I never considered the Dutch had such a horrible time surviving. Now I am astonished I never considered how those people suffered, what their lives were like. I hadn't heard much about it, so I didn't consider their plight. This book in a non-fiction account of the lives of several Dutch families/people, of their hardships and sacrifices. The personal stories of these Americans are also given, which makes their plight in the Netherlands and the dangers they experienced there all the more poignant. The love and care the Dutch people gave to the American cemetery speaks loudly of their thanks for the GIs' help. A truly riveting book.

I know of author Lucy Worsley from her many PBS TV documentaries, so I hoped her book would echo her narrative style of the programs. It does. She writes in the same manner as her TV shows -- sometimes tongue in cheek, sometimes slightly irreverent, sometimes with humor. I've read many books on British royalty, mainly of the Plantagenet and Tudor periods. This book gives the history of those figures, but with an "unusually personal history", as the book states. Worsley tells the lives of these people via her position as Chief Curator of Britain's Historic Royal Palaces. As such, she knows the palaces intimately, knows the personal stories of the monarchs, and learned how these royals built and lived in these grand palaces. I found it interesting how one sometimes influenced the other, and I especially loved learning about the buildings. I've visited some of the places Worsley talks… show more.