Popular European Historical Books
Find historical books written by authors from Europe for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (124)
51.
Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter: From the Battle for Moscow to Hitler's Bunker by Elena Rzhevskaya EN
BelarusDescription:
"By the will of fate I came to play a part in not letting Hitler achieve his final goal of disappearing and turning into a myth I managed to prevent Stalins dark and murky ambition from taking root his desire to hide from the world that we had found Hitlers corpse" - Elena Rzhevskaya"A telling reminder of the jealousy and rivalries that split the Allies even in their hour of victory, and foreshadowed the Cold War"- Tom Parfitt, The GuardianOn May 2,1945, Red Army soldiers broke into Hitlers bunker. Rzhevskaya, a young military interpreter, was with them. Almost accidentally the Soviet military... continue
52.
Mendelssohn is on the Roof by Jiri Weil EN
Country: Europe / 
Czech Republic
Czech Republic
Description:
SS Officer Juliyus Schlesinger is ordered to remove the statue of the Jewish composer Mendelssohn from the roof of the Prague Academy of Music before an official concert. Unsure which of the statues is Mendelssohn, he tells his men to remove the one with the biggest nose. Unfortunately, this is the statue of Wagner.
53.
Montaillou : The Promised Land of Error by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie EN
FranceDescription:
Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie has had a success which few historians experience and which is usually reserved for the winner of the Prix Goncourt...Montaillou, which is the reconstruction of the social life of a medieval village, has been acclaimed by the experts as a masterpiece of ethnographic history and by the public as a sensational revelation of the thoughts, feelings, and activities of the ordinary people of the past.--Times Literary Supplement.
54.
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante EN
ItalyDescription:
Now an HBO series: the first volume in the New York Times–bestselling “enduring masterpiece” about a lifelong friendship between two women from Naples (The Atlantic). Beginning in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, Elena Ferrante’s four-volume story spans almost sixty years, as its main characters, the fiery and unforgettable Lila and the bookish narrator, Elena, become women, wives, mothers, and leaders, all the while maintaining a complex and at times conflicted friendship. This first novel in the series follows Lila and Elena from their fateful meeting ... continue
56.
Nana by Émile Zola EN
Description:
"Nana is probably the most famous character in Les Rougon-Macquart. The novel that bears her name, published in 1880, is the ninth volume in the series. It consists of a number of episodes, or tableaux, in the short but spectacular life of Ana Coupeau, the fourth child of Gervaise Macquart. We first saw her as a young girl in L'Assommoir (1877), her father an abusive alcoholic, her mother Gervaise reduced to a similar degraded state. She works as a milliner's assistant and dabbles in casual street prostitution. She has a child by an unknown father when she is sixteen. Having escaped from the s... continue
57.
Nightmare in Berlin by Hans Fallada EN
GermanyDescription:
Available for the first time in English, here is an unforgettable portrayal by a master novelist of the physical and psychological devastation wrought in the homeland by Hitler’s war. Late April, 1945. The war is over, yet Dr Doll, a loner and ‘moderate pessimist’, lives in constant fear. By night, he is haunted by nightmarish images of the bombsite in which he is trapped — he, and the rest of Germany. More than anything, he wishes to vanquish the demon of collective guilt, but he is unable to right any wrongs, especially in his position as mayor of a small town in north-east Germany that has ... continue
58.
Njal's Saga by Unknown EN
IcelandDescription:
Written in the thirteenth century, Njal's Saga is a story that explores perennial human problems-from failed marriages to divided loyalties, from the law's inability to curb human passions to the terrible consequences when decent men and women are swept up in a tide of violence beyond their control. It is populated by memorable and complex characters like Gunnar of Hlidarendi, a powerful warrior with an aversion to killing, and the not-so-villainous Mord Valgardsson. Full of dreams, strange prophecies, violent power struggles, and fragile peace agreements, Njal's Saga tells the compelling stor... continue
59.
60.
Perfume : The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind EN
Description:
'Born in sweaty, fetid eighteenth-century Paris, Genouille is distinctive even in infancy. He has "the finest nose in Paris and no personal odour". With wit, a Gothic imagination and considerable originality, Suskind has developed this simple idea into a fantastic tale of murder and twisted eroticism controlled by a disgusted loathing of humanity . . . Clever, stylish, absorbing and well worth reading' Literary Review