War & combat fiction

{
}
Book Cover:  Bereft
By Chris Womersley

It is 1919. The Great War has ended, but the Spanish flu epidemic is raging across Australia. Schools are closed, state borders are guarded by armed men, and train travel is severely restricted. There are rumours it is the end of the world.

It is 1919. The Great War has ended, but the Spanish flu epidemic is raging across Australia. Schools are closed, state borders are guarded by armed men, and train travel is severely restricted. There...

Published: 10/03/2011
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781921844027
RRP: $24.95
Book Cover:  Comedy In a Minor Key
By Hans Keilson

  A penetrating study of ordinary people resisting the Nazi occupation—and, true to its title, a dark comedy of wartime manners— Comedy in a Minor Key tells the story of Wim and Marie, a Dutch couple who first hide a Jew they know as Nico, then must dispose of his body when he dies of pneumonia. This novella, first published in 1947 and now translated into English for the first time...

  A penetrating study of ordinary people resisting the Nazi occupation—and, true to its title, a dark comedy of wartime manners— Comedy in a Minor Key tells the story of Wim and Marie...

Published: 30/05/2011
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781921844072
RRP: $22.95
Book Cover:  Traitor
By Stephen Daisley

What would make a soldier betray his country?

In the battle-smoke and chaos of Gallipoli, a young New Zealand soldier helps a Turkish doctor fighting to save a boy's life. Then a shell bursts nearby; the blast that should have killed them both consigns them instead to the same military hospital.



What would make a soldier betray his country?

In the battle-smoke and chaos of Gallipoli, a young New Zealand soldier helps a Turkish doctor fighting to save a boy's life. Then a shell bursts nearby; the...

Published: 02/05/2011
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781921758379
RRP: $23.95
Book Cover: The Messenger: A Novel
By Yannick Haenel

Jan Karski, a young Polish diplomat turned cavalry officer, joined the Polish underground movement after escaping from a Soviet detention camp in 1939. He served as a courier for the underground, ferrying messages between occupied Poland and the exiled Polish leaders, before he was captured and brutally tortured by the Gestapo. 

Jan Karski, a young Polish diplomat turned cavalry officer, joined the Polish underground movement after escaping from a Soviet detention camp in 1939. He served as a courier for the underground, ferrying...

Published: 31/01/2011
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781921758003
RRP: $29.95
Book Cover:  Chronicle in Stone
By Ismail Kadare
The story of a young Albanian and a primitive Albania awakening into the modern world

"Where are we going, where are they taking us?" The Second World War is about to start, but life for a young boy in a small town in Albania is still a game.

The story of a young Albanian and a primitive Albania awakening into the modern world

"Where are we going, where are they taking us?" The Second World War is about to start, but life for a young...

Published: 04/02/2008
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781921351280
RRP: $23.95
Book Cover:  Conquest
By Stewart Binns

1066 - SENLAC RIDGE, ENGLAND.  WILLIAM THE BASTARD, DUKE OF NORMANDY DEFEATS HAROLD GODWINSON, KING HAROLD II OF ENGLAND IN WHAT WILL BECOME KNOWN AS THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.

The battle is hard fought and bloody; thousands of lives are spent, including that of King Harold.  But England will not be conquered easily - the Anglo-Saxons will not submit meekly to Norman rule.


1066 - SENLAC RIDGE, ENGLAND.  WILLIAM THE BASTARD, DUKE OF NORMANDY DEFEATS HAROLD GODWINSON, KING HAROLD II OF ENGLAND IN WHAT WILL BECOME KNOWN AS THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.

The battle is hard fought...

Published: 13/04/2011
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780718156770
RRP: $24.95
Book Cover: The Last Time I Saw Paris: A Novel
By Lynn Sheene

May 1940. Fleeing a glamorous Manhattan life built on lies, Claire Harris arrives in Paris with a romantic vision of starting anew. But she didn't anticipate the sight of Nazi soldiers marching under the Arc de Triomphe. Her plans smashed by the German occupation, the once- privileged socialite's only option is to take a job in a flower shop under the tutelage of a sophisticated Parisian florist.

May 1940. Fleeing a glamorous Manhattan life built on lies, Claire Harris arrives in Paris with a romantic vision of starting anew. But she didn't anticipate the sight of Nazi soldiers marching under the...

Published: 09/06/2011
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780425240847
RRP: $24.95
Book Cover:  Killzone: Ascendancy
By Sam Bradbury
Visari, the vicious Helghast dictator, is vanquished, lying dead at the feet of ISA forces soldiers Sev and Rico. Based on Sony's bestselling game KILLZONE ® 3.
Visari, the vicious Helghast dictator, is vanquished, lying dead at the feet of ISA forces soldiers Sev and Rico. Based on Sony's bestselling game KILLZONE ® 3.
Published: 28/02/2011
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780241954317
RRP: $19.95
Book Cover: The Siege
By Helen Dunmore

'Remarkable, affecting . . . There are few more interesting stories than this; and few writers who could have told it better' 
Rachel Cusk, Daily Telegraph

'Remarkable, affecting . . . There are few more interesting stories than this; and few writers who could have told it better' 
Rachel Cusk, Daily Telegraph

Published: 07/03/2011
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780241952191
RRP: $24.95
Book Cover: A Distant Shore

Young Katerina Vassos is full of hope and expectation when her boat pulls in to Sydney Harbour in the 1950s. She is soon devastated to learn that she's been abandoned by her mother. Together she and her father try to stay strong, but they struggle to be accepted in a strange and hostile new land.

Years on, now a beautiful and strong woman, Kate is swept into a passionate love affair, while the Vietnam...

Young Katerina Vassos is full of hope and expectation when her boat pulls in to Sydney Harbour in the 1950s. She is soon devastated to learn that she's been abandoned by her mother. Together she and her...

Published: 30/08/2010
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780143203131
RRP: $24.95
Book Cover: The Martyred
By Richard E Kim

'Kim's story allows for no adornment.  It is written in a mood of total austerity; and yet the passion of the book is perpetually beating up against its seemingly barren surface . . . I am deeply moved.'
- Philip Roth


'Kim's story allows for no adornment.  It is written in a mood of total austerity; and yet the passion of the book is perpetually beating up against its seemingly barren surface . . . I am deeply...

Published: 23/06/2011
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780143106401
RRP: $9.95
Book Cover:  Paths of Glory
By Humphrey Cobb

An epic story of combat and injustice that remains an antiwar masterpiece

An epic story of combat and injustice that remains an antiwar masterpiece

Published: 09/06/2011
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780143106111
RRP: $9.95
Book Cover:  Weep Not, Child: Penguin African Writers Series
By Thiong'o Ngugi wa

A powerful, moving story that details the effects of the infamous Mau Mau war, the African nationalist revolt against colonial oppression in Kenya, on the lives of ordinary men and women, and on one family in particular.
Two brothers, Njoroge and Kamau, stand on a rubbish heap and look into their futures. Njoroge is excited; his family has decided that he will attend school, while Kamau will train...

A powerful, moving story that details the effects of the infamous Mau Mau war, the African nationalist revolt against colonial oppression in Kenya, on the lives of ordinary men and women, and on one family...

Published: 25/01/2011
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780143026242
RRP: $22.95
Book Cover:  Land of Dreams

A wartime story of love, courage and the ties that bind

Sam Delon is a young Frenchman born and raised in Japan.   Florence Carter has led a quiet and lonely life in her native Australia.   One meeting on a Sydney beach is enough to create a lasting bond between the unlikely pair – and enough to share a secret with the potential to transform Sam's life.



A wartime story of love, courage and the ties that bind

Sam Delon is a young Frenchman born and raised in Japan.   Florence Carter has led a quiet and lonely life in her native Australia.  ...

Published: 29/06/2009
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780143010401
RRP: $24.95
Book Cover:  Barbed Wire and Roses

The First World War, everyone said in 1914, would be over by Christmas, and Stephen Conway rushes to enlist. Leaving behind a new wife and a baby on the way, he soon finds himself in the trenches of Gallipoli. Four horrific years later, Stephen is the only survivor of his platoon. Shell-shocked and disillusioned, and during the the heat of battle on the blood-stained fields of France, he mysteriously...

The First World War, everyone said in 1914, would be over by Christmas, and Stephen Conway rushes to enlist. Leaving behind a new wife and a baby on the way, he soon finds himself in the trenches of Gallipoli...

Published: 05/05/2008
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780143007913
RRP: $24.95
Book Cover: The Persimmon Tree

The persimmon tree is a symbol of life, a heartwood that will outlast everything man can make . . .

It is 1942 in the Dutch East Indies, and Nick Duncan is a young Australian butterfly collector in search of a single exotic butterfly. With invading Japanese forces coming closer by the day, Nick falls in love with the beguiling Anna van Heerden.

The persimmon tree is a symbol of life, a heartwood that will outlast everything man can make . . .

It is 1942 in the Dutch East Indies, and Nick Duncan is a young Australian butterfly collector in search...

Published: 05/01/2009
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780143007005
RRP: $24.95
Book Cover:  Smoky Joe's Cafe

A Vietnam Vet returns to an Australia that regards him as a mercenary guilty of war crimes

Thommo begins to develop all kinds of physical and mental problems, and thinks it must only be him until he finds that he is not alone. Ten mates, all who remain of his platoon, are affected the same way.

A Vietnam Vet returns to an Australia that regards him as a mercenary guilty of war crimes

Thommo begins to develop all kinds of physical and mental problems, and thinks it must only be him until he finds...

Published: 28/08/2006
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780143004738
RRP: $19.95
Book Cover:  We Were the Rats
By Lawson Glassop
Published: 31/03/2003
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780143001737
RRP: $24.95
Book Cover:  Ashes
By Kathryn Lasky

Holding on to the one thing you love the most was never so hard . . .

Berlin, 1932.  Thirteen-year-old Gabriella Schramm's is living a happy and privileged life.  But as Hitler rises to power, things quickly change.  People who were once trustworthy are now Nazis.  And many of her friends are fleeing the country or being taken away.  To cope, Gaby turns to the comfort of her...

Holding on to the one thing you love the most was never so hard . . .

Berlin, 1932.  Thirteen-year-old Gabriella Schramm's is living a happy and privileged life.  But as Hitler rises to power...

Published: 07/04/2011
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780142411124
RRP: $12.95
Book Cover: The Penguin Book of First World War Stories
By Barbara Korte
An anthology of Great War short stories by British writers, both famous and lesser-known authors, men and women, during the war and after its end. These stories are able to illustrate the impact of the Great War on British society and culture and the many modes in which short fiction contributed to the war's literature. The selection covers different periods: the war years themselves, the famous boom...
An anthology of Great War short stories by British writers, both famous and lesser-known authors, men and women, during the war and after its end. These stories are able to illustrate the impact of the...
Published: 30/01/2008
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780141442150
RRP: $9.95

News

{ view all }
21 May 2012
2012 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) - winners

The Australian Book Industry Awards were held in Sydney on Friday night. It was a great night for Penguin with our books taking the top honors in four book categories including the prestigious Book of the Year. Congratulations also to Peg McColl, Kate McCormack and the rights team who won the International (Rights) Award for the second year running for Paul French's book Midnight in Peking. United Book Distributors were again named Distributor of the Year.

Illustrated Book of the Year

Social Feed

{ }

Penguin TV

{ }

Pictures

{ }