Herman Wouk's The Winds of War and War and Remembrance are terrific. Very detailed without dragging down the story, flawless timeline, sweeping perspective - you could learn more about WWII from these novels than from reading many nonfiction books. Great characters. I read these years ago and they have stayed with me ever since.

Some of R. F. Delderfield's books are set during WWII. I really like him. Another is From Here to Eternity, set, of course, in Hawaii just prior to and ending with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.

For real life on the home front . . . and this is fact not fiction . . .try Nella Last's War: the Second World War Diaries of 'Housewife 49' followed by Nella Last's Peace printed by permission of the Trustees of the Mass Observation Unit. Both available in paperback.
MO was set up in the 30's with 'ordinary people' being encouraged to keep diaries and 'report' each week on the day-to-day events in their lives, however humdrum.
Mrs Last, a middle aged housewife from the North West of England was one of the many volunteers and her diaries make fascinating reading.
There are endless fictional accounts of life during WWII, but I am often suspicious of the ones written recently as the authors have had to glean the facts from second hand sources.
Small Island by Andrea Levy takes a West Indian point of view of WWII but she makes a few howlers in her everyday 'facts' and presents a very modern take on a white woman having an illegitimate baby by a black man.

Rosefolly,

If you key in 'amazon ww2 novels' you will get a wonderful listing.

I second Siobhan's recommendation of the Wouk books.
Most of my reading about WWII has been about the hostilities, much of it Holocaust related, so I'm not sure I can think of any homefront type books.

rosefolly, have you read "Gone to Soldiers" by Marge Piercy? It has been a decade or more since I read it but I remember being enthralled. The WW2 events are told from several characters' perspectives - I think there were more women than men.

"The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer is a good read, presenting the story as a series of letters, a style I think really works in this book. What a pity the author died before the book saw print, let alone got to see how well received it would be.

Ah! Just remembered "Diary of a Provincial housewife" by E M Delafield.

Fair Stood the Wind for France - H.E.BATES

TRILOGY of novels by STAN BARSTOW concerning the life and loves of a Yorkshire woman, Ella Palmer, in WW2:
Just You Wait And See
Give Us This Day
Next of Kin

Dido

rosefolly, I really liked "Charlotte Gray" by Sebastian Faulks (WW II).

Funny you ask as I am actually wading my way through domestic/social history of that era and before. Some of the WWII related NF I just finished would fit that bill. I just finished "Stranger in the House" by Julie Summers about the home front when the men in the military were demobbed at the end of WWII and how their families reacted to these sometimes very-changed men.... (British perspective)

From that bibliography, I wrote these down for further digging:
* Love, Sex and War 1939-1945 by John Costello
* The Years of Opportunity 1939-1945 - Dame Barbara Carland (I know, I know - she did sappy romances, but apparently she also did some journalistic work on social history of the time)
* The Rich Spoils of Time - Dame Frances Campbell-Preston (about the same time period)
* The Long Weekend: A Social History of Great Britain 1918-1939 - by Robert Graves - very interesting to see how things were between the wars...

Actually, if you pick up the Stranger in the House book, it has a huge bibliography in the back which would be helpful to you if you want to find out more....

I'm finding it fascinating right now.

You would probably like Flowers of the Field by Sarah Harrison, particularly if you liked the Cazelot books.
I enjoyed it a lot years ago and still have a copy.

"How we lived then: A history of everyday life during the Second World War By Norman Longmate" is a book I have not read but have had on my wish list at paperbackswap for a loong time. I'd heard it was very good.

Sorry to sound picky but the E M Delafield book is 'Diary of a Provincial Lady (subtle difference, as can be seen by the amusing context of the 'story') and Flowers of the Field is set during WWI.

With a Bare Bodkin by Cyril Hare is a mystery set during WW II at one of the Ministeries set up to control every facet of daily life.

Much of Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire novel series deals with life in England before, during and after the war, from various viewpoints, as each novel focuses on a subset of the large group of characters she created. Very great detail about the hardships of rationing, the fears for loved ones, etc.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Angela Thirkell Society

Jeff Shaara has a series. I started the second one before knowing there was a first, and decided to hold until I could read it in order. What I read so far seemed well-based in history as I know it (in other words, I am not an expert, but am knowledgeable). It was well written both in style and intelligence.

I agree with anything in that time period by Wouk. And, of course, The guernsey pie etc. novel that was an eyeopener about some history I had no knowledge of at all.

I think this is a thread that will create a list very easily.

Oh, I'm sorry!

I have read many, many works of fiction about various aspects of WWII in my days, but I definitely endorse the Herman Wouk books. I read them probably 15 or so years ago and I don't think I had ever achieved such a thorough global grasp of the issues, course, countries, people, and events it involved as I did with that.

What a wonderful response. Thanks! This form is an amazingly rich resource. I'll be making lists and heading off to the library. I've hit a dry patch for a while. I've read books but haven't loved anything for months, which is why I've posted so little.

Rosefolly

I stand corrected, veer, I really did know that but for some odd reason had "diary of a housewife" on the brain :-)

I would bet a great deal of money that you will love, really love, several books recommended here - I have read many of them and they are extraordinary, the whole package - terrific plot, great characters, wonderful writing. That goes for the nonfiction as well, although one can't really say nonfiction has a plot.

So which ones will she love? I like WW2 fiction too.

All of them! I endorse Vee's recommendation above to choose authors who actually lived during that time, at least to start. There are riches to choose from!

rosefolly, I have two more suggestions, although one is NF. I am currently reading Joanne Harris' "Five Quarters of the Orange", which is fiction set in a WW II village, about collaborators in a French family. I'm finding it a compelling read.

I also recommend "The Normandy Diary of Marie-Louise Osmont" about the German occupation of France.

Sarah's Key-Tatiana De Rosnay

Here's something perhaps a bit different.
I was heavily inspired by the WWII novel Corelli's Mandolin (Louis De Bernieres). Being Greek and a writer myself, I'm in the process of publishing my own novel dealing with the homefront + battlefront of WWII on a Greek island. :) It's an intense fusion of war, mythology, romance, and a brush of surrealism. You can track the progress at http://art-of-war-novel.blogspot.com/.
I wish you a wonderful day + happy reading!

Here is a link that might be useful: The Art of War: a Novel

"The Young Lions" by Irwin Shaw, also "Catch 22".

Under an English Heaven Robert Radcliffe. An excellent story set near a WWII US airbase in East Anglia. I'm sure an RP'er recommend this a while ago and sorry I can't remember who . . was it Liz?. Radcliffe is a pilot and you get a real feeling of the exhilaration and fear of the very young American 'fliers' and their interaction with the villagers. Well worth reading.