WW2 France Trilogy

by John R. McKay 3 books in this series

The WW2 France Trilogy groups three John R. McKay novels concerned with occupied France, resistance, persecution and the long aftermath of the Second World War. The Absolution of Otto Finkel spans friendship, war, the Holocaust and post-war reckoning; Codename Greyman follows an SOE operative working with the French Resistance; and V for Victory tells a younger Parisian’s coming-of-age under German occupation.

The books share historical territory and recurring themes rather than forming one continuous adventure with a single protagonist. Each can be read independently, but together they move from the personal consequences of Europe’s collapse to clandestine resistance and the liberation struggle. The full-length V for Victory grew from McKay’s earlier short story of the same name.

Reading order

Books in this series (3 books)

1. The Absolution of Otto Finkel

John R. McKay

4.5(128)

Brittany, 1964. A meeting between two men reopens a history that began decades earlier, when five boys from different European countries shared a summer at St Malo before war scattered them across the continent. Among them is Otto Finkel, whose later path takes him into the…

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2. Codename Greyman

John R. McKay

3.8(45)

After losing his brother during the Dunkirk campaign, Frank Graham is recruited into the Special Operations Executive and sent into occupied France under the codename Greyman. Working with Resistance networks around Lyon, he takes part in sabotage and clandestine operations while trying to evade the Gestapo…

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3. V for Victory

John R. McKay

3.7(13)

Paris, 1940. Thirteen-year-old Charles Mercier watches German troops occupy his city while his family copes with absence, fear, shortages and the new rules of collaboration and surveillance. Inspired by forbidden broadcasts and the spread of the V symbol, he begins with small acts of defiance—chalk marks…

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