9 Heartfelt Books Like The Things We Cannot Say By Kelly Rimmer

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“It costs our ancestors too damned much for us to have this life – the best thing we can do to honour them is to live it to its fullest.”

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If you’re searching for books like The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer, you’re probably craving another emotional, deeply human story that balances historical truth with unforgettable characters. Rimmer’s novel resonates because it blends a heartbreaking WWII narrative with a moving modern-day storyline, creating a powerful tale about love, bravery, and long-buried family secrets. Finding similar books that offer that same mix of historical detail, emotional depth, and compelling dual timelines can feel overwhelming, but fret not – we’ve gathered the best options for you here at What We Reading. Whether you adore WWII historical fiction, novels about resilience, or stories inspired by real events, these reading recs capture the spirit and intensity of The Things We Cannot Say. 

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The Things We Cannot Say Summary

Since she was nine years old, Alina Dziak knew she would marry her best friend, Tomasz. Now fifteen and engaged, Alina is unconcerned by reports of Nazi soldiers at the Polish border. However, little by little, injustice by brutal injustice, Nazi occupation soon takes hold, and Alina’s tiny rural village is split by fear and hate. Then, as their lives are picked apart, Tomasz disappears. 

Slipping between Nazi-occupied Poland and the frenetic pace of modern life, Kelly Rimmer’s The Things We Cannot Say is an emotional and fiercely wrought story that pulls together two women’s stories into a tapestry of perseverance, loyalty, love, and honour. The Things We Cannot Say is an unshakable reminder of the devastation when truth is silenced, and how it can take a lifetime to find our voice before we learn to trust it. 

Lilac Girls – Martha Hall Kelly

First up on our list of books like The Things We Cannot Say is Martha Hall Kelly’s remarkable novel, Lilac Girls. On the eve of a fateful war, New York socialite Caroline Ferriday has her hands full with her post at the French consulate. But Caroline’s world is upended when Hitler’s army invades Poland and then sets its eyes on France. Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager, senses her carefree life evaporating as she sinks further into a life in an underground resistance movement. German doctor Herta Oberheuser finds herself trapped in a male-dominated realm of Nazi secrets and power. 

The lives of these three women are set on a collision course when the unthinkable happens, and Kasia is sent to Ravensbuck, the notorious female-only Nazi concentration camp. The tragedy and triumph of their stories cross continents – capturing the indomitable pull of compassion to bring justice to those whom history has forgotten. 

Salt To The Sea – Ruta Sepetys

While the Titanic and Lusitania are both well-documented disasters, the greatest maritime tragedy is the little-known January 30, 1945, sinking in the Baltic Sea by a Soviet submarine of the Wilhelm Gustloff, a German cruise liner that was supposed to ferry wartime personnel and refugees to safety from the advancing Red Army. The ship was overcrowded with more than 10,500 passengers, and more than 9,000 people lost their lives. 

In Salt to the Sea, Ruta Sepetys crafts four fictionalised but historically accurate voices to convey the real-life tragedy. Joana, a Lithuanian with nursing experience; Florian, a Prussian soldier fleeing the Nazis with stolen treasure; and Emilia, a Polish girl close to the end of her pregnancy, converge on their escape journeys as Russian troops advance. Each will eventually meet Albert, a Nazi peon with delusions of grandeur, assigned to the Gustloff decks. 

Rose Under Fire – Elizabeth Wein

While flying an Allied fighter plane from Paris to England, American ATA pilot and amateur poet, Rose Justice, is captured by the Nazis and sent to Ravensbrück. Trapped in horrific conditions, Rose discovers hope in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery, and friendship of her fellow prisoners. But will that be enough to endure the fate that’s in store for her? 

Elizabeth Wein, author of the hugely acclaimed and bestselling Code Name Verity, delivers another stunning WWII historical novel similar to The Things We Cannot Say. The unforgettable story of Rose Justice is forged from heart-wrenching courage, resolve, and the slim, bright chance of survival. 

We Were The Lucky Ones – Georgia Hunter

It is the spring of 1939, and three generations of the Kurc family are doing their best to live normal lives, even as the shadow of war hangs over them. The talk around the family Seder table is of new babies and budding romance, not of the increasing hardships threatening Jews in their hometown of Radom, Poland. But soon the horrors overtaking Europe will become inescapable, and the Kurcs will be flung to the far corners of the world, each desperately trying to navigate their own paths to safety. 

As one sibling is forced into exile, another attempts to flee the continent, while others struggle to escape certain death. Driven by an unwavering will to survive and by the fear that they may never see one another again, the Kurcs must rely on hope, ingenuity, and inner strength to persevere. Like The Things We Cannot Say, We Were the Lucky Ones demonstrates how, in the face of the twentieth century’s darkest moment, the human spirit can still endure and even thrive. 

Atonement – Ian McEwan

On a hot summer day in 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses the flirtation between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, the son of a servant. But Briony’s incomplete grasp of adult motives – together with her precocious literary gifts – brings about a crime that will change all of their lives. 

As it follows that crime’s repercussions through the chaos and carnage of the Second World War and into the close of the twentieth century, Ian McEwan’s iconic novel engages the reader on every conceivable level, with an ease and authority that anyone who loved The Things We Cannot Say is sure to love. 

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Check Out The Best Books Like Atonement

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City Of Thieves – David Benioff

During the Nazis’ brutal siege of Leningrad, Lev Beniov is arrested for looting and thrown into the same cell as a handsome deserter named Kolya. Instead of being executed, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful Soviet colonel to use in his daughter’s wedding cake. In a city cut off from all supplies and suffering unbelievable deprivation, Lev and Kolya embark on a hunt through the dire lawlessness of Leningrad and behind enemy lines to find the impossible. 

By turns insightful and funny, thrilling and terrifying, City of Thieves is a gripping, cinematic World War II adventure and an intimate coming-of-age story with an utterly contemporary feel for how boys become men. 

The Night Watch – Sarah Waters

Sarah Waters’ The Night Watch is a story of four Londoners – three women and a young man with a past, drawn with absolute truth and intimacy. Kay, who lived life at full throttle, now wanders the streets with a relentless hunger. Helen, clever and sweet, harbours a painful secret. Viv, glamour girl, is stubbornly loyal to her soldier lover. Duncan, an apparent innocent, has had his own demons to fight during the war. 

Their lives and their secrets connect in sometimes startling ways. Tender, tragic, and beautifully poignant, set against the backdrop of feats of heroism both epic and ordinary, The Night Waters is a novel similar to The Things We Cannot Say that serves up subtle surprises and twists. 

The Rose Code – Kate Quinn

1940. As Britain prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the brightest minds attempt to crack the German codes. Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressures of secrecy will soon tear the three apart. 

1947. As the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter – the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. Olsa, Mab and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. Yet, each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger – and the true enemy… 

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Check Out The Best Books Like The Rose Code

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Beneath A Scarlet Sky – Mark Sullivan

Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or with the Nazis. He’s a normal Italian teenager – obsessed with music, food, and girls – but his days of innocence are numbered. When Allied bombs destroy his home in Milan, Pino joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and soon falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior. 

In an attempt to protect him, Pino’s parents force him to enlist as a German soldier. But after Pino is injured, he is recruited to become the personal driver of Adolf Hitler’s left hand in Italy, General Hans Leyers. Now with the opportunity to spy for the Allies inside German High Command, Pino endures the horrors of war and the Nazi occupation secret, his courage bolstered by his love for Anna and for the life he dreams they might one day share. Perfect for fans of The Things We Cannot Say, Beneath a Scarlet Sky is a saga of history, suspense, and love.