At As You Like It Tours, we believe that anticipating the journey is (almost) half the fun. Certainly, digging into travel guides and news articles, fact sheets and novels, poetry and memoirs whet the appetite for experiencing the country firsthand when you arrive. If you want to begin preparing for the journey by exploring the facts and fiction of Normandy, start here.  

Nonfiction about Normandy

  • D-Day: The Climactic Battle of World War II (Stephen Ambrose) 

  • Pegasus Bridge (Stephen Ambrose) 

  • Omaha Beach (Joseph Balkoski) 

  • Utah Beach (Joseph Balkoski) 

  • Sand and Steel (Peter Caddick-Adams) 

  • Notre-Dame: A Short History of the Meaning of Cathedrals (Ken Follett) 

  • The Story of the Bayeux Tapestry (David Musgrove) 

  • The Longest Day (Cornelius Ryan) 

  • Omaha Beach Field Guide (Theodore Shuey) 

Fiction set in Paris, Normandy, or nearby

  • All the Light We Cannot See (Anthony Doerr) 

  • The Nightingale (Kristin Hannah) 

  • Sarah’s Key (Tatiana de Rosnay) 

  • Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (Mark Twain) 

  • Code Name Verity (Elizabeth Wein)  

TV/Film set in Normandy

  • Band of Brothers (2001) 

  • Dunkirk (2017) 

  • The Longest Day (1962) 

  • Saving Private Ryan (1998) 

Poetry 

Follow this link to meet the poets of World War II