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There really should be more books in which a descendent reconstructs reminiscences of an ancestor's life into a narrative. There can be a more personal feel than one might typically get than in most historical fiction. There might actually be a lot of this; the only thing similar that I've read is the excellent and award-winning Maus: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History .

One Thousand Chestnut Trees: a Novel of Korea takes place before and during the Korean War. This was a little extra interesting to me because my father was one of the U.S. Navy pilots dropping bombs during that war, and I also studied the origins of the war a little in college (I remember being very interested in China Crosses the Yalu: The Decision to Enter the Korean War).

But getting the feel on the ground during the conflict is important. Few of us in the developed world have ever lived through a war, huddling in the basement as bombs fall, struggling to find food and avoid predatory humans when the bombs aren't falling.

Not a great book, but very good within its scope, especially since few other books are likely to explore this part of history in quite the same way.