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Joanne Kormylo

Joanne Kormylo is a Western Canada-based oil and gas lawyer and business owner who holds both an MA and a JD. She is the daughter of a WWII bomber pilot and prisoner of war, an experience that inspired her debut novel, The Resistance Daughter (Hodder, 2025), a work of historical fiction. She has one daughter, Andrea.
On LuvemBooks, we've reviewed The Resistance Daughter.
1
Books Reviewed

In Joanne Kormylo's own words

Author Joanne Kormylo presents the historical background and personal family history behind her WWII novel The Resistance Daughter for the Friends of the Canadian War Museum.

Uploaded by FCWM, 2026 · Watch on YouTube ·

Father's silence and early death from shrapnel

Kormylo explains that her father never spoke about his wartime experiences before passing away at a young age from shrapnel in his lungs. His silence drove her lifelong mission to piece together his history from his surviving wartime logs and fellow veterans.

Seeking foreign publishers after Canadian rejection

Kormylo recounts that the Canadian publishing industry showed little interest in her novel, forcing her to find a publisher in the United Kingdom. Despite the initial domestic lack of support, the book was quickly picked up abroad and translated into multiple languages.

Also in this interview

On The Resistance Daughter

Cover of The Resistance Daughter
The Resistance Daughter

4.5/5

reader rating · 3,631 ratings

Joanne Kormylo's debut for Hodder & Stoughton is a WWII historical novel set in Poland in 1942, inspired by true stories and built on her own father's Wartime Log, veteran interviews, and museum work. Its deep personal research is its clearest strength.

Reviewed Sep 23, 2026

Ask LuvemBooks about Joanne Kormylo

Joanne Kormylo is a Western Canada-based oil and gas lawyer whose debut, The Resistance Daughter, is WWII historical fiction built directly on primary sources — her father's Wartime Log as a bomber pilot and POW, veteran interviews, and museum research — rather than on secondhand history. We have reviewed 1 of Kormylo's books on LuvemBooks, and that debut holds a 4.5/5 reader rating from 3,631 Amazon ratings, a strong showing for a first novel published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2025.
Where should I start?
Start with The Resistance Daughter — it's Kormylo's debut and the book we've reviewed on LuvemBooks. Set in Poland in 1942, it carries a 4.5/5 reader rating from 3,631 Amazon ratings, so it's a well-received entry point into her work.
What's their writing style?
Kormylo writes research-driven historical fiction — the defining feature of The Resistance Daughter is how deeply it's anchored in primary sources, including her father's Wartime Log, veteran interviews, and museum work. That personal, documentary approach gives the novel's wartime Poland setting an authenticity that stands out as its clearest strength.
Books we've reviewed
We've reviewed 1 Joanne Kormylo book on LuvemBooks. The Resistance Daughter (Hodder, 2025) is a WWII historical novel set in Poland in 1942, inspired by true stories and grounded in her father's Wartime Log, veteran interviews, and museum research; it holds a 4.5/5 reader rating from 3,631 Amazon ratings.
Is The Resistance Daughter based on a true story?
The novel is a work of historical fiction inspired by true stories, and its research base is unusually personal. Kormylo built it on her father's Wartime Log — he was a WWII bomber pilot and prisoner of war — supplemented by interviews with veterans and museum work. Our review identifies that deep personal research as the book's clearest strength.
What genre do they write?
Kormylo writes historical fiction. The Resistance Daughter is a WWII novel set in Poland in 1942, inspired by true stories and grounded in genuine wartime documents and interviews rather than purely imagined history.
What should I read after The Resistance Daughter?
The Resistance Daughter is Kormylo's debut, and it's the only book of theirs we've reviewed so far — so there's no further Kormylo title on LuvemBooks to point you to yet. If you enjoyed it, keep an eye on this hub: we'll add coverage if we review future work from Kormylo.
Who is Joanne Kormylo?

Who is Joanne Kormylo?

Joanne Kormylo is a Western Canada-based oil and gas lawyer and business owner who holds both an MA and a JD. She is the daughter of a WWII bomber pilot and prisoner of war, and that family history inspired her debut novel, The Resistance Daughter (Hodder, 2025), a work of historical fiction set in wartime Poland. She has one daughter, Andrea.

Follow up

Is The Resistance Daughter connected to Kormylo's own family?
What did Kormylo do before writing fiction?

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