First published in 1955, The Sixth of June is Lionel Shapiro's sweeping, deeply moving novel set against the turbulent backdrop of wartime England and the buildup to Operation Overlord. The story follows Brad Parker, an ambitious American soldier stationed in Britain as part of the Allied war effort. Though already married back home, Brad falls intensely in love with Valerie, an English woman who is herself engaged to John Wynter, a brave British officer currently away fighting on the front lines in Italy.

As personal passions and romantic entanglements deepen against the constant, nerve-wracking threat of war, all three find their lives hurtling toward an inevitable, high-stakes climax on the beaches of Normandy. Drawing heavily on Shapiro's own authentic experiences as a Canadian war correspondent during amphibious landings in Europe, this gripping and deeply human novel won the 1955 Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction and was later adapted into a classic Hollywood film.