Reviewed by Emma Crowley
“I just want to be free,” Rosa said quietly, “Even if only for a few minutes. It might be the last chance I have.”
From her beautiful new home in Berlin, a young woman named Liesel Scholz barely notices the changes to the city around her. Her life is one of privilege and safety thanks to her father’s job working for the new government.
But a chance encounter with Rosa, the daughter of their Jewish housekeeper, confirms Liesel’s fears that something isn’t right. That the Nazi government’s brutal rules are cruel and dangerous, and that others aren’t as safe as she is. When Rosa begs Liesel to help—pressing her grandfather’s gold pocket watch into Liesel’s hand—Liesel recklessly agrees.
She will help hide Rosa and her loved ones—in the dusty, unused rooms at the top of their house—even if it means putting everyone she loves in danger. Even if it means risking her own life.
Frankfurt, 1946: An idealistic American captain, Sam Houghton, arrives in Germany to interrogate prominent Nazis on trial and to help rebuild a battered country. When he hires an enigmatic, damaged interpreter named Anna, he doesn’t expect sparks to fly between them. Perhaps there is a chance of love for both of them. But then the question of what happened to Anna in the war raises its head.
Because Anna has secrets—ones that link her to Berlin, the Nazi party, and the story of one gold pocket watch and two young women who became friends, even when they were told it was impossible…
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Girl rom Berlin to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Girl from Berlin is the second historical fiction book that I have read by Kate Hewitt and it certainly begins with a very tense opening, a group of soldiers arrive at a house wanting to gain access and a woman is trying to stall them. Every dark and dangerous time has prepared her for this moment. She feels like she is making her penance and that she has lots to atone for. So many questions instantly arise. Who is this woman? Where exactly is she and what has led her to this threatening moment in her life?
We are then introduced to our main female character Liesel Scholz when she is aged 14 in 1936. From that point on the story is told through two time frames, Berlin in the years leading up Hitler’s rise to power and the subsequent war years but also Frankfurt in 1946, when American Captain Sam Houghton arrives in a city of ruins to facilitate the reconstruction and denazification of the country post war. I think of the two, Liesel’s story captured my imagination far more as I felt the aspect of the story following Sam was very slow and very dark and heavy going. I knew the two strands of the story had to tie together at some point though and I was interested to see how this would be explored and all the dots joined together.
Liesel lives with her family in Berlin and times are changing. Hitler is gaining power and prominence and the citizens of Germany seem to be brainwashed and enraptured by his beliefs, relentless propaganda. Just because you listen to someone doesn’t mean you have to believe what they are saying and Liesel is firmly of this opinion. Her father Otto believes the same but they are living in dangerous and unsettling times so their viewpoints would never be openly expressed especially near any of the powers that be. Liesel is firmly against joining the girls version of Hitler’s youth brigade and her friends see her as being strange for not jumping to join in to help make Germany a nation of Ayran superiority.
One wonders was Liesel in the minority at the time for having the stance that she did? Were many others of the same opinion but like her did their best to keep this secret and instead expressed their disdain at what was happening in secret. Rules must be obeyed or the consequences would be deadly. Liesel is a young girl who questions everything. She can see what is beginning to happen is not right, just or fair and the needless bloodshed, horror and brutality that will ensue over the following years that breeds such revulsion, hatred and disgust will appal her. In a way she is a rebel in that she went against everything that was being fed to the German people but as her father works for the government at a factory a very thin line must be threaded.
She has faith in her father that deep down he too feels the same way she does but yet he too must play the game and do what is asked of him. But the more the story progresses she begins to question the faith she has in her father. Maybe he doesn’t hold the same opinion that all this is wrong, that what happens to the Jews should not occur. As for her mother Isle, there is a distance between her and her daughter and Liesel can’t figure out why. It’s like she doesn’t exist, and that Isle loves her younger brother Friedrich much more. Therefore, a deep anger and resentment brews inside Liesel in relation to her mother but Isle did go on to surprise me when times got very tough. Therefore she feels closer to her father but when she is made do things and attend Nazi parties all so her father can ingratiate himself deeper into the party and continue his work Liesel begins too to despise him.
I felt poor Liesel was caught between a rock and a hard place. Loyalty to her family for standing up for what she feels is wrong. As she grows older and world events intensify and change and war looms at her door she really starts to question everything. Why should her father, a mid ranking chemist in a company become so important? I loved this about her she was always seeking answers and could see the bigger picture emerging. Up to a point though for there was still a lot at play that she had no idea about. The landscape of her life is changing but would she be brave enough to cope with everything that was about to be thrown at her?
Should she keep her head down and stay in the shadows, unnoticed by those who have the power or should she stand up for what she believes in? It’s a difficult choice to make and whatever one she chooses will have dangerous repercussions. I really admired Liesel for her bravery living in such a turbulent and disturbed world. She could see how senseless war was and how the horrors inflicted on the Jews were inhumane. I thought she was fearless for questioning what exactly her father was doing and though connected by blood she knew his ambition was beginning to poison her family. The latter half of the book with the chapters that focused on Liesel were tense and well written and threw up so any twists and turns that kept me reading on to see how her story would feature in the post war years.
As mentioned above, for me the section featuring Sam didn’t grip me as much although I understand its necessity to connect the threads of the story together and to show how Germany was dealing with the aftermath of the war. Specifically how the Americans were trying to trace all the Nazi’s who were in power and who had inflicted such a reign of terror on the world. Sam, when he arrives in Frankfurt, seems very disillusioned and out of tune with everything. It’s like he doesn’t want to be there even though he has been assigned an important task. During the war he did desk work in America and now is in the country he has heard so much about. His job was to seek out people who had been involved with Nazi organisations during the war and identify chemists who would be useful to the Americans.
It was interesting to see Berlin through the eyes of an American after the war. I haven’t read books that focus on the post war years and I found the state of Berlin and Germany in general fascinating as I had never given it much thought before and who would really given you’d have very little sympathy after everything they had done. The city was full of people desperate, starving and deflated but Sam had a job to do and although he feels he is there like a spare part and merely pushing paper around he will do what has been asked of him. When Sam hires a young woman named Anna as his secretary, and to help him go through the many papers, it is a turning point for him. Although he can see that she wears a cloak of sorrow there is something about her that intrigues him and you can see there is a stirring of emotion within him. Anna was a very closed person but I could tell she was hiding something. She seemed very intent on helping Sam with searching for Nazi’s to bring to trial. She intrigued me the most in this aspect of the story.
I did guess fairly early on what brought the two stories together but I didn’t guess the full extent of everything. Things took on a really good pace near to the end as the answers and resolutions came flying in particularly in relation to the opening scenes and all in all it made for a satisfying conclusion. The Girl from Berlin is a good read, perhaps not my favourite of the historical fiction genre that I have read this year but still it’s worthy of a read.
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