Thank you so much for allowing me to read this book! I absolutely loved it and couldn't put it down! I love this time period in history! The story brought me straight into the world!

Very good story, well laid out. Not my usual go-to so I did skim much of it but an important book for our history !

Poland and WWII. So many stories, so many tragedies, so many survivals and so many victims. This is a biography of a Polish Jewish woman in Poland, her life and survival during 1940s, her struggles, life and her bravery.
One of the most inspiring books I had a pleasure to read and be transformed in time, that I would never want to be in.

Originally published in the 1940s and was recently rediscovered. This is the republication. As a Polish immigrant, I enjoyed reading about a Polish woman's experience during the war. It is a difficult read but an important one. I learned so much about how people helped her as well as about the struggles the Polish Jews faced during this time. Would recommend to those that like reading memoirs and about the war.

I am late in getting my review in but I really enjoyed this book. The bookshop sounded so lovely but what she went through and then all the people who hid her? That part blew me away and especially the man and wife who consistently helped and even came to get her at one point at another place she was at. She was so brave and reading about how she survived was engrossing.

This memoir was discovered at a flea market in Nice, France. Any story of those who went through the war are important, especially those stories of Jews trying to escape. Frenkel shared her life growing up in Poland and eventually opening a bookshop in Berlin. Her bookshop in Berlin sold French books and materials and was widely successful. Then the war came. Limits were put on what she could sell, when she could work, and eventually, books were removed from her shop. Since she was Jewish, she had to find ways to escape to safer areas in France.

In 1938, Kristallnacht occurred and many Jewish businesses were destroyed. Frenkel managed to escape to Paris, but eventually, Paris is bombed and she has to escape again. Surprisingly, Frenkel was never sent to a concentration camp thanks to moments of luck, the generosity of friends and strangers, and her pure will to survive.

Her story was published after the war, but when it was found again, many felt like her story needed to be heard. It’s a quick read and chronicles her joy of reading and her numerous friendships. Once the war begins, she believes she won’t be harmed and that she can get by on her connections and relationships, which she does. It’s amazing that she fared as well as she did and her story is another look at those who experienced the war and how hard it was to trust anyone.

Actual scanned documents belonging to Frenkel from her arrests, trial papers, her trunk items, and other documents are also included at the end of the book which are interesting to see and read.

I loved the premise and then found out this is based on truth. Very well written. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

I have struggled with how I feel about this book. I know the author struggled and saw way more horror than I have ever seen in my life. In an effort not to compare suffering of others in the war, I am going to attempt to review this book.

Maybe it is the straight forward writing style, but I feel a lack of emotion in this book. This book just seems to just state her feelings instead of telling the story so the reader can feel how the author is feeling.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

What I Loved:
A Bookshop in Berlin is not your normal memoir. Françoise Frenkel wrote her experiences down and they were published in 1945. They were then re-discovered in an attic in 2010. I loved Françoise’s descriptions of her experiences. I felt delighted when she was, horrified when she was; all of her feelings were placed on the pages and as the reader, I felt a bit like I was drawing back a curtain to someone’s secrets and memories. I’m not sure if I was supposed to be there, but there I was, reading her work, and it was a beautiful and horrifying view of her experiences.

How I Felt:
A Bookshop in Berlin was a beautiful account of Françoise Frenkel’s early life and then entrapment and escape from the Nazi’s. The writing style was a bit jumpy at times. I felt like we would jump from memory to memory and I kind of wanted to go back and learn a bit more about the previous thing. However, the overall story is written from start to finish, making her experiences easy to follow, I just wanted more details sometimes.

For the book lover: If you are a lover of books, which I suspect you might be, as you are taking the time to read this, you will appreciate this book just because of Françoise’s very clear love of literature. When she was younger, she had a bookcase made of all glass so that she could place it in the middle of her room to admire the books from all sides. I mean, who doesn’t want that now!?!? I really enjoyed her descriptions of books and her passion for them. When she is closing the bookstore to leave Germany, she walks the aisles saying goodbye to her books. That part of the story made me so sad for her.

Her Escape: Her story follows her escape from Germany and the Nazi’s. It is filled with stops and starts as she is blocked by soldiers, red tape, train issues, and so many other problems. She finds and loses family members and friends. She witnesses destruction and violence, but also heartwarming moments of kindness. It is a very interesting story and I really enjoyed reading about it.

The Preface: Patrick Modiano has written the preface in A Bookshop in Berlin. I enjoyed this insight into the story. He gives background on Françoise Frenkel with some extra information that she didn’t share in her memoir. He mentions that Françoise had a husband and gives some information on him. I would have loved for her to have shared some details about their life together, but she chose to exclude him from her story.

Overall: A Bookshop in Berlin is a wonderful memoir and a powerful story.

To Read or Not To Read:
I would recommend A Bookshop in Berlin for readers that enjoy historical fiction, historical non-fiction, and memoirs.

I was provided an advanced readers copy of this book for free. I am leaving my honest, unbiased review voluntarily.

What could be better than a book first published 60 years ago that was newly found and published for the first time in the United States? Well, in short nothing. "A Bookshop in Berlin" is the fascinating memoir of a Jewish woman, Francois, who decides to open a French bookshop in the heart of Germany, Berlin, shortly before WWII and Hitler's rise. This is the story of how she did that and how she survived. This is a wonderful memoir filled with a love for books and a harrowing journey of survival. I highly recommend this book.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy free of charge. This is my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

This book was published in 1945 and found 60 years later!! First time published in the United States!! A memoir like no other!! Francois was a Polish Jewish bookseller in Berlin - selling only French literature -- find out how she survived! This book will amaze you!!

When I first heard about A Bookshop in Berlin I went straight to my library to put a hold on an ebook, so how lucky was I that NetGalley gave me the opportunity to read and review this book before it even hit the shelves! 
Rediscovered in an attic in 2010, this memoir about a Polish born woman Françoise Frenkel and her love of books. We follow Françoise’s journey when she opened a French bookshop in Berlin, the rise of Nazi Germany and how it affected her life, especially after kristallnacht, the night of the broken glass and ultimately her escape into Switzerland. 
Books like this one is of utter importance to teach our youth and the naysayers the atrocities of World War II.

A Bookshop in Berlin
The Rediscovered Memoir of One Woman's Harrowing Escape from the Nazis

by Françoise Frenkel

Atria Books

Biographies & Memoirs


Pub Date 03 Dec 2019


I am reviewing a copy of A Bookshop In Berlin through Atria Books and Netgalley:



In 1921 Francoise Frenkel a Jewish woman from Poland opens the La Maison Livre, the first French bookshop in Berlin. In doing so she fulfills a childhood dream. A passionate lover of books Francoise’s bookshop attracts artists, diplomats, poets and celebrities and everything in between. The La Maison Livre becomes a haven for intellectual exchange as the world outside is become more and more poisoned by the Nazi ideology begins to poison the city that has been rich in culture in 1935.


In November of 1938 Francoise dream shatters on the night of Kristallnacht. The La Maison du Livre is miraculously spared but Francoise knows she is no longer safe and Francoise finds herself on a lonely and desperate flight to Paris. After Paris is bombed Francoise seeks refuge in Southern France where she witnesses countless horrors, Children being ripped from their parents, Mothers throwing themselves under buses. Francoise is able to survive due to strangers who were willing to risk their lives.


A Bookshop in Berlin was originally and quietly published in 1945 and was rediscovered almost sixty years later hidden in an antic. Had this book not been discovered today’s generation of readers may not have heard the remarkable story of Francoise Frenkel a story of both human resilience and human cruelty during a dark time in history.


I give A Bookshop in Berlin five out of five stars and recommend it to anyone who wishes to read a story of survival against all odds.


Happy Reading!

In 1921 Françoise Frenkel, Polish-born Jew, opened the first French-language bookstore in Berlin. After Kristallnacht, she fled Berlin to France. She went to school in Paris and lived there before moving to Berlin so it must have felt like a safe place for her.

We see her difficulties with bureaucracy when starting her bookstore and the danger of being a Jew in Germany. Many advised her not to open a French-language bookstore in Germany in the aftermath of WWI.

What was strange, was her omission of her husband from the book. It is mentioned in the preface by Patrick Modiano that Françoise opened the bookstore together with her husband. In the book, it is never mentioned that she was married. Simon Raichenstein was born in Russia and died in Auschwitz. She writes about wanting to see her mother but not much about other relatives.

I enjoy reading stories on this topic. It is important to remember history so that we don't make the same mistakes. Sadly; I feel like we have taken a few steps backwards in today's world. Every day you read headlines about racism.

It is people like Françoise, who we have to thank for sharing their stories. While, I can't imagine enduring everything that Françoise did. In a way, I kind of could reading this book. I don't want to take anything away from Françoise but I was only semi engaged with this book. It was not like The Diary of Anne Frank or The Hiding Place.

However, I still found myself interested in what I was reading and at times could not stop reading. Again, I applaud Françoise for sharing her story.

Source: I received a complimentary ebook copy from NetGalley and Atria Books, but was not required to leave a positive review.
My Thoughts:
A Bookshop in Berlin is an amazing story for several reasons.
The book was first published in the French language in 1945. The Swiss publishing company closed a long time ago. The book was found (by chance) and republished in 2015.
A Bookshop in Berlin shows Europe in the years before World War I, to the midway point of World War II. This gave me a panoramic history lesson: politically, geographically, anti-Semitism, rise of Nazism, and the elite book culture.
Through Frenkel’s eyes, I see the escalating tension and hostility against the Jews. The restrictions enacted. The looting and burning of buildings. The roundups of the Jews. The fear of who to trust and who not to trust.
Frenkel’s grit and determination to escape.
The ordinary people who were extraordinary in their courage to help strangers.
The great love Frankel carried all her life for books, and for the fond memories of the bookshop she once owned.
Frankel shared her thoughts and feelings behind her actions.
Francoise Frenkel was a wonderful writer. I became absorbed in her story from the start. It’s a shame this is the only known book she wrote.

In some of the book the word “we” is used. Who is the “we”? Is it her husband? This is an interesting and mysterious point. She was married, but nothing is mentioned in the book about him. So many unanswered questions just from this unmentioned point. It’s possible they had a falling out and separated. It’s possible that it’s too painful to mention him in her story. Both are plausible.

Francoise Frenkel, born Frymeta Frenkel, was a Polish Jew who opened Berlin's first French-language bookstore in 1921. She fled Berlin after the infamous Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass, that targeted Jewish shops and institutions, abandoning the beloved shop she'd had to fight to open. She went to France, which seemed safe at the time in comparison, although it would soon not be much of a refuge at all, of course.

"You should be credited for remaining at your post until the very last minute. Just like a valiant soldier," the French cultural attache in Berlin told her. "He was trying to lessen the pain of separation from my beloved bookshop, just as before he had been so generous in helping me to defend it in the face of every adversity."

Frenkel's memoir was rediscovered in 2010 at a flea market in Nice, after having a small publication originally in 1945. It does feel like we're flooded with Holocaust and Second World War memoirs, but as we close in on a time when there will soon no longer be anyone alive who lived through that time, it's amazing that new or rediscovered narratives are still surfacing.

It was published in its original French, with the first English translation published in the UK in 2017. It's titled No Place to Lay One's Head, a much more fitting title for the contents. Once she left Berlin, Frenkel seemed to be on the move constantly. The US title is a bit of a misnomer, because her efforts opening and running the bookshop occupy only the very beginning of this story. The bulk of the book takes place in France, bouncing between locations as she desperately tries to outrun the Nazis and the collaborative Vichy government, making an unsuccessful attempt to cross into Switzerland for which she'd spend time in prison, and ultimately crossing successfully, where her narrative ends.

And actually, the Berlin-set scenes, where she describes the bureaucracy and difficulty of starting her bookshop, weren't the most compelling. It doesn't feel like it picks up until well into her time in France. That's where this finds its uniqueness in the crowded field of Holocaust refugee memoirs. What Frenkel does so well is show the frenetic energy of the times, as laws and their enforcement changed constantly and seemingly arbitrarily. Trusts are broken as she's shuffled from one back room hiding place to another, and there's an overwhelming gratitude for the people who help her at great risk to themselves and without ulterior motive.

The elephant in the room is her never-mentioned husband, Simon Raichenstein. We only learn of him through the supplementary materials and chronology. They opened the bookshop together, although he's elided from her retelling of that story. He went to Paris before her and was eventually deported to Auschwitz, where he died in 1942.

She occasionally mentions her mother and "relatives" who she misses and hopes to reunite with, but never him. It's not covered in the supplementary materials, either, which include photographs and original documents related to her life. But this question of her husband becomes an annoying one. If they were separated, fine; but it's maddening not to know what the situation was, especially with the way he's carefully, clearly excised from every story that involved him. We just have to accept the mystery.

It's worth persisting through what feels like a slog at the beginning of the book for the more exciting and introspective second half. Maybe recalling this period, as she was close to freedom in Switzerland, is where Frenkel could most relax even writing about it. After being cooped up in tiny rooms controlled by questionable characters for so long, she experiences autonomy and simple joy again: "Who is this woman in disguise, walking with a spring in her step and singing a childhood tune under her breath? I am that peasant woman in her clogs, humming along in time to her steps as she walks down the white road through the wondrous countryside."

She's also one of those writers or diarists with a gift for observation, and in quick sketches can capture something evocative of the people she's describing. Like this oft-complaining host: "As I listened to her, a certain uneasiness crept over me: my hostess seemed at odds with the entire universe." Don't we all know such a person!

In addition to showing what a life on the run felt like, Frenkel also does a great service in showing how events in Nazi Germany were perceived by some on the outside. The gendarmes that captured her group near the Swiss border in their first attempt to cross discuss the camps with these frightened, anxious refugees, who ask if the Swiss have seen the awful things happening in concentration camps. They acknowledge they have, calling what they saw "appalling," but reason that prisoners "must have committed crimes or some sort of fraud in Germany," and repeating the line about Jews being blamed for conditions in the country before and after the First World War. "Such ignorance defied belief," Francoise observes, with no small amount of exhaustion.

An occasionally frustrating story, as the author's reasons for editing certain events and people out of her story are unclear, but a valuable document and illuminating look at her experience nonetheless.

When a major publisher offers me a newly translated World War II memoir for a blog tour review, I sit up and take notice. I was also inclined to read it because the author was a Jewish bookstore owner. A title like A Bookshop in Berlin implies that it delivers a first hand perspective on the Nazi persecution of Jewish owned stores before the Holocaust began. This sounded like it could be a riveting perspective. So I accepted a free copy of this memoir by Françoise Frenkel.

When I started this book, I wanted to know why a woman who was born Frymeta became Françoise. As I read further, I theorized that she felt more at home in a nation that was probably more welcoming to her than Poland may have been. Readers won't find out about her childhood experiences in Poland. We also learn very little about her family, but they must have been successful financially. Frenkel had the opportunity to leave Poland and pursue an education in Paris. Those Paris years shaped her identity and her life goals.

I found Frenkel's omission of her husband from her memoir more startling than putting Poland behind her. The preface by Patrick Modiano reveals that she and her husband opened the bookshop together. His name was Simon Raichenstein, he was born in Russia and died in Auschwitz. I wanted to know more about him. I feel that he deserves to be remembered. We have no way of knowing whether she didn't mention him because it was too painful to mourn his loss in public through the pages of a memoir, or her relationship with him wasn't really significant to her. We don't know how they met or why she married him.

There is no way to determine what role Simon Raichenstein might have played in the decision to open a French language bookstore in Berlin in 1921. Presumably, he was supportive since he helped her run the store. We do know from this memoir that many people advised against it including the Consul General at the French Consulate in Berlin. He thought that anti-French sentiment in Germany was so strong in the aftermath of WWI that the bookstore would fall victim to an arson attack. Some readers might question Frenkel's judgement at that point, but it turned out that the French language bookstore enjoyed great success during the Weimar Republic.


Frenkel's persistence, resourcefulness and courage in the face of Nazi persecution make her admirable. I also found out about the Italian occupation of Provence during WWII as a result of this book. This was a research opportunity for me. I would love to know more. Perhaps the re-publication of Frenkel's memoir will encourage more publishers to release French books about WWII in English. This would be a tremendous benefit to those who read in English who are historically inclined.

The standout book of the year. My mind and soul absorbed, “ A bookshop in Berlin” in 5 hours. I was left with renewed hope for the individuals ability to be compassionate in times seemingly devoid of hope. In turn I read the last word and immediately felt sadness that I couldn’t experience more of Francoise Frenkel , sadness that she ( someone I feel I would have been great friends with) struggled and lost so much and would never see how her words touched so many ( as I feel they will). Surely this was not her only piece of work. I felt I was there with her as she said goodbye to her beloved friends and left them sitting on a shelf , leaving their fates in the hands of the nazis. Frenkels encounters across France reveal a side to the crimes against the Jewish people not as brutal as others depicted but equally disheartening. Unlike many recounts of these times we are also shown that kindness from strangers isn’t as few and far between as it seems. With a gentle, honest and factual hand she paints a beautifully graceful picture of one woman’s life on the run, armed only with her love of France and literature. Turn the pages and breathe in France. Watch it’s beauty stand tall through dark hours.

A Bookshop in Berlin is the first hand account of Françoise Frenkel and her life leading up to and including the WWII years. With WWI behind them she and her husband left Paris and opened the first French bookshop in Berlin in 1921. He eventually went into exile in France (was later rounded up and died in Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland) while she stayed behind to run the shop. After Kristallnacht she fled Berlin for France and was eventually rounded up while trying to enter Switzerland. Her experiences were difficult to read but, at the same time, riveting. Not all people had her strength and determination but many did. It’s an amazing story that I’m glad I had the chance to read. Recommended to fans of memoirs of this era. I appreciated the documents and photos included at the end of the book.