Françoise Frenkel always loved books, libraries, and especially bookstores.

Her dream was to open a bookstore, but would her dream about opening a French bookstore in Berlin in 1920 be a good idea?

She was successful until 1935 when the police started showing up and confiscating books from her shelves and newspapers because they had been blacklisted.

Besides scrutinizing her books, they questioned her travels. This was just the beginning of her hardships and ordeals.

A BOOKSHOP IN BERLIN tells the story of Francoise Frenkel's life and her love of books, her bookshop, and France. We follow her as she lives through occupied France and endures what the European people had to deal with. Unthinkable, unpleasant misery and situations plagued her and all people during this time.

A BOOKSHOP IN BERLIN is a treasure for historical fiction fans as well as book lovers.

I normally do not read memoirs, but A BOOKSHOP IN BERLIN is very well done and educational.

You were easily put into Francoise’s situations and her emotions were yours. 5/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Nobel Prize winner Patrick Modiano explains in the preface to A Bookshop in Berlin that the memoir was written shortly after the author, Françoise Frenkel, escaped to Switzerland and survived the end of World War II. The memoir was originally published as Rien où poser ma tête. The French translates to “nowhere to rest my head,” a fitting title considering that the book catalogs Frenkel’s efforts to stay ahead of the Holocaust. With the help of brave French citizens who hid her and helped her eventually escape to Switzerland, Frenkel travels over the course of 1939 to 1943 from Berlin to Paris, to Nice, to Grenoble and Annecy, near the Swiss border. Unlike so many millions, Frenkel survived.

What drew me to A Bookshop in Berlin was Frenkel’s life during the 1920s and 1920s, when she ran Maison du livre français in Berlin. The Maison was the only French language book store in the city. At first, Frenkel was told that no one would want a French book store in a German city in the aftermath of World War I; the bookstore instead becomes a surprising success. It becomes a city institution among French speakers and I enjoyed reading as Frenkel sang the praises of various French authors whose work she sold. I couldn’t help but contrast Frenkel’s experience with that of Shaun Bythell at The Bookshop, in Wigtown, Scotland. Frenkel’s life as a bookseller is a lot more intellectual than Bythell’s sparring with odd and sometimes belligerent customers.

After Kristallnacht, Frenkel flees Germany. The next four years are a blur, at least as Frenkel wrote it. It seems that she hardly finds a place to rest her head when something happens that sends her into danger: changes to residence and identity papers, round ups, informers, collaborators. Thankfully, Frenkel has good friends. These friends help her hide, organize papers, and get her to the border. But, because the book’s pace is so rapid, it’s hard to get to know any of these amazing people. It’s hard to get to know Frenkel, to be honest.

As a recovered memoir written at the close at World War II and the Holocaust, A Bookshop in Berlin is a remarkable historical find. But as a work of literature, I found it lacking depth. There are moments when Frenkel pauses to appreciate the beauty of Avignon, for example, that provide a little detail. This book left me unsatisfied but, I can’t fault Frenkel too much. This was her first and only book, one that I think she might have written to help process everything that had happened to her since Kristallnacht. I would recommend this to readers looking for a unique story about the Holocaust, one that lets us see the experience of a woman who was persecuted but managed to avoid deportation to the death camps.

A Bookshop in Berlin/No Place to Lay One’s Head is the fascinating true account of Francoise Frenkel’s escape to Switzerland during WWII.

I’ll admit it was refreshing to read a nonfiction WWII book after reading so many fictional stories about the war.

Francoise dreams of opening a French bookshop in Berlin. It’s truly a labor of love - she’s a very thoughtful and compassionate bookseller, and quickly forms close friendships with her customers.

Through Francoise’s eyes, we see the slow confiscation of books and newspapers, signaling the rise of Hitler’s reign of terror. The horrors and tension escalate quickly, and we are pulled into her journey of survival and escape.

Beneath the racism and brutality, there is hope and camaraderie. Strangers become friends, taking dangerous measures to keep one another safe.

Found in an attic less than a decade ago, this revealing tale focuses on a desperate woman. Frenkel had a French bookshop in Berlin during the rise of Nazism. She became trapped in France after the war broke out. She managed to stay alive with assistance from friends and by her wits. She atempts to escape to Switzerland a few times, ultimately successful. There are so many unknowns after 1945 pertaining to her. I would like to know what happened to her family, although it's probably obvious. It's a fascinating read, but I wish the gaps could be fulfilled with the missing information.

An excellent recounting of a lived experience all the more impactful for the plain style in which it is told. Francoise Frenkel is middle aged and running her own business in Germany when her Jewish identity turns her into one of the millions of European refugees during World War II. As she is bounced around from house to house she encounters devotion, opportunism, faithful friendship, deep despair, and ultimately a daring border crossing that saves her life. This is a story resonant for our own times.

I'm so thankful I was able to read an e-galley of this amazing memoir written between 1943-44. Francoise Frenkel's story is fascinating and I think everyone interested in what it was like to be Jewish and living in Europe during the war should read this. What is utterly astounding is that this was written so soon after the events it describes so there is an authenticity here that can be rare to find in other books about the period. As the publication date nears, I will share a lengthier and more detailed review but I am very lucky to have encountered this memoir and will be thinking about it for a long time, will re-read it, and will also recommend it to the educators I teach in my Holocaust Literature course!