The premise and maybe even the execution of this book were both interesting. However, throughout the whole story, I was struggling with the attention on members of the Nazi party who were complicit in the horrors, and simply could not enjoy or root for the characters in the story. Really not for me.

god I felt really bad for the main character, I really felt for his struggle and what he goes through the book. It really makes you think about history. Overall this was a really well done book and I look forward to more from the author.

This was a great novel about a Jewish boy whose father leaves him with a Nazi family and doesn't return. The author's excellent writing allowed the reader to understand the reasoning behind the decisions people had to make at the time. This is a great piece of historical fiction.

Bejond emotional, which is . It has why it has taken so long to review. It has to be read. It has to be felt.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing this copy to review.

Representation: Trans MC

A Jewish child became orphaned in Nazi Germany and Julia Richter is determined to at least see the child off to their family. Lena, her sister who happens to be married to a higher-ranking SS officer in the Nazi party, ends up taking in the child, dressed in Julia's daughter's clothes. The plan was to send her off to America, but after catching the interest of some higher-ups in the Nazi party, Lena has no choice but to adopt the girl, who is the model of Aryan perfection with her long blond hair and blue eyes. This follows Hannah as she grows up in the Third Reich, hiding her past as a Jew and someone who was assigned male at birth. Hannah tries to be the perfect German girl, joining the BDM and supporting the Nazi Party. But her perfect world doesn't last long, and she's forced to reevaluate everything.

Rating: 3.75/5 I enjoyed this unique take on a dark period in history, following a trans Jewish girl growing up in the Third Reich. Since I have a lot to say about the trans rep, I'll say the other general feelings about this book first. It was interesting to kind of get a glimpse into the daily life of a German family who were completely insulated from the horrors that went on in the concentration camps. There was an eventual discovery and grief at what was happening, horror at what their own family and friends were capable of doing. It also showed the scary part of children being indoctrinated into the Nazi ideology via Hitler Youth, having no idea that it's actually quite horrible.

Reading the other reviews, I have to mention that this is historical fiction, and the author did mention that some of the details were fictional, such as the camp in Borkow, the Richter family, and a few others. I also saw a few people saying that having a trans person who underwent a surgery in this time period was inaccurate. It is not. The book mentions the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute of Sex Research), founded by Magnus Hirschfeld. This was open in 1919-1933, and it was closed down and destroyed by the Nazis. The Institute did research on homosexuality, pioneered surgeries for trans people, and endocrinological treatments. So while it might not have been that common back then, it was certainly possible for someone to have the surgery. While Hannah never explicitly says she's trans, she has at least some cognizance that she's not what she was assigned at birth. From Lena's perspective, this surgery was just to help Hannah stay hidden, so she was surprised when Hannah readily agreed. Hannah tells part of the truth: "...if an operation to create something resembling a female's genitals was necessary to keep her from developing into a normal boy, she would gladly do so." This shows me that Hannah has no desire to be a boy. I say this because one review said that they felt there was no pre-determination from Hannah that she identified this way, Again, this is historical fiction. Terminology was still developing in the early 1900s, and Hannah certainly didn't have access to that kind of information, being in Nazi Germany and all. There are times where Hannah thinks on the hidden parts of her, and works hard to be the perfect daughter. I'm not an expert on Nazi Germany, so I can't fully speak to the accuracy of this book, but I thought it was done fairly well in regards to the LGBT representation.

The Other Side of the Wire offered an amazing insight into the life accounts of a Jewish boy adopted by a Nazi Family. The author successfully described the events whereby the boy's father left him with a Jewish family and sadly never returned. Because the author explained the background so clearly, the reader could easily understand the reasoning behind the story. Also, the author explained in detail the most complex situations children faced during the time. The hurt, anxiety and fear came across in the storyline and pictured the typical choices families made during the time. Also, the complex relationships between the different role players played a key role to set the scene. Any person who enjoys reading historical material around World War II and the impacts on families should read this story.

While I appreciate the author's attempt at telling the story of unspoken about victims of the Holocaust, I think he missed the mark. The story did not capture my attention and I found the story rather flat. I am sure the author tried his best but I just found it lacking.

This was a very unique book! I enjoyed the detail and effort put into the writing. I have never read a book with this point of view during WWII. I think others who like historical fiction would enjoy reading!

This was a well written historical fiction with LGBTQ+ aspects. I’m a huge fan of WWII/holocaust fiction and this was a great example of a well written novel.
The only reason for three stars is that the LGBTQ+ aspects were not always believable because there was no before realization of the main character in identifying female versus male. I would have loved more pre-determination from the main character that she identified as so.

I really enjoyed this book and am very thankful for being able to read it. It is good to see different perspectives on the Holocaust and World War II to make sure it never ever is forgotten.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read a copy of this book in returnforn honest review.
I really enjoyed this book, although a few of the details were a little unbelievable, for instance where the littleJewish boy is given gender reassignment surgery. However, the characters were well written and the storyline was on the whole fairly well done.
The Holocaust has been extensively written about, but this book gives a unique twist. Maybe not for the purist, who wants every little detail to be factually true, but a very readable book. I have already recommended it to several friends and family.

I really enjoyed this book.
Reading about what people lived through in wars always interest me and this book had me gripped from the beginning.
I couldn’t put it down I needed to know what would happen to the main character and how they shaped there life in an unusual turn of events.
Wondering if the truth would ever come to light and the character would get caught kept me turning the page.

I have to say, I didn't really enjoy this. In fact, I felt myself spacing out a lot while reading it. I've certainly read my fair share of WW2/Holocaust books, but this didn't capture my attention at all. That and the fact that it is pretty damn historically inaccurate -- or at the very least, an incredibly unbelievable scenario. Listen, I applaud the author for attempting to tell a story (a trans person growing up in Nazi Germany) that hasn't really been told much, if at all But it just didn't work, not in the way it was presented.

"Banality of Evil - the great evils of history are not committed by fanatics or sociopaths, but rather by ordinary people who accept that what they are doing is not only right, it is normal. Doing terrible things in an organised and systematic way rests on 'normalisation.' This is the process whereby ugly, degrading, murderous, and unspeakable acts become routine and are accepted as the way things are done." Loc 81 -87 of The Other Side of the Wire Kindle pre-release version.

This is the story of an orphaned child who is half-Jewish, and hides their identity to avoid being persecuted in Nazi Germany. Adopted into the family of a high-ranking SS officer, they grow up trying to be the perfect German child to their adopted family. The adoptive father is a wonderful, loving person at home, but a completely different person as soon as he steps outside his front door. This story is about how normal people contributed to the evils that occurred during this time.

It is hard to say much more without ruining the story, but I can say that lovers of The Book Thief and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, will love this book. I will say that I was not aware that certain surgical procedures were available in the 1930's, but a little research informs me that it was. I am surprised that at such an early stage of such procedures being developed, I am surprised that the character who underwent this surgery survived. I would have been interested in the after effects experienced by this character post-surgery in a little more detail. However, I do understand that shining light on this, is a small added feature and not really the purpose of this story.

Harold Coyle writes in a way which is wonderfully engaging and captures the reader from the very first page. I would have liked a more stretched out, detailed ending. The ending felt a bit like the author had a strict word count to adhere to, whereas the rest of the story was perfectly paced and detailed. It would have meant more to be with the characters we bond with throughout, at the end of the story too.

I have had a look at other books by Harold Coyle on Goodreads and they do all seem to be set during various war time periods. I have added a couple that look interesting to my 'want to read pile', as his delicate, yet honest telling of The Other Side of the Wire has made me very interested in exploring his works further.

Thank you to #NetGalley for this free, pre-release copy of #TheOtherSideoftheWire in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading this one, and especially from a perspective of someone who was a German learning about the horrors of WWII. I liked the writing style and that it was an easy book to get into.

I just never really felt connected with the main characters. In the beginning I felt a connection to them but as the story went on I kind of lost it. I didn’t like how it ended either. Although I appreciate how it ended, I wanted more answers about what happened to her family after the war.

Unfortunately, I struggled to connect with this and found it historically difficult to believe. It just wasn't for me.

The other side of the wire by by Harold coyle. I regret to say I did not understand this book. I did not find the book believeable. I had a hard time finishing the book. and the ending,what can I say about that. I have to think about it, maybe my brain was not working properly when I read the book. ..but I HONESTLY did not understand the ending. or the book at all. But thank you to netgalley for letting me read it and of course the publiher

I understand the author wanting to reach a transgender audience, but the premise is completely beyond belief in Nazi Germany. Even if you can get past the highly unlikely premise that someone could find a surgeon to perform a sex change operation in the 1930's and get away with it, the hormones medications needed were not available at that point in history (Remember, the Pill (estrogen) was not developed until the 1960's). Even if they were, being able to access them (in secret) in a war-torn country fascist country is completely unbelievable. Why not just make the protagonist a girl in the first place? Just hiding a Jew in plain site would have been risk enough. The secondary story detracts from the strength of the writing.

To be honest I found The Other Side of the Wire to be a very strange book. The storyline was implausible in so many ways and it was a real struggle to finish the book. The most frustrating thing had to be the ending which I still don't completely understand!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC

This was a weird book for me. I wanted to love it (based on the description) but the book didn’t pull me in. I made it two chapters and it didn’t hold my interest.