The Night Train to Berlin
by Melanie Hudson

Expected Publication Date: 25 Jan 2022

Synopsis:
"London, present day: A young woman boards the sleeper train to Cornwall with only a beautiful emerald silk evening dress and an old, well-read diary full of sketches. Ellie Nightingale is a shy violinist who plays like her heart is broken. But when she meets fellow passenger Joe she feels like she has been given that rarest of gifts…a second chance.

London, 1944: Beneath the shadow of the war which rages across Europe, Alex and Eliza meet by chance. She is a gutsy painter desperate to get to the frontline as a war artist and he is a wounded RAF pilot now commissioned as a war correspondent. With time slipping away they make only one promise: to meet in Berlin when this is all over. But this is a time when promises are hard to keep, and hope is all you can hold in your heart."

Review:
Both couples meet on the night train from London to the Cornwall coast, where sparks fly! I want to take a trip on this train! Most of this dual-timeline story concerns Alex and Eliza and their wartime adventures.

An extremely well-researched book with unforgettable characters. I did not anticipate the ending - an emotional read. I wish the ending was not so abrupt. Recommended.

I was gifted this advance copy by NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

There’s much to admire about Melanie Hudson’s “Night Train to Berlin,” a double plotted story about two English women separated by decades but connected by a certain train, a Cornish cottage, a broken clock, a diary filled with heart-rending sketches, and the search for ever-lasting love amidst the toughest circumstances. But there are also flaws.

On the night train to Cornwall in the midst of WWII, Eliza Arbuthnot meets Alex who, over the next few days, proves to be the love of her life—the kind of love everyone dreams of and hopes for. But can that love survive her staid but necessary marriage to an elderly lord she is fond of but does not love? Or the many separations the war forces upon Eliza and Alex as they both accompany the allied invasion force from Normandy into Berlin, he an invalided RAF pilot now working as a reporter, she an auxiliary nurse and brilliant painter assigned by the government to sketch and paint battlefield scenes?

Decades later, Eleanor Nightingale meets the love of her life on the very same train. But Eleanor suffers from a congenital heart disease that often leaves her exhausted and which cannot be cured except by a transplant. Knowing she may die soon, she refuses to allow herself to get close to anyone in order to spare them the grief her death might bring. Will she be able to overcome this and allow herself to love and be loved?

Of course, the first plotline is historical fiction and it is the best part of the book, IMHO. Melanie Hudson has created strong, compelling characters and placed them in realistic and absorbing situations fraught with emotional conflict and physical danger. We care mightily about what happens/will happen to Eliza and Alex and whether they and their relationship can survive and thrive. I thought the choice to make Eliza a renowned, brilliant artist and to assign her to “paint the war” very original and interesting.

Unfortunately, I can’t be as enthusiastic about the second plotline. The characters are not as strong or likable. For me, they lack much of the charm that makes Eliza and Alex so compelling. Halfway through the book, I seriously wondered whether the second plotline was even necessary. Turns out that it is, but readers have to reach the end of the novel to understand why.

And I wasn’t crazy for that ending. While it’s romantic, I thought it left too many questions open and unanswered. Yes, it’s great to leave some things to the reader’s imagination. But here, the author leaves questions unanswered that are central to the book—indeed, some of the very questions that kept me turning the pages.

I also thought the title somewhat misleading. When I requested the ARC, I was under the impression I’d be reading a novel involving an actual night train to Berlin, say, traveling from France or Switzerland or Poland and possibly involving espionage. Turns out there’s no such train. There are two night trains to Cornwall, and there’s the invasion of France to capture Berlin, which, I suppose, can be thought of as a train. At any rate, the story I ended up reading was entirely different from the story the title led me to expect.

All in all, I found this to be a three-and-a-half-star performance rounded up to four because what's good in the novel is very, very good and what's not so good isn't all that bad. In fact, it's entirely possible that other readers will like and find romantic that which I wasn't so crazy about. And, on the strength of this performance, I would certainly consider purchasing and reading other works by Ms. Hamilton,

My thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with an ARC. The foregoing is my independent opinion.

The Night Train to Berlin is a dual-timeline romance. Both timelines start on the night train to Cornwall, when both couples meet and fall instantly in deeply attracted.

The bulk of the book is spent with the WWII couple. The author carefully intertwines details from the 1940s and the war into the story, however, the events came across too unrealistic to me to fully immerse myself in the story.

If you are a historical fiction romance lover, you will undoubtedly love this book.

This is one of those rare dual-time books where I loved both sets of characters and stories. They both draw you in, leaving you wanting more when the time switches. A love story for the ages, passionate romances and war-time drama, this book left me satisfied yet wanting to spend more time with these wonderful characters that I had grown to love too.

This is a historical fiction book that is told by two timelines (1944 and present day). I loved all the characters in this book, but my favorite character was Eliza. I really loved the beginning of this book. I think this is one historical fiction book that I loved both the timelines, and I feel both the timelines worked very well. The only thing I did not love about this book was the ending to the 1944 timeline, but I loved the present day timeline so much. I feel that this book was a sweet romance that also covered hard topics and heart warming. This book does have some WWII parts in it, but I think this book as a good mixed of romance and WWII/historical parts. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (One More Chapter) or author (Melanie Hudson) via NetGalley, so I can give an honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
I would definitely be recommending this book to readers on my Instagram bookstagram account.

Ellie Nightingale is on the adventure of a lifetime as she boards the Cornish Riviera train from London to Penzance en route to a cottage inherited from her great grandmother. Dressed in vintage 1940s attire to go along with the World War 2-themed train ride, Ellie is unexpectedly paired with a dashing man dressed as a pilot who is seated opposite her at dinner. The plot line skips back and forth between the present and 1944, as Ellie reads from a journal written by her great grandmother’s dear friend, who was a nurse during the war. The two time periods and plot lines are cleverly intertwined in this poignant, bittersweet tale of wartime love.

A Night Train to Berlin is a live story told across two time lines, A well-worn diary of old sketches connects two women’s stories on a train in Paddington Station, London. In the present day, Ellie boards a sleeper train in Paddington Station, bound for Cornwall. In the past, Eliza, an artist on her way to paint pictures of the war from the front lines, meets a young man in Paddington Station, and they make a promise to meet again when the war is over. The common thread of each story is a chance meeting on a train.

A Night Train to Berlin is full of interesting characters and is rich with emotion. I loved the descriptions of the Cornish countryside and of Normandy. I was particularly drawn to the descriptions of Cornwall. What I did not care for was the slow pace, which is the reason for the lower rating.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher and Net Galley. The opinions are my own.

I love dual storylines and The Night Train To Berlin didn't disappoint!! The book speaks of enduring love, faith, hope and bravery even in the hells of war.