I truly enjoy this period of historical fiction in general. The flow between past and present overall left the book a little flat for me. The Author's Note at the end did help tie the book together at the end and I think the subject matter was meaningful after reading it. Unfortunately, it was very slow-paced at times. I found it hard to focus during much of Rachel and Aaron dialog together. I appreciated the authentic 1950's details and references throughout. I was most drawn into the book when the flashbacks to WWII occurred and then the book would lose me when the book returned to 1955. Thanks to the Author's Note I would probably rate it 3.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced audiobook copy.

While I enjoyed listening to this audiobook, I felt like the book was too long. I loved the time period, exploring what was happening after WWII. I could appreciate how both Rachel and Aaron both had very different experiences during the war, I didn’t love any of the characters. I loved the Mrs Maisel vibes this book gave me! Thank you for the opportunity to listen to this book.

This is a whirlwind of a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat! The author has given us a story that includes some new details of how Jews lived during the war and how they survived, or sadly did not survive. This unique take on survivor guilt is so moving and poignant. Rachel was one of the last Jews living in Berlin and was living underground without the star on her arm. She became a searcher (Jews who betrayed other Jews to the Nazis for their own safety) trying to keep her mother off the list for the transports to the concentration camps. Fast forward to the 1950s when she is married, living in New York, and trying to live in the present where she sees ghosts from her past. Through her journey to the past, so many mysteries reveal themselves. I highly recommend this book for historical fiction lovers and particularly those who have an interest in the Holocaust

This book deals with some serious survivor's guilt from the Holocaust and the WWII.

I have read a lot of Historical Fiction books from this timeperiod, but the book was unique from dealing with the mental health aspect of the aftermath.

I enjoyed the overall concept and mentions of the Jewish culture, but I just didn't feel like I connected to the characters. This was definitely an "in the head" type book instead of more plot driven. It felt like it just kept going over the same issues over and over.

I was glad to have listened to the audiobook version since the narrator really helped keep it more interesting. Her voice for Rachel's husband Aaron was fun.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me a copy of this Audiobook for my honest review.

After the horrors of the War, Rachel found her happy ending. Her loving and supportive Jewish husband, safe and clean home, and most of all, freedom. While Rachel has her physical freedom, inside her head she is captivated by the past, and mostly by the price she had to pay for her survival.

One thing Rachel brought with her from her homeland - was her artistic talent. But when she tried to express herself on the canvas, she was met face to face with her hunting past. To pass the line between her past and her future, she needs to admit to her crimes. It takes a strong will to do so, but Rachel's will has been weakened by her survival guilt.

A heartbreaking story of a young girl living in the land of freedom but captivated by her guilt that has taken place halfway across the world. Time passes, but it does not heal. Learning about Rachel's past had explained her character as an adult as we met her on the pages of this novel. Guided by the darkness of her past, she is afraid to express herself thru her passion - art, afraid to show the world her true character. Great ending of the novel. Rachel was finally free and open to new life possibilities and the future. Human nature tends to forgive, but never forget. Although I did enjoy the novel and Rachel's story, the novel itself was too long and at times it was stuck on the subjects that could have been avoided or shortened. Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark publisher for a free and advanced copy of the novel.

This is a historical fiction book that takes place after WWII with flashbacks to the war. It was unlike other historical fiction books I have read surrounding WWII. This book follows Rachel who is now in New York and married. It flashes back to her with her mother and how they experienced the war.

I listened and read this one. I am not Jewish, I don't know Yiddish, and I am not from New York. So very thankful for the audio version. There are a lot of things I would have mispronounced.

I really loved Rachel as a character. I loved how she was fighting with her past, she wasn't perfect and she grew throughout the book.

There was also a quote from a speech of Hitler's and I felt like some lady at a school board meeting could have said the same words. So that was a little scary to realize.

Thank you to @sourcebooks for gifting #readspinrepeatbookclub this book. As always thank you to @jennydlovesthebooks for being our liaison!

Also thank you to @netgalley for the audio because I would have been lost without it.

I enjoy Historical Fiction and often look for events and settings that I would like to learn more about. Shadows of Berlin is the story of Rachel Perlman, a German Jew who moved to the US with her only surviving relative, her Feter Fritz. They emigrated to New York from Berlin following the Displaced Persons Act of 1948. The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society aided Rashka, now Rachel, and her uncle, Feter Fritz, find a place to live in New York and attempt to acclimatize to their new circumstances after their harrowing experiences during WW2. The story begins in 1955, when Rachel is now married to Jewish-American Aaron Perlman who works as a manager in a seafood restaurant. Rachel has a lot of scars and issues that she is dealing with. Aaron is a loving man who is patient with his wife, but he really wants to start a family. Then the story loses me. Rachel is an artist who isn't painting. She sees the ghost of her mother often, there is a painting that is one of her mother's pieces that she wants, but someone else buys and on it goes. I am sorry to say that I gave up on this one at 30%. I couldn't connect with the characters at all. It was extremely long and after listening to five hours, I wasn't interested anymore. The narrator did a good job, it was the story I was not impressed with.

I have never been one to romanticize wartime, and I am happy that the author did not do that in the story.

I loved this book, and disliked this book. Which is why I gave it a three star rating.

The story gives us a glimpse into life not only in Germany, but in America not only post World War II… But before it and most especially during it.
While his facts of the time may have not been completely accurate, this is a work of fiction. And I enjoyed his telling in his way.

What I like about this book, is that the author delves into “what happened to the survivors?“ of World War II. Just because the war was over, does not mean that life went back to the way it was. It’s a story of the lives of many different people, and what they did to live during the war, survive during the war, and how they came out of the war.

What I disliked about the book, was I felt it was too long. I feel that this could have easily been a three part series. Even though I was interested in the topic of the book, it did take me quite a while to “get into it“. I also feel, that you can learn of the author’s passion for the World War II era. This book alternates between flashbacks to the wartime and into the modern time of the book, which was 1950s America. It’s in these changes between time periods, that there is a disconnect. It almost seems as if there are two authors writing the story, as the pace, intensity and excitement change.

I was contented with the authors coverage of some intense topics in the story. He includes survivor’s guilt, mental health issues (modern name PTSD), racial tensions and also marital discord. While these issues in general may be difficult for some people to read or think about, I feel that the author did a decent job in including them in the story. He did so without making them too disturbing, which would cause some to be unable to finish the book. He broached the topic, gave them simple but major parts of the story, and left them as a simple topic, not a deep disturbed plot to take over the story.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to experience this story. And I will definitely look into other pieces by the author David R. Gillham

This is a taut novel about how one survives and lives after unspeakable trauma and tragedy. The narration was fitting and the story pulls you in right for the very beginning.

An impeccable book, devastating in its blunt discussion of deeply known truths.

Those who die, haunt. Those who survive, are haunted.

The question of survivors guilt, real guilt, justice, and madness threads through this story from beginning to end.

A story told with real emotion and a raw honesty about experiences still being felt today.

I had the audiobook and the narrator was okay. The author and I never connected. I didn't like any of the characters. There is an art element and I had hoped it would keep me interested. Unfortunately that didn't happen.

There is too much going on in such a small place. The scars are too deep for several of the characters in ways that can't be compared. Sadly, it read like a B movie script, and that is heartbreaking.

Thank you NetGalley for accepting my request to read and review Shadows of Berlin.

Survivor's Guilt

War is a horrible thing, it changes everyone and everything it touches. Once anyone has been through a war they are never the same again as before. This is never truer than those brave souls that survived the holocaust during WWII.

Those that survived often wonder why me? Why was I chosen to survive when other's perished? They often had to do things they would never have done if not for the circumstances and they feel remorse for the acts they were forced to commit. Many cannot find a way to forgive themselves.

This is such for the story of Rachel, a young teenage Jewish girl during the holocaust. She survived and others she knew did not. She survived terrible circumstances and had to watch other's be taken away to die. She committed an act she cannot forgive herself for in order to save the lives of herself and her mother.

Rachel now lives in New York with her husband Aaron. Aaron is a Jew but he never fought in the war. He worked in safety in New York. He does not understand Rachel and her moods and strange reactions to certain things. He does try. Aaron wants a child, Rachel does not.

Rachel sees ghost of those past on. She hears them speak to her. Her mother and the girl in the beret. She remembers and she has nightmares. Her uncle and a counselor try to help her cope with the past, however it takes someone from the past and a special painting to help her move away from the past and into the future.

This was an audio book and I loved the narration. The voice of Aaron was my favorite. What a character. I could just picture him. What a great job the narrator did.

This was a great story of pain and redemption. I really enjoyed it and I do recommend it.

Thanks to David R. Gillham for writing a great story, to Suzanne Toren for the wonderful narration, to R.B. Media for publishing it and to NetGalley for allowing me a copy to listen to and review.

“Shadows of Berlin” gives a glimpse into the aftershock life of Rachel, a WWII Jewish survivor. Having relocated to New York with her only surviving relative, uncle Fritz, Rachel tries to make the best of her life while living with the traumas of her past. When uncle Fritz finds a painting created by Rachel’s mother is a pawn shop, the discovery triggers her worst nightmares.

Storyline wise, the story covers a lot of events, going back and forth between Rachel’s time in Berlin and the current time, and incorporates a lot of cultural elements of the time (1940s to 1950s). At times, it is a pleasant reading, but at other times it tends to get too much. In some ways, “Shadows of Berlin” could be compared to “The Goldfinch” when it comes to describing trauma and its aftermath, but doesn’t rise to the same literary mastery.

Audiobook wise, it’s brilliant! Suzanne Toren does a great job of not only changing voice patterns, depending on who is talking, but also goes all the way to get the foreign words in Yiddish, German, and a bit of French pronounced like a native speaker. This aspect greatly enhanced the listening experience and make the 16 hours of the audiobook pass seamlessly.



Special thanks to NetGalley, RB Media, Recorded Books, and the editorial team for giving me the opportunity to review the ARC in audiobook format and to you, my reader, for taking the time to read this honest personal book review.

If you are interested in other of my book reviews, make sure to follow me on GoodReads!

#LifeLongLearning #ShadowsofBerlin #NetGalley

Unfortunately, I could not make myself finish this book. It was well written although I thought there were way too many references to 1950’s culture and products. However, it was just too grim and depressing for me.
As always, suzanne Toren was excellent.

Never have I read such a believable and haunting book about the guilt of surviving the Holocaust as in Shadows of Berlin by David R. Gillham. He was able to capture the essence of survival guilt along with the haunting memories that lingered in daytime thoughts and reoccurred over and over in nightmares. It was both poignant and powerful. At its core, it explored the unimaginable guilt of being a survivor and the undeniable difficult concept of learning to forgive oneself for being alive while so many perished. David Gillham admitted in his author’s notes that he had always “been very interested in the idea of survival guilt, and wanted to explore the aftereffects of trauma and what the living owe to the memory of the dead.” His research was impeccable and his storytelling was masterful.

Rashka Morgenstern grew up in Berlin, Germany and was six years old when Hitler first began to emerge on the political scene. She was the only daughter of a famous woman artist. Her father had died when she was a toddler. Rashka survived the war and the Holocaust. However, her mother did not. When she arrived by herself seeking refuge in a displaced persons camp, her knowledge of Yiddish allowed her entry. The displaced persons camp was run by the Americans. It was there that Rashka was reunited with Feter (uncle) Fritz, her mother’s younger brother and her only remaining family member. Rashka and her Uncle Fritz immigrated to America and arrived on the Marine Starfish in 1949 at the Port of New York. The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society helped them secure the littlest apartment in a tenement building with other displaced Jews on Orchard Street. By 1955, Rashka Morgenstern had become Rachel Perlman, the loving wife of Aaron Perlman, a Jew from Flatbush. After seven years of marriage, something set off Rachel’s docile acceptance in her role as an American housewife. The trauma of her past, long hidden but not forgotten, surfaced and a psychiatrist was commissioned to help Rachel confront her past. She went out of her way to avoid talking about her past. Her past also influenced Rachel’s opinion about having a baby. Rachel and Aaron could not agree with each other on the subject of having a baby and growing their family. Aaron desperately wanted a child but Rachel wasn’t so sure.

Feter Fritz kept appearing in Rachel’s life especially when he needed something from her and it was usually money. One day, Uncle Fritz asked to see Rachel. At their meeting, he revealed that he had discovered one of her mother’s paintings in a pawn shop. He needed fifty dollars from Rachel to secure it. Her uncle would not reveal to her which painting he had discovered. Rachel went to the pawn shop and came face to face with the most shocking portrait her mother had ever painted. After the painting was revealed to Rachel, memories of the war and choices she was forced to make back then came flooding back to her. The secret she had kept hidden from all who knew her for all these years was haunting her again. It was hard for Rachel to think of anything else but that painting and what it represented. It brought back the agonizing choice she made back then in order to stay alive.

Shadows of Berlin by David R. Gillham was about love, loss, guilt, secrets, hope, abuse, trauma, survival, redemption and choices. It was full of memorable characters and the plot was engaging . I loved the references to the ionic places that existed in New York City in the 1950’s . I remember vividly eating at The Automatic with my grandfather and my cousins and at Katz’s delicatessen with my parents when we ventured down to the lower East side of New York City. The use of Yiddish words and phrases also brought back memories of my grandparents. It was hard for me to fathom the feelings of guilt the Rachel Perlman’s of the world must have been harboring inside them after the Holocaust. Most survivors avoided talking about their horrific ordeals and experiences. It is so important for these stories to shared. I tip my hat to David R. Gillham for his conception for the subject matter for Shadows of Berlin and its unforgettable characters. I also had never read about how Jews acted as “U boats” during the war, going undercover and emerging only for food and necessities. Rashka and her mother were forced to live in this way after the massive roundups of Jews began in Berlin. This was their only way to survive but in the long run they were captured anyway. Shadows of Berlin was well written and I highly recommend it.

Thank you to Recorded Books for allowing me to listen to this audiobook through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This is a long book. It’s good but it just felt too long. I enjoyed the audio and the narrator(s) did a good job. As a daughter of a Jew from Flatbush I felt the jewy parts were a bit overdone. I can tell you my mom would never have highlighted that part of her life as much as the main character who did. That said I appreciated the Jewish representation and the backstory in Berlin is haunting. Lovers of historical fiction will enjoy this and I think if you’re more patient than me you’ll love the audio.

This poignant novel is about Rachel and Aaron Perlman opening up in 1955. The couple have been married for several years and Aaron’s wants to start a family. Rachel’s memories from surviving as a Jew in Berlin during WWII still haunt her and she finds it difficult to move forward. She is not sure she wants to bring a child into the world.
Even though this novel is set in 1955, and focuses on the present, her flashbacks and painful memories are in the forefront. The flashbacks focus on her mother, an artist, who lost all her possessions and comfortable life when the Jews were rounded up and sent to camps.
On an outing, Rachel discovers an art painting in a local New York pawnshop, which sparks all these painful memories and she tries to track down the painting. Can the couple move forward from the past? Rachel’s husband did not have the same experiences and is trying to patient with her. With the help of a psychiatrist can Rachel heal? Emotion, heartwarming, heart wrenching, and a must read for historical fiction fans.

Place: 1955 New York
Having been born in New York, Aaron Perlman only knows what he has heard or seen on the news about the Holocaust. His wife Rachel left post war torn Berlin in 1949 at the age of 21. She arrived with Feter Fritz, her mother's brother, who survived Auschwitz.
Rachel's father passed when she was a young child while her mother did not survive the concentration camp. For these reasons, Rachel arrived in New York to start her new life with atrocious and tragic memories that affect her mental health.
Gillham's story about Aaron and Rachel's marriage entails Rachel's ongoing mental health issues in dealing with her memories of the war and the awful things she had to do to survive, the sightings of her mom who appears whenever she finds herself in stressful situations, as well as Rachel's aversion to having children.
Aaron tries his best to understand and empathize with what Rachel has gone through, but her traumatic memories cause many issues in their marriage.
This historical novel is heavy and sad as I would expect a post war story would be when its main character has a PTSD like illness. I would think that I would have enjoyed the e-book more reading it myself rather than listening to the audio.
The narration by Suzanne Toren was okay. I found that she hesitated often, and I found myself checking my phone to see if it had stopped. I would listen to another book that she narrates because I think it was just the voice she chose for Aaron that I found to be annoying, and this affected my enjoyment of this well written novel.

My thanks to #NetGalley, RB Media and the author for allowing me this ARC. My opinions are my own.

In a Nutshell: An excellent piece of literary fiction with well-carved characters and well-thought-out themes. It covers the post-WWII period, with some flashbacks set during the war itself. The audiobooks enhances the experience.

Story:
New York, 1955. Rachel is married to a young Jewish hotel manager named Aaron. She hopes to find solace in this marriage and escape the demons of her younger years in WWII-era Germany, as a U-boat Jew struggling to stay alive and away from the Nazis. But with the ghost of her mother constantly around her and the memories of the war always fresh, Rachel is stuck in the past and hopeless about the future. Aaron meanwhile is battling his own inner feelings with respect to the war and his wife. Will this young couple be able to overcome their individual struggles and cleanse their marriage of the shadows that hang over it?
The story is narrated mainly from Rachel’s limited third person pov.

The main characters are carved quite well. Rachel especially is such a layered character with her deep-rooted guilt over the past affecting every action of hers in the present. Aaron’s character begins in an oafish way but soon his personality starts revealing its shades. He is understanding in many ways and stubborn in many others. I liked his character much more than I had expected because a male character is rarely shown with such complicated yet realistic emotions. The rest of the characters range from intense to annoying to loveable to caricatured. The NY Jews (except, to a certain extent, for Aaron) felt more stereotypical than the German Jews, but as this is a story based in the 1950s, I am not sure how much of the ‘stereotype’ had its basis in historical facts.

The German flashbacks reveal a part of the WWII not commonly found in this genre. I hadn’t read about the U-boat Jews, the German Jews who survived the war submerged below the surface of daily life. Most of the portrayal of life as a German Jew in the 1940s was quite interesting to read. The NY segment was almost equally appealing, primarily due to the focus on PTSD and other mental health issues faced by Rachel. Aaron too struggled with his own version of survivor’s guilt as a Jew who didn’t face as many terrors as his German counterparts did. While this makes the book pretty serious, the author balances these dark topics with a healthy dose of humour and many light-hearted scenes.

I found the story built up wonderfully. What begins as myriad pieces of individual, seemingly unrelated subplots comes together into a perfectly cohesive whole as the book reaches its finale. There is no linear plotline and not even flashbacks to fixed points in the past. The narration goes back and forth to various historical time points and when this is added to the present narrative of 1955, the story fleshes itself out and reveals its depth and scope.

On the flip side, there is a lot of rambling at times. The pace is quite slow, though this is to be expected in literary fiction. A part of the writing seemed anachronistic for the time period.

I got strong vibes of Donna Tartt’s “The Goldfinch” from this book. The stories aren’t similar at all but in both novels, a painting is at the centre of the action, both are strongly character-driven, both have characters struggling with their pasts and trying to make peace with their presents, both deal with prejudice, both deal with PTSD, and both have grey characters than clear-cut black or white ones. I suppose “Shadows of Berlin” comes out the winner in comparison for completing within 416 pages what “The Goldfinch” required 750+ pages to accomplish. And it has a better ending.

The audiobook, clocking at 16 hours, is narrated by Suzanne Toren. She does an outstanding job keeping this complicated book together. With multiple timelines, a whole load of characters and various languages (English, German, Yiddish, and possibly French), her task wasn’t easy but she handles it extremely well. At the same time, I wish the writing had incorporated the time points to which the story goes in the past. There is no reference made to the time period and it is only as the events in that chapter unfold that we understand which timeline the story is in. I would definitely recommend the audio version but only to those comfortable with the audio format. Newbie listeners might find themselves a bit lost in the proceedings.

I think I would have liked this book even if I had read it, but the audiobook definitely turned my experience into an even better one as the slow pacing didn’t bother me as much.

4.25 stars.

My thanks to RB Media and NetGalley for the ALC of “Shadows of Berlin”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.

I tried to get into this story but only made it about an hour in. It just couldn’t keep my attention.