This book was set in two different timelines--one in 2016 and the other during WWII.

In 1942, Anna was pregnant--she was only seventeen. The father of her unborn child is already dead and Anna decides to give the baby up for adoption, to a well to do family but she didn't realize how it would affect her once the baby boy was snatched away from her. Heartbroken with grief, Anna starts working at a camp in the east. Present day in London, Anna is a ninety year old woman. Her neighbor, Lauren finds her at the bus stop and brings her back to the house. Lauren's son is learning German and Laurel believes Anna as a kind loving old woman. But when they find out about Anna's secret, will it destroy their relationship with this kind elderly woman?

Writing about war, particularly about WWII is very challenging and the author must have done tremendous research on the subject. The story itself was emotional and heartbreaking at times and there were some tear jerking moments in the story. This was also quite an unputdownable book and really touching particularly when reading about Anna and we see her as one courageous and brave woman who had to overcome many obstacles in life. Overall, this was an emotional and heartbreaking story and I highly recommend this book. Worth five stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

Never before have I read anything that will stay with me as much as The Woman Outside the Walls. Never before have I read a book where the protagonist was on the ‘wrong side’ and spent the rest of her life essentially running.

This little old lady who cleans at the church, makes the most amazing cakes and is the ideal neighbour, has a history that she doesn’t want anyone to know about because she feels incredible fear and guilt.

Written across multiple timelines, Suzanne Goldring’s latest novel will send you on a hugely emotional journey. I was shocked, horrified and disgusted but also sympathetic, understanding, and pleased that Anna’s story was finally being told.

If you enjoy reading historical fiction and you have an open mind (and stomach) then check out The Woman Outside the Walls. Incredibly educational and a story that will stay with you for a long time.

I am lucky enough to be a part of Books on Tour for this book, so thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of The Woman Outside the Walls.

The Woman Outside the Walls is a fantastic read for fans of historical fiction . This book is written in two time lines, during world war 2 in Germany and London in modern times, This story is rather different to what I’ve read before based in the WW 2 era but I absolutely loved it. This book was a complete eye opener for me. It was an emotional and at times heartbreaking read.. This story held my interest the whole way through and each time I finished a chapter I just wanted to continue reading as I was so absorbed in this story. A brilliant read.

The Woman Outside the Walls by Suzanne Goldring is a book that will stay with you. The story toggles between 2016 and Germany during WWII. We meet Anna towards the end of the war, as a young woman living with other orphans struggling to survive daily. They are eating rats to survive. She meets her future husband, a British soldier, and he whisks her to London where she has a good life. As her life unfolds we learn that Anna has a very complicated past.
This book will leave you with many questions.
Is a person all bad?
Can a person do bad things but still be a “good” person?
Is your life defined by one thing that happens to you?
Should one person be held responsible for the crimes of many?
I don’t know these answers, but it definitely gave me something to think about. I devoured this book in two days. I thought the ending was superb. It really left it up to you. I look forward to reading more books by this author.
Many thanks to the author, Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
#TheWomanOutsidetheWalls #NetGalley

3.5 stars
Another emotional and heart-wrenching read from Suzanne Goldring.
I’m a huge fan of the dual timeline in stories and this cleverly shows the impact of war on todays time of peace and reminds us that we should never forget.
Anna is a survivor for sure and her story a sobering one as we follow her memories and guilt.
Fascinating characters and a storyline to get lost in, this is an emotional one.

Hamburg, 1942 Anna is seventeen years old and is hiding her pregnancy from her parents. The father of her unborn child is dead and Anna is putting her baby up for adoption. She has convinced herself that it’s the best thing to do for her baby, herself and her family. But when her son is taken from her immediately after he is born, she is devastated. Now Anna is living in London, she is ninety years old and she has held the secret of her past for her entire life. She is ready to free herself from the pain of her decisions, but will her truth set her free or continue to consume her until her last breath?

This heartbreaking story was so emotional. I was completely taken back by the unexpected storyline. World War II, like every other war, forced people into decisions that scared them for their entire life. So many brokenness and lost lives, not just the physical loss of life, but the emotional loss that people experienced. This gripping story of loss and redemption was one that will hold your attention to the very end. The descriptive storyline will make you feel as if you are right there among the characters. My heart goes out to Anna and the tough decisions she was forced to make, all alone and at such a young age. This well written story was a rapid read that I highly recommend.

Thank you Suzanne Goldring for such a wonderful and moving story. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I definitely recommend it.

It's easy for us 21st century first world humans to judge those who have had to contend with things we can't possibly comprehend. This book doesn't try to absolve Anna of guilt for her actions, but rather forces us to ask ourselves "What would I have done?" What would you be willing to do to survive? Anna did what she had to do, and I doubt many of us would be noble enough to do otherwise.

I don't mind a dual timeline, but this one jumps around between time periods so much - and introduces other perspectives - resulting in jarring transitions and disrupting the flow. Though Anna's full backstory isn't fully revealed until the end, the story was predictable and I guessed the part she played very early on, and consequently the ending felt anti-climactic. There's nothing special about the writing or character development.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC.

I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Suzanne Goldring's heartbreaking dual timeline tale THE WOMAN OUTSIDE THE WALLS.

I have read all of Suzanne Goldring's books (my favourite still being "My Name is Eva" ) and this is one that is slightly different though it tells something of the same story. But through the main character's eyes we see something of a different picture. Again it is told through the past and the present as the secrets of the past come to light in the present day. Which leaves us with something of a moral dilemma. What is right? What is wrong? And just what will you do to survive?

Hamburg 1943: Seventeen year old Anna Kolhmann falls in love with a young German soldier who thus leaves her with a parting gift before he is killed in action. Faced with a dilemma of whether to confide in her parents or not, Anna realises she can never tell them the truth - that she is pregnant and the father is dead. So she takes herself off to a maternity home where her baby will be given to the perfect family. She knows that this is best, that she could never give it all that it needs. But she doesn't expect to feel such overwhelming love for her beautiful baby boy or the devastation when he is snatched from her, never to be seen again. In her mind, she has named him Peter and it is there he will remain alive to her as he was in those first moments she glimpsed him.

In her grief, she returns to Hamburg with a plan. She has accepted a position as a secretary in a prison far away in the east. As she sets off, Anna feels as if a chapter has been closed and a new one is about to begin. What she didn't know was what she was stepping into...what kind of prison it was...and the part she would play.

London 2016: Ninety year old Anna stuffs another newspaper clipping into her case, her eyes brimming with tears and her hands trembling. She feels the time has come. They are coming for her, as they have all the others who remain. She puts on her coat, grabs her case and shuts the door to her terraced house and walks away.

Lauren has lived next door to Anna, whom she knows as Margie, for twenty years and knows the elderly woman doesn't go out anywhere except to the corner store or the church. But when she sees Margie's milk still sitting on the doorstep at the end of the day, she begins to worry something has happened to her neighbour. It's not until her son Freddie returns home does she discover he has found her slumped at a bus stop with no idea what she is doing or where she is going. They can make no sense of what she is saying as she babbles away in a foreign language, possibly German. Together, Lauren and Freddie help Margie home and call the doctor for fear she may have developed some kind of dementia.

Freddie is just 13 years old and has been studying German at school so he has picked up a word or two Margie has uttered but it's not until their neighbour offers to enhance Freddie's grasp of the German language by holding conversation classes that they begin to wonder about Margie's background. Then one day Freddie comes home with the prospect of reading "some girl's diary of the war" (insert eye rolling from Freddie) which he couldn't be more bored with which Lauren makes more real for him by taking him to Amsterdam to see the house in which Anne Frank and her family had hidden. He returns with a postcard of Anne Frank which he gives to Margie as a thank you for helping him with his German that Lauren later finds torn in half in the bin. What is it that haunts Margie that distresses her so?

Then when Freddie comes home with an assignment on the war and its origins, he decides to question Margie on her own experiences, little realising the can of worms he is about to open and heartache that will be unleashed. But can the sins of the past ever be forgiven?

THE WOMAN OUTSIDE THE WALLS reminds us that stories such as this must never be forgotten. The Holocaust and its atrocities must never be forgotten. We must never forget those crimes against humanity...we must remember them so that they will never happen again.

Anna is a strong and resilient young woman who had seen too much in her young life, having changed her name three times in three years before escaping with the British officer who saved her from poverty and took her home to England to live. But Anna never forgot...she was ashamed and consumed with a guilt that never ever left her. But her story is one that is shrouded in secrets and though I had guessed the part she played, it isn't completely revealed until near the end.

This dual timeline tale is a little different in that it seemingly jumps around a little, but that is only because some aspects remain hidden until the relative part of the story unfolds. Anna is the predominant voice in this story, both in past and the present. We do hear from Lauren as well which lends something of a different perspective as an outsider looking in. Someone who has known their neighbour for twenty years and thus their shock at the truth when it is revealed.

However, I see Anna as a victim also. The people of Germany didn't want the war that was inflicted on them and yet they had to abide by certain laws anyway. Their lives were turned upside down and destroyed by their own people, let alone the Allies who were fighting them. THE WOMAN OUTSIDE THE WALLSS is a thought-provoking tale as it is heartbreaking. There are questions that you would ask yourself should you find yourself in similar circumstances. At the end of the day, it is about survival. You do what you do to survive. And only then can you begin to reconcile the decisions you have made.

Overall, THE WOMAN OUTSIDE THE WALLS is an emotive tale about one woman's strength and resilience and ultimately her survival. Perfect for fans of wartime historical fiction.

I would like to thank #SuzanneGoldring, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheWomanOutsideTheWalls in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.

Goldring asks a lot of hard questions in her afterward notes.
The character, Anna, is a tricky one to maneuver. She experiences almost the full gamut of Germany’s history from Lebensborn to the camps— birth to death.
It’s a thoughtful read, but I have very little empathy for Anna. You reap what you sow. She had to live with a guilty conscience, which is no comparison to the true victims of the war.
I had a strong reaction to this book, but it’s topics need to be discussed more and not sanitized.

Wow. I enjoy historical fiction about WWII, but usually the books are from the point of view of one of the prisoners. This book was refreshing in that it was the view of someone who worked in one of the concentration camps/prisons. While the characters were fictional, I could see the story being real. The deception, the crimes, the gruesomeness, the aftermath, being scared – just all of it. Goldring did a great job of writing a very realistic novel; how Anna and her friends had to survive toward the end of the war was astonishing. The novel really makes one think – should someone who didn’t personally hurt anyone, who didn’t agree with what was happening, be prosecuted for being a secretary or in another like position? What if it’s your sweet next-door neighbor, who has been like family to you? This book is a great read, and an even better one for a book club. It would foster great discussion!

Anna is in her 90's and living a quiet and peaceful life but she has lived with the horrors and struggles of her past and of the fear that it's going to catch up with her.

Told from different time lines - pre-war, post war and the present - and mainly from Anna's perspective, this is the story of her life; the good, the bad and the ugly. I admit it did, at times, feel like it was jumping from one time to another and not always, I felt, in a logical way which made it a bit hard to keep up but you soon get caught up in the story.

This is a real thought-provoker and makes you ask yourself some difficult questions about what you would do to survive and if you do, how do you reconcile the decisions you have made.

Although this is a work of fiction, there are historical facts that are interwoven in the story which makes it feel quite authentic and I must thank Bookouture and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of The Woman Outside the Walls.

I was looking forward to reading The Woman Outside the Walls after reading The Girl with the Scarlett Ribbon and I wasn't disappointed! I was gripped all the way through. Told over two timelines, Suzanne tells the historical aspects as though she was there. Good book to read if you like takes that include concentration camps during WWII

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

a well written book about anna and how she survived the war, its a before and after sort of book going back and forth between timelines but you get the gist of what anna had to do to survive the war

a thought provoking book

This is the story of Anna, who is now in her 90’ s and lives her life peacefully and quietly but with the horrors of WWII and her part in it at a prison camp as well as her time trying to survive post war as she meets up with a group who take her in and they live together in a cellar and work together to stay alive. She is a survivor but she is surviving filled with guilt.
The story is told in dual time lines, in her past and her present, where she lives next to her neighbors, who adore her, and Freddie is doing a project on WWII and is learning German at school and asks Anna for her help, which leads her to start thinking back to all she is hiding.
In the past chapters we see how horrific life was then and what they went through just to survive. There are a lot of triggers but it is a story that is very well told and gets to your heart.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

From someone who doesn't usually read too many war related books...this one just caught my attention. And it kept my attention all the way through. Read in war times and present makes you realize what happens and how war affects others in the present. Greatly told story

Thanks to the author and the publisher and NetGalley for an early release of this book.

The Woman Outside the Walls is another powerful heart felt book by Suzanne Goldring that spans over 77 years.

There is a dual time line from before and after the war to present day.

Anna is now in her 90's and lives every day with the horror of World War 2 and her part in it at a prison camp.

She is resilient, a survivor and not without guilt.

In present day she has a new name and lives a quiet life .

The Woman Outside the Walls teaches us that the story of the War must never be forgotten and we must listen.

Suzanne Goldring is a born story teller and her books never disappoint.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for a spellbinding compelling read.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to review this ARC.

The Woman Outside the Wall is a wonderful WW2 fiction with a lovable cast of characters that draws you in and doesn't let you go until you finish. It's one of those stories where you kind of know where the story is headed, but the story is so good you don't care.

It also reminds us that the world is not black and white, there are morally gray bits that will haunt us.

Very moving and gripping storyline. It tells the story of a young german woman after working in a prisoner of war camp is forced to hide her identity in fear of being arrested by the british for war crimes. The story goes back and forth from past to the present telling the hardships she had to go through to keep her identity a secret, even her husband didn't know the full story.
When her young next door neighbour starts to ask her questions about the war for his school project all that she has fought to keep hidden now comes out.

A compelling storyline with a really evocative and thoughtprovoking manner about it, I spent the whole of this book questioning what I would do and the questionng myself again. The characters were well developed and really added an extra something special to the book.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookoture!

What do you consider right? What do you consider wrong? What would you be willing to do to survive?
This book makes you face those questions. I have not read such a thought provoking book in quite some time! This book takes you on a journey of survival and makes you evaluate your life along the way. What an amazing journey this read turned out to be. I would highly recommend reading this in a group setting so you can really answer those hard questions as you read.

Triggers:
-Placement of child/Adoption
-Suicide
-Death of children
-War Crimes