I honestly had a very hard time getting into this book. I usually love split fiction but was unable to follow this story line. I don’t know if it was me or the writing because this is my usual type of book. I finally finished it yesterday and I honestly don’t even remember the ending right now. I really struggled with this review. I wouldn’t be turned off from trying other books by this author but this book was a swing and a miss for me.

I saw it on a front display at barnes and noble yesterday so hopefully it will win for someone else.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book. All opinions are my own.

I struggled with the book's writing style. I did not connect with the two lovers (Bettina, a modern German painter, and Max, an Austrian Jew studying architecture). Their romance felt forced. Their lives were overturned by the Nazi takeover of Germany. I thought their story would be more cohesive without the added search in the 1990s by their daughter's attempt to identify her father and his fate. I would have enjoyed it more if the characters of Bettina and Max had been given more depth and centred entirely on their struggles and their outcomes.

I found the art history very interesting, especially the Bauhaus movement for clean lines in architecture and design, and how modern emotionally influenced painting styles became labelled degenerative in favour of the romantic realism of the Nazis. The porcelain factory in Allach, Germany, later using slave labour from the Dachau concentration camp, was fascinating. The art and architecture, including the porcelain figurines, sent me searching for photos and more information on the internet. Himmler's obsession with Allach porcelain made the figurines desired by the Nazi regime, and they command very high prices today.

I thought the story worked very well when it focused on the art, and that part was of great interest to me. The evil and terror of the Nazi regime and how it destroyed or ended the lives of countless people,
I felt was better done in other non-fiction and historically-based fiction books I have read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read the ARC. The Porcelain Maker is due to be published on November 7.

This work of historical fiction uses alternating timelines to tell its story. The first begins in 1925 Germany from Berlin to Dachau, where two artists (Bettina and Max) fall in love and try to survive. Then 1993 and a daughter desperately seeking a father she never knew. Her only clues are to follow their artwork left behind.
An actual porcelain factory in Dachau is the setting where Jewish artists would churn out pieces of art favored by the Nazi command. As I knew little of this it put a different slant on the history.
This is an emotional debut novel where so many sacrifices were made for love. Yet art somehow shines a light through the horror. Thank you Netgalley and St Martins Press.

I loved this! Sarah Freethy writes so beautifully it felt like I was reading an old black and white movie, which was so endearing and really put you in that time period with them. I stayed up way too late at the end, putting it down wasn’t an option. This is her first novel and I hope it’s not her last! Thank you to @stmartinspress, @sarah.freethy and @netgalley for my copy!

4 interesting history stars

Did you know there was a porcelain factory at Dachau? I had no idea, and I learned that porcelain figurines were highly coveted by the top Germans and bestowed as gifts. The factory capitalized on the labor of camp prisoners.

There are two timelines in this one. The earlier one features Bettina, a talented artist, and her love story with Max, a Jewish architect. The pair hopes that the political situation will resolve and that they can continue their art and romance. As you might predict, that was not meant to be, and Max is sent away, landing at Dachau and the porcelain factory.

Meanwhile, Bettina is forced to create art that is found “more pleasing” and does her part for the resistance. She plots to escape Germany with Max.

The other storyline is more contemporary as Bettina’s daughter searches for clues about her unknown father and tracks down rare porcelain. As she unravels the past, we get the truth about what happened all those years ago.

This is the debut novel from this author, and I look forward to more historical fiction from her.

A story of great love and strong family bonds. Clara goes on a journey after the death of her mother to discover who her father is. It is told from the the voice of several characters and spans different eras. The setting spans Nazi Germany, 90’s America and Europe. The story is emotionally charged as Clara discovers all the hidden reasons her mother never disclosed who her father was. It is a great book to curl up on the couch with.

The Porcelain Maker by Sarah Freethy is a romance set in the unsettled world of Germany/Austria in the 1930’s. Bettina Vogal is an aspiring artist. She is in love with Max Ehrlich, a Jewish architect. As Germany falls increasingly under the influence of Hitler, Bettina and Max make plans to leave for America. When Max is arrested, a pregnant Bettina must do what is necessary as she waits the birth of her daughter and for the return of Max. She must find a safe haven for her and Max’s child. Meanwhile in 1993, the discovery of a photograph taken in 1941 takes the reader on an adventure of discovery with Clara, Bettina’s daughter and granddaughter, Lotte. Together they struggle to discover what Bettina’s life was like during that perilous time, what happen to the people in the photograph, who is the owner of a porcelain figure called Viking and the identify of Clara’ father. An interesting read. I would recommend this book.

This beautifully written historical fiction is set during World War II and the implementation of Hitler’s Final Solution. Two young and highly talented artists, Bettina and Max, meet and begin a whirlwind romance which inadvertently takes them into the mouth of the lion, the city of Berlin.
Bettina is safe, but Max is Jewish and it doesn’t take long for him to be reported and sent to Dachau. The only surviving grace for Max is his extraordinary talent with designing porcelain. Because of this, he’s allowed to work in the shop and survive slightly better than the other inmates.
Bettina pretends to move on with her life, when in reality she is doing whatever it takes to bring herself closer to Max, including marrying a German officer.
We follow these two, each as much in love as the day they met, while they do whatever little is possible to be close and survive the terrors of war. Tense, sensitive, and full of highs and lows, their love story could easily have happened in reality.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date is November 7, 2023.

The Porcelain Maker
By Sarah Freethy

This is a story of love – a love which began in the early days of the Nazi takeover in Germany and the holocaust. Max Erlich is an Austrian Jew studying architecture in Germany. Bettina Vogel is a painter of German extraction, from a family of Nazi sympathizers. In fact, her cruel and sadistic brother became a member of the SS.

Max and Bettina met in artistic circles and fell deeply in love. As conditions in Germany deteriorated, they planned to escape the country, but were thwarted by Bettina's brother. Max ended up in Dachau, leaving Bettina alone and pregnant. The couple lived through many ups and downs while the 3rd Reich continued to perpetrate atrocities.

But the second part of the story revolves around Max and Bettina's grown daughter, Clara, and her daughter, Lotte, and their search for answers – and the truth about what really happened in the end. Finally they are able to locate the one person who can set the record straight. What they learn will leave them with as many questions as answers.

This is a very moving tale about the horrors during World War II. It is worth a reader's time to gain some understanding of the things that went on.

I really enjoyed this dual timeline book that started in 1993 when Clara Vogel went to an auction house in Cincinnati to buy porcelain figurines that came from a certain porcelain factory during World War II. The story then goes to Germany in 1925 where artist Bettina Vogel is starting to be known for her abstract artwork. Bettina meets Max Ehrlich and they fall in love. Max is Jewish and Bettina is not. Clara Vogel is a divorced mom who is on a quest to find out who her father is. Clara's daughter, Lotte, helps her mom search for the truth.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this wonderful story that kept me up way too late. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves WWII Historical Fiction.

For an author’s debut novel, I think she did well. As a person who reads a lot of historical fiction during the time of WWII, I came away expecting more. The storyline was original and enjoyable, but I think more character depth would have made it better, especially for Clara and Lotte. Overall, I do recommend it and look forward to reading more by Ms. Freethy.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the complimentary copy of this book – coming out 11/7. As always, the opinions expressed within this review are completely my own.

I love a debut. And I especially love it when there are two POV that span over decades to see the vibrations of generational pain. It allows me to see the connections that happen that last from one person to another. In ‘present’ time, you have Clara who is seeking the truth about who her father was and all she has are some porcelain figurines. Flashing back to Nazi Germany are two young artists (Max and Bettina) who as an architect and painter find themselves fighting to survive..

I’ve read a lot of debuts and have visited Dachau’s concentration camp more than 10x when we lived in Germany. The book speaks to those horrors but also tries to maintain a forbidden love story within total destruction.

It was a good debut. I always feel weird saying I liked pieces that take place in those camps because it’s not the pain I want to experience as a reader, it’s that I never want to forget each persons voice. And that is why I will always read WWII HF or memoirs.. each book has a different spotlight and allows a voice to be heard.

Congrats on your debut

This is a beautifully written story. The story goes between WWII and 1993. It's intriguing and poignant. It is a little on the long side and was slow at times. It is a difficult subject, especially with things that are currently happening in the world. If you enjoy historical fiction, this is for you.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for advanced copy, and I give my review freely

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read The Porcelain Maker.
When Clara’s mother Bettina died, Clara thought the last chance to find out the truth about her father had died as well. Then a little known clearing house contacted her to let her know that a porcelain figurine, which she had put on a watch, had surfaced. The search for her father had now begun in ernest.
In the story by debut author, Sarah Freethy, we are plunged into pre WWII Europe following aspiring artist, Bettina and up-and-coming architect Max as their romance blossoms. Fast forward to 1993 Clara and her daughter Lotte try to put the pieces of Bettina’s life in order to once and for all determine who her father really was.
Told in dual timeline form this was a good effort, it kept me reading until the end were it seemed to be hastily put together. It left me with some questions of how the characters all came to be as told in the epilogue.

DNF at 60%. This story line was too slow for me. And realized at 60% that it wasn’t going any faster. While I wanted to see what the end was- 3 more hours just wasn’t what I wanted to give this book.

I did feel like it was beautifully written- but did feel the characters were a little underdeveloped.

Wow, what a heartbreaking, yet magnificently written book. The history, the detail, the drama - it was done so well. I both read and listened to this and I found both versions to be great. I was never confused, despite the different timelines and some different characters, but instead intrigued. I became devoted to the characters and their experiences and obsessed with the storyline. The topic is difficult, especially given current events, but still well done. Just be prepared for tears!
Thank you netgalley for my advanced copies.

Sarah Freethy’s The Porcelain Maker was a story that gripped me. This time split novel centers not only on love separated during the racial injustice of the Holocaust, but on a daughter’s search for a father she never knew. In this novel, we enter into the world of Dachau’s porcelain factory, as art becomes a defiant expression to a regime intent on imposing terror.
The plot of this story greatly intrigued me. However, I felt the story took too long to truly build. Nevertheless, the emotion pouring forth from the pages impressed upon my heart. The author skillfully delivered a soul clenching story that will not soon be forgotten.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publishers. I was not required to provide a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.

I loved this book. I really liked the telling of this story from two different sides of the war. It really makes you wonder how many adults may not know their history with so many families torn apart.

As a fan of historical fiction set in the WW2 era, this one gives you all the feels-hope, despair, love, hate. Set in Germany in the 1920s through 1946 as well as in London, Cincinnati and Munich in 1993, the story takes you on a journey of a daughter finding the truth of her parents love and heartbreak. Clara travels from London to Cincinnati to find porcelain animals that could lead her to discover who her father was because her mother, Bettina, never revealed him. In Bettina's story, we learn of her passion and talent for art and how it became labelled degenerative in the eyes of the Nazis. The dual time line thoughtfully reveals Bettina's life and loves through the years and how she had to make unimaginably difficulty decisions when the Nazis took over. She married an SS soldier to keep her daughter safe and worked with artisans and prisoners in Dachau to create the porcelain creatures that Himmler desired to be able to reconnect with her one true love.
At the end of the book, the author describes that some historical people and events were accurate but the main characters were fictional. She created characters that had depth and made you believe were real throughout the story. As I was reading I could feel the emotions from Clara and Bettina and how their decisions had an effect on others. You were taken into the art scene in the 20s and 30s and saw the growth of the characters. In Germany, especially Dachau, the reader understood the horror of the camp as respectfully as one can. I enjoyed the journey and would recommend this debut book especially if you are an fan of a variety of art forms. Check out the author's website for more information about the art, rabbits, music, etc. in the book.
#StMartinsPress #ThePorcelainMaker
Thank you St. Martins Press and Net Galley for a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

Swoon. This book was very well done! An epic heart-wrenching journey about love, loyalty, bravery and courage told between two timelines coming masterfully together in the end.

Set in present day, Clara is a young woman tracing the identity of her father through the decades of time. She tries to understand his beginnings tracing his past through a single porcelain object. As she digs into his past she wrestles internally with some of her mother’s decisions.

Set in Germany during the start of the war there are two young lovers names Bettina and Max. They are both artists with a deep love for each other. Just as they feel they will be able to escape the war torn paths they get sucked in to the wrath of the Nazi’s. Max gets sent to a concentration camp and his ability and talents with porcelain is the only things that keeps him alive. Bound and determined to make it out alive and find Bettina, Max finds himself doing whatever it takes to stay under the radar of the Nazi’s prying eyes.

I am very shocked this was a debut novel. It was so well written with a unique point of view with the porcelain factory. I love how this author tied together past and present slowly throughout the book! I loved the mystery behind the relationship with Bettina and her daughter and why she was so tight lipped about her past. Don’t even get me started on the love story! So heartwarming! 💕 I am not sure I will ever tire of World War II stories and always love to see how authors find something unique to bring to a very saturated topic. Thank you again St. Martin Press for allowing me the chance to read this book!