3.5 ⭐️
I have a deep respect for all those who lived and suffered through that horrible time of WWII and I feel sad that with this story I didn't quite connect with what I was reading. I liked the two timelines because we were able to see what happened to those people in the past. Maybe it influences that I am not very knowledgeable about art and that I think that made my interest lower. The rest that happens in the book and that I have read about it before, that just broke me every time I advanced with the reading.
But as I always say, read the book and get your own opinion 😉

This book was just “meh” for me. I felt like I was reading it because I had to finish it instead of reading it because I wanted to finish it. I can’t quite put my finger on what it was.

This book was a very interesting and unique historical fiction book set in the time period of WW2. I can not believe that this book was written by a debut author! Ihave read many books during this time period however the author has captured the facts in a very different style. The Porcelain Maker of Dachau captures the gut wrenching events that transpired during this time period. I was totally engaged in this book and found it so fascinating how the author captured a different perspective of WW2. Put this book on your TBR list because you won’t want to miss it.
Many thanks to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my review.

Historical fiction is becoming a much loved trope for me. I look forward to the rich stories that are poignant and often harrowing. I think it's important to examine our past to understand where we came from and where we are going. It's also important not to sugar coat or look away from the very ugly side of things. Historical fiction does all that, oftentimes blending fiction in with fact. I don't know how much of the story of the Porcelain Maker from Dachau is true, but it was a beautiful and tragic tale. I say it time and again, but I have no idea how people lived through the horrors with grace, dignity, and certainly more fortitude that I possess. I highly recommend this story.

Told in dual timelines, Clara in 1993 and Bettina, her mother, in the 1920s and later, we piece together what happened to Clara's father during the Holocaust.

This book did not draw me in, but maybe I've just read too many books that seem similar lately. It is well written and has aspects of history and romance. Recommended for book clubs that haven't read too much WWII literature lately.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. #sponsored

Such an incredible read - the story begins with a woman locating some pieces of porcelain that she hopes will lead her to finding out the identity of her father. This porcelain was produced in Nazi Germany in Dachau. The story was totally absorbing. It showed effects of the Nazi horrors, the fear, the hopelessness. The art information was fascinating. I highly recommend this book.

A powerful and moving story told in dual timelines.
If you love historical fiction and enjoy reading heartbreaking stories surrounding WWII you won’t be disappointed.
Only reason I am not giving five stars is due to the slow moving. In some ways it’s effective but it didn’t keep me captivated enough to warrant the perfect score.
However still a very solid read and I am thankful for the advanced copy.

The Porcelain Maker is a dual timeline WWII historical fiction. In one thread we meet Clara in 1993. Her mother has recently passed and a deathbed comment about The Porcelain Maker leads Clara to unravel the mystery of her unknown father. The second thread is with her mother Bettina, in a German art school in the 1930s.

I’ve read a lot of historical fiction of this era, and this was simply OK. The first half was slow, the second tried to do too much, and the story and characters didn’t feel fully developed. Perhaps my own issue, as I had finished All The Light We Cannot See before starting this, and the Porcelain Maker didn’t fare well by comparison.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for this honest review.

Thank you St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read and review The Porcelain Maker on NetGalley.

Stars: 4

First things first: My Kindle is tear proof. I teared up, cried and at one point forced myself not to just sob.

This is a slow burn. I think the book turned to a story midway. I found at this point an endearing romance. Two people: smart, listening to one another and working together in bad times. I knew the worst was yet to come, and that may have aided in my heartache. I liked them. There shared love for art and each other brought a different side to loss and courage in a cruel time.

I have read a lot of WW II historical fiction over decades and I appreciate humanizing artists. This was inspired by a factory in Dachau and needed a solid reference in Author Notes.

I wish the author well in her future endeavors. She has a writing style that touched me. I will watch for future works.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Sarah Freethy’s The Porcelain Maker ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


I loved this work of historical fiction that alternates between Germany of 1929 - WW II and 1993 America.

Clara lives in the US and has just lost her mother. Clara is determined to find out who her dad was— a secret her mother protected until her passing. Clara buys a large lot of porcelain at an auction to hopefully shed some light on his identity and on why her mother refused to share that information with Clara.

Max and Bettina meet in Germany in 1929 and are immediately enthralled with one another. He is a Jewish architect, and she is a talented painter. Their lives are upended when Max is sent to Dachau, where his ability to make porcelain figures seems to keep him alive. Bettina, of course, wants to save him at any cost.

This story is heartbreaking and is beautifully told.

Thank you to the author, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for the ebook in exchange for my feedback.

The Porcelain Maker is a historical fiction book based on an actual porcelain factory in Dachau during WWII. The story is told in two alternating time periods, 1940’s and 1973. A young lady wants to know who her father is, but her mother wouldn’t talk about it. Go forward to 1973 and the granddaughter is going to great lengths to also find out. She knows he had something to do with porcelain.
I am definitely in the minority due to the fact that I was ready to quit the book, but because I love historical fiction and in particular stories about the Holocaust, I persevered and was so glad I did.
Thank you to Sarah Freethy, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC. This review is given freely.

#StMartin’sPress, #SarahFreethy, #NetGalley

The Porcelain Maker is great historical fiction mixed with art. This is a beautiful entertaining and at times sad story.

This is a book that spans many years and has a dual timeline. The main characters are talented artists that try to adjust to the world during WWII. I had no idea that Hitler did not like and discouraged what was considered modern art before and during WWII. The war is difficult for the Jews in the story and also for those that are not Jews.

I knew that Hitler and the Nazi's collected and stole art during WWII. But I did not know that the art included porcelain that the Nazi's produced, collected and gave as gifts. I spent days researching the porcelain that the Nazi's made before and during the war.. You can still see the actual porcelain in pictures with SS members. Some of them are for sale, but they have not been made since WWII ended.

I listened to the audiobook and also read some of the book. The narrator, Kristin Atherton, did a great job. I love having access to both, so I can listen in the car and read the book later in the house.

A sad but moving book. Very well written! I enjoyed it from the first moment and needed to know how the story ended. A great WWII novel.

Really fascinating story! I was a tad bit disappointed the protagonists were fictional characters. But overall, I really enjoyed this book and gave it 4.5 stars on Goodreads!

“Things have to change soon, I’m sure of it. The pendulum will swing the other way. Every generation thinks they’re living through uniquely terrible times.”

Well, here’s another example of a piece of WWII history I knew nothing about. This story, by debut author Sarah Freethy, is full of the atrocities you know about, and the bravery and tenacity of the Jewish men and women and those non-Jews who loved them.

I was googling images of the porcelain figurines to see the art that was created by the porcelain maker (Max). It is fascinating to see the items.

Rating
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25

Read if you like:
WWII historical fiction
Alternating timelines
Debut authors

Thank you St Martins Press for an ARC and finished copy and MacMillan Audio for an ALC.

touching love story that spans decades and focuses on a piece of art. Beauty can arise anywhere and anytime.

3 1/2 stars rounded up

This story is set in two timelines.

The first is Set in WWII Germany, two artists are in love. There’s just one problem- Max is Jewish in a time when that is dangerous. He is arrested and sent to Dachau where he begins to work in the porcelain factory. Bettina discovers this when one of his pieces matches a painting only he would know about. With Bettina’s ties to the German police, she is able to find a way to spend some time with him. She risks her life and her daughter’s safety to be with the man she loves.

In 1993 Clara is trying to understand her mother and figure out the identity of her father, and all she knows is that he was a porcelain maker of a certain type of porcelain.

Overall a tragic story and I appreciated learning something new about WWII Germany in regards to the Allach porcelain factory. I didn’t actually like Bettina very much, so while I was rooting for her and Max, it was mostly for Max’s sake, as I did love his character.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

For a debut novel, this was impressive. I knew nothing about the Allach porcelain factory housed in the Dachau concentration camp during WWII. The author managed to create a sweeping dual time period story that tugged on the heart strings and brought to life an often overlooked aspect of WWII.

Bettina and Max were endearing characters who despite guessing the outcome you really wanted to see succeed. They’re two artists studying at the Bauhaus modern art school in 1929 Germany. Max is a talented Austrian Jewish architect while Bettina is a celebrated, innovative painter. They’re surrounded by decadent, bohemian culture and those on the edge of society. They fall deeply in love almost immediately after meeting at a party. Together they weather the most difficult hardships, as Hitler rises in power and suddenly the art they’ve created is deemed “degenerate.”

Because Max is Jewish he’s constantly in danger. One evening, he’s kidnapped only to arrive at Dachau where his talent for creating beautiful porcelain is the one thing keeping him alive. Without Max, Bettina is forced to make an impossible choice. When she finds Max again in the concentration camp, she hatches a plan to rescue him. Will she succeed?

In 1993, Clara is on a mission to find her father. Her mother kept his identity a secret from her until on her deathbed she reveals he was a porcelain maker near Dachau. This starts her quest to discover the truth and why her mother kept him a secret for so long.

I was completely engaged in this story and found it hard to put down. There was palpable tension throughout with everyone seemingly walking on a tightrope not knowing if the art they created or secrets they harbored would get them killed. It’s hard to reconcile the dichotomy of beautiful porcelain figurines with the horrors of WWII. I felt for Clara and her mission to learn more about her father. The reasons the truth was kept from her are still hard to understand. The history was fascinating and I ended up looking up the Bauhaus Movement and the Allach porcelain factory established by Himmler in Dachau. I really wish the author had included a note at the end explaining the history and research behind her story.

Sensitive readers should know there’s a somewhat descriptive love scene near the beginning that can easily be skipped. There’re also some language, mention of brief nudity, descriptions of a miscarriage, and violence that may be disturbing to some readers. All in all, a thought provoking, well written debut novel. I received an advanced complimentary copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own and voluntarily provided.

I absolutely loved and adored this book and its characters. It was an emotional read, but one that I enjoyed so very much. The story is told beautifully through the writing, and the characters drew me in from the beginning. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this beautifully written story.

The Porcelain Maker by Sarah Freethy
#netgalley published 11/7/23
#stmartinspress
#historicalfiction

When I chose this arc, I thought it sounded like a different type of story about ww2. I figured I'd give it a try. But the build up of the story took too long for me. I'm sorry if this is going to be a SPOILER BUT... It took more than half the book for the Jewish character of the book to end up in the concentration/labor camp. We all knew it was inevitable. It just took too long to get there.

The story begins at an auction in 1993 with a woman purchasing The Viking ceramic piece along with others by the same artist. Apparently, the artist is her father. And she doesn't know who he was. Then the story jumps to the beginning of her parent's love story, back in 1925. SF carries the 2 timelines from there.

I wanted to like this book more. I just didn't have the pull to come back to read it. But I must say that the one paragraph where SF describes Clara's experience in the room with the ovens replicates the same experience that I had when I was in the Dachau memorial in 1984. That was about 75% and I was finally drawn into the book. I'm not too sure if I would read another book by this author or not.

#romance
#theporcelainmaker
#bookstagram #booknerdsbookreview #bookreview