When CIA codebreaker discovers a symbol she recognizes from her childhood on coded letters from Berlin, she embarks on a journey to learn more about the secrets of her childhood and her family as the Berlin wall was constructed during the Cold War and eventually torn down.

This is the first book I’ve read about the Cold War in awhile and apparently, even living through most of it, knew very little. Told through dual timelines and dual POV, Katherine Reay has crafted a thoroughly researched and engaging novel set in Berlin during the tumultuous Cold War. I loved the character development and growth that she achieved through the dual timeline. There were some times when there were some info dumps, but if you know me, I enjoyed those and don’t think they took away from the story, but added to the understanding and stakes in the story. This book achieved everything I want for historical fiction and I highly recommend.

Wow! Katherine Reay has penned a very intellectual historical spy thriller that had me gripped from page one. I remember the Cold War era and the day the Wall came down in East Berlin. As a young mother of two at the time, I thought, God bless them!! They were finally free. They can choose and live a life without fear. This book follows a young girl from the time she was three when the Wall was erected until she was thirty-one when it came down. This is a book rich in historical detail in a duel time line that brought back memories of that era and allowed me to feel the emotions the characters went through. If you like spies, espionage, thrillers, and some romance in the mix, then you will absolutely love this novel. I know I did. 5 stars!!

Sorry, I hit the wrong button. I can't get into this book at all, so will not be writing a review. Since I can't go back and edit it and have to enter at least 100 characters, I'll just keep writing until I get to that number. I don't know that the book is a one star book. I just can't get into it and am not going to spend the time trying.

Thank you to Net Galley and Harper Collins Publishing for an early copy of The Berlin Letters by Katherine Reay

Non-stop character development and a captivating plot centered on the fall of the Berlin Wall make The Berlin Letters a "must read" in 2024. While the story has its roots in the post World War II tragedies of a divided Germany and a divided Berlin, the actual events of the construction and eventual destruction of the Berlin Wall are remarkably modern, and many readers will remember vividly watching television coverage of the reunification of Berlin in 1989.

Reay's story focuses on a young Luisa Voekler living in East Berlin until the day her mother thrusts her over a fence and into the arms of Luisa's grandparents in West Berlin. Luisa's father, a staunch believer in the ideals of the Soviets in power, begins a correspondence with his father-in-law now living with his wife, daughter Alice and granddaughter Luisa in the United States. Within their correspondence are hidden codes that aid the Americans in understanding events in East Berlin. When Luisa goes to work for the CIA, she will learn about her father and embark on a dangerous journey to rescue him from prison.

So many real-life situations of the time are embedded in The Berlin Letters: the plot to assassinate Pope John Paul II, the role that young people played in weakening the Soviet hold on East Berlin, and the neighbor-against-neighbor spying that was such a part of an East Berliner's life at this time.

With all of its sorrows culminating in the joy of the downfall of the Berlin Wall, The Berlin Letters is much like an automobile that accelerates with no brake pedal in sight. At the conclusion of the novel, readers will want to view video of the night in November 1989 when the unbelievable came to be. Real people whose lives were forever changed.

My thanks for the ARC goes to NetGalley and Harper Muse. I'm voluntarily leaving a review.

Genre: Historical Fiction, Post-WWII Fiction, Germany
Spice Level: Low
Violence Level: Hard things are discussed or mentioned but not on the page.
Format: Dual POVs from different time periods and letters (The correspondence is more explained than shown on the page, but I felt like it was there.)

Here are words I thought I'd never say: I love spy novels! Yep, but specifically all the ones written by this author. Reay makes it approachable for me when I've never delved into this type of material before.

I think the reason THE BERLIN LETTERS works so well is because it's all about the faces behind the events. It's a human story.

We see loss, love, betrayal, secrets kept, and secrets revealed, and emotional turmoil in so many facets.

Somehow, this sucked me in and made me want to read more. I was equally vested in Luisa and Haris. This would make a great book club selection. And after reading this, I want to find out more about my relatives who visited from East Germany in the early 80s.

What a fantastic book! Yes, I highly recommend it!

Happy reading!

I absolutely loved every minute of Katherine Reay’s latest, The Berlin Letters. Set during the tumultuous times of the Cold War, Reay does a fantastic job at making the sudden appearance and lingering effects of the wall personal through the stories of one family divided by time, distance, and beliefs. I learned so much from this book about life in Berlin after WWII and then as the wall is built overnight to separate families and friends, one side free and one side imprisoned. The details of life behind the Iron Curtain were heartbreaking and shocking, the fear palpable as there was no one to trust, nowhere safe.

As in her last book (A Shadow in Moscow which I gave five stars!), Reay explores the strong bonds between family members and how these ties can bring about change on a global scale. I was thoroughly invested in the characters from page one, racing through the tension-filled chapters to the thrilling conclusion. Reay is a master at crafting electrifying novels full of historical details and research.

This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to learn more about how the Cold War affected everyone behind the wall. Those of us old enough to remember this time period will be amazed at what was going on while we were living our typical American lives and those too young to remember the Cold War need to read this so they never forget.

Thank you to @netgalley and @HarperMuse for this ARC. Overnight East and West Berlin were divided. Everyone is now separated from their families, church, work and home. From first reports and with already scheduled plans to meet her parents in the West, Monica arrives to the barbed wire to find her family. Knowing her husband works for the Stasi and with the guard distracted, she shoves her daughter through the fence to her parents, Luisa grandparents. Haris arrives home to find an inconsolable wife and no daughter. Several years later, Luisa who is now deciphering letters from the time around the wall going up, she finds a letter that looks a lot like what her grandfather used to write. After deciphering his codes, she finds the truth of her family. I have read another book regarding the Berlin Wall and how lives were changed overnight but never from both sides. Really liked this story. #TheBerlinLetters #KatherineReay #March2024 #HarperMuse

I have always wondered how people ended up trapped on either side of the Berlin Wall. I assumed that it must have taken a lot of time to construct so how did families get separated? I got my answer in the prologue.
While I enjoyed most of the story, there were several times where my eyes glazed over because we're given a page or so of information that feels like it was pulled straight out of a history textbook.

The Berlin Letters is a fascinating dual-timeline glimpse into East Berlin from the day the Berlin Wall was first erected to the day it began to be torn down. The first generation perspective takes us all the way from 1961 to 1989, giving us a glimpse of the heartache and the tears and the years. The second generation perspective spans exactly one week in 1989, providing a fast-paced style that makes you feel our heroine’s fear and urgency. And yet, with the two points of view interspersed with each other, it is somehow neither too slow nor too fast.

The Berlin Letters contains some of my favorite themes: epistolary and code breakers. Katherine Reay’s skilled research is evident in every page and coupled with the way she portrays family relationships, we have another 5-star read in The Berlin Letters.

I had requested The Berlin Letters via NetGalley after reading the synopsis and read it quite quickly after I received approval. This is a story that takes place in two timelines. In the prologue, we see the beginning of what will become the Berlin Wall, as a toddler Luisa is quickly passed over the barbed wire to her grandparents on the western side by her mother. We meet Luisa again in Washington, D.C. in the late 1980s. Having flunked out of CIA operative school, she is now working for the agency as a codebreaker because of her natural talent for the subject -- a talent that was encouraged by her recently deceased grandfather. When a coworker comes to her for help with the letters referred to by the title, Luisa notices a small mark on a letter that she knows she has seen before, and she goes looking through her grandparents' house in search of some clue her grandfather left her. She had been told her parents had died when she was young and that was why her grandparents had raised her, but suddenly she's not so sure they had always told her the truth. She soon finds evidence to suggest that not only was her grandfather known to the CIA, but her father is still alive -- and she may be the only one who can save him from an infamous Stasi prison. This is an entertaining and tense ride through the repressive years of the DDR, with the constant threat of surveillance, betrayal, and "accidental" deaths. I have no idea if the codebreaking details were accurate, but they felt well researched. The writing isn't great, but it's entertaining enough and certainly kept me reading. I gave it 4 stars.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and Harper Muse. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. This book will be published March 5, 2024.

This is why I love historical fiction! Meticulously researched and filled with rich historical details and context about the Cold War, specifically around the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall and Soviet Union controlled East Germany. I’m appreciative of the author for writing a book that is equally intriguing as it was informative and provided much room for reflection and desire for further learning. It provides a deep exploration of communism as it led to political repression, cultural censorship, restrictions of human rights, etc. And gives readers an in-depth understanding of the danger, fear, and uncertainty of this time for those living in East Berlin and many parts of the world affected by their political system.

When I was a child, I remember hearing about the Berlin Wall go up. There were stories on the TV news that showed people trying to escape over the wall from East Berlin to West Berlin. Years later, my husband, a USAF pilot, flew the "Berlin corridor" over East Germany and East Berlin to land in West Berlin. This book brought back so many of those memories.

This is a story of familial love, of spies and intrigue, of personal liberty versus state control, of change in people and politics. Katherine Reay has become one of my favorite authors, and I could not put The Berlin Letters down. I don't giver many 5 star reviews, but this is one of those 5-star books.

Wow…what a story. I grew up hearing about the Cold War and the Berlin Wall but wasn’t taught much about either until I read The Berlin Letters. Katherine Reay’s story is compelling, heart stopping and so well written it kept me reading well into the night.

The Berlin Letters, set near the end of the Cold War, is more than historical fiction. Espionage, spys and code breaking, along with the twists and turns, keeps the story flowing and k3p5 m3 on edge. The dual timeline, which can be challenging for writers as well as readers, moves from one time period to the other without a hitch.

The story begins in East Berlin when citizens were free from repressive laws and limits. Luisa Voekler was about three when her mother, Monica, realizing what was happening politically, threw Luisa over newly constructed barbed wire fencing into the arms of her grandfather, Walther. He along with his wife and other daughter left East Berlin for West Berlin when it was still possible to do so. Eventually, Walther took his family to the United States where Luisa grew up believing her parents had died in a car crash.

Luisa works for the CIA as a code breaker, having been taught the skill by her grandfather who began her education in cryptology at a very young age. One day at work she recognizes a symbol on a letter she remembers seeing in her childhood. And, thus The Berlin Letters starts in earnest.

Reay’s use of letters written between Walther and Luisa’s father Haris is a brilliant method of recounting the history of that period of time in Berlin. The letters opened my eyes to what can happen to citizens when a totalitarian government takes control; when ones every move is monitored and people “disappear” after an interview at ‘Stasi’ headquarters. I new nothing of how the people lived behind the Berlin Wall or that there was an active Resistance movement fighting the tyranny of the Soviet regime as best they could - through music - until now. .

The events leading up to the destruction of the Berlin Wall and freedom for East Berliners kept me on edge…a very critical and exciting time in history brilliantly shared on the pages of this book. There is so much more I could say about The Berlin Letters but that would mean spoilers, which is something I prefer not to do. The Berlin Letters is one of the best books I’ve read in some time and I’m sure will be one of my top 10 books for 2024.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Muse for a complimentary of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Luisa Voekler’s life is marked by significant historical events. As a small child, her grandparents fled with her when the Berlin Wall went up seemingly overnight. Her mother, seeing the writing on the wall, far ahead of her idealistic socialist husband, literally flung her daughter over razor wire to her father, so that she could have a better life. That one decision set the stage for the rest of Luisa’s life.

Raised in America, Luisa believed her parents to be dead, but her beloved Opa knew otherwise as he was corresponding via coded letters with her father Haris for decades. Luisa was destined to be able to read these letters one day, as growing up her grandfather would make her solve ciphers to find her own birthday presents. His training prepared her for her job as a cryptographer in the CIA.

When a stack of letters crosses her colleagues’ desk where they decode classified messages all day, she is shocked to discover a symbol similar to one she has seen in her grandfather’s office. As she figures out the cipher, she realizes everything she believed about her own family is wrong, and most importantly her father is alive and in danger.

Against her better judgment, and without any approval, Luisa heads to West Berlin determined to help her father out of a Stasi jail behind the Iron Curtain. Her operative training comes in handy, as she fights a clock to get her father out before it’s too late.

The Berlin Letters is a Cold War story that will keep you turning the pages long after its time to go to bed (trust me). Luisa and Haris’ story, like many families divided by the Berlin Wall, will leave you wondering “what if”. Both characters are defined by circumstances out of their control and only become more interesting the further into the novel you read. I was in elementary school when the Berlin Wall came down, and reading the Voekler’s story helped clarify history I was too young to understand.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Muse, and of course the author Katherine Reay for the advanced copy of the book. The Berlin Letters is out on March 5th. Go ahead and add it to your TBR pile, you won’t regret it. All opinions are my own.

This gripping Cold War narrative by Katherine Reay immerses readers in the heart of Berlin, capturing the tension and turmoil of both its early days and the historic fall of the Berlin Wall. Through the intertwined stories of CIA codebreaker Luisa Voekler and East Berlin journalist Haris Voekler, the novel delves into themes of sacrifice, identity, and the pursuit of freedom. As Luisa uncovers the truth about her family’s past and embarks on a daring mission to rescue her father from East German captivity, readers are taken on a journey of suspense and revelation. With its meticulously researched historical backdrop and compelling characters, this stand-alone novel offers a poignant exploration of human resilience and the enduring quest for truth and reconciliation. Plus, with discussion questions included, it’s sure to spark lively conversations in book clubs.

Wow. This is a strong work of historical fiction, opening up the world of a divided Berlin and life alongside the terrible wall. I have never learned a lot about the Cold War and the wall, so being able to read a work of fiction about it was truly enlightening and makes me want to learn more about this terribly difficult and sad time in world history. The author brings her characters to life and gives us small glimpses into their past that allow us to see how the past has influenced who they are at the time of the story. With so much danger and intrigue going on in our world during that time, I appreciate the way the author shows those things through the lives of her characters and their experiences. Lies, deception, betrayal, fear, loss, loyalty, love, and courage are all components that compel the reader to read more and to wish the book was not over when the last page is turned. Luisa’s whole world is rocked when she finds her grandfather’s letters, and I was not able to put down this book until I knew what the end of the story was. I highly recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction, to those who know little about the Cold War, and to anyone looking for a well-written story.

I requested a copy of this book for review, but the thoughts expressed here are wholly my own.

I received a free e-arc of this book through Netgalley.
This story centers around a family who are separated in East and West Berlin when the Berlin Wall went up almost overnight. The loss and grieving for 26 years and how that created their roles in the family as each dealt with it in their own way. A great book about a subject I haven't spent much time on before so it was very thought-provoking.

The Berlin Letters by Katherine Reay is a historical fiction novel about the Cold War focused around the story of Luisa, a code breaker for the CIA, in 1989 and her father in East Berlin during the 1960s. Luisa discovers the Berlin Letters through work and finds a link to her grandfather which sends her on a mission to free her father from jail in Berlin as the wall is coming down. The last part of the book reads like a Mission Impossible movie! This story is intricately woven with turbulent history and the ties of family that span decades. Luisa’s family loves her fervently and she risks it all to save her dad whom she has never met.

I highly recommend this historical fiction book for the nonstop action, relevant history, and perspectives of living in East Berlin during the Cold War.

Thank you Harper Muse and Netgalley for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I feel like l've entered my "historical era" and what I mean by that is that historical fiction now encompasses events that have taken place in my lifetime. While it's true that the Berlin Wall was erected long before my birth (1961), here is where *|* intersect with this chapter in history: born in 1987, the wall “came down” in 1989, and my family moved to Germany in 1990 (my parents used a mallet and chisel to chip away pieces of the wall to keep as souvenirs). It’s hard not to feel the enormity of this and Katherine Reay has written a compelling historical narrative to bring home the weight of what the wall meant and to remind us that in the midst of terrifying emotional and physical hardship, there were people brave enough to say this:

“It's letting go of what you're supposed to do be doing for whatever comes your way. It's about creating a future of our own making, not accepting the one they shove at us. And it's all risk. Every breath in every day."

I loved this story of a mother's sacrifice, a grandfather's secret, a father's evolution, and a daughter's determination to make it all worthwhile.

I know people who lived under this wall, and things were hard if you were on the wrong side! Loved Reagan's speech to Gorbachev!
This read has it all, such love and sacrifice, only to break ones heart and will to live. While others thrive, some pretend to be friends, so sad, and they do this right to the end.
This is a story of survival, and great love! Luisa is brought up in Washington D.C., when her Grandfather dies she learns that her father is still alive and behind that wall.
What a journey we begin and the sacrifices made to go to Germany and rescue her father! We travel with her with our hearts in our throat!
Keep reading the author's notes are great!
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Harper Muse, and was not required to give a positive review.