This is historical fiction set at the end of the Cold War. While the heroine seemed too naive at times, this was a compulsive read for me. The author manages to include a lot of Cold War and Berlin Wall history and make it a good read at the same time.

Thank you to the author, Harper Muse and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a gripping read about a recent period in history, told in two separate threads/timelines and POVs. One follows Luisa, a young woman working as a codebreaker for the CIA in Washington D.C., and the other follows her father, living in East Berlin around the time when the Berlin wall went up, and the years following through to 1989. Luisa's mother managed to get her infant over the barbed wire precursor to the wall, and Luisa is raised by her grandparents, who soon moved to the US after the wall went up. Luisa's father was a fervent believer in East German politics (until he wasn't), which did not meet with the favor of his in-laws. Luisa grows up believing both her parents are dead, and doesn't discover the truth until after her grandfather dies.

The author does a fantastic job of weaving the two strands of the story together, and giving lots of historic detail - the oppressive suspicion that was the rule in the Eastern bloc comes through so clearly it's chilling. I was living in Belgium and travelling to Eastern Europe periodically in those years, so can vouch for the accuracy. The only thing that really bothered me in this book was the interspersing of bits of German in the story - not because of the language, but because almost none of it was correct. I would have expected that something so embedded in this story would deserve a fact checker. Maybe I'm being pedantic, and yes, my 100% fluency in both German and English will not be the rule for readers, but I wish there had been the same attention to this detail as to so much of the other details in this book.

A fascinating and well-paced and well-told read with Reay's hallmarks of readable style, fascinating history and relatable characters.


Read this review in anticipation of our virtual conversation for Warwick's San Diego March 14

Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book. The views expressed are entirely my own.

I’ve read and very much enjoyed several of Katherine Reay’s books before, but the historical fiction and thriller elements of this novel were new to me. Reay does them very well, along with the excellent character development and flowing style I’ve always enjoyed before. They added up to a compelling read that I only put down from time to time because I needed a break from the difficult subject matter.

While the historical events portrayed here - postwar Germany with a focus on Berlin in between the day the wall that divided the city went up and the night the wall came down - occurred during my lifetime there was a lot that was new to me in this book. Between Reay’s wonderful characters and excellent writing these times came alive for me. In particular, the day-to-day pain and suffering of the East Berliners living without hope of escape from a grim, constrained environment in which nothing really works very well and everyone is spying on everyone else was so vividly portrayed that it will stay with me for quite awhile. And the joy of the night the wall was opened and huge crowds surged through the gates was thrilling.

The Berlin Letters by Katherine Reay gripped me from the very start. It kept me reading late into the night. I just had to find out what was going to happen next!

Luisa Voekler has always been good at solving puzzles and cracking codes. By now, she expected to be moving her way up the ladder at the CIA. It’s 1989, the Cold War is simmering away, and she is working in a department decoding messages from World War II.

But when a letter comes across her desk bearing an infinity symbol, it sparks a memory of another letter, one she saw as a child bearing that same mark. When she discovers a batch of letters under the floorboards of her grandparents’ house from a father she believed was dead, key truths that she has been lead to believe start to crumble around her.

Luisa has been training for this moment since she was a child. She just didn’t know it. Which is a good thing, because she’s going to have to dig deep if she is going to do the impossible, freeing her father from an East German prison and getting them both out of East Berlin.

Life behind the Iron Curtain, the fall of the Berlin Wall, codebreaking, spies, secrets hidden in the past, make up a captivating story that spans almost three decades.

I really loved that while Luisa has a brilliant mind, she doubts her own abilities and feels as though she isn’t good enough. She still carries with her the disappointment left from a setback early on in her career. I found her journey towards believing in her potential, or should I say, allowing herself to believe in her capabilities to be refreshingly realistic.

I love a WWII setting for historical fiction, but it was such a nice change to read a book set in the less distant past.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you to Harper Muse for providing me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. I thoroughly enjoyed The Berlin Letters and I’m very excited to read more by this author!

This winter I read (well listened) a book called The Portrait of Emily Price. I absolutely loved it. I loved the author’s writing style and how she can paint a picture in your mind that you can see. So when I was approached by a publishing house asking if I would read her newest book that she has coming out, I was over the moon and answered with a hearty yes. It did take me a bit to get to reading the book (my life is so busy right now) but when I started to read I am pretty sure I binged 68% in one sitting at work.

Luisa is merely 4 years old when her world is turned upside down. Sprouting up overnight is the Berlin Wall in the form of barbed wire, for the moment that is. Every Sunday her mother would take her to her grandparent’s house for lunch, that is until that day. For one reason or another, I guess I am not still 100% on I suppose her mother tossed her over the barbed wire to her grandparents. Her grandparents take her and eventually, a year or so later move to America to find a better life for themselves. Luisa grows up and goes to college and eventually finds work at the CIA as a decoder. One thing leads to another and she begins to find out about the life that she left behind. This book was so well written. It gave me a view of the war that I guess I have never read before. I usually read books on the receiving end of the issues ie Jews, etc. This book is from the point of a young German woman who is now a naturalized American and a German who used to write propaganda and now has the Stazi after him.

I will admit that at times I was enjoying Luisa’s story so much that I honestly hated to leave her story and go to her father’s point of view. It wasn’t enough to lower my star level because it doesn’t take anything away from the story if I am being honest, it would just throw off my groove a little bit. The book is well researched I can tell. The author took her time researching various codes that people would hide in letters. I loved the character of Luisa, she seems scrappy I guess is the word I would use. She is intelligent and knows what she wants and when she puts her mind to it she does it. I am happy that the author managed to squeeze in some romance, because honestly sometimes a book isn’t complete unless the main character finds love in the process. I was so happy that the father got the happy ending that he deserved. I would definitely read more books by her, I have several on my Amazon Wish List to price watch.

The Berlin Letters receives a 5 out of 5 for me! I’ve read a lot of historical fiction but this was my first one based around The Berlin Wall. I honestly don’t feel like this time period is written about enough. It’s written very well, factually accurate and overall absolutely amazing. I highly recommend!

This is my first novel by this author of historical fiction and I already know I will be reading her backlist and future releases. Centered around the rise and collapse of the Berlin Wall, the wonderfully researched and written novel is told from alternating timelines of the present day life of Luisa, a CIA agent working with coding and written correspondence between her grandfather and father. Being old enough to just remember some of the events captured in the story, along with a mystery/spy element really held my interest until the last pages.

The font and stylized photograph on the cover (The outfit! The car! The graffiti!) perfectly portray the era of the Cold War

I was fascinated by the events depicted in The Berlin Letters, which is set between 1961 and 1989, the period during which East and West Berlin were divided by a wall erected by the Russian controlled government in East Berlin. Author Katherine Reay has done a marvelous job of creating an atmosphere of fear and suspicion amongst the population of East Berlin right from the first pages where Monica Voeckler, stranded in East Berlin with her husband and toddler, throws her little girl over the barbed wire dividing the city to her parents who have moved to the other side. While I was aware of the Berlin wall, I had never before thought about the livesof the people living on either side, nor of their extended families. I loved the insight this book, through superbly crafted characters, provided into those lives. The plot was beautifully developed and intriguing. It kept me guessing to the end. I was fascinated with the code that Walther taught to both Luisa and Haris and the way that the letters Haris wrote were used. This story is emotionally harrowing at times, shocking and yet gripping and immersive. I’ll definitely be putting it on my keeper shelf.

I believe I already did this??!! It should also be on Bookbub, Amazon and Goodreads. If you cannot find it let me know.

I’ve been a Katherine Reay fan for years but this by far is my favorite of hers. I quickly became fascinated by this subject and time period rarely written about. I paused throughout to do a little research since I found it so intriguing. Her meticulous research and grasp of the different time periods flowed flawlessly rather than being confusing. Her characters were developed and believable with their own flaws and humanity. Unexpected twists throughout left me on the edge of my seat. I’d love to see this made into a movie, but in the meantime I eagerly look forward to her next book!

The Berlin Letters by Katherine Reay was incredibly hard to put down. The book through a dual timeline begins the night the Berlin Wall went up, cutting East Berlin off from West Berlin and spans to the wall coming down in 1989. The stories of Luisa Voekler and her father Haris Voekler are woven together so well, with Luisa not even realizing at first her father was alive. The jump between points of view and periods of time was well done and easy to follow. The detail about this period in history and the picture painted of Easter Berlin were incredible, fascinating and even a little bit surprising to hear about, given that neighbours were coerced or incentivized to snitch on each other to ensure compliance. An excellent read!

Thank you to Harper Muse, Netgalley and the author for an eARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Harper Muse Books, UpLit Reads and author, Katherine Reay for the e-arc of this book to read and review!

This book right here is why I LOVE historical fiction! The spies, the secret codes, the espionage, the suspense and the letters … this one has it all! I was completely hooked from page one! As a young college student when the Berlin Wall came down, I vividly remember President Reagan’s famous speech … so of course I got chills while reading more about this infamous part of our world’s history! It absolutely came to life in these pages! The amount of detail and research that went into this book is incredible and the writing just grips you! Do not miss Katherine’s notes at the end … fascinating!

And the cover!?!?! Perfection!!

The Berlin Letters is a big recommend from me!

The Berlin Letters offers an exciting glimpse into the start and end of the Cold War. Of course I learned about the Berlin Wall as a student and remember the captivating news when the wall came down, but after reading about Luisa’s family’s story, I got a real feel for what life was like during this era.

Luisa’s character is admirable! She was raised by her grandparents believing that she was an orphan, but when she learned there was more to her upbringing, she was fully committed to unravel the secrets that had been kept from her.

This book opened my eyes as to how divisive the Berlin Wall was, both physically and socially. I enjoyed learning about the issues, and the code breaking references were fascinating! I loved that the author incorporated the punk scene into the narrative!

As a baby, Luisa was tossed over the barbed wire that separated the East and West sectors of Berlin in 1961. Her mother wanted to give her a chance at freedom, so Luisa was given over to the care of her grandparents on the Western side of what would become the Berlin Wall.

Decades later, she works as a decoder of letters that hold important governmental information. After something seems familiar about one of them, she embarks on a journey of self-discovery, family history, and a bit of espionage.

I really enjoyed this! It was a page-turner for sure, but also had enough character development to round it out. The story is compelling and one I’d recommend. But I think my favorite part about this book was learning so much about the history of the Cold War and the Berlin Wall. I was born one year after the wall came down, so while I knew it was a significant event, I never really knew much of the history leading up to it.

Within these pages we get a big picture view of the wall and the political context surrounding it. But through the experience of one family, we also get a glimpse of what it would have been like to live through all of it: the wall, the fear, the separation from loved ones. I found it to be the perfect balance—never bogged down in historical details, but never swaying into sappy or overly emotional.

This was a great reading experience and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it, especially for fans of Kristin Hannah or Ariel Lawhon.

Thank you to Harper Muse and Netgalley for the advanced review copy. All opinions are my own.

The Berlin Letters is a historical fiction novel and a spy thriller all rolled up into one.

The story is told from multiple points of view, alternating between Luisa Voekler and her father, Haris Voekler. But it also spans the time frame of 1961 to 1989 as we learn more about Haris Voekler's life in East Berlin. Luisa Voekler believing her parents are dead, is brought to America with her grandparents and Aunt from West Berlin as a very young child and ends up as an adult working for the CIA in Washington DC as a code breaker. Only after her grandfather's death does she learn the true story of her past, and attempts a daring rescue of someone she's not known since she was a toddler.

The Prologue for this book was utterly devastating, as one day the citizens of East Berlin wake up to find that they have been cut off from West Berlin (and really the rest of the world), leaving family and friends separated and a desperate mother making an unthinkable decision to ensure her young daughter can live without fear and in freedom.

I know the basics of what happened when the wall went up in East Berlin, and what this did to it's citizens and the world they then lived in, and I'm old enough to remember the wall coming down.

The Berlin Letters was so rich with detail about this period in history and told through Haris' story made the details so interesting, if not entirely chilling. The world that those in East Berlin lived in was one where it's citizens didn't get to decide their education or careers, where they lived with quotas, and where neighbors were coerced or incentivezed to snitch on each other. Where people were regularly brought in for questioning by the Stasi, and files were kept on its citizens.

The history in this story was so gripping, but then layered in was this spy story, which was thrilling. Luisa is reading letters her grandfather had kept that included codes. When she cracked those codes, she realized she was reading intelligence coming out of East Berlin, some of it so shocking and dangerous that if the world found out, it could lead to war. When she got to the end of the letters, she realized she needed to go on a rescue mission into East Berlin. This part of the story was a bit unexpected, but it added this element of danger that made the ending unputdownable.

This book was well written. Luisa was a strong, smart, capable woman, but situations in her life that were beyond her control or knowledge knocked her down a bit and ate away her confidence. I love her character growth in a short span of days. At first, I wanted to be angry and dislike her father, but through his point of view, you understood him better. He wanted to stay in East Berlin, but he wanted East Berlin to be a better place to live for him and his fellow citizens.

I'd definitely recommend this book for those who love historical fiction and a good spy novel.

What an enthralling read! My first Katherine Reay book and will not be my last. I visited Berlin and Germany the year before the wall came down and this book captured what I learned and the stories I heard. Loved the complexity developed in all the characters. People generally are never either “good” or “bad”. Life is too complex for that and Reay understands that. Really enjoyed the two contrasting PoVs in the book and was grabbed at the beginning and found it hard to put down. Give this book a read - you will be glad you did. A 4.5 stars!

Incredible to look at how a city was split and their people trapped within literally overnight.

I remember as a kid hearing over the radio of the Wall coming down, so it was even more interesting to me, being able to relate a little to some of the events then and shortly after - not just reading about a historical thing generations back.

I loved the infusion of codebreaking, family secrets, and the history of East Berlin behind the Berlin Wall. I thought it was well done, intriguing, and was difficult to put down thru most of the book. The plot unfolded in a believable manner and the fear and paranoia of living in East Berlin was well portrayed.

The concept of forgiveness and reconciliation were also fantastic and fused with emotion. I loved how each family member had to work thru their own issues, that it wasn’t simple, but that they ultimately chose love anyways.

All in all really well done, believable and loved learning more of the history and what went on for those behind the Wall and for family members outside of it. And I really love anything codebreaking and espionage too, so all the wins on this one.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are mine.

In The Berlin Letters, Reay uses a dual-timeline format to create intrigue, suspense, family drama, and romance through letters and first-person narration. This remarkable work of historical fiction provides great insight into the Berlin Wall era in Germany. I didn’t know much about this time in history before reading the novel and was completely captivated by the story and well-researched details. I highly recommend The Berlin Letters to readers who enjoy historical fiction, strong female protagonists, or stories set in Germany. Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Synopsis: Spanning from the construction to the eventual destruction of the Berlin Wall, The Berlin Letters follows the saga of a family torn apart and their efforts to fight for freedom.

Thoughts: This book could be a spy movie! I was enthralled from the beginning, and I binged it in one day. I enjoyed the dual timelines sharing the stories of multiple generations of the same family. I haven’t read much historical fiction about more recent history like this, and I found it fascinating. The author clearly did very thorough research, and it showed via the careful details throughout. The story was at times triumphant and at times heartbreaking, with lots of action in between. Highly recommend this book!