This was a very interesting book. A little hard to follow at first but once I gout into it the story was enjoyable and enlightning.

This detailed, complex, family-centric novel of Berlin between 1870 and 1945 is a fantastic work of historical fiction. Following the Jochum family from their small candy shop to their celebrated Cafe Jochum and Hotel Quadriga and their privileged place in German society, readers will explore the changing nature of Berlin in this complex 75-year period through the eyes of this family, from the patriarch Karl to his wife Ricarda, daughters Viktoria and Luise, Viktoria’s children, and their employees and extended family. As the world changes around them, readers see how the Jochums’ various properties change (or remain the same) as Berlin evolves from the height of the German empire to a hotbed of Community activity and, eventually, the seat of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Glanfield’s characters are fantastically detailed, lively, vibrant, and complex, while Berlin and the various Jochum properties take on lives and personalities of their own given their significance to the narrative and the characters. Glanfield’s novel is a fantastic piece of historical fiction, acting as a character study of Berlin through the lens of the Jochum family and their interactions with several aspects of German culture -- political, artistic, economic, and otherwise. Readers are sure to enjoy this incredible, complex novel.

We follow families three of them, but along with them people connected to them through very turbulent times culminating in Nazi led Germany.

We read so much about life during WWI and WWII but this book deals with ordinary people prior to the rise of communism and Nazis in Germany. Gifted, clever people who had vision of what they wanted to do and The Hotel Quadriga was one man’s dream. He was successful beyond his wildest dreams but it came at a cost. The subject of anti Semitism and the idea of a pure Aryan race also began here, very well detailed in this book and the emigration common even today when people are oppressed. Whoever thought ahead got out of Germany and they were not just Jews.

The book was detailed because several genres were told together - the family saga was diverse and complicated, set against calm and troubled times as well. The book was a chunkster and I read it in stages as it got quite overwhelming and tense in stages.

A wonderful read on families, the ties that keep a family together and then the differences that tears it apart. Also that we have to live in or on a stage of non related events which swirl around us and willingly or not have to acknowledge that we are a part of it. No one can live in a bubble in the normal world. The families here went with the flow of world events, some happily some deeply saddened. It was the way to survive.

The first of a three book series that follows three families from the first world war to the second.

Lives and families change with the times and it will keep you engrossed until the end!