I enjoyed the book which tells us the story of the German invasion of Austria and then Paris in an unusual way. At the start of the story we meet a young Jewish boy who wakes up one day to find that his families music shop and the flat where they are living above it are burning. Simultaneously the story splits into two parallel universes. In one universe, the young boy survives the fire, only to have his parents die and for him to be adopted into a Nazi following family. In this reality his name is changed to hands and he becomes a member of the Nazi party and is involved in the extermination of the Jewish population of Paris.
In the other reality his parents are saved and managed to escape to Paris which is soon occupied by the Germans.
In both realities, the young boy is in love with the same woman the Sophie Strom of the title and this ties the two stories together.
Both fashions of the young boy are aware of the other and see their life in the form of dreams. This allows them to have some warning of some of the notable events in the story and thus they are able to influence each other lives.

I love the concept of the story, although I did a little complicated towards the end of the book. I found the magical reality believable and it allows the author to approach the issue of whether your upbringing can influence how you turn out as an adult as the boy starts in the same position pretends up into very different places in his life.
The story is fast moving and interesting. I’ve read a lot of books at this time of the world history but this one is quite unique because of its alternative worlds. There were times when I didn’t quite believe the characters reactions to their life in particular and it quite hard to believe that the version of the boy turned out to be a Nazi and so hateful so easily.

The author has a clear easily read prose style and the book was an enjoyable read.
I read an early copy of the novel on the NetGalley UK. The book is published in the UK on the 2nd of May 2024 by Faber and Faber Ltd.
This review will appear on NetGalley UK Goodreads and my book blog bionicsarahsbooks.WordPress.com.

After publication it will also appear on Amazon UK

The Two Loves of Sophie Strom is unlike any other book I have read. Initially, it seems like it’s “Sliding Doors” set during Nazi occupied Austria. However, it’s more than that, as Max and Hans both dream of eachother and get glimpses of what could have been.

It’s an original and thought provoking read. At some points , it can get confusing as you try and remember the differences between the two lives - eg if this person is an enemy in this life or are they a best friend? As you would expect, it’s tense and harrowing in places . I wasn’t fully invested in the love story element, I feel there was enough going on with the danger faced. However I know the love story was needed for Hans’ character arc. I feel the middle of the book could be shortened to keep the pace up.

I would recommended this book to people who are a fan of historical fiction, metaverses and parallel worlds.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to review an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a such a unique concept that I couldn't wait to read it. I was completely immersed in the lives of Max and Sophie and Hans and Sophie and I was intrigued to see how the lives/worlds of Max and Hans would connect. I cannot convey just how much this booked moved me. It's one that will stay with me.

True rating 4.5
Thanks to #NetGalley and #Faber&Faber publishers for an #ARC of #TheTwoLovesofSophieStrom.

This book brings the reader on a journey and a half. How does a split second decision change your life? In this book we discover just that, with WWII beginning and ending in the background.
I loved this book. I found it so interesting to read and will read again. My only issue is the names (Max/Hans) confused me, they weren't different enough to keep each identity separate.

Too recent a time and trauma for metaphysical and cerebral games? Rated 2.5

This was a disturbing and deeply uncomfortable/discomforting read, one which I became increasingly ambivalent about, the more I read it.

On the one hand, the ‘Sliding Doors’ idea, coupled with what was happening in terms of the history of Freudian thinking, psychoanalytical theory, in the 1920’s and 1930’s, in the interwar years and beyond in Germany and Austria, was an interesting and compelling exploration.

So, as the blurb already reveals one thirteen year old Jewish boy, Max. in someway splits into two, on one traumatic night. Far right ideology, demonising Jews, is already arising. Max dreams that his father’s music shop is being torched. His dream is prophetic, and wakes him. He is able to save his family. Another version of Max loses his family in the fire, is hideously scarred, and is ‘rescued’ and adopted by a family with growing sympathy for right wing politics. In this version, Max is renamed as Hans, his Jewish identity hidden, and he adopts Nazi beliefs. Max and Hans are at the same time enemies, and also deeply connected, as they dream each other. There is a certain confusion for the reader as, if you like, the more supernatural elements get brought in, so the worlds connect with each other, mirror each other, and yet raise the questions of id, and ego. Who dreams whom, whose dream?

Something in this felt a bit too ‘clever concept’., intellectual game Where I began to feel uneasy was, that particular and terrible time of history is still too recent. There are still people whose grandparents may have been young. That whole time, all those events, the trauma of it all are of course playing out in some form again with current events in both Israel and Gaza.

The relationship between Sophie and Hans felt particularly distasteful. My own sense was that the author was violating her character and in some way this also trivialised this terrible history.

I have read other fictions around this period where it seemed as if there was greater sensitivity to the still aliveness of that historical time and place

However - for all the above reasons, and more - I think this would be an EXCELLENT read for book groups,. So many discussable issues

I did struggle to get into this book as the main character which wasn’t really Sophie but Max/ Hans kept changing. Whilst the ethos I understood I did find it confusing. Thanks to Sam and their publisher. Thanks also to NetGalley

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6456712550

I have read many WW2 novels and it is difficult to find one that stands out from the crowd. This one does, thanks to its great premise - teenage boy in Vienna's life splits into two parallel streams, Sliding Doors style - and in one he ends up on the Nazi side, and in the other against them. However, a great premise can only take you so far, and beyond that the plot, while compelling, got a little silly at times, and a lot of the characters descended into caricatures. If you are going to take on huge, emotional topics like a world war and the Holocaust, they probably bear treating with a little more depth than this has to offer, with its slightly one note 'love conquers all' message. But still an enjoyable, interesting book, and worth a read. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

A really unique read - one man, one choice, two lifetimes. Following a devistating fire, we follow the parallel lives of Max/Hans. Each of their journeys draw them to Vienna where they meet and fall in love with Sophie.
The story is a bit confusing at first as it jumps between the two men however, it is a compelling thought- provoking read. Makes you think about your life and how different it might have been a bit of taken an alternative path.
Well worth a read

It took me a couple of chapters to understand what was happening and from then on, I loved it. Interesting story as if Max is living 2 lives, but then he becomes aware of the other version of himself, Hans and they live different yet similar lives and can impact on decisions in each others lives.

Huge thanks for the advanced readers copy.

What a unique and interesting concept for a book. I was so intrigued by the cover and this has to be one of my top reads of the year!

This is a stunning novel. At its heart it is a romantic thriller set before and during WW2, but that is the tip of the iceberg. The book develops a dual simultaneous timeline theme where a character suffers a disaster and from then becomes two contrasting characters. Both fall in love with Sophie. The eye opening thing is that this is developed consistently and convincingly, which is no small feat. The fact that the characters are explained using some Jungian psychology made me smile. It made the plotline quire sophisticated and thoroughly enjoyable. Congratulations on producing such an imaginative book

The book is set in 1933 in Vienna. Max is the son of a Music Instrument shop, his mother a housewife and musician.
Max's father is a Jew, although non practising but the rise of Adolf Hitler and his hatred of Jews is beginning.. One night his house is set on fire and they lose everything. Max now lives a parallel life with Hans. They meet up again in Paris, Max as a waiter and Hans as an SS officer. Both fall in love with Sofie who they met in Vienna. Through the strife of war their lives keep colliding even though they are on different sides.
A little confusing at times as the story jumps between the two men.
An enjoyable and interesting read though.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book with no obligation to review.

I enjoyed this book although it did it take me a while to get through it. I have read these dual timeline books before but it took me a hwile to get used to Max/Hans and to remember who was who and what was when.

The Third Reich and the atrocities are a sensitive subject and I think the author is brave in the Hans storyline to try to convey how mentally removed these Nazis were from the terrible things they were part of. To some of them it was just their job and, shockingly for the reader, they saw many of their actions as just part of the mundane nature of any job. That struck me quite forcibly - how successfully the atrocities were almost normalised under the totalitarianism of the dictatorship and Hitler cult.

I liked Sophie and Max and, shockingly, even Hans. It is interesting how the same supporting characters are in both timeslines but are slightly different in personality and action.

I don't like the title because in my view, Max and Hans are the main characters and a title such as the 2 lives of max speigelmann would have been more accurate.

It is an interesting, thought provoking and quite shocking read.

This is a difficult book for me to rate. The premise was very intriguing, the way that the dual timelines were presented was phenomenal and very unique, and I really enjoyed how the dual storylines intertwined with one another. I think the book did a really good job of exploring just how much environments and nurture can impact a person's decisions and the paths that they take in life.

It was also interesting to see the different aspects of each character's personalities were explored in each timeline. Various aspects of the characters shone through based on their environment and their interaction with either Max or Hans, developing them in such unique ways and exploring how, no matter where or what happens to a person, there are certain parts of a personality that still hold strong.

My issue was with the second half of the book, especially with the Hans timeline. I think that if the backdrop of a story is going to be WWII, and especially if the atrocities that were committed during the war are going to be a significant part of the plot, it has to be done with utmost care and respect. Unfortunately, I did not feel like that this care was given throughout the second part of the book. I was extremely uncomfortable with how certain characters were still expected to elicit sympathy, despite the fact that they were Nazis are participated in those atrocities. Furthermore, the actual setting of the plot during the war did not seem to respect the severity of it; while I understand that the characters and the plot were supposed to take main stage, the events of the war as described throughout the second part of the book were surface level.

It was also extremely uncomfortable that the FMC still held the MMC in the same regard when he was Nazi. Especially as a Jewish woman- one who was involved with a resistance group and saw first hand how Hans treated and the things that he did to people that she knew.

The one other uncomfortable part was the infidelity aspect of the main relationship throughout both timelines. It hindered the romance and completely extinguished the investment that I had in the relationship. It also seemed unnecessary; the story would have been much stronger and more impactful, without this obstacle.

Because of this, I could not, in good conscious, rate this very highly, nor can I recommend it .

I do hope that this book is given to sensitivity readers before publication. A little more care given to the setting and events would transform this into an unforgettable story.

Such a unique and fascinating premise based around the sliding doors trope but made all the more profound by its powerful setting and time period.

An immersive reading experience and I was fully invested in Max/Han's story and the beautiful romance that wss full of longing between him and Sophie. Such meticulous plotting and accomplished writing that more than once moved me to tears.

Highly Recommended

The story is set in 1933 Vienna and is divided into two timelines. That of Max Spiegelman and Hans Schatten.

Max a 13 year old Jewish boy, lives in Vienna with his Father Franz who owns a musical instrument store and his Mother Ana a housewife. They live above the music store. Max is a typical 13 year old who enjoys playing Football with his friend Joseph Muller afterschool, who plays music mainly piano and loves reading especially his favourite childhood book - Peter Pan. Until the day he meets Sophie Strum in his Father’s music store and Max’s life drastically changes overnight. His parents die in a fire destroying their store and home.

This is where the dual timelines begin

Max is now become Hans.

The Schatten family were German are were longtime friends of the Spiegelman Family who were Jewish. , Despite their differences in religious beliefs cherished their friendship. While Max was recovering in hospital after the fire that destroyed his family as he knew it. Katherine and her Husband adopted Max now naming him Hans Osker Schatten. Max at first was not sure if he should take up his new identity, for many reasons, one being he didn’t really like their Son Karl Schatten. In the end he decided it was a better idea to accept their generosity and was adopted by his new family, also adopting his new name and identity as Hans.

Then War hostilities began in Vienna and the growing hatred between the Nazi Germans and Jewish communities really began to spread across Vienna and Europe. Splitting both families and the Country into two.

This was an interesting portrayal of the story and a time in history during WWIi via a unique perspective and dual timelines that I found both fascinating and a little confusing to follow at times. As the story progressed I found myself wishing that the story would not end.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5 and appreciate receiving a copy to read it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this opportunity and this is my honest review.

An interesting concept about a thirteen year olds life that splits, living two separate time lines, one as Hans, and one as Max. The world war setting for these stories added drama, and the research showed. Some parts felt a little repetitive, but overall the book flowed well. Would read another book by this author.

Please note this book is currently not listed correctly on goodreads. Only one kindle edition, with no book cover.

this book was entertaining, although i do feel as though it’s something i’ve already read before. i feel as though the sliding doors trope is a little worn out, honestly, but i did like the characters and the way the two narrative threads were distinctly fleshed out.

I enjoyed this dual time line book, a real 'what if' story that unlike many in this genre had Max/Hans aware of each other in their respective timelines. It was interesting to read about the rise of the Nazis in Austria throughout the 1930s as much that I've read before concentrates on the 1938 Anschluss only.

I am confused about the target audience for this book as much of the time it read like a YA book until the fairly graphic sex scenes which I am still not sure were needed.

Thank you Faber for the chance to read this excellent novel. I thought it was well written and had a great premise, once I got my head around the concept of the parallel lives of Max and Hans. The love story between Sophie and Max/Hans was compelling but perhaps more valuable was the way it generated questions about right and wrong, moral standards and how environment can dictate behaviour. I found it very relevant for today’s issues, notably the Middle East. A perfect book group title.