This was an enjoyable read and I would recommend it. thanks for letting me have an advance copy. I'm new to this author.

Part romance, part historical drama, part spy thriller, this dance in the ashes unfolds in Berlin right after Hitler’s death. First come the Russians, bringing the end of the war with them. And taking a lot in return. Then come hunger, uncertainty, and exhaustion, as the city waits for the Allied forces to arrive and start administrating their assigned territories.

Berliners walk about in a daze, trying to sort through the ashes and rubble. The city streets must be cleared, but sometimes the horrors of what is hidden beneath the ruins are too gruesome to behold.

The many destroyed houses and buildings mean that the survivors have to huddle close together, and close quarters mean that secrets are harder to keep and temperaments are likely to clash. While some desperately hold onto old values and customs, others try their best to adapt and rebuild.

Survival means different things to different people: waiting in lines for scant groceries, strictly rationing what is left until everybody is starving and irritable, striking lucrative deals with the foreign soldiers, or waiting for a chance to exact revenge.

“If you could taste my heart, you would die — so much poison is in it.”

Camillo Baumgartner is looking for someone from his past, someone who took everything from him while following orders. And when he finds them, he doesn’t just want to talk.

Franz Tegge is looking for new orders to follow, one final mission that would miraculously take him away from the horrible aftermath of the war and give him a second chance at life.

Mathilde Tegge is looking for some kind of balance: taking care of her family and sacrificing herself so they have as much peace as possible, but also nurturing the thing in her that wants to be free and dance and play music and rush through the night, forgetting her timid self. Luckily, Camillo knows a thing or two about balance…

All of their lives intertwine amid the ash and rubble in this story of human resilience and the determination to survive against all odds, even when everything is falling apart.

The skillful translation really makes the narrative come alive with implacable immediacy and the characters shine through in their fierce and delicate humanity.