Letters from Berlin

4.5★s
“I nodded, not sure that I wanted to be a part of the Nazi social elite. It meant that I was one of them, with the same warped values and attitudes. It felt wrong in all sorts of ways. I took a large swallow of the champagne. But I had to remember why I was doing this.”

Letters From Berlin is the third novel by Australian author, Tania Blanchard. The Hecker family are everything to her, all she has left. Onkel Georg and Tante Elya took in seven-year-old Susanna Göttmann when her family died; their son, Leo has become the love of her life. Susie knows that Leo will never understand why she has chosen to keep company with Julius Siebenborn, an elite Nazi, a man Leo says can’t be trusted.

Tante Elya is a Russian Jew; as a prosperous estate owner, Onkel Georg has managed to keep her and their “mischling” son safe by catering to the expensive tastes of those in power. But with the Fuhrer’s determination to rid Germany of all Jews, the rules change at the whim of Nazi executive, and only someone like Julius can create loopholes for the people Susie loves. She has to trust him.

In her third novel, Blanchard easily captures her setting and the era; her plot is credible and her characters are easy to love (or despise, as required); her extensive research is apparent on every page of this rather different look at Word War Two.

Stories about this war often present the perspective of those in Allied countries, but of course, the ordinary German people were at the receiving end of bombs too; they had rationing; their men were conscripted to fight in a war they didn’t necessarily believe in. And they had further disadvantages: they were being led by a madman; and the Third Reich propaganda machine kept them ignorant of much that was being done in their name.

Blanchard takes the many known facts pertaining to the wartime experiences of her own grandmother’s family and brings them to life, weaving into them aspects of self-sacrifice and betrayal, love and loss and loyalty. For, if war brings forth the worst of humanity, it also showcases the best of it; in extraordinary circumstances, ordinary people manage to achieve extraordinary things, and Blanchard’s novel emphatically demonstrates this. This is an utterly engrossing read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Australia

Another exceptional read, inspired by a true story, from Tania Blanchard!
The horrors and long lasting affects of WWII are told through the life of Susanna Göttmann. It is hard to imagine living through a war but to live through the Nazi regime in Germany with Jewish family members would be unimaginable. Susanna (Susie) writes about her and her family’s life before, during and after the War in letters to her daughter. A story of love, betrayal, loyalty, family honour and courage.

After Susanna Göttmann's parents and brother were killed in a terrible accident, she moved to her godparents home, Gut Birkenhof, outside of Berlin. As she grew, her grief subsided, but the memories were always there. Susie’s Onkel Georg and Tante Elya, and their son Leo, made life happier for her and she loved them dearly. In 1943 the Nazis were gaining ground and control and with Tante Elya being Jewish, she had to wear the Star of David. Onkel Georg was able to keep her safe, but no one knew for how long.

Susie was working as a nurse when she took a gamble. The Nazi officer was a friend of the family, and could keep Leo and Tante Elya safe as long as Susie pretended to court Julius. Her love for Leo would never fade, but until the war was over, she couldn’t be with him. Keeping her family safe was uppermost in Susie’s mind. Gradually, Susie, Leo and Onkel Georg became entrenched in the resistance. But danger was around them always. Would she manage to keep her family safe until the war was over? The atrocities the Nazis were involved in horrified them all – but they had to keep one step ahead...

Letters From Berlin is another brilliant, based on fact, historical novel from the pen of Australian author Tania Blanchard. This is the author’s third novel and I’ve read and loved them all. Starting from the current day, receiving letters written over the years; the majority of the story is set in and around Berlin during the war years. A wonderful, satisfying though heartbreaking and at times, traumatic novel, I loved Letters From Berlin deeply, and recommend it highly.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.