First of all, thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for approving me to read this copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review!!
•

I have to include some trigger warnings before I start my review. There is some reference to sexual coercion and indication of rape, as well as the obvious religious discrimination against Germany’s Jewish people. So please be mindful of these, if they pose a chance of triggering you, be cautious and kind to yourself.

•

Historical fiction isn’t generally the type of genre of book I pick up, but I’m quite interested in authors fictions renditions of world changing events such as Hitlers Germany as this book is about.

The book flowed so easily, and I really honestly struggled to put it down, I was utterly engrossed from the start. It follows a dual timeline, from a young German girl before and during World War II it tells a harrowing story of a young German girls enlightenment into the horrors of the Nazi party, of whom, her father becomes heavily involved with. It also regularly flips to 1945 Germany after World War II, to Captain Sam, sent from the US army to find and interrogate German scientists.

•

This novel is so haunting and raw, it hits you deep into your very core. It really never gets easier to read of how the Nazi’s acted towards innocent Jewish citizens for the sake of money. The brainwashing of children is focused on here, which is an important aspect of Nazi Germany, to enable them to continue on with their evil genocides by pushing their agendas on anyone young and old. It’s a heartbreaking and yet powerful novel.

I found watching Liesel become more aware of what’s going on around her, somewhat comforting as she grows into her confidence to try and do something about it and help her fellow oppressed citizens in anyway she can. After seeing several barbaric events for herself, and being forced to attend nazi parties with her ambitious, political climbing father, she teams up with her mother, as it becomes blatant the nazi’s are beyond caring who notices what they do anymore. They don’t hide behind their facade anymore and instead relish in the torture and brutality they release upon Jewish people.

This novel also focuses on her relationship with her father as it slowly crumbles around her. Once she adored him and cherished the time she could get alone with him, but as he becomes more ambitious and climbs higher up the Nazi ladder so to speak, she becomes detached and heart broken. She’s in denial at how quickly he’s changed, they once used to laugh at the Nazi’s and Hitler himself. Now she doesn’t even see him as her father, he seems like a completely different person to her, and she’s tired of pleading ignorance to what’s going on around her and being complicit.

•

It’s just an utterly amazing novel, I devoured it and felt so upset when I finished it. I will definitely be grabbing a copy for my shelf upon its release. I cannot praise it enough. It’s an utterly raw and heart wrenching novel that pulls at your heart strings but it’s hard not to adore it for its power.

Overall, this novel is a hard read but an important one too, even though it’s fiction, it’s based on a lot of real events. I would recommend this to anyone who has an interest in Germany during WWII, Hitler or just Historical fiction in general.

Liesel Scholz is just a normal teenage girl living in Berlin in 1936 when she finds her world rapidly changing around her. Caught in the midst of growing Nazi power, she has to learn what it means to survive the coming war.

I don’t know if I’ve ever read a book that paints World War II in shades of grey as effectively as this book. It is uncomfortable and heavy; it asks the question of what would an average person in Berlin do at the dawn of the war and makes you decide for yourself what the right answer is, and if there’s a right answer at all. Liesel’s frustration and hatred and fear and helplessness come through so clearly, and your heart aches for her as she struggles between self preservation and taking a stand for what she knows to be right—and just how hard it is to even find a way to make a difference against an insurmountable evil.

Every character in this book felt so human. As the book progresses and characters take their stands, we understand exactly how they reached that point. When characters descend into indifference and complicity and cruelty, we understand that too; even when these characters are awful and at their worse, their ways of thinking shine through. While the story starts off slowly, it is compelling and heartbreaking and engaging.

The Girl from Berlin is told in split perspectives and timelines, something I usually love, but it didn’t quite work here. That being said, Sam and Liesel are both very dynamic and interesting characters with very important perspectives. Through Sam’s eyes, we see that being on the right side of history does not inherently make you a good person; we see that justice in the aftermath is no easy task. While the split presented two unique and fascinating stories individually, they failed to blend together as well as I hoped.

This book will stick with me for a while. It’s perfect for someone who delves into historical fiction for a unique perspective that will give you plenty to think about. This book is certainly something you have to be in the right headspace to read, but it’s worth it.

Kate Hewitt is an author who draws you in to the story so quickly!

The story is written in Germany during World War II.

1936-the family is living in Berlin. The viewpoint is from Liesel, who is a 14 year old girl. She has a 6 year old brother, Friedy and her parents Otto and Ilse. Liesel adores her father but doesn't realize how entrenched he is in the Nazi party.

1945-the story is told from the viewpoint of Captain Sam Houghton who comes from the United States as an analyst to prosecute the Nazi supporters. He has a secretary named Anna Vogel.

This gave me so much to think about during this terrible time period. How do you stand up for people when your own livelihood may be at stake. Il

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc. The opinions are my own.

A story and history combined in a powerful tale. its 1936 and Liesel watches her parents closely. Her father is a successful businessman but recently he has been a little different, being heard by her to say things she questions. Such as why they should respect Hitler and Liesel should join the Hitler youth and how they act amongst others such as at the opening of the 1936 Berlin Olympic games. Liesel knows that her lessons in “ race science” are not true. Who could think that Jews have horns under their hair and are one step above rats ?(OMG). From the beginning we get to see what life was like and how the young were indoctrinated. Post war and a Captain in the American army is sent to analyse literally tons of questionnaires to see if anyone is still harbouring loyalty to the Nazi's. He discovers yet more paperwork, but this time it is papers the Nazi's wanted burning. His task is not only to find those hiding but a search for chemists, he knows not why. I was gripped by this. Of how the war shaped and changed people and how some stayed strong whilst being dragged along with little choice but for survival. A powerful tale indeed and perhaps one some of the snowflake generation should read to see what really happened. One to remember, one to ponder on. an inspirational story with a message.
(rest of links as part of blog tour)

There are so many magnificent books of literary fiction about World War II, that I admit my standards are pretty high at this point. This book was well researched and covered an interesting aspect of the war - how small decisions by average citizens of Germany set the country and the world so far down a destructive path. In the immediate aftermath of the war, people wondered how this could have happened, and the novel continues investigating that from the angle of the post-war trials through its dual timeline. This book was overall an enjoyable read for standard historical fiction, and I would recommend it for readers of that genre. I was expecting a novel of literary fiction based on its classification as such, and this novel just can't compete with some of the other greats.

The story starts in 1936 and has two main narrators and two different timeframes. The first narrator of her story is a 14-year-old German girl called Liesel Scholz who lives with her father, mother and younger brother in their lovely new home in Berlin. Her story tells of the pre-war lives of her family and of her growing up into a lady during the war. She becomes growingly aware of the atrocities committed during the war and particularly to the persecution of Jews living in the city. She is in between a rock and a hard place: her father is working closely with prominent Nazis because they need his knowledge about chemistry. He is even invited to their homes and parties. But their housekeeper and her daughter Rosa, who is about Liesel’s age, are Jews and are desperate to escape their fate. Liesel is sympathetic and hates the way the Jews are hounded out of their homes and treated with contempt and gross brutality. She is determined to help, but she must be very careful about not being found to be helping her Jewish friends, especially by her father and the people he works for.
The second narrator is an American Captain called Sam Houghton who is sent to post war Frankfurt ten years later in 1946 to help find and hunt out important members of the Government’s Nazi movement. He is treated like royalty with a sumptuous requisitioned home complete with staff to look after him. The German secretary he has been allotted is called Anna Vogul, who had a very good command of English. She acts as his translator as well and they become close as they work together going through mounds of boxes filled with information about prominent Germans. She is attractive and very modest but does not open up to tell Sam about her private life, only that her family are all dead, victims of the bombings and tyranny of the war. Sam falls in love with her but she does not want to be in a relationship. The war has bruised her and she prefers to be single.
Then both stories merge and this was my favourite part of the novel. I loved reading this meticulously researched and involving story. The storytelling is beautiful, strong and absorbing and the storyboard exceedingly well managed and the rich descriptions made it easy to visualise the settings and actions both kind and atrocious. I loved the character and story of Liesel’s journey through the war but sometimes it was hard to bear; both shocking and savage. I liked Sam and Anna, but Anna’s story was heart breaking and hard to deal with. I confess to shedding tears a few times. With themes including love and loss, betrayal and courage this is a powerhouse of emotions, activity and full of heart.
I received a complimentary copy of this novel from publisher Bookouture through my membership of NetGalley. Thank you for my copy sent in return for an honest and unbiased review. This novel is an absorbing read, intelligently written, pacey and a real page turner. It gripped me from the very beginning until the heart-warming end. I love novels with unreliable narrators so this was right up my street. I’ve thought long and hard about my review and that’s why it is a very well deserved 4.5* from me.

Wow - a book I won't forget reading. I've read many similar in the past including ones such as this told from the point of view of German citizens coping with living through the Nazi regime. However the way this was built up including the (lesser) part of the story told from the point of view of post war Berlin, was so realistic and tense throughout. There were times when I couldn't put it down and others when I just had to stop reading as I had to process what I had just read. Yes we factually know of some of the horrors of WW2 but this just brings the fear and deprivation into focus once more. Especially so as I finish reading just after Holocaust Memorial Day.
I would not recommend this novel (based on a lot of research and truth) to a younger teenage reader but given to the appropriate oldr student it is surely a story which will influence thoughts towards humanity for many years to come.
I will be looking up further books by Kate Hewitt and highly recommend this one.

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This was a historical fiction set in WWII about ordinary Germans and they Reich. This was a very thought provoking read about the struggle to stand up to a powerful evil. I thought the romance between Sam and Leslie was a bit contrived and almost rushed at the end. A good read overall.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for a copy of "The Girl From Berlin" in exchange for my honest review.

Ms. Hewitt has written a story that tugs at the heart-strings. The opening of the story is 9 years after the Berlin Olympics. When soldiers start banging on the door of a woman, she tries to buy time for others so that they can escape.

The story is told in two voices Liesel Scholz who is 14 at the beginning of the book. Chapter 1 starts in August 1936 in Berlin. The second voice is that of Captain Sam Houghton a 32 year old analyst from the United States. He is in Frankfurt in November 1945 to carry out checks on questionnaires in the hunt for chemists that might be of use to the West.

The theme of the book is what is someone willing to sacrifice for their own ambitions? Otto Scholz is a chemist with IG Farben. He developed Buna rubber but seems to think he is more important than he really is. His wife Ilse seems to be out of touch with what is happening around her. They employ a Jewish cook Gerda in their home and she often brings her 10 year old daughter Rosa with her.

The story continues between Berlin of the late 1930s and Frankfurt after the war from 1945 on. Liesel feels that there is something going on, something that is wrong and that her father is caught up in it through his ambition, his need to be seen by all the top people. She questions where people go and why do they never return. Liesel tries not to let ignorance and hatred penetrate her mind and then taint her soul.

Liesel truly starts to question things when in the interest of "serious hereditary and congenital illness" someone has reported her brother Friedy. One day people arrive to take him to a "hospital" where they will take good care of him, he doesn't need to bring anything with him, everything will be provided.

After this Ilse becomes a woman of purpose and of great strength along with her daughter.

An interesting thread is Sam's secretary Anna Vogel. Who is she? What are the secrets that she is keeping?

Things go from bad to worse and yet there is a silver lining but not before crying your eyes out. Ms. Hewitt has written a wonderful story of love triumphing over hate.

What would you have done as an average citizen in Nazi Germany? Would you have confronted evil or collaborated to protect your life?

That’s the question asked by THE GIRL IN BERLIN, which makes it such a gripping and heartbreaking hf read.

We first see the country through the eyes of young Leisel Scholz, who lives a sheltered life in 1936, with her chemist father, who has ties to high Nazi officials. She’s not aware at first of the distressing changes in the city until she meets Rosa, daughter of the Scholz’s Jewish housekeeper, who opens her eyes to the growing hatred and violence against Jews. Soon she feels she MUST help Rosa and her family, no matter the cost.

We’re re-introduced to Berlin in post-war 1946, a broken city when American Captain Sam Houghton arrives to try prominent Nazis and assist in the rebuilding. His assistant, Anna, has secrets unknown to him related to the Nazi Party — and to two young girls who became friends when the world shattered. I promise, this one will break and reshape your heart!

5 of 5 Stars

Pub Date 25 Feb 2021
#TheGirlfromBerlin #NetGalley

Thanks to the author, Bookouture, and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are mine.

This was a pageturner! The Girl from Berlin by Kate Hewitt is a historical novel about a girl living before, during and after WWII. The story starts with Liesel, a 14 year old living a privileged life as the daughter of a German chemist in 1936 Berlin. She and her father discuss Hitler and his beliefs. It continues to follow her family and the many life changing decisions they make throughout the next 10 years.

The dual timeline in the book also discusses an American soldier in post WWII trying to sift through rooms full of paperwork with his German secretary, trying to find war criminals.

I couldn't put this book down. I felt so bad for Liesel with her many agonizing decisions she had to make, plus the horrible things that war does to people.

I will look for other books by this author! Thankfully, she has written quite a few others!

A world war II drama with two storylines.

We see Germany and the rise of Hilter and the way through the eyes of a young german girl. It was interesting to see how she saw what was happening around her and the effect it had on her and her view of the world. It did drag a bit in the beginning because there wasn;t much happening storywise with a lot of musing, but the pace picked up in later chapters.

Then we see Berlin after the war through the eyes of a young US soldier. He witnessed the aftermath of the war on the ordinary German people ;iving in a ruined city, totally defeated.

This book tells a story that is not told a lot. It was a very interesting read.

This book was enjoyable but not exceptional. The middle was quite slow and it did not hold my interest but the beginning and ending were great.

THE GIRL FROM BERLIN
BY KATE HEWITT

Liesel is a young girl growing up in Berlin who at the beginning of the novel has a close relationship with her father named Otto. They attend the Olympics together at the beginning of this story. As Liesel starts to grow a little older she notices an old man get attacked by a couple of Nazi's as she is walking home one night and it really upsets her. She notices that her housekeeper and cook Gerda and her daughter Rosa are also Jewish like the poor man she saw get provoked and beaten for no reason and it really starts to bother her. She is German and she thinks that the way her younger brother's textbooks that show exaggerated pictures of the Jewish people are wrong and vulgar. Liesel tries to befriend Rosa but Rosa seems to not want to be friendly back. Ilse, Liesel's mother seems to stay more in her bedroom and doesn't want to go to the big parties that the SS Officer's in Hitler's high ranking circles that Otto is getting invited to more and more often,

Otto starts asking his daughter Liesel to accompany him to these high ranking official's homes and she doesn't want anything to do with them just like her mother but her father pressures her and she relents. Meanwhile her little brother Friedy is excited to join the Hitler youth group but since his difficult birth left him with a foot that drags he will never be able to compete in the sprints and can't finish a day and a half hike so he gets disillusioned with the youth group. Their father is a chemist that runs a factory inventing synthetic rubber so he rises in the Nazi party because the rubber is useful to manufacturing boats, airplanes and other useful things that are useful to the war. The older that Liesel gets she can't understand why her loving father wants to surround himself with the likes of Himmler, Goebbels and Hitler.

In a dual timeline in 1945 and 1946 Captain Houghton is serving after the war in Frankfort and his job is to find scientists that took part during the war that would be useful to America who is now looking at a new enemy, the Soviet Union. Since Captain Houghton is from America he needs to hire a secretary that speaks German to help him translate the mountains of paperwork that he has to sift through so he hires a demure Anna Vogel.

I found myself not being able to turn the pages fast enough in the beginning. The story is mostly told by Liesel's point of view for the majority of the time. I loved this story and how the two converging timelines collide together. I loved Liesel's life long sensitivity to the Jewish people and her sensitive nature was to helping them all she could. Who is Anna and why is she telling her boss so many things that he remembers her telling him something completely different. I enjoyed this multifaceted tale but as with all Holocaust stories this was very hard to read at times. I highly recommend this to lovers of World War II stories and Liesel and her mother and her younger brother are highly compassionate German people who tried to help those less fortunate throughout the entire story.

Publication Date: February 25, 2021

Thank you to Net Galley, Kate Hewitt and Bookouture for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#TheGirlFromBerlin #KateHewitt #Bookouture #NetGalley

This dual timeline book is a great read for all fans of historical fiction. Liesel a teenager growing up in Berlin in 1936. Her father is a chemist and she has a very protective life. However dark clouds are on the horizon with the start of world war 2. Her father starts socialising with Goring and Goebels and Liesel starts to question her loyalties, especially when she witnesses atrocities and attacks on Jewish people in her community. In 1945 in Frankfurt we meet Sam an American chemist who is sent to help bring Nazi sympathisers to court. His secretary is Anna who has secrets.
A heart wrenching book
Received this book from #Netgalley and publishers in exchange for an honest review

I enjoyed this story. I liked how it had a dual timeline of before and after the war. Toward the end I did struggle a little bit when the book was in the after war timeline and I’m not really sure why. I do think people who like stories from this period will love it. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. #TheGirlFromBerlin

I enjoyed reading this book as it told the story of a young girl before the second world and afterwards. It was heartbreaking and sad at times. There was a lot of description about the Germans and how they responded to the Jewish community. I could not stop reading to see what happens and I was not disappointed. Thank you.

Liesel Scholz lived under constant anxiety. She was prickly as a young girl, balking at joining the girls' branch of the Hitler Youth, to having to accompany her father, a chemist of note, to Nazi party gatherings where the upper echelon leaders were present, to the realization of what was happening to Jews and other undesirables in Berlin. She was, like most ordinary Germans, living her daily life refusing to accept the reality of the hatred and oppression of the Nazi regime. When she did make a stand against the atrocities , it was insignificant agains the scope of the German war.

Liesel's life and survival are acutely depicted by Kate Hewitt. This is a novel that takes us into the life of a young German girl who grows into a woman painstainkingly aware of the unfairness, pain and despair of what it meant to live through the war under the Nazis, particularly for the Jews.

Not usually a fan of dual timeline but loved this story for a variety of reasons. One, it showed just how easily we can get caught up in something - the father's role in Nazi Germany was an excellent example of this. Two it showed how complex family relationships can be. It also highlighted the other targets of the Nazis - not just the Jews. The characters were real and the story held my interest in all of the timelines - this is unusual as usually I only like the ww2 timeline in dual timeline stories. Kate has a way of grabbing you and dragging you into the story. Am certain this one will be a hit with readers

A compelling, enthralling and heart wrenching WWII story that I couldn’t put down. The story is told through a dual time line - beginning in Berlin, 1936 and Frankfurt, 1945 following the war.
Liesel Scholz is a young German girl confused about what is happening in her birth country. Her father Otto is being groomed by the Nazis due to his chemistry background. Otto is enjoying the celebrity status and is keen for his family to shine in the eyes of the Nazi hierarchy. Liesel’s mother Ilse is not interested in her husbands grand plans but her younger brother Friedy is keen to do his bit for Germany. As time goes on and the war begins in earnest Otto’s involvement with the Nazis becomes more entrenched much to the despair of all his family.
Captain Sam Houghton former Chemistry teacher is seconded to post war Germany to identify Nazi scientists who could be useful to America. He is provided with a secretary Anna Vogel who is not all she tells Sam she is. Their relationship is at first restrained but Sam eventually breaks through Anna’s steel like facade and learns the truth about her past.
The story as told through Leisel’s life is at times frustrating as she knows that there are horrors around her but as she is cosseted from the horrors she finds it difficult to do anything about it. At times I wanted to reach into the book and shake her.
The story is an emotional roller coaster of courage, love and betrayal.

Thankyou Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.