Born in Europe, I've always known that Berlin has a huge underground culture and a big queer community. It's interesting to read about gay couples in Nazy Germany in the 1920s and 1930s.
I loved to see the love story of two women between the two wars in Europe and the perspective of the granddaughter in the 1990s.
We need more political histical gay books.

DNF'ed at 34%; between the mediocre writing and the off-putting handling of Jewish and queer history, I couldn't bring myself to continue. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. I will not be giving this book a star rating because I did not finish it.

This book did not get off to a strong start. The world and characters felt incredibly flat. I could not tell you the difference between James and Ernesto with a gun to my head. It's all just lists of names, except for Tillie, but that's cheating because it's her point of view. The places these characters. This is a book about a woman who works in the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft and her girlfriend works in a nightclub! These settings seem so easy to make visceral and real, but there's no description of these places, and we never seem to go to the damn night club. These problems are heightened by the massive time jumps every chapter. The 100-odd pages I read covered 1927-1930, and that's a lot of time! It takes skill to skip around that much and still have the readers feel like they know the characters. The prose feels very modern for a novel set mostly in the late 1920s and 1930s.

The modern day stuff is fine? I thought Thea was a bit dim, but I also had the knowledge that her grandmother had a girlfriend. Again, I cannot track how any of the 90s characters are related to each other either because they have no personality. The alternating structure of these chapters does give you a bit of a break from reading about the 20s and 30s and the accompanying mounting dread, but the jumps also kills any tension that the text manages to get going.

Of the bit that I read, most of the explorations of social issues were a bit artless. They weren't inherently objectionable (at first), but they were just so obvious. Dora's conversation with Tillie about her unwillingness to travel due to the increased scrutiny that she would experience as a visibly trans woman vs Tillie as a lesbian was just so nothing to me. I guess if you've never thought about this kind of thing before it might hit, but my god it did not for me. It all felt like a book that I might give to middle students to help them learn about the period because of how on-the-nose the entire book felt.

My opinions on this rapidly shifted once the threat from the Nazis became more real, and characters began to say things that contradicted earlier points that they made and would be absolutely ridiculous for them to say at all. There are two big examples of this naivete, though I found Tillie's naivete throughout low-level frustrating. While discussing the threat that brownshirts pose to the Institute, Dora says: "I just don't really understand how this can be allowed. All this fighting. Where are the police? Where is the government to keep us safe?" (p. 89, page numbers from the ARC that I was given). I simply don't buy that a trans woman who had been arrested multiple times for being trans, faced street harassment for being trans, and told the POV character this (highlighting to the reader that these things had happened to her) would be this trusting of the government in general and police in particular to help her and people like her. Magnusfield even looks directly at her when he explains that police aren't going to help them. Before this point, the book had been mediocre, but this was when it stopped being believable.

My last straw was a moment that appeared in a conversation between Tille and Ruth. Ruth, as the text occasionally reminds us, is Jewish. It is unclear to what extent, at least in what I read. It's more of a thing where Ruth occasionally mentions that she's Jewish, instead of there being any mention of her practicing Judaism. Tille and Ruth are discussing the dangers that Nazi street violence could pose, when Tillie attempts to assuage Ruth's concerns about Nazi antisemitic violence with: "But how would they make people afraid of the Jews? I just don't think the German people would fall for that" (p. 91). I am not an expert on the Jewish experience in any country or time, let alone Germany in the late 20s/early 30s. However, this is a patently ridiculous thing for Tillie to say. Antisemitism was a constant feature of Europe since... forever? I'm going to go with forever. While the late 1800s and early 1900s were ok times to be Jewish in Germany in terms of rights that the government gave Jewish people, it was by no means perfect, and that does not account for literal centuries of Jewish people being treated as second-class citizens and facing state and mob violence (I'm getting this information from the History of the Jews in Germany Wikipedia page and my own recollections from reading about Judaism). It is unlikely to the point of impossibility that Tillie's father, who was a Nazi seemingly from the early days, would have not said something antisemitic around Tille at the very least. The German people would certainly fall for that, because they, like every other country in Europe had fallen for it countless times in their history. It is ahistorical and dangerous to suggest that virulent hatred of Jewish people was a unique feature to Nazism. They built on what was already there.

The icing on the cake was when I looked at the afterward. The author notes that Dora's (who was a real trans woman) whereabouts after the destruction of the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft are unknown. That's fine, except that there has been been some research done that can track her until her death in 1966. I found this on her Wikipedia page, and this research was done in 2023. This book was published in 2025. I am underwhelmed to say the least.

I think it is touching that Bryant wants to make more people aware of this feature of queer history, particularly the fact that trans people existed at this time. However, the book itself is simply not very good. I wish her all the best in her future writing endeavors, but I will likely not read any more of her writing.

5 stars

This was just such a phenomenal book

The writing was so wonderful, the plot was phenomenal and 0verall book was just so heartbreaking and so incredible

As someone who had a special bond with my grandma when she was alive I love how the book is centred around Thea learning her grandmothers story. As a queer woman the book made me emotional and really highlighted those who have paved the paths for, living in the shadows, allowing us to be out and proud. This isn’t my usual read and was tough in places. The writing style was excellent, however it’s hard to fathom the evil acts that took places. I found a particular quote in the book particularly moving “they erased them. Erased it all.” It’s horrific what happened during that period to anyone that didn’t fit an ideal image and the book has educated me on how it impacted the queer community. Thank you Kathryn for making sure the communities stories are heard, as difficult and unfathomable it is to read.

When I read the blurb of this book, I really wanted to love it. To read about Germany in the 1920’s and 1930’s to see how things got worse and worse for Jews as well as other marginalized people like trans and queer people. Unfortunately, this was for like a non-fiction book with all sorts of historical details (not sure correct) and way too little about the MC’s in the story. Where was all the romance that would have enhanced the story so much? On top of that the writing was really dragging at time so I had to really struggle to finish the book. This from being so into reading this book it left me quite underwhelmed.

This book has so many thought provoking themes. Very evocative and sometimes hard to read because of the content. I think this is an important piece of history to know

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book follows a gay woman in Berlin as the Nazis take power, and her granddaughter in the 90s as she untangles her grandmother’s past.

I appreciated the thorough accounting of Dr. Hirschfield’s work, as I was unfamiliar. The author said she wanted to keep that part of history alive, and I think she does a good job of informing.

While the historical piece was interesting, I don’t think it was enough for me. I think this book has some great bones but could probably use another draft. Most of the book is dialogue. I don’t know much about the characters other than their names, what they’re wearing, and what job they have. It made it hard to connect to the characters. There’s a moment which is supposed to be a highly emotional tragic death scene, and it just felt like another moment because I didn’t have a moment to know more about the character. Also, I thought it was strange that the characters in Berlin all had English names and used a bit of modern slang.

All that being said, for a first time author this was pretty good.

An increasingly tense dual-timeline story split between a young woman in 1920s and 30s Berlin, and her American granddaughter many years later, piecing together this hidden portion of her family's history.

The earlier timeline, following Tillie (Matilda), occurs when Berlin is the gay capital of the world. Homosexual, lesbian, and trans people are making strides in public acceptability and becoming stage sensations in Berlin's vibrant club scene...only for the rise of Hitler and his young extremists to push them underground again with increasing ferocity.

These are the very early years of the National Socialist Party, when it is plotting strategy in the homes and offices of respectable lawyers and businessmen, aiming to make further seat gains fort the next election. Tillie's working in her father's law office when she first becomes aware of the political maneuvering, but at first she's unable to believe it could be a risk to her or anyone she knows. Not even when Ernesto, her best male friend, is spurned by his father, one of her father's main clients, over his homosexuality. But it begins to hit harder for Tillie's lover, Ruth, who is not only a cross-dressing nightclub entertainer and a lesbian; she's also Jewish.

In the modern timeline, the young Tillie is a grandmother now suffering from increasing dementia, which we see through the eyes of her granddaughter Thea, who is uncovering the old woman’s past even as the owner is losing it. The names of the two women, Tilly and Thea, take a bit of getting used to of separating mentally.

As is often the case with dual timeline books, the modern narrative is less compelling than the one set in the past. We learn little about Thea except that she is poking around in her grandmother‘s stuff, trying to find out what the reader already knows from the past timeline. The author readily conveys Thea's struggle to accommodate her grandmother's increasing dementia while coming to terms with the void underlying the official family history she thought she knew.

Give My Love to Berlin is an Aimée & Jaguar tale for the current generation, but where the book by Austrian author Erica Fischer was based on a true story, Tillie and Ruth's doomed love story is fiction. Tillie is the daughter of a mid-level Party official, where the very real Lilly Wust was the wife of a high-ranking one. The resonances to struggles that current 20-somethings in the LGBTQ+ community face in many countries, both in the 1990s when the book came out and now, in the 2120s when Russia, much of the USA, and parts of Canada are actively dangerous for openly queer people once again.

We have recent history to reflect on as well. France narrowly escaped rule by a far-right party through arcane constitutional shenanigans. Australia booted its harder-right government. Canada has a centre-left government after a hard-fought election dogged by propaganda as disturbing as that of the 1920s. Yet Germany’s AfD party has seat gains in their recent election, not quite 100 years after the events of this book, and of Aimée & Jaguar.

Ultimately, a good novel entertains you - takes you to a different time and space, into another person's story - even while it pushes you to reflect on your own world and time. This novel gives much food for thought.

I really wanted to enjoy this and I tried. The premise sounded really promising, however the content didn’t deliver as I had expected. Some of the dialogues felt off for the time period it’s based in and did not feel accurate, which really put me off. On top of that it also felt like the characters were not serious enough considering they were minorities in a Nazi regime. However, some scenes did make my heart race in fear for the characters but it wasn’t enough to keep me hooked.

3.5 stars rounded up. Thank you NetGalley and Walrus Publishing for the e-ARC.

Damn, that last few lines had be absolutely bawling. In general, I think this is a great fictionalized way of learning what happened to gay, lesbians and trans people during the 30’s and 40’s in Germany. I already came into this book knowing what happened but I still found things I didn’t know about and also things I hadn’t thought of.

I also see this book as almost a cautionary tale, with the way things are going in the world, the rise of the far right, nationalism, and fascism around the world and all the anti-trans bills in the US. We cannot afford to be complacent.

In terms of the characters and narrative, I did find it suffering from “telling but not showing”. Not that I did not find some of the characters lovable, especially Tillie and Ruth but the other characters tended to serve a specific purpose without allowing the reader to form an emotional attachment to them. Nonetheless, I was still engaged and took any time I had to read the book.

I do think it’s a great way for someone who might not know that much about other people killed in the Holocaust to start learning about it, and also to learn that queer people, we have always been here and we will always be here.

Give My Love To Berlin is a beautiful, evocative, sometimes hard to read book that brings back the Nazy Germany of the past and how those actions can be seen currently in the US. 💫💫💫💫💫

This novel uses dual timelines to portray Tillie and her partner Ruth and the story of Thea and her grandmother. It was so heart wrenching to read about queer people in 1930's Germany and how they navigated those times. The story with Thea and her grandmother is set on the 1990's USA.

I loved this book so much, it was sad and very educational as I was unaware of Berlin's rich queer history.

Thank you Netgalley and Amphorae Publishing group for my arc. All opinions are entirely my own.

Many thanks to Walrus Publishing for the ARC.

This book was beautiful! To convey so many important events in an easily digestible and humanly accessible manner was an excellent achievement.
While I was reading I kept envisioning films like The Danish Girl, Cabaret and Tipping the Velvet, but also books like Women In the Castle.
And as a history enthusiast, I could not stop checking the Wikipedia pages of notable people, events and locations. This was what the great Beverly Jenkins calls “edutainment”.

The book doesn’t just give glimpses of history (dual timelines) but lessons we can all benefit from about acceptance, love, respect, community and resistance. These lessons resonate with the world today.

Well done Katherine Bryant.

This book contained so many thought provoking themes, I would love to read more from this author as the wiring style really spoke to me

Give My Love to Berlin is a beautiful and poignant story set against the backdrop of Berlin during the rise of Nazism. At its heart, it’s a love story not just between Tillie and Ruth, but also among the chosen family they build at the Institute for Sexual Science, a rare refuge for queer people in an increasingly hostile world.

I was struck by how much I didn’t know going into this book. I had no idea how vibrant and queer Berlin was in the 1920s, nor was I familiar with Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld and his groundbreaking work, particularly in support of transgender women. I found myself frequently switching over to Google to learn more about the real people and events that inspired the story. That’s a testament to Bryant’s writing–she draws you in so deeply that you’re compelled to learn more even as you’re swept up in the narrative. At the same time, it’s impossible to ignore the chilling parallels between the events described in the book that led to the rise of Nazism and what we’re witnessing in the United States today.

I also loved the shifts between timelines, from 1927-1941 to 1990-1991, and the way the characters’ lives remained interconnected across generations. As someone who’s a sucker for family history and old photos, I was especially drawn to the genealogy thread. It added a compelling mystery that slowly unfolded alongside the main storyline.

By the end, I was sobbing, literally having to stop reading because my tears were blurring the pages. I couldn’t put this book down. As a debut novel, I’m impressed by Bryant’s ability to tell such a powerful and important story with so much emotional depth. I can’t wait to see what she writes next.

Mes mots ne suffiront pas pour dire à quel point ce roman était incroyable, à quel point il était émouvant, beau et terrifiant dans notre contexte actuel. La montée lente et en même temps très brusque de l'extrême droite, essayer de se convaincre comme on peut que non ça n'arrivera pas, et tenter malgré tout de continuer de vivre. Vraiment les personnages sont beaux, émouvants, drôles et à chaque interaction entre elleux j'avais le cœur qui se gonflait.
Même si je suis d'accord qu'il faut plus de romans sur la joie d'être queer et des fins heureuses, je suis aussi d'accord avec le fait qu'il faut ce genre de roman. C'est nécessaire de se rappeler que les personnes queer ont toujours existés, et existeront toujours, en particulier les personnes trans.
C'est un roman qui restera graver en moi, à qui je penserais régulièrement.

My words wouldn' be enough to discribe how mush I love this book, it was moving, beautiful, and terrifing when we think about our current events. When the far right make it slowly in the gouvernment and the high instance, try to convince ourself that can't be possible, it wouldn't happen, and try to live a normal life. Characters are beautiful, moving, funny and every interaction they have, I felt my heart fill.
Even if, I think that we need more book about queer joy, with happy ending, I think that kind of book is very important. A reminder that queer people existed before and we'll exist forever even if some people are happy about it.
I will think about "Give My Love to Berlin" forever, it leave you a mark on.

I really loved this book from start to finnish. The way it took me back to Berlin in the 1930s was magical. I felt like i knew the characters, like they were my friends. I laughed and cried with them. Its been a while since ive felt this conected to a plot. Cant recomend enough.

I really wanted to live this book but unfortunately had to DNF. There wasn’t enough happening to catch my attention and draw me into the story.

There’s a lot of current day American slang in this book which threw me off. I also didn’t care for the dual time period povs and would’ve been 100% satisfied with just reading Tillie’s pov. Overall it was engaging and enjoyable though.

Review also posted on goodreads.

It’s hard to say I had fun reading this book as it was quite heavy for me, so I’m not saying I had fun but I am very glad I read this book.
It was very interesting to read a story of queer community set in the time leading up to WWII. As European, the topic of WWII and everything surrounding it is quite heavy for me, so I did shed some tears and my heart was breaking during some of the chapters. All in all I think this novel is well written, especially well since it’s a debut one. The characters are well defined and the plot was very well executed. The writing style gives the vibes of the pre-World War II time, or at least how I imagine it. It’s not exactly a book for one sitting, more like a couple days of reading. It was definitely heavy cause even though it’s fiction, it felt very realistic.
My rating in terms of stars is 4 out of 5.

writing a historical novel about nazi germany as an american and then making it your debut is a very ambitious thing to do. kudos to the author for trying, but this idea could’ve been executed better...

i’ll start off with the good things:
- focus on queer people and the (well-researched) sexual science institute
- the beginning is a bit rough but once the story pulls you in, you keep reading
- decent set of characters, not too many but not too few either.

now for the bad things:
- as other reviewers have pointed out, literally no one talked like this during the interbellum. these people speak like they’re modern day american citizens (the father especially sounds like a total trumpie)
- the characters were so fucking naive they genuinely pissed me off. you’d expect a group of sexual minorities to be wary of authority but these people barely gave a fuck. they’re like, oh nazis are on the rise? surely nothing bad will happen! like they were just not doing anything half of the book, then all of a sudden (view spoiler) hello?
- weak second timeline. for some reason there was a whole detective type thing going on to spice things up. the incredibly unlikeable mc keeps doing things she shouldn't and for some magical reason it still works out in her favour. she also complains about not being able to understand german despite the fact that she was raised by an actual german immigrant. the least you could do to thank her is take a german 101 class, but maybe that’s just me. consider going to a library and looking for a dictionary if you’re so curious to know the translation of a letter?
- the time jumps. i’m going to need a bit more than, three weeks passed, it’d been months, a year ago this happened and now blah blah.

overall not bad, there’s just so many things that annoyed me that i couldn’t like the book anymore. wasn't sure how to rate this, it's more of a 2.5/5 but not enough for 3/5.