East Germany, 1972. In a divided world, every choice has a cost.

In the shadow of Gisela’s past, another woman’s fate is set in motion. One night. One choice. A lifetime of consequences.

Susanne Schmidt risks everything to slip past the border guards and escape the Communist regime, but when her attempt goes terribly wrong, she loses more than she ever thought possible. Cut off from the man she loves, she quickly learns that in a world ruled by fear, every smile can be a lie and every neighbor a threat.

Sent to her mother-in-law Gisela’s home in the small village of Wallhausen, Susanne is forced to build a life she never wanted under the ever-watchful eye of the Stasi. To protect what little she has left, she must feign loyalty, guard dangerous secrets, and wait for the moment she can finally try again.

But when a new chance at freedom—and a long-awaited reunion—appears on the horizon, Susanne faces an impossible choice: risk the fragile life she has built, or the family she cannot bear to lose.

A gripping and heartbreaking post–World War II novel, At World’s End continues the journey begun in Sky on Fire, where love, defiance, and survival come at a devastating cost. With vivid Cold War detail and a haunting sense of time and place, it is perfect for readers of The Secrets We Kept and A Night Divided.