Title: The Berlin Girl
Author: Mandy Robotham
Publication Date: December 8, 2020
Genre: Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 400
Summary: From Goodreads: “Berlin, 1938: It’s the height of summer, and Germany is on the brink of war. When fledgling reporter Georgie Young is posted to Berlin, alongside fellow Londoner Max Spender, she knows they are entering the eye of the storm.
Arriving to a city swathed in red flags and crawling with Nazis, Georgie feels helpless, witnessing innocent people being torn from their homes. As tensions rise, she realises she and Max have to act – even if it means putting their lives on the line.
But when she digs deeper, Georgie begins to uncover the unspeakable truth about Hitler’s Germany – and the pair are pulled into a world darker than she could ever have imagined…”
Review: Thank you, Harper Collins Canada, for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Even though I didn’t know much about The Berlin Girl before picking it up, I was excited to read it because of the period that it takes place in. The Berlin Girl takes place in Berlin during the lead up to the outbreak of WWII. This is a period that I learned a lot about in University, and I loved reading about it in this book. It was one of those books where I struggled to put it down once I got into it, and I became attached to the characters. If you’re a fan of Historical Fiction that takes place around WWII, this is a must-read book.
My favourite thing about this book is the period that it takes place in. I find the lead up to World War Two to be fascinating, and I spent a lot of time in University learning about Germany in the late 1930s. I thought this book did an excellent job showing the building tension in Berlin as September 1, 1939, got closer and closer. You could feel the distrust between neighbours, the increased paranoia that people were listening, and the increased danger as Germany edged closer to war. It was very clear that the author did a lot of research while writing this book, making it even more enjoyable for me.
The other thing that I loved about this book was Georgie Young and Max Spender. I loved everything about Georgie, especially how determined she was to make it in a male-dominated industry. I loved her wit and how fiery she could get when defending herself and her journalistic decisions. I also loved how much she cared for the people around her and the extremes she was willing to go to to help people. To a certain extent, Max Spender was the opposite of Georgie, but I liked how they balanced each other out.
I also became attached to some of the secondary characters in this book. I loved the press pack and the camaraderie between them. I also loved the Amsel family, and it broke my heart reading about them having their rights stripped away because they were Jewish.
I enjoyed reading about Georgie and Max trying to uncover some of the hidden horrors of Nazi Germany. I spent a good portion of the book on the edge of my seat, not knowing what would happen to them as they dug deeper and deeper. It also didn’t help that I knew what Georgie and Max would discover before they did, which made parts of the book a bit stressful to read.
Overall, this book made me feel a lot of emotions, and I absolutely loved it. I will definitely be checking out the other books by Mandy Robotham, and I’m excited to get to them.
Rating: 5 Stars!