A review by brookesbookstagram
Letters from Berlin by Tania Blanchard
4.0
TW: war, holocaust, Nazi Germany, sexual abuse, physical abuse and torture.
This was my first book of 2021, and what a way to start!
This book starts with letters sent to Ingrid by her biological mother Susanna. She starts to read these letters from her life whilst she was Nazi Germany throughout WW2.
Susanna's parents and brother died in an accident and she was placed in the care of her godparents. Unfortuately Susanna's godmother is a Russian Jew, and is facing persecution and deportation. The sotry follows the struggles of Susanna and her apotive family as they attempt to navigate their different positions due to their ethnicity in war torn Germany.
This story is loosely based on real life events of Tania's family, and the journey of moving through Susanna's story was truly heartbreaking. I felt as though I was there, witnessing the atrocities right before my eyes, and that's when I knew this was an incredible book. I became so immersed in the story, I couldn't keep myself away from reading it.
Beautifully written and crafted, and I enjoyed seeing the different perspective of seeing how German citizens stood up to the uprisising of the Nazi party and didn't agree to their strong, barbaric and horrendeous views. I also listened to part of this on audiobook and I really appreciated then learning the correct pronunciations of the names in this story, which made me connect even more deeply.
This was my first book of 2021, and what a way to start!
This book starts with letters sent to Ingrid by her biological mother Susanna. She starts to read these letters from her life whilst she was Nazi Germany throughout WW2.
Susanna's parents and brother died in an accident and she was placed in the care of her godparents. Unfortuately Susanna's godmother is a Russian Jew, and is facing persecution and deportation. The sotry follows the struggles of Susanna and her apotive family as they attempt to navigate their different positions due to their ethnicity in war torn Germany.
This story is loosely based on real life events of Tania's family, and the journey of moving through Susanna's story was truly heartbreaking. I felt as though I was there, witnessing the atrocities right before my eyes, and that's when I knew this was an incredible book. I became so immersed in the story, I couldn't keep myself away from reading it.
Beautifully written and crafted, and I enjoyed seeing the different perspective of seeing how German citizens stood up to the uprisising of the Nazi party and didn't agree to their strong, barbaric and horrendeous views. I also listened to part of this on audiobook and I really appreciated then learning the correct pronunciations of the names in this story, which made me connect even more deeply.