"The Berlin Girl", by Mandy Robotham

This is a heart-wrenching story of a young woman, an English reporter, who puts herself in the line of fire as the world is about to be forever changed. Germany is on the brink of war. The story is set in Berlin 1938, at the height of summer and last till early Fall 1939.
After witnessing innocent people being torn from their home, Goergie Young along with her colleague, Max Spencer, needed to do something. As they dug deeper they uncovered the truth about Hitler’s Germany and through their eyes we see a world swathed in red flags and crawling with Nazis.

I was totally taken by this story; I simply couldn’t put it aside. Within the opening pages I was hooked and stayed eager to know what was in store for Goergie as she navigated her journalistic life during the Nazi occupation. Reporter’s work was not only censured by the Reich but the home office took great care not to offend the Germans by publishing what they thought were not based on fact reports; they wanted photos as proof before publishing anything, in fact Georgie and Max were also censured at home. Leaving the rest of the world oblivious to what really was going on.

There is a lot going on beyond the copious amounts of booze, smoking and yes strudel as Georgie bonded with her fellow journalists. She soon made friends with Sam at the British Embassy while she was involved with a German officer, but of course, this relationship eventually put her in extreme danger and the story behind is more than captivating. My favourite secondary character was Rubin a Jewish man who drove Georgie around the city till he no longer was permitted. The voices were essentially of Goergie but from time to time Rubin took center stage as he got more involved. By the end, along with his family, Goergie helped him escape Germany. I could continue but I rather you read this novel for yourself: discovering Ms. Robotham vision of events is what makes this novel a must read.

This historical novel is well-written and has sympathetic and likeable characters and we have quite a few to follow. Being during this difficult period in time the story plays with our emotions: although a truth spoken without drama. We have some elements of mystery, suspense and romance all perfectly balanced. This novel wraps up with a brilliant epilogue: closure for all....

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Avon Books UK via Netgalleys the opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.