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Product Description
Review
'...Incredibly evocative, devastatingly moving depiction of a family torn apart by brick, politics and fear.' --Daily Record
'Heart-rending tale of family, love and supreme courage and their abilities to conquer the worst and most hopeless of circumstances.' --People's Friend
'A tragic tale that will stay with you long after you've finished it. 5 stars.' --Cosmopolitan on The Butterfly House
'Heart-rending tale of family, love and supreme courage and their abilities to conquer the worst and most hopeless of circumstances.' --People's Friend
'A tragic tale that will stay with you long after you've finished it. 5 stars.' --Cosmopolitan on The Butterfly House
Product Description
An act of desperation divides a mother and her child. Only an act of faith can reunite them. Trudy Hulst has no idea if her husband survived his attempted escape past the newly constructed Berlin Wall, but she knows too well the consequences of his actions. Now branded the wife of a defector, she faces a life in prison. With no real choice, she is forced to follow, praying she can find a way to claim their child once she's in West Berlin. Surviving her harrowing break for freedom, Trudy learns the terrible truth about her husband. Left to wander the wall like a ghost, she lives for brief glimpses of her son, stranded behind barbed wire and surrounded by armed soldiers. And Trudy knows she will do anything to get him back.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Marcia Preston has an engaging and fluid writing style which made this an enjoyable read. Without being overly sentimental or politicising, the author captured the austerity of East Berlin and the suffocating influence of communist government at the time. The reader was engaged by sustained passages of genuine tension throughout the book. My only two criticisms were firstly, the frankly implausable journey to the US which felt hurried and uncomfortably shoe-horned into the middle of the narrative. Secondly, despite strong characterisation of even minor individuals throughout the book, I felt a lack of empathy for the main protagonist, Trudy, who seemed of indeterminate character; selfish and distant from the implausible amount of people risking life and limb to help her. Make your own mind up though - a good read all the same.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This, Marcia Prestons latest novel, is set in the time of The Berlin Wall and is all about the struggles of people on either side of it. I haven't read anything around the Berlin Wall, and it has made me research that in depth, so full marks for an original subject. I was also really looking forward to reading a new author; you are hoping you find a new voice that you want to have the whole collection of.
The story follows Trudy; her husband has been helping people flee from East to West Berlin and has had to make the switch as his `secret' work has meant he has endangered himself and his family. So he flees only once he cannot be caught Trudy herself falls under scrutiny and rumour and she too must escape. In doing so she leaves behind her mother in law and most heartbreakingly for her, her son. How can she get him to her side of the wall safely when she is destitute and has no contacts?
Oh throwing herself in front of the President's car when he visits Berlin, being flown by a diplomat to America where he buys her a fabulous new wardrobe, makes her into some sort of celebrity before hitting her and blackmailing her, she flees and becomes Jackie Kennedy's best friend. She comes back to Germany and you can guess the rest, or can you?
Until the American part of the book started I must admit that despite my first reservations of Marcia Preston's novel she had hooked me in, I was really enjoying the novel until then. Also the final part back in Germany is very good too and she almost redeemed herself, but sadly not quite. Oh I haven't mentioned my original reservations have I? From the cover and blurb I thought this was going to be a big granny romance, you know Mills & Boon but much, much longer and actually not as good. I was half write as it ended up like Pretty Woman with guns, regimes and some vicious American Politician. For some this will be the perfect read, sadly for me it was two thirds of a good novel, not a great one.
The story follows Trudy; her husband has been helping people flee from East to West Berlin and has had to make the switch as his `secret' work has meant he has endangered himself and his family. So he flees only once he cannot be caught Trudy herself falls under scrutiny and rumour and she too must escape. In doing so she leaves behind her mother in law and most heartbreakingly for her, her son. How can she get him to her side of the wall safely when she is destitute and has no contacts?
Oh throwing herself in front of the President's car when he visits Berlin, being flown by a diplomat to America where he buys her a fabulous new wardrobe, makes her into some sort of celebrity before hitting her and blackmailing her, she flees and becomes Jackie Kennedy's best friend. She comes back to Germany and you can guess the rest, or can you?
Until the American part of the book started I must admit that despite my first reservations of Marcia Preston's novel she had hooked me in, I was really enjoying the novel until then. Also the final part back in Germany is very good too and she almost redeemed herself, but sadly not quite. Oh I haven't mentioned my original reservations have I? From the cover and blurb I thought this was going to be a big granny romance, you know Mills & Boon but much, much longer and actually not as good. I was half write as it ended up like Pretty Woman with guns, regimes and some vicious American Politician. For some this will be the perfect read, sadly for me it was two thirds of a good novel, not a great one.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Largely because of its unusual subject matter this really was one of the most interesting novels that I have read in a very long time. Well-researched and well written with believable characters, this absorbing tale flowed smoothly and the book was hard to put down. True, the `American' chapters were somewhat implausible, as other reviewers have suggested. However, I do think that they, or something like them, were necessary for the context of the storyline and for this they fitted in well. I had no hesitation in giving this novel five-stars, for a most enjoyable and entertaining read.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good in parts
I often seek out books which centre around an actual event/time in history, which is what drew me to this book. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Malteser
West of the Wall
Well worth a read, as a adult who spent most of my teenage years in Germany it certainly made alot of sense. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Ann
truly awful
Mills & Boon novels are stylish in comparison. I shudder to think what she taught!!!
Published on 8 April 2010 by J. E. Holmes
Lovely
lovely story explaining a raw period in German history, beautifully written easy to follow but full of historical facts
Published on 9 April 2009 by Mrs. P. A. Drury
West of the mark
In her notes included with this book, Preston states that the embryo of this book was a short story. It should have stayed that way. Read more
Published on 4 Dec 2008 by isis 1958
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