Review: The Girl Behind the Wall

Title: The Girl Behind the Wall

Author: Mandy Robotham

Publisher: 6th July 2021 by Avon Books - HarperCollins UK

Pages: 400 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: Historical Fiction | Women's Fiction  | World War II

My Rating: 5 cups

Synopsis:

A city divided.

When the Berlin Wall goes up, Karin is on the wrong side of the city. Overnight, she’s trapped under Soviet rule in unforgiving East Berlin and separated from her twin sister, Jutta.

Two sisters torn apart.

Karin and Jutta lead parallel lives for years, cut off by the Wall. But Karin finds one reason to keep going: Otto, the man who gives her hope, even amidst the brutal East German regime.

One impossible choice…

When Jutta finds a hidden way through the wall, the twins are reunited. But the Stasi have eyes everywhere, and soon Karin is faced with a terrible decision: to flee to the West and be with her sister, or sacrifice it all to follow her heart?

My Thoughts

‘The tourists come and go, they look and peer over the Wall to another land, at people who squint their eyes back at the West. They comment on the atrocity and they go away again. But still there are no bulldozers, no widespread will to tear it down. The Wall endures.’

You really cannot surpass Mandy’s books for quality WWII fiction stories. I truly loved this one for shining a light on the post Cold War situation - something I was not overly familiar with. Through cleverly telling a story from twins who perchance find themselves separated by the construction of the Berlin Wall, you get a first person account of what life must have been like to wake and find your city being split in two. This proved an emotional read exploring family and political divisions, sibling and romantic love. 

‘So the Wall is not a ‘protection barrier’, but a steely way of stitching up a heavily bleeding wound. For good.’

I grew up watching the Olympic Games with East and West German teams and was in fact in Europe around the time of the Wall coming down. Today, we would find it extraordinary to have a major city torn in two, with divides being political, social and very emotional. Two polar opposite ways of governing but a simple stone throw apart and to have loved ones separated by such a structure would be pure heartache. I think Mandy captures so much of these themes wonderfully well. 

‘Her sister, her soulmate, is barely a few kilometres away, and yet it might as well be a million miles, at the end of a rainbow.’

It was thought provoking to consider that this wall basically went up overnight, where previously, movement between the two zones had been permitted. The use of twins was a stroke of genius as it perfectly encapsulates the divide between East and West. I was there with Jutta crawling through the wall and standing beside Karen as she looked over her shoulder fearing life under Communist rule. 

‘But the world isn’t thinking straight right now, is it? As the Wall climbs higher, life as they know it comes crashing down.’

It is clear the depth of research Mandy has undertaken on all bases concerning facts surrounding not only the politics of the day but the human side of this major world event. Any book that has you racing to Google places and events has done a great job. Tying it all together with characters you come to care about and a plot that has you on the edge of your seat, is a historical fiction reader's heaven.

‘She balances the scales in her head, weighing the risk against Karin’s need and Mama’s elation. In every calculation, Jutta’s own sacrifice is outweighed by her family’s continuing loss.’

Congratulations Mandy on yet another winning book. I have read and adored all your books and cannot recommend them highly enough. For a realistic, well written tale of what life in Berlin during the years of the Wall would have been like, look no further than, ‘The Girl Behind the Wall’. 

“… until August 1961, you lived with your twin sister Karin in said residence. Until, in fact, the day when the anti-fascist protection barrier was erected.”

The Wall. If we’re being honest, call it the fucking Wall.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.