The story is told from two different time periods. The first
part of the story is set in Berlin three months after the Berlin Wall has gone
up. We meet two young men who are planning to swim the river to the west side to
meet up with two girls. Unfortunately someone has informed on them and they are
shot at. One is killed the other imprisoned.
Two months later we meet the dead boy’s sister Marta. She hates those
who shot her brother. It has pretty much destroyed her family. She knows they
are constantly watched by the Stasi. When she overhears her cousin planning to escape
to the West side things are set in motion.
The second story is set in 1989. We meet Kurt Muller. His
brother is a border guard and his grandfather is a high ranking official in the
Stasi. Kurt’s parents were arrested and
the grandfather arranged for them to be sent to the West. Both of their stories are held together with
the grandfather in common.
This story shows just a small part of what it was like to
live on the East side of the Berlin Wall and want the freedom of the West. The book is full of fear, hope and dreams.
There was a lot of research done in this book. At the end the author gives us the
names of books he used to research for the writing of this book. Several of
them I have already read. This is a
quick read, but one you will want to slow down as you read.
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