Bryn Turnbull's riveting fourth novel, The Berlin Apartment, examines the difficulties and dynamics of life on both sides of the Berlin Wall. Through the story of Uli and Lise, a young couple separated by the wall's construction, Turnbull (The Paris Deception) vividly highlights the restrictions faced by East German residents, and the freedoms--and frustrations--of their loved ones in West Berlin.
In 1961, Uli has just proposed to Lise when, overnight, the wall leaves them stranded on opposite sides of Berlin. Uli and his fellow engineering students soon begin digging an escape tunnel to the East, hoping to smuggle Lise and other loved ones to the West. The risks they take, plus Lise's small acts of rebellion, ratchet up the narrative tension, leaving readers wondering who will make it across the border--and at what cost.
Turnbull delves into the details of the era, exploring East German fashion through Lise's job working for a seamstress and the complicated clash of family and Socialist Unity Party loyalties via Lise's brother, an ambitious officer in the Volkspolizei, the East German national police force. Uli is afforded more freedoms in his daily life in West Berlin, but Turnbull depicts how the long shadow of Communism darkened lives in both German republics. Uli and Lise face impossible choices, but they cling to hope and optimism, even as their lives unfold far differently than they had planned.
Taut, thoughtful, and tender, The Berlin Apartment captures the lasting effects of division and distrust--but also pays tribute to grit, innovation, and the strength of true love. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams