Book Synopsis:
Imagine waking up and a wall has divided your city in two. Imagine that on the other side is your child…
Lisette is in hospital with her baby boy. The doctors tell her to go home and get some rest, that he’ll be fine.
When she awakes, everything has changed. Because overnight, on 13 August 1961, the border between East and West Berlin has closed, slicing the city – and the world – in two.
Lisette is trapped in the east, while her newborn baby is unreachable in the west. With the streets in chaos and armed guards ordered to shoot anyone who tries to cross, her situation is desperate.
Lisette’s teenage daughter, Elly, has always struggled to understand the distance between herself and her mother. Both have lived for music, but while Elly hears notes surrounding every person she meets, for her mother – once a talented pianist – the music has gone silent.
Perhaps Elly can do something to bridge the gap between them. What begins as the flicker of an idea turns into a daring plan to escape East Berlin, find her baby brother, and bring him home….
Based on true stories, The Silence in Between is a page-turning, emotional epic that will stay with you long after you finish reading.
My Review:
The Silence In Between is a fascinating, emotional and harrowing read that I have continued to think about long after reading.
The story follows mother and daughter Lissette and Elly through two timelines. One of these timelines follows Lisette through the second world war but particularly focuses on the aftermath of the war when Germany was under Soviet control, the other is set in 1961 and the construction of the Berlin Wall. Of the two women Elly was definitely my favourite as I found her to be a warm hearted, brave girl who obviously loved her family despite that love not always being reciprocated. Lisette on the other hand I initially found to be a bit of a cold fish, though as the book continues and the reader discovers exactly what she has been through I began to understand her more.
I don’t think I’ve read much about the aftermath of the second world war in Germany and the construction of the Berlin War so I was very intrigued to find out more about it. I was very shocked at how German women were treated by the soviet forces and how much they were made to suffer for their countries defeat. The events described in the book are sadly true and it broke my heart to realise the difficult choices that German women had to make to survive. I actually lived in what was West Germany as a child so I have always been fascinated by the Berlin Wall. I had no idea that the border was closed overnight or about the daring escape attempts made by those in East Germany which has really piqued my interest and led to lots of googling.
I thought the book had a great pace to it and I soon found myself drawn into the story. The author’s descriptions are very vivid and I often felt like I was actually there experiencing everything alongside the characters. As you would probably expect this isn’t an easy read and some of the events depicted in this book are truly horrific- even more so as they are true. I have found myself constantly thinking about them and about whether if I was there I would have been brave enough to do something different.
The ending was beautiful as I loved seeing how far the characters had come and that they had got some answers.
Huge thanks to Milly Reid and for my copy of this book it’s really appreciated.
About The Author:
Born in Sweden to a family of writers and readers, Josie Ferguson moved to Scotland when she was two. She returned to Sweden in her twenties, where she completed a vocational degree in Clinical Psychology (MSc). Upon graduating, she moved to London to pursue a career in publishing, something she had dreamed about since delving into fictional worlds as a child, hidden under the duvet with a torch.
She later moved to Asia in search of an adventure and a bit more sun and currently works as a freelance book editor in Singapore, where she lives with her husband and two young children. While training to become a clinical psychologist, Josie learned about the complexity of human nature, something she explores as a writer. She believes books about the past can change the future and she aspires to write as many as possible. The Silence in Between is her debut.
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