The war is over. But there are still secrets to be found amidst the ashes . . .
Hamburg, 1946
The war is over, and Germany is in ruins. Posted to an Allied-run Hamburg, reporter Georgie Young returns to the country she fled seven years prior – at the onset of the conflict – to find it unrecognisable.
Amongst the stark horrors of a bombed-out city crumbling under the weight of millions of displaced souls, she discovers pockets of warmth: a violinist playing amidst the wreckage, couples dancing in the streets, and a nation trying to make amends.
Joining forces with local detective Harri Schroder to catch a killer targeting women on the city’s streets, curiosity draws Georgie deep into the dark underbelly, and she soon discovers that some secrets of war did not die with Hitler…
CW–
Dear Ms. Robotham,
A historical that isn’t a dual-timeline? And is not a romance? Yes, readers please note that this is historical fiction and NOT a romance book. After the cover (with no Spitfire planes!) caught my eye, the blurb made me want to read it.
Georgie Young is a war reporter. She and her husband met in pre-war Berlin (and now I want to go back and read that book) then spent the war ducking and dodging bullets and bombs together. On the eve of Georgie’s departure to Hamburg to write a series of articles, she and Max quarrel over the future of their marriage and life. But once she arrives in Hamburg, she feels alive and filled with purpose again.
After nearly being mugged in the airport for her leather valise, Georgie works out an arrangement that befuddles the Army driver there to chauffeur her around. Georgie also meets and engages a Jewish survivor of a camp to be an interpreter. Max has told Georgie that you can’t save everyone – which she knows – but helping these two is a start.
The situation in Hamburg horrifies Georgie. The city is wrecked and the people scrabble day to day to survive. There is tension between the occupying British Army and Allied civilians and the defeated Germans. Georgie is there to gather stories and soon realizes that her focus should be on presenting Hamburg and Hamburgers to her British readers as they are. First though, she dives into helping a dedicated group of police officers as they try to identify and arrest a man they think has murdered three women and is on the hunt for more.
So yes, this is not a romance. Nope, not even a hint of one. We get postwar Germany struggling to survive under the triumphant Allies. The Germans are getting impatient with deprivations while the British are annoyed that Britains are facing stricter rations in order to help supply Germany. Almost everyone has lost someone or many someones, the weather in February is foul, and there’s not enough food, clothing, shelter, or jobs. The British are also annoyed if the Germans don’t display enough shame for kicking the war off while the everyday Germans are exhausted from being asked “How could you not have known?” Oh, and there are street kids living in bombed out buildings, surviving hand to mouth.
Georgie quickly latches onto the fact that this is a shit show as well as the fact that there is a serial killer on the loose. Inspektor Harri Schroder is at first irritated that this British reporter shoe-horns her way into his investigation, then reluctantly impressed that her connections (and this was a bit too convenient but I’ll give it a gimme) land him some clues. Harri also has to deal with a British Major who puts pressure on him to Solve This Case. Harri hopes it’s not an Englishman or, God forbid, a British squaddie or he knows the German families of the victims will never see justice.
I enjoyed watching Georgie and Harri slowly thaw towards each other and develop a friendship. Harri misses his wife and child and harbors guilt over their deaths but he also misses verbally sparring with a smart woman. As Georgie has also lost friends (and at this time in Europe, who hadn’t?), she and Harri can talk about losses and a bit about feelings and allow themselves to cry (once) on each other’s shoulders. They are clearly still traumatized by the past but are survivors who aren’t going to give up or give in to despair.
The investigation takes us all over Hamburg and digs into the nooks and crannies of how people were trying to make a future and deal with the past. Scores of people spend their days holding up ragged pictures of missing family, others shuffle from here to there, deals are done, swaps are made and an unopened pack of Chesterfields (the Cadillac of cigarettes) will buy you a whole lot. I felt the cold, I felt the despair, and I understood what drove young women to prowl for foreign men who could take them out of that or just share their superior British rations. From a prologue at the start it’s fairly clear what is going through the mind of the killer but I did guess and double guess at who this person might be. The trail of clues is a bit too easy but as I said, I was enjoying watching the relationships unfold and getting a glimpse of this world. B+
~Jayne
I’m so sorry,’ he begins after a brief pause. ‘For afterwards. My timing was appalling, not to mention very unprofessional.’
She thinks of excusing it with a joke, his breakdown into tears, the way he clutched at her clothes, sobbing for an age into the cloth and grasping so tightly. But this is no time to make light or skate over grief.
‘I seem to remember uttering those very words not so long ago,’ she says. ‘You wouldn’t let me apologise for showing emotion, and so neither am I. Grief – your grief, Harri – doesn’t go away, whether it’s for one of millions who died or not. You still loved and lost. And you deserve to own that loss, for however long it takes.’
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Jayne
Another long time reader who read romance novels in her teens, then took a long break before started back again about 25 years ago. She enjoys historical romance/fiction best, likes contemporaries, action- adventure and mysteries, will read suspense if there’s no TSTL characters and is currently reading more fantasy and SciFi.
