For fans of The Light After the War and Sarah's Key, the powerful story of a woman haunted by a heartbreaking secret who finds love - and forgiveness - in a city shattered by war.
As children, Meike and her brother David managed to escape Berlin just before Kristallnacht, the deadly pogrom against Jews. Their parents and little sister were to join them at the home of friends in the United States but they never arrived.
Haunted by their loss, Meike becomes Millie and works hard to earn her scholarship place at the prestigious Bryn Mawr college while David enlists in the army and is posted to the top-secret Camp Ritchie which trains German-speaking men for intelligence work.
Hoping against hope to find their family, after the war Millie returns to a shattered Berlin, where she can't help imagining seeing her little sister around every corner. Her hometown has become a Wild West where drunken soldiers brawl, the desperate prey on the unsuspecting, spies ply their trade, black markets thrive, forbidden fraternisation is rampant and 'werewolves' - unrepentant Nazis - scheme to rise again.
Consumed with rage at her former country, Millie's job in an army office responsible for rooting out Nazi werewolves from publishing seems the perfect fit but she finds it more and more difficult to hold onto her anger as she sees the reality of what the war has done to everyone. Her view of the world is constantly challenged by her enigmatic boss, Major Harry Sutton, who seems much too eager to be fair to the Germans and far too perceptive about Millie.
In the rubble of postwar Berlin, Millie must come to terms with a devastating secret that has dogged her since childhood and find the courage to embrace love - and a new beginning.
Praise for Return to Berlin
'A gorgeous, shattering novel that could not be more timely about the dark damage of hatred and the persistence of love.' Caroline Leavitt, NYT bestselling author of Is This Tomorrow**
'A beautiful, atmospheric novel that transports us to Occupied Berlin, a perfect setting in which to examine the contours of shame, as well as the possibilities of forgiveness.' Elizabeth J. Church, author of The Atomic Weight of Love and All the Beautiful Girls
'Ellen Feldman masters the two great challenges of the historical novel, mapping the human heart as expertly as she does another time and place. Her story sears, uplifts and compels. A terrific read, brilliantly written.' Kevin Baker, author of Dreamland and Paradise Alley
'Postwar Berlin springs vividly to life in this engrossing, emotionally powerful novel ... Beautifully written, rich with detail and a brilliantly drawn cast of characters, from a writer with an unrivaled grasp of history and the human heart.' Liza Gyllenhaal, author of Local Knowledge
'A deeply satisfying and truly adult novel.' Margot Livesey, author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy
Praise for Paris Never Leaves You
'Masterful, magnificent. A passionate story of survival. This story will stay with me for a long time.' Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz
