Return to Berlin

Ellen Feldman

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9781761101847
• eBook ISBN:
  9781761101854
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literature General
• Index: Literature

For fans of The Light After the War comes a powerful and emotionally gripping novel about survival, guilt, and finding hope in the ruins of a shattered world. Returning to postwar Berlin in search of her missing family, a young Jewish refugee must confront the devastating secrets of her past — and risk her heart on the possibility of forgiveness, love, and a new beginning.

Berlin, 1938. As the terror of Kristallnacht sweeps across Germany, young Meike Mosbach and her brother David narrowly escape to America, believing the rest of their family will soon follow. But when their parents and little sister never arrive, the siblings are left haunted by grief, unanswered questions, and the unbearable weight of what was lost.

Determined to bury the past, Meike remakes herself as Millie — an ambitious young journalist building a new life in America. But when the war ends, neither she nor David can let go of the hope that their family might still be alive. Drawn back to the city that destroyed their childhood, they return to a devastated Berlin teeming with black-market dealers, Allied spies, former Nazis, and dangerous secrets lurking beneath the rubble.

Working with the U.S. Army to expose Nazis attempting to regain power, Millie channels her anger into vengeance against the country that betrayed her family. But amid the ruins, she begins to see the terrible human cost the war has left on everyone — including those she once believed beyond forgiveness.

Then she meets Major Harry Sutton, an enigmatic intelligence officer whose compassion for ordinary Germans both infuriates and unsettles her. As Harry slowly breaks through the walls Millie has built around her heart, she is forced to confront a devastating secret she has carried for years — and decide whether she can ever truly forgive, love, or begin again.

Richly atmospheric and deeply moving, this unforgettable historical novel is a story of resilience, redemption, and the courage it takes to reclaim hope after unimaginable loss

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Chapter One
• Chapter Two
• Chapter Three
• Chapter Four
• Chapter Five
• Chapter Six
• Chapter Seven
• Chapter Eight
• Chapter Nine
• Chapter Ten
• Chapter Eleven
• Chapter Twelve
• Chapter Thirteen
• Chapter Fourteen
• Chapter Fifteen
• Chapter Sixteen
• Chapter Seventeen
• Chapter Eighteen
• Chapter Nineteen
• Chapter Twenty
• Chapter Twenty-One
• Chapter Twenty-Two
• Chapter Twenty-Three
• Chapter Twenty-Four
• Chapter Twenty-Five
• Chapter Twenty-Six
• Acknowledgments
• Reading Group Guide
• About the Author
• Copyright