This was an extremely interesting story about a time that is often ignored in historical fiction. It is set in the modern era (1980s) as well as in post-WWII Berlin and the creation of the Berlin Wall. I loved the connection between the two time periods and the amount of history that can be learned through story.

THE BERLIN LETTERS by KATHERINE REAY is a well researched and beautifully written novel which takes place during the Cold War.
On Sunday 13th August 1961, when barbed wire closed off East Berlin, Monica Voekler throws her three year old daughter Luisa to her father on the other side.
When his inlaws, Walther and Gertrude, move to the U.S., a correspondence starts up between Haris and Walther. When Luisa, who works for the C.I.A., cracks the codes, many secrets come out……
I like the way the story is told alternately by Haris and Luisa and the way in which the author gets us right into all the different characters’ emotions.
I also like the way she gives us insight into the punk ideology in Eastern Europe, one of whose slogans is “Don’t die in the waiting room of the future,” meaning don’t be complacent. We learn that their music is “rage, discordance, anarchy and destruction. …..angry and alien…..political opposition aimed straight at the dictatorship.”
Life in East Berlin is one of living in constant fear of betrayal, of courage and self sacrifice. We see the importance of true friends and family at a time anyone could be a Stasi snitch. The importance of forgiveness is also strongly brought out.
I cannot recommend this thrilling and inspirational read highly enough.
I was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from Harper Muse. The opinions in this review are completely my own.

This story is about the Berlin Wall and how it separated East from West. However, more than that it separated families, such as the family in this novel. Tossing over their child Luisa as the wall is being built, Luisa is taken by her grandparents as they all moved to America...Luisa thinking her parents are dead. The research and writing are impeccable and make for an interesting read. Even though this is a work of fiction, there is much to learn.

Katherine Reay uses the Cold War setting perfectly for this book. It worked well in the historical setting in and the characters worked in this setting. They felt like real people and I was engaged with their story. I really felt for Luisa and glad everyone was so well written.

I felt as if I had fallen into a time vault as I began reading, The Berlin Letters. Luisa Voekler works for the CIA deciphering codes. It is mainly posited in 1989 when Luisa first finds the letters that her Opa hid from her. She is of East German descent and though her grandparents raised her, she didn’t know how her grandparents really came to America and became her sole guardians and she didn’t question it growing up.

I am not one to read spy novels but The Berlin Letters had that feeling considering it starts just after WWII ends and the Cold War has just begun. Without knowing it, Lusia has continued the duplicity that her Opa and Oma began as they think she works for the Labor Department, not the CIA as a code breaker deciphering codes, ciphers, etc.

Lusia has noticed infinity symbols in the letters that Opa and her father, Haris exchanged over the last twenty-four years, and she knows that she has to show these letters to her boss at the CIA. Even though I wouldn’t classify this as a historical novel, as it doesn’t take place in the 1800s or 1900s, I think it could easily slip into that genre just based on the scale of history that you learn reading this.

I don’t know what I was expecting of The Berlin Letters but it far exceeded what I thought it was going to be. It showed what parents would do for their children, what love can and will do for better or worse, and what it means to sacrifice.

My gratitude to Netgalley and Harper Muse. All opinions expressed are mine and honest.

Fascinating Cold War novel! Told from the perspective of an East Berlin family that is torn apart by the wall, the grandparents and granddaughter Luisa move to America. Luisa believes both her parents are dead. But her father, once a top reporter for East Berlin’s party newspaper, is still alive and missing her.

I hadn’t realized that the assassination attempt on President Reagan may have kept the Soviets from invading Poland during the Solidarity Movement because the US automatically went on a war footing.

I have read a few books about the Cold War and the Berlin Wall but this is by far my favourite.

As the Cold War winds down CIA code breaker Luisa’s world is turned upside down. A symbol on a series of letters at work trigger a memory that will send her digging into her past and discovering her grandfather was keeping secrets and she might not be an orphan after all.
I loved everything about this book, the pacing, characters, even the timeline switches were done flawlessly. I have read other books set in this time period but the stories can get bogged down in the politics and leave the stories a bit dry. @katherinereay does a fantastic job of balancing the facts and the human elements to create a truly informative but engaging story.
Look for this one March 5 2024, I highly recommend it.
Thank you to @netgalley and @harpermusebooks for letting me review this book.
#theberlinletters #readersofinstagram #readersofig #historicalfiction #coldwar #reader #book #bookstagram #bookreview #bookrecommendations #bookworm #booknerd #readmorebooks #reader #readeveryday #readallthebooks

An enthralling story, The Berlin Letters commences in 1961 when East Berlin starts erecting the wall to divide the city. In an impulsive, emotional split-second move, Luisa’s mother tosses her young daughter over a barrier into the arms of her parents who live in West Berlin.
Thus, begins this Cold War novel. Filled with anguish, secrets, lies, and deception, Berlin Letters is masterfully written such that the reader feels the suspense of the time.
Luisa is adored by her grandparents. They gave up their comfortable life in West Berlin to move to the United States to keep her safe and offer her greater opportunities. “My Opa was my greatest champion, my best friend, and my true north. If Opa said something was right, it was right. Wrong, and it was wrong forever. …And when he said I was his girl of infinite possibilities, I believed him because I believed in him…” (Pg. 40)
Solving codes and riddles was one of her and Opa's favorite activities. She learned about more and more difficult ciphers. Oma now recalls, “He was so proud of you. He was sure he was helping you develop your ‘little gray cells.’” (Pg 42)
After college, Luisa lived on her own but now she lives with her grandmother again as she promised her beloved Opa before he died. “My Opa was my greatest champion, my best friend, and my true north. If Opa said something was right, it was right. Wrong, and it was wrong forever. …And when he said I was his girl of infinite possibilities, I believed him because I believed in him…”(p 40)
Ironically, it is now 1989 and Luisa works in Arlington, Virginia in the CIA’s code deciphering division. Coincidently, she currently is deciphering coded communiques from 1945 to 1961 from Berlin. Something catches her eye on one of the messages…
Luisa feels compelled to investigate the possible connection to her Opa. As she literally digs for evidence at home, she discovers earth-shattering information about her parents. “It was all a lie.” (Pg.69)
Three days later, Luisa takes a life-threatening step to know more.
Luisa’s character is so well developed that the reader can feel her every emotion. “Outside Langley, the day has grown cloudy and it feels personal. Dark clouds hover above me, against me, I keep glancing in my rearview mirror and forcing out strange stiff laughs, hoping they will dispel my sense of foreboding.” (Pg. 190)
Wow, I loved this historical story even though I shivered with fear through much of it. While this is historical fiction, so much of it is historically accurate. I lived in West Berlin in the early 1970’s. I know the danger that permeated from the East. Since then, I’ve searched for and read books about life behind the “wall.” Fiction and nonfiction. The Berlin Letters contains so much ugly truth. The ending of this book has a wonderful metaphor, “The world tilts, almost like a kaleidoscope, one click from clear.” (Pg. 342)

Having grown up during the time period this book covers – the Cold War era of the Berlin Wall - I really enjoyed reading The Berlin Letters. Reay brings to life the events of that time, and makes history so interesting. I’m glad there are such books for those who did not live through that time. The book sucked me in, and thankfully I had time to read it all in one day! I had to find out what was going to happen to all the various characters, even though I knew the outlines of what happened historically. If you like historical fiction, I highly recommend this book.

“I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own." #TheBerlinLetters #NetGalley

1961: As the Berlin Wall goes up, Monica makes a wrenching choice—she passes her daughter over the barrier to her parents in West Berlin. Their lives will never be the same.

1989: Having moved to the US with her grandparents as a young child, Luisa has grown up knowing the power of secrets—enough so that she's a CIA codebreaker. But the discovery of a cache of letters turns everything she thought she knew about her past on its head and upsets her orderly life and sends her deep into the desperation of a crumbling East Berlin.

I've been more and more curious about life in East Berlin and the DDR more generally, and I absolutely flew through "The Berlin Letters". There are two timelines here, and although initially I was far more invested in the 1961+ timeline, it didn't take long to get wrapped up in Luisa's story as well. As the plot goes on, Luisa gets more and more invested not just in what happened in the early days of the Cold War but in what is happening now, with the DDR teetering on the edge of collapse—and with crucial parts of her own story trapped behind the wall. I said above that I was initially more invested in the earlier timeline, but I didn't expect to sympathize so much with that section's narrator. Reay does skilful work in the gradual growth and learning of her characters.

The codebreaking aspect is fascinating, though I wished I better understood what the particular key in a given letter was—not sure if that will be clearer in hard copies of the book (I read an e-copy, and sometimes hard copies manage differences in color, formatting, etc., than e-copies do). I was also a bit sorry not to see...more urgency to Luisa's present-day work, maybe. Without giving too much away, I'll say that the codes she's breaking here have huge implications for the earlier timeline, but the implications for the later timeline are more abstract—enough so that, because we learn about them first in the later timeline, they don't hold quite as much suspense as they might otherwise.

All told, this makes me want to look for more of its ilk—accessible fiction about a time and place that I struggle to bring to life in my own imagination.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley. (I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

Fabulous dual timeline read! Ms. Raey has dug deep in her research and crafted a superb authentic story. The smallest details are historically accurate. I moved to the city of Berlin quite a few years ago, and remnants of DDR times were all around me. One of my previous superiors (former Stasi) had not picked up on the fact that the Stasi ways were no longer the norm (but fortunately faded into oblivion after his Stasi past came to light.) Fascinated by this new city I lived in, I read a lot of historical fiction about this era. This book provides information that is new to me, which makes it interesting and worth reading. Initially, it has the depressing mood that seems pervasive in books dealing with DDR times and the incredible injustices done, but that dissipates as the story picks up speed and before long you find yourself wanting to read non-stop. I very much enjoy the cryptographer angle, the switch between the two settings, and the in-depth characters with real life emotions. The story and relationships are complex and clearly show the effects of war on the lives of subsequent generations. Wonderful life lesson at the end, “If I’ve learned anything this week…..it’s to let the past go. It may feel uncomfortable, perhaps unnecessary, or….be the most vital aspect of healing: forgive and move forward. The Berlin Letters is a historical fiction lover’s dream and leaves you wanting more. Fortunately, the author has several suggestions for more research at the end. I will definitely check out more of Katherine Raey’s books.


I received a complimentary copy of this book from Harper Muse through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The Berlin Letters
by Katherine Reay
Pub Date: 05 Mar 2024

From the time she was a young girl, Luisa Voekler has loved solving puzzles and cracking codes. Brilliant and logical, she’s a natural to quickly climb the career ladder at the CIA. But while her coworkers have moved on to thrilling Cold War assignments—especially in the exhilarating era of the late 1980s—Luisa’s work remains stuck in the past decoding messages from World War II.

Journalist Haris Voekler grew up a proud East Berliner. But as his eyes open to the realities of postwar East Germany, he realizes that the Soviet promises of a better future are not coming to fruition. After the Berlin Wall goes up, Haris finds himself separated from his young daughter and all alone after his wife dies. There’s only one way to reach his family—by sending coded letters to his father-in-law who lives on the other side of the Iron Curtain.

When Luisa Voekler discovers a secret cache of letters written by the father she has long presumed dead, she learns the truth about her grandfather’s work, her father’s identity, and why she has never progressed in her career. With little more than a rudimentary plan and hope, she journeys to Berlin and risks everything to free her father and get him out of East Berlin alive.

As Luisa and Haris take turns telling their stories, events speed toward one of the twentieth century’s most dramatic moments—the fall of the Berlin Wall and that night’s promise of freedom, truth, and reconciliation for those who have lived, for twenty-eight years, behind the bleak shadow of the Iron Curtain’s most iconic symbol.

This was an absolute masterpiece of a novel!!! So we'll written and researched. I loved the split perspective of Luisa and Harris through every chapter. The story of love and forgiveness was powerful in this novel told in the years leading up to the fall of the Berlin wall. An excellent historical fiction novel that I would highly recommend!!!!

Although Katherine Reay’s “The Berlin Letters” shares many plot features of her book “A Shadow in Moscow:” the death of the protagonist’s mother, the wish to bring her father to America, life under a totalitarian regime, this book, which takes place in both Arlington, Virginia and East Berlin, Germany during the 1980s, is about a young woman’s quest to clear her father’s name and by doing so, clear her own.

Luisa Voekler’s father, Haris, lives behind the Iron Curtain. Luisa was taken to America as a three-year old by her maternal grandparents, Walther and Gertrude. The backstory of Haris’s family is not revealed until the second half of the book. This information is essential to understand both his character and motivations.

Reay explains how people can react to situations until they’re forced to stop: a bone is broken, a major illness is contracted, or like Haris, a person is jailed.

“I’ve rested in this cell for the past four months berating and consoling myself. The berating is justified – I was an idiot.”

As Luisa steps behind the Iron Curtain to rescue her father from a Stasi prison, she realizes she must “forgive and move forward.”

The nightmare quality of Luisa’s ordeal as she searches for her father against the eventful tearing down of the Berlin Wall is as chilling as a Hitchcock thriller and as engrossing as an Anais Nin tale.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Muse for this ARC.

Katherine Reay is quickly becoming one of my top favorite historical fiction writers. Her stories are original and compelling and descriptive, I can easily imagine myself right next to the main characters as they engage in espionage and intrigue. The relationships between the characters are deep and meaningful, as is this fascinating story of a talented woman who finds a cache of letters that appear to be from her father years ago when the Berlin Wall was built. This was one of the most thrilling, deeply affecting stories I have read in a long time, and I will not soon forget it. I will be recommending this book to everyone I meet - especially those who love a good historical fiction novel. They won't be able to put it down! Ten stars!!!

Great Author, Great Story, Loved it more than her others. A great book for a lazy weekend afternoon for an escape. Thanks

Meticulously researched, fascinating and absolutely unputdownable. I loved everything about this book!

Luisa grew up thinking that both her parents had died in a car accident when she was three. Until one day she comes across a piece of information that makes her question everything she knows about her family. Did her beloved Opa keep secrets from her? Is her father alive?

This book will keep you on your toes from the beginning until the very last page. Told in dual timeline from the perspective of Luisa and her father Haris, it’s a gripping Cold War adventure novel but also a poignant story of a family divided by the Berlin Wall. It’s about solving riddles and defying the system but also about understanding, acceptance and perseverance.

Luisa and Haris were both wonderful characters and a delight to read. The way the family history was interwoven in the history of Berlin and Cold War in general was exquisite. There were plenty of historical references and details, all relevant to the story and enriching it in the best way possible. The little romance subplot was just a cherry on top.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you so much NetGalley and Harper Muse, it was a treat!

Katherine Reay has done it again. This was stunning. The plot was well-paced and captivating from start to finish. The characters were well-developed; complex, and intriguing. I highly recommend this beautiful telling of the power of love. Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of the book.