It is not very often that we read about Nazi era Germany from a young German adult's perspective. This was an engaging story whereby the protagonist wrestles with her loyalty to the Nazi party, putting it ahead of a long time friendship with a Jewish girl who pre-war was seen as an equal. Lies and betrayals occur, then the ugly story of Nazi era life gets hidden in effort to make crimes bearable.

Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Crown Publishing
Pub. Date: April 23, 2019

“Wunderland” was a letdown for me. However, my disappointment may be my own fault. The author, Jennifer Cody Epstein, has written for BC, HBO, and The Wall Street Journal, among other prestigious journals. Because of her credentials, maybe I was expecting something unusually good and/or different. Or, possibly because historical fiction is my favorite genre, I may have simply read one too many WWII stories revolving around the Hitler Youth movement, making “Wunderland” blend into other storylines. Still, surprisingly in this novel, I did not feel the empathy and rage that I should have when the persecution of the German Jews began.

This story goes back and forth in time and setting from the East Village in 1989 and Berlin, 1933. In 1933, we meet two preteen and then teenage female best friends. In 1986, we meet the grown daughter of one of the Berlin friends who is estranged from her mother. The daughter has no idea who her father is and her mother almost 40 years later is still mum on the subject. There is some suspense to her parental parentage. Could she be the daughter of a nameless Nazi? Was her mom part of the breeding program when German women were impregnated to produce children of alleged Aryan purity? Unfortunately, the writing is clunky making the reader not invested in the question. I do believe that Cody Epstein does a good job in catching the dynamics of female teenage friendships (competition for a boy’s interest) as well as on mother/daughter relationships (always knowing how to push each other’s buttons). But, lacking in holding my interest long enough to care about the characters.

I've not read any books by Jennifer Cody Epstein and for me, this was not a nice introduction to her works. It was somewhat ignoble, at least for what I was looking for. There were insights of wartime Germany, but the overall plot was dark and foreboding throughout the whole book.

Ilse and Renate were friends and assumed they were of full German blood. The real test comes when Renate finds that her father is Jewish and she finds she's half Jewish. She does escape just before Ilse is forced to "rat her family out" to the Gestapo.

There is no love lost between Renate and Ilse after this. Ilse has a mindset that revolves around herself, and she can see no farther than the end of her nose.

Renate's mindset is one of a victim who is always picked on and bullied.

There is one more character who is left to sort out the mess that Isle left behind and basically figure out who she is.

This book ranks three stars from me. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't wonderful either.

My thanks to Crown Publishing for allowing me to read and review this book.

This book cuts through a huge swath of time and geography, from Germany to the East Village of NYC

The catalyst of the narrative is the delivery of her estranged mother’s ashes with letters that might explain the secrets of her past. Ava’s mother and her best friend, Renate, were torn apart by Hitler and the Nuremberg Laws. Those consequences are still echoing and Ava must try to unravel the past to move onto her future.

The book is a fascinating study of relationships, and mother-daughter issues from 1933 to 1989.

Very interesting, and sadly relevant in our world today.

Books set in Europe before and during World War II will always attract my attention. Renate and Ilse are best friends in the years leading up to Nazi rule in Germany. This story does a remarkable job of showing how difficult times can be made worse by choosing or not choosing a certain path. Sometimes terrible events occur because someone stands by and lets things happen. Narrated by Renate, Ilse, and Ava, Ilse's daughter, we follow their lives over a period of more than fifty years. Their struggle to understand each other and deal with the past is sweet, sad, and horrifying. I was touched by their search for peace and redemption.

This book was provided by NetGalley. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

A must read in light of the events in today’s world, this story is about love, friendship and betrayal, but so much more. Renate and Ilse are friends in pre-war Berlin, Renate a Mischling with a Jewish father. Ilse becomes enamored with the rhetoric of the rising Nazis, ignoring the parts that mean horror for her Jewish friends and acquaintances. Ava is Ilse’s daughter, growing up with a mother hiding her past and Ava’s father’s identity. When Ava’s daughter, Sophia, discovers a secret, Ava is forced to face her past and uncovers some startling truths about her mother. An essential read, well written, heart rending and highly recommended.

I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my review. Thank you to Netgalley.com and the publisher for this opportunity.

Wunderland is about love, friendship, betrayal and family that spans decades to tell it's story. Set in 1930s Germany and 1980s New York, we meet two young girls as different as night and day, Adolf Hilter has come into power and the girls' world change dramatically. One girl becomes a Nazi in her desire to be apart of something bigger, while the other discovers that she has suddenly become a Jew through her family line and proceeds to lose almost every thing she holds dear.

The girls can't remain friends and the events that tear them further apart while also abruptly throwing them together, they lives are forever changed. Time moves on, families grow, grow apart and move away, which takes the story from war torn Berlin to the Lower East Side, New York City.

After a somewhat slow start, Ms. Epstein takes the horrific events of this tumultuous time in history and made them visceral to read . She has a keen sense of writing emotionally without melodrama. Details are essential in this story and not one is missed. A heartbreaking tale with a slightly open ending, it is one that shoukdn't be missed.

Wunderland by Jennifer Cody Epstein is a Historical Fiction story of love, friendship and tragedy. The story is told in various time periods from the 1930‘s to the 1980‘s. It shows in detail how both Jewish and non Jewish Germans were affected by Nazi policies and propaganda. The book helps the reader to understand if possible the evil of the Nazi Regime and magnitude of destruction in the lives of people for over fifty years.
It reminded me to ask myself what I may have done in the same situations. It also reminded me to beware of other movements that may have the appearance of good but in reality their purpose may be evil. I hope there may be a sequel and other books by this author to look forward to reading. My thanks to the author, publisher and netgalley for making this exceptional book available for me to read, enjoy and review.

A story of friendship of two young women at the rise of the Nazi party. Llse and Renate struggle and go through harrowing times. This story takes us back to the 30’s, the 70’s and 80’s. The daughter of Llsa, Ava, is the third woman we see and brings the story full circle. Without giving an spoilers, this novel has love, heartache, anger and spirit.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read for an honest review.

I was pretty excited to read this book; and ended up being a bit disappointed. The storyline was well written, and the author clearly has a talent for writing, as well as creating a scene and memorable characters. The problem, for me personally, was the flow. Conversations between the characters seemed stilted, with not much explanation as to who was speaking or the expression they were speaking in. Other readers may not find this to be true whatsoever, which would please me greatly as I think the author has some serious skill. I personally just had a hard time flowing and moving along with the characters and their interactions with each other and their settings.

I enjoyed this book tremendously. The characters are so realistic, multi-dimensional and well-written. The author obviously did an incredible amount of historical research and it shows. I feel like we all may have seen enough traditional World War Two novels post-Nightingale, but this one differs in that it really focuses on the impact of choices made during the war and how the children of the war struggled to come to grips with what the adults around them had done. This affects their relationships with their families, friends, and themselves. My only criticism of this novel is that perhaps it could have been edited a little to make the story tighter; it dragged a little in places. But I found it to be a fascinating story and I look forward to reading more by this author.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

A book of epic proportions! Enjoyable, heartwarming, heartbreaking, wonderful.
Ilsa and Renate are best friends. Sharing everything. Renate has an older brother, Ilsa is secretly infatuated with. When Hitler comes into power, things change. Both girls had thought they were both German, only to find out Renate is a Jew. At first this doesn't make a difference in the friendship. Little by little Ilsa begins distancing herself until she is out of Renate's life. Meanwhile all the so called privileges Renate's family had enjoyed as Germans are closed because of their ancestry. Ilsa throws herself in to following and being part of the party. She is a reporter. Reporting on the atrocities being done to the Jews, but also blaming them for not leaving and bringing them into themselves.
This is a story of family. A story of the lies told by mothers who are to scared to face the truth about themselves. A story of how on can break the continuous circle of lying. Mostly I think this story is about forgiveness. Any way you look at it, this is an incredible book, I highly recommend it as a must read. Excellent!

Wunderland by Jennifer Cody Epstein is a novel told in two time frames and two places. The larger story is about best friends Ilse and Renate. It's a story of friendship that reverberates through time. The secondary story is about Ilse and her daughter Ava. It shows how family secrets can not only affect family dynamics but in the end tear a family apart. Ava's childhood is a small part of the story in Germany but the larger part takes place in New York's East Village in 1989.

Renate and Ilse are best friends who share every aspect of their lives together while attending school in pre-war Germany. It's a friendship that bonds them like sisters. When Hitler starts his bitter war machine and chooses the Jewish community to be his main target things come to light that tear the two friends apart and cause actions and repercussions that reverbate through time and across an ocean.

I will admit I had a hard time getting through the first part of this book. It was well worth the struggle though because it laid the framework for the end of the book that was unbelievably moving. The novel clearly shows the herd mentality in Germany that allowed Hitler to incite others to murder millions of "undesirables." You see how the poverty and social problems that were rampant in Germany after WWI help feed into the countries psyche so something so horrendous could become acceptable.

The author gives the reader clearly developed characters. Even though I still can't understand Ilse and the choices she makes it's because I will never understand how the German people could hate their own so bitterly based solely on religion and ethnicity. The author does a good job of taking the reader into Ilse's mind. Renate is a character I grew to love because of her strength and courage. The last main character is Ava and she is someone I could really understand and relate to. As she sees it she was abandoned by her mother in Germany at the height of the war. When reunited she feels anger over unanswered questions and outright lies her mother tells.

The storyline of this book is very different than most novels I've read about WWII. This is not a story of death camps and atrocities it's a story of people and how Hitler's Germany changed them and tore their lives apart. Although it touches on the horrors the focus is on how the characters in the novel find a way to persevere through their own problems in Hitler's Germany in order to survive. It's a well developed story that makes the reader look at WWII Germany in a different way than most novels on the subject and takes the reader into the minds of the good and evil.

I recommend reading this book. Although it's about WWII it's a cautionary tale about today's world where people are being pitted against each other because of political leanings, religious beliefs, ethnicity, socio-economic status and other differences. "Power corrupts" has been a known factor for generations. We saw it at it's worst in WWII and unfortunately it's rampant in today's world. I believe if the reader keeps an open mind while reading this book they will recognize that we are currently living in an age where the same psychological manipulation used by Hitler is at work today. The message of this novel and WWII is too NEVER let people in power divide us as a people and a country because the result can be an acceptance of horrific acts that can never be atoned for.

What I found particularly interesting about this book was that the plot included one of the main character's devotion to the Hitler youth movement. Not many Holocaust novels deal with this disturbing aspect, especially on such a personal level between best friends. My only criticism is that I would have liked the book to have concentrated more on this rather than the daughter's storyline

WOW is all I can say! I absolutely loved this book! The plot, characters, & ending were absolute perfection. This was my first time reading Epstein and I look forward to reading future titles.

I can't say I enjoyed it as it was not the kind of book I prefer. The story was hard to keep up with as there was a lot of going back and forth with years and people and had to back over some of it as I got confused. I did like learning some of the history of Germany and when Hitler was ruling over it. To me it was a sad story, with too many secrets, and lies. I do appreciate given the opportunity to read it, However.

Wunderland by Jennifer Cody Epstein is a historical fiction story that begins in 1989 in New York when Ava Fischer receives a box from her estranged mother's lawyer that contains her mother's (Ilse von Fischer) ashes and a bundle of letters written over the past five decades to a woman named Renate Bauer. These letters will finally give Ava some of the answers she has sought from her mother. These letters and the story behind them will also take the reader back in time to 1930's Berlin where they will see the story of two best friends and how events will shatter their friendship, their families and change their lives forever.

This is a story of how the events of the Nazi's rise to power in the years 1933 to 1939 and beyond impacted and changed the lives of the young people of Berlin and beyond. We see the change in a young girl who finds out she is half Jewish, and we also see how the draw of Nazi power changed the lives of young German children through the Hitler Youth movement. It is a story of friendship lost, of treachery, betrayal, survival and regret. It is also a story of how far some may go to be accepted.

I've always loved to read historical fiction, and as a former teacher and the daughter of a WWII veteran, I've often chosen books about this period of our history. I can tell you that if you like to read about this period, this is a good book to choose. The author has obviously done her research. The setting and events around these fictional characters are factual. The plot is riveting, and I like the way she tells the story with each chapter written in a character's voice during a specific year. The years do jump around a bit and go back and forth from chapter to chapter, but I got used to that.

If you like historical fiction, this is a good book for you. If you like reading about the events leading to WWII, this is a good book for you. If you are like me and feel that these events should never be forgotten since we are doomed to repeat the history that we forget, you should read this book.

I was given an ARC of this book by the publisher and Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Wunderland had a lot of promise but failed to hold my attention because of the hurky-jurky nature of the action. Here is a listing of the first few chapters: Ava 1989, Renate 1933, Ava 1977, Ilse 1935, Renate 1935, Ava 1968, Renate 1936 and Ava 1956. The chapters continued like this for a total of 19 chapters: back and forth, here and there.

In addition to the time, the place jumped back and forth between NYC and Germany. Ava was the daughter, Renate and Ilse were best friends (one of Jewish descent, one pure Aryan), one of whom was Ava’s mother. Ava’s daughter also figured into the plot, but was not noted in a chapter heading.

I think the story was one worthy to be told, but I couldn’t follow it with all that hopping around. I gave up about ½ way through.

This was an ARC I received compliments of NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

What a fantastic read! Jennifer Cody Epstein does an amazing job with weaving the mother and daughter relationship between Ava and Ilse! Time hopping between NYC in the late 1980’s and Berlin in the early 1930’s we are taken on an emotional and gripping journey! Ava has always had questions about her childhood and never felt bonded to her mother, Ilse. After Ilse’s death, Ava receives letters her mother wrote but never sent to a friend Ava has never heard of named Renate. Through those letters lots of pieces are put into place and Ava begins to unlock mysteries that have always haunted her.

I was completely captivated by this novel! I connected with Jennifer Cody Epstein’s writing style and felt this book played out like a movie in my mind. The timing was on point and the twists and turns were perfectly placed! I enjoyed reading historical fiction from the WWII time period and I felt this novel was told from a very unique perspective. Wunderland is a 5 star read that you won’t be able to put down! Im already looking forward to reading more from Jennifer Cody Epstein in the future!

This story starts in 1989, NY, with Ava Fisher. She receives an urn with her mother’s ashes and letters addressed to Renate Bauer. She has been estranged from her mother Ilse for some time.

Then the story alternates among those three women back in time.

1933, Renate’s story starts with her being in trouble and then relating how it all happened. It involves her best friend Ilse.

1977, Ava’s story goes back to a time when her mother Ilse comes to NY to visit her and her daughter Sophie.

1935, Ilse’s story starts with her looking for her lanyard to complete her BDM attire as she is going to the movies.

All those stories seem to be scattered with no cohesion. At 20% of the story, I absolutely could not get into the story and the 20% I’ve read I didn’t enjoy a bit of it. At some parts, the story is overwhelmed with lots of dialogue, which for me wasn’t interesting, making the story rather disengaging.