4.7 stars, rounding up.

Things I loved:
Each of the characters had nuance, conflict, and layers upon layers.
The author did an amazing job at showing without telling. For example, the author never says "As a German Jew, Meike . . . but gives the reader plenty of clues in the first chapters to show why Meike speaks impeccable German and understands loss, allowing the reader to connect the dots.
As someone who speaks German and has been to Berlin multiple times, I loved the little details, the German words, the mentions of Tiergarten, and Zehlendorf, etc.
Because of the author's variety of characters, none of whom were touted as perfection, the author was able to deal with heavy topics with grace, without being preachy. Instead, we saw how the four principal characters (Meike, David, Theo, and Harry—all expat German Jews) dealt with their hatred, loss, grief, shame, and guilt in the face of the horrors of their lives, each in a different way, none of which was ideal.

Things I didn't love:
The pacing. Though the flashbacks were enlightening and necessary for the story, they grew too frequent and too long (or perhaps not enough was happening in the present timeline to balance things out) for me to stay entrenched in the story. I found myself skimming to get back to the present.

All in all, an amazing story told with nuance and subtlety. Looking forward to reading all of the author's other works.

As life became increasingly intolerable for German Jews, the Mosbach family made plans to leave Germany. However, when the opportunity came to escape, Meike (Millie) and David became separated from their parents and younger sister Sarah, and only they made it out of Germany to the United States. When WWII broke out, David joined the US Army and was trained as an interrogator. After the war, he arranged to be posted in Berlin working in the Displaced Persons camps, helping Jewish survivors and other former “undesirables” relocate to more welcoming locales.

Millie went to Bryn Mawr and then began working at a publishing company. When the opportunity arose, she took a civilian job with the Army in Berlin vetting applicants for jobs to revive the German publishing and printing industry. However, being back in Berlin was incredibly difficult for her. Millie despised the German populace, viewing almost everyone as either a former Nazi or collaborator, and she despised the GIs who fraternized with the frauleins. But most of all, she despised herself because of a necessary choice forced upon her when escaping Germany.

The story includes portions in pre-war Germany and in the US, but primarily focuses on Millie’s time in post-war occupation Germany. The author explores the different attitudes held by the occupying forces and the German populace towards each other, the struggles of rebuilding post-war Germany, especially a divided Berlin, and the continued prejudice towards the Jewish population and other disfavored groups. She also explores the difficult choices that people were forced to make in order to survive and the ramifications of those choices.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

I was looking forward to this read based upon the description since this is the genre I lean towards, but in reality, this was a hard one to read, and even harder to review. I cared about David, Millie and Harry, but I had a really hard time understanding the flow of the storyline. It was all over the place. I listened to this via VoiceView so maybe reading it in person might have been better. I did a lot of back tracking in order to figure out where I was or replayed so I could understand.
The story started out really well, caught my interest right off, but then it got so convoluted in timeframes that I didn’t know if we were in the United States or back in Berlin. Once the story reached a certain point it helped explain some of the misunderstandings but all the way through, I felt something was missing. So, in the end, it was a good book, just not great.
I received an ARC from St. Martin’s Press along with NetGalley for my unbiased review. This one comes in with 3 stars.

4.5 Stars rounded down
I really liked this story of siblings Millie and David Mosbach who, having escaped the Nazis just before the start of the war, have returned to Berlin to work, now that the war has ended. And they have hopes of finding their parents and younger sister, who had just been arrested by the Nazis when Millie and David boarded a train to flee the country. Millie is now working for the American military interviewing German citizens for their suitability to work in the publishing business. Millie is often torn, in both her work and in her private life, between hating the Germans that she suspects were supporters of the Nazis, and seeing the humanity in those around her. Not everything is as black and white as Millie has wanted it to be, and how she adapts to new realities is a big part of this story.
Millie is not always sure just what David's job is, but she suspects he may be helping with looking for and capturing members of the Nazis who are still around, but in hiding.
There are several really powerful moments in this story, mostly centered around the connection Millie and David feel as Jewish survivors of the war with the millions who were lost, and the few who remain to mourn and somehow carry on. This setting in Germany just after the war is a different perspective than others I have read, and added a new way of looking at this time in history.
I want to thank Ellen Feldman, St. Martin's Griffin, and Netgalley for the copy of this book I was furnished. I highly recommend this book to all who like historical fiction.

Set mostly in post-World War II Berlin, Millie Mosbach (known before her move to the U.S. as Meike) and her brother, David, are working in Germany.
The two escaped to the U.S. just before Kristallnacht, leaving behind their parents and little sister. They are hoping that they might be able to find out what happened to their family. Millie works in the office that roots out Nazis from the publishing word; David works with displaced persons, but has a radical lifestyle (that could be dangerous) at night.
Berlin is kind of a wild place in those days, in spite of (or perhaps because of) the U.S. military presence.
I learned a lot I didn’t know about that time period in Germany following the war. Any history fan will enjoy this, even though it’s fiction.

Primarily covering the “de-nazification” period in Berlin, we also see the memories - and guilt - of escaping just before Kristallnacht, and growing up safely in the US. This is a story of great depth, a view of the unseen wounds of war. This isn’t just a book to read, it’s one to contemplate and feel.

I have tried to read The Living and The Lost by Ellen Feldman multiple times. I've gone back and read previous reviews because I feel that I have been missing something by not being able to get past the first few chapters. But at this point, I give up. The story does not engage me, I find the characters uninteresting and I just don't see what everyone else is seeing. I'm sure it must get more interesting as it goes on, but I just haven't been able to get into it.

Thanks to the author, St.. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review. I wish other readers better luck with this one than I had!

For fans of WWII historical fiction, this book is for you. Two siblings who had escaped Nazi Germany for America return to post war Germany to deal with the aftermath of the war. Both having their own reasons for returning, both have to sort through unresolved feelings dealing with the war and their family. Different take on the war and its affects told by returning Germans who had to deal with the aftermath.

The War is over; it is time for peace and justice. During the Allied Occupation of Berlin the military personnel work tirelessly at establishing both. In addition to assisting Displaced Persons, their job requires interviewing German citizens about the degree of previous involvement in the Nazi party through interrogation and questionnaires. Millie and David Mosbach, brother and sister, who work for the military are two former Berlin residents who fled to America for sanctuary. Sadly their parents and young sister were left behind. Both suffer from guilt and try both to help and at times harm the various people they come across. Ellen Feldman through flashbacks reveals what motivates them and how they react to the incidents of the past. The only flaw for me is the frequent trips to the train station; the physical reactions become predictable after a while. All in all, however, it is a novel filled with emotions ranging from anger and guilt to love and the possibility of hope.

It took me a bit to be ready to read this- as a fan of historical fiction I've shied away from them this past year as I haven't wanted to read anything heavy, sad, or scary. So I worried I wouldn't be in the right mindset to read this and not able to give a fair review.
That being said- The Living and the Lost is a great read. It definitely isn't light and airy but it isn't supposed to be. Post WWII wasn't happy and jolly, and the book is quite raw with emotions. Fans of historical fiction and that time period will enjoy this- writing is well done and the storyline isn't a retell of other books from that time period.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

I'm drawn to WW2 historical fictions, and this takes place during postwar Berlin with the Americans, British, French, and Russians there. The two major characters are there to find the right candidates for the publications department be it news or literature. There is survivors guilt experienced by one of them, with her looking back to the time when she and her family tried to escape. Only her and her brother made it out. By looking back and facing the past, understanding what happened, allowed her to look forward to embrace her new life. It's heartbreaking but also hopeful. Righting some wrongs and knowing some things can't be saved, working towards helping those get their life back, makes this a hopeful read. Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for the ARC.

David and Millie grew up in Berlin as part of a loving Jewish family. They left when they were teenagers but had to leave behind their parents and younger sister. They were sponsored by an American family who provided them a good education. They both returned to Germany, at different times and for different reasons. This the story of their emotional journeys.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Excellent book! This book reads more as fact, than historical fiction. I was completely engrossed in what I was reading, and at times forgot that it was actually fiction. This book is at times, extremely heartbreaking, but also shows the resilience of the human spirit to carry on after it has suffered so much.

This is the second book that I have read by this author, Ellen Feldman. She definitely has wonderful skills of creating real life flawed characters, describing scene-setting descriptions, and developing plot lines.

It is difficult to say I “enjoyed” this book, since the story was not easy on my mind. I do appreciate the knowledge I gained from reading it and hope that the world does not come to a war as destructive as WWII again.

I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for giving me the pleasure of reading the advance reader copy, with no obligation to write a review. My review is written freely as a hobby, and is totally my own opinion, not influenced by receiving the ARC.

Excellent fiction based on facts about WW 2 German Jews who returned after the war ended.

Milly (formerly Meike) and her brother David have returned to their home town in Germany as Americans assisting in weeding out former Nazis from job applicants and from underground supply chains. Keeping emotional distance in these situations proves to be harder than expected. The characters were well developed and easy to become attached to. Following them right up until Berlin is closed by the Russians there is a lot of excellent history lessons woven into human emotions.

The Ritchie Boys are in the news currently and having just finished this book the facts are reinforced. I looked up the use of paper towels to find that they became popular in the 1930s for home use. The song, Seems Like Old Times was released in 1946.

I highly recommend this novel.

If you're a fan of ww2 fiction than this book is definitely for you! The Living and The Lost is my first introduction to this author, and I'm well beyond impressed. I can't say enough how many times I was near tears reading about these characters' journies. These "people" will stick with me for a long time, I love when a I find new book friends 😁💕

Thanks netgalley for giving me the pdf so that I can share my thoughts and opinions with y'all 🧡

I really enjoyed this book! Told from the perspective of a German woman who came to the US with her brother but not the rest of her family, it's a different take on life in Berlin during WW II. Millie Mossbach has done well in the US, earning a college degree and finding a job working at a magazine. But Millie and her brother David are frantic with fear for their family, and ultimately finagle their way back to Berlin, David by enlisting in the military and Millie working with Nazi hunters. What's interesting about The Living and the Lost is how it brings us along on Millie's unintentional journey of self discovery, as she works to find out what has happened to her parents and their whereabouts. Definitely well worth a read!

Ellen Feldman’s “The Living and the Lost,” with its evocation of 1945 Berlin, where the rawness from the just-ended war is as evident in her characters' psyches as it is in the city's obliterated landscape, put me in mind of my time as a military dependent in the early 1950s in Goppingen, where the war was still enough in the air to make for a huge turnout for a big-event movie of the time, "To Hell and Back," which depicted how Audie Murphy single-handedly held off a company of German soldiers. So strong, indeed, was the interest in the film when it came to the base that the line for it stretched around the theater a couple of times and included among its ranks a number of gaudily decked-out young German women hanging on the arms of their GI dates, something about which struck me as a bit odd even then, though it would take my becoming an adult before I could articulate for myself what had perhaps been teasing at the back of my child’s mind, what a strange thing it was for those women to be taking in that particular movie, maybe cuddling with their boyfriends and munching on cokes and popcorn as they watched, in which an American soldier is lauded for killing scores of their countrymen.
It's a dissonance that registers even more starkly for the main character in Feldman's novel, Millie Mosbach, when she sees Frauleins with American GIs at a film about Auschwitz and thinks that that just a year before those same women might have been watching movies with German soldiers. She appreciates, of course, that with the absence of American women, GIs in Berlin are forced to look elsewhere for female companionship and she's prepared to make allowances for them to be consorting with the most unsavory of women, prostitutes even, just not, with a personal history of hers that has left her detesting Germans, with Frauleins.
It's in fact officially verboten, such fraternization, though the prohibition is largely ignored in practice, and indeed makes for some friction with her brother, David, who she believes has been "sleeping with the enemy," as she thinks of such fraternization. He's on hand as an Army officer charged with assisting displaced persons in what would seem the unlikeliest of coincidences, the two of them being together so far from home, though it's explained by their both having pulled strings, Millie with the man who sponsored her coming to the United States.
A German Jew who fled her country during the Reich years, Millie has returned to her homeland, to the puzzlement of her boss at the denazification office where she works, in part to come to terms with her troubled German past, in which her family mounted an escape attempt after experiences with the Reich so traumatic that they’ve instilled in her a hatred of Germans strong enough that it even provokes comment from her boss, and explains why she's not more sympathetic to the German woman and daughter whose house she requisitions at the beginning of the novel, telling them they have to be out by 3 o'clock the next day.
It makes for an especially strong opening, the eviction, made the stronger for a flare up-over whether the child will be allowed to keep her dollhouse (it’s when David makes his first appearance in the novel, defusing a situation threatening to explode into violence), and is followed by other similarly powerful scenes, both in the present, when a colleague in Millie's office, who lost 18 family members to the Germans, nearly beats to death a man whom a woman identifies as the Butcher from the concentration camp where she was a prisoner, and in the past, when Millie and David are on a train making their escape to the Netherlands and are relieved when the attention of authorities checking visas is diverted from them to a fellow passenger who is dragged from the train and beaten, a fortunate thing for them but which leaves them feeling guilty for having survived at the expense of someone else.
Why the two are on the train without the rest of the family, it having been their father's intention to get the whole family out, makes for a slowly unfolding mystery which, together with the depiction of pre- and post-war Germany, you'd think would have made for a particularly engrossing read for a person with my background. And indeed the book did captivate me to a considerable degree, though not as much as I had thought, which had me rereading the novel to try to see why the book hadn't engaged me more than it had. Partly, I decided the second time through, it had to do with an extended section in which Millie attempts to reunite her cousin, a camp survivor, with her kidnapped child, a situation of enough inherent interest that you'd think it would hold anyone's attention and indeed it held mine, though it also made for a certain awkwardness with how the background details of necessity had to be delivered in extended expository dialogue, given the book's close-third-person point of view, with Millie as its center.
It’s a narrative strategy that has always been a bit problematic for me, anyway, the close-third-person, with its susceptibility to "head hopping," in which a reader can be jarringly switched from one character's consciousness to another, and indeed there's a notable instance of that in a scene in which Millie is admonishing David about sleeping with Frauleins, and the point of view slips back and forth between the two of them in the space of a single paragraph.
Something only a literary pedant could be bothered by, perhaps, such a seemingly minor grammatical thing, but it can in fact make for legitimate confusion, having a reader wondering at times exactly whose thoughts are being conveyed. A better or at least less problem-prone strategy, I’ve always felt, if it's the writer's intent to keep a tight focus on one character in particular, is to dispense with the third person entirely and go full-on with the first-person point of view, something Feldman used to such advantage in what to me is her best novel, "The Unwitting," about the cultural Cold War in the vein of Ian McEwan's "Sweet Tooth," the two novels being the best books I've read in recent years.
The first person might also have made for an even stronger extended scene in the book's middle in which Millie is at Bryn Mawr, which for my money is every bit as compelling as the more overtly exciting sequences and a testament to Feldman's writing skills, that she could make a domestic situation as compelling as ones more expressly dramatic -- the one, for instance, in which her boss brings a wounded David to her apartment and which explains what he’s actually been up to on the occasions when she's thought he's been out fraternizing. So compelling, indeed, did I find the Bryn Mawr sequence, that to my mind it could have made for the major narrative line of the novel, with the events from the past only gradually coming into focus around it.
Regardless, the novel as written, both with its tight focus on Millie, however occasionally deviated from, and its larger look at post-war Berlin, which almost emerges as a character in its own right, is compelling enough that it had me finishing the book in a single burst the first time through and drew me away from another novel I had obligated myself to review but whose writing is lamentably nowhere near as strong as Feldman's.
A substantial, even occasionally riveting work of art, in sum, Feldman's latest, particularly for anyone with a particular interest in the terrain of Joseph Kanon or John le Carre or Graham Greene. It even had me returning with firmer resolve to a would-be novel of my own mining the same turf, and what finer tribute can one writer pay to another than to say that she inspires him to write.

The first thing I did after I read this book was buy Ellen Feldman's complete back catalog. The Living and the Lost takes up denazification in post-war Germany and the Allied men and women responsible for that effort. Feldman's protagonist, Millie, returns to Germany after having fled Nazi Germany as a child. Deeply traumatized by her experiences, she focuses on locating her missing younger sister. Set against the chaotic backdrop of a devastated Berlin, Millie gradually grapples with her trauma and much is revealed about its origins. This is true historical fiction and it incorporates not just setting but also the high emotions and complicated motives of its characters. Everyone feels authentically 1940s--Feldman is exceptional in that regard. Perhaps what I enjoyed most about the novel was that it didn't cut out with Millie leaving Germany. Instead, Feldman allowed us a broader glimpse of her life and a gentle ending. Highly recommended and a library must-have.

Ah, another new WWII novel with a unique take on the wartime theme. I am loving these authors who come up with something different, allowing us to continue to honor the victims of the Holocaust without telling us the same story over and over again.

The Living and the Lost takes place during the time of the postwar occupation of Germany by the Americans, the British, the French and the Russians. There are also several flashback chapters that take us back to the early 1940s set in Germany and the United States. The protagonist is Mieke, a German Jew going by her Americanized name of Millie. She and her brother David spend the war years in the States and then return to their native Berlin to help with the postwar efforts. Millie is working under Harry Sutton on a project designed to get the publishing businesses back on their feet without the Nazi influence. Millie finds it difficult to keep her personal feelings out of her job decisions. In fact, a past critical decision made in a split second has continued to haunt her for years and has influenced almost everything in her life. Millie isn’t the only one fighting the past as efforts are made to bring the broken city and its people back to some semblance of decency.

I was intrigued by viewing the war through this new angle; I learned so much. We see the wreckage of Berlin, details of the Allies’ occupation, and the emotional effects rendered on both the citizens of Berlin and those tasked with helping them. There is so much suffering and lingering hate, guilt, blame, and trauma—both physical and mental. Ultimately there are the beginnings of hope, understanding, and forgiveness.

My criticisms of the novel are two-fold. First, I found it difficult to connect with Millie or really any of the main characters until well after the 50% point. Secondly, I thought the tale dragged a little at times. I blame my less than fervent interest in Millie, Harry, and David for that. Ultimately though, I came to respect and understand all three of these characters, especially Millie, which led to warmer feelings on my part. The ending is hopeful and very satisfactory and includes a nice epilogue.

I do recommend The Living and the Lost for everyone interested in a new vision of the WWII theme. The ratings to date are phenomenal, and I suggest potential readers seek out some of the many 5-stars reviews before deciding to skip “yet another” WWII-themed novel. This one is different and deserves to be read.

Many thanks to Rivka Holler of St. Martin Press, Net Galley, and Ms. Ellen Feldman for the ARC. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.