I am sincerely praying that this book has been through the hands of a good editor, because there's so much promise in it! The storyline of Max as a porcelain artist was very interesting and a new take on WWII historical fiction stories. I also loved Bettina and the references to expressionist and abstract art. I wish they could have been based on real people, but maybe history wasn't very obliging for Max and Bettina's character references.

Sarah Freethy weaves her story with very rich descriptions, although at times they become a bit overpowering. The beginning lagged at a bit, due to those wordy sentences, which sometimes repeated information that had already been presented. There were also egregious grammar/spelling issues, like "Max's" begin rendered as "Maxis." Again, things that I'm praying a good editor has filtered through before final publishing!

I'd definitely be interested in reading more from Ms. Freethy, as she had a nice storytelling style and kept my interest once we got past the slower beginning.

The Porcelain Maker is World War II fiction that is impressively different than the typical, especially from a debut author. The story is told in two timelines. Clara Vogel is a woman in the 1990s who is trying to discover more of her mother’s history, particularly the identity of her father. The story is told in her time as well as the World War II timeline of her parents’ story. Her father is a Holocaust victim, but his story is very different, probably because he is an artist whose skills are utilized by the Germans. Most of his storyline setting is in the factory where he works with porcelain. Clara’s mother is also an artist whose true artistic vision was subjugated to what the Germans wanted in their art. Clara’s journey and her parents’ story made for a great read.

Historical fiction is my favorite genre, and The Porcelain Maker did not disappoint. I've read many WWII books, but had never read about the porcelain making. I nice find, adding lesser known facts about the happenings during the war and the treatment of the prisoners during that time.

I was given an advance reading copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley.com in return for a fair review. This book was a very interesting read. The story of two artists in Germany (one Jewish) in the years before and during World War II was compelling. Max and Bettina fell in love during difficult times. Political circumstances separated them and Max ended up in the Dachau prison camp. While remaining a prisoner, he worked in a porcelain factory where beautiful pieces were created at the request of Nazi official Heinrich Himmler. Bettina chose to marry another Nazi officer to protect herself and her unborn child. She never gave up on Max and eventually discovered his whereabouts. This story struck a chord with me as I once worked with a gentleman who was one of the GIs that liberated the prisoners at Dachau. He could barely speak of it without tearing up at what he had seen. While I enjoyed the story of Max and Bettina, I did not care for the back and forth story of Bettina's daughter, Clara, and her daughter, Lotte, in the present day. Hence the four-star rating. The book based on Max and Bettina would have read just fine. It seems like this a trend in historical fiction that I don't feel is necessary. Just tell the story without bringing in the extras.

These comments and review are my honest opinion.
I put off reading this book as I was not sure I would like it, especially since it dealt in depth with WWII. But when I finally started reading it, I could not put it down. The characters, the vivid scenes and the pace of the book written in dual times made this a captivating read. This is a book of love, separation and the horrors experienced by those who were held in concentration camps.
Had it not been for the artistic talents of Max Ehrlich, an Austrian Jew and German born Benita Vogel, their love, their lives and the life of their child, Clara would have been so different. Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for this early copy of this heart wrenching, but also extraordinary good debut book.

Set primarily in Cincinnati, Ohio and Germany in 1993 and in Germany just before and during World War II, Sarah Freethy’s The Porcelain Maker is beautifully written, with gorgeous descriptive language, and is in one sense an ode to love and to the importance of art and creative processes. It is also a heart wrenching, gritty read depicting the horrors of WWII and fascism, including the abject and unfathomable hatred and brutality toward Jews and others espoused by the Nazis and the lasting, generational trauma wrought by such evil. Sadly, the latter aspects resonate deeply given current events both within and outside the United States. .

This was well done for a debut novel, though I felt it could have benefited from both a bit more character development and a less rushed conclusion. Overall, 3.5 stars rounded up due to the importance of the messaging and the descriptive prose.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a complimentary ARC. Opinions are my own.

This was a gripping sometimes heartbreaking page turner. Every atrocity of this war reopened my horror. I never thought about the art and whose talented hands would create it. This was about finding answers and trying to understand the meaning of it all. I’m still shocked every time I read about World War II. Every. Time.
I read some of this novel but I mostly listen to the audiobook. The narrator was Kristin Atherton and she was excellent. She brought it together in a very personal way.
Thanks Macmillan Audio and St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley.

What I loved about the novel from debut author Sarah Freethy:
1. Historical fiction that taught me something I didn't know - Porcelain factory near Dachau.
2. It was emotional - Poignant and sad with themes of love, betrayal, art and promise.
3. I overall liked the writing style and the two timelines used to tell the story.

What I wished was a little different:
1. It was slow at times and when I lost the thread because of the pace - it took me awhile to get back to it.



Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc in return for an honest review.
Publish date is November 7, 2023.

This is a debut novel by Freethy. You can tell she has a background in editing, writing and I am happy she wrote a novel. I was immersed in the story of Clara who is seeking the traces of a porcelain piece. She is hoping this will lead to her father. This story is about love, betrayal, art and so much more. Perfect for the historical fiction lover.

A piece of porcelain becomes the single clue that leads a daughter on a search for her father. Clara is able to find out that her father had sculpted this while working as a forced laborer at a porcelain studio as a Nazi captive.

The author takes us back to the love story of her parents, Bettina and Max. They met as artists during the romantic and creative years between the wars. They faced the privations and struggles of WWII Germany. The story of Max’s captivity at Dachau and Bettina’s sacrifice to bear her child are detailed in the story as Clara uncovers her history.

This is a beautifully written story about uncovering personal history based on a single piece of porcelain.
Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

I had not heard of this author before and I am glad I checked her out. Loved the art world during WW2 vibe but from the porcelain aspect which I had not seen done before. The beginning was a bit slow and I wondered if I would finish, but, loved the way it wrapped up.

I had a hard time getting into this one even though the premise was interesting. Bettina is an artist beyond her years and really stands out in her generation when women were still expected to fulfill a certain role in life. After falling in love with Max, the Nazis were taking over the country and Max and Bettina decided to move to Switzerland to be safe but Max was captured and sent to a concentration camp. Bettina was desperately trying to find and rescue him but faced her own challenges. Meanwhile in 1993, Bettina’s daughter Clara was desperately trying to find a certain porcelain piece to find out who her father was.

This debut novel starts with a young couple in pre-WWII Germany as the Nazi movement takes hold. Bettina, a German modern artist and Max, an Austrian Jew studying architecture with the Bauhaus movement, are in love. But life conspires against them. As time goes on, Bettina’s art is labeled degenerative and Max faces all the issues of being Jewish in Nazi Gernany.
Meanwhile, in a second timeline in 1993, Clara is trying to uncover the identity of her father. Her mother, Bettina, has never told her who he was. All she knew of him was that he was a porcelain maker.
The story is based on Allach porcelain, which was produced in Allach Germany at a factory owned by the SS. It is marked with a stylized SS on the bottom and was produced using slave labor from the Dachau concentration camp. The porcelain was a personal favorite of Himmler.



The book does best when it concentrates on art - the difference between the approved art the Nazis favored, romantic realism, and the “degenerate art” of the modernists.
But I was less than engaged with the characters or the plot. The romance between Max and Bettina felt cliched and neither character came across as developed. The ending was rushed and missing some major explanations. <spoiler> for example, there was no explanation of how Bettina got out of the hospital and how she and Clara were reunited.</spoiler>. The second timeline with Clara is designed with the single purpose of having someone able to tell the reader what happens to Max.
My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book.

1990's: Clara is in search of a certain piece of porcelain, hoping that she finds the owner who might be able to tell her more about her father. Her mom would tell her nothing about her father, other than he was the porcelain maker of Dachau.

1920-30's: Max and Bettina, two artists, find each other and fall in love. Max is arrested and sent to Dachau, where he ends up working in the porcelain factory.

This book wasn't for me. I think I would have preferred if the timelines were kept separate. I know for the story it's revealing what happened before and now at the same time so we as the readers are learning as the present day character is, but I prefer to keep to one timeline at a time. I would've preferred reading Max and Betti's story, then Lotti's.

I liked the different perspective of the Holocaust, I didn't know that Germans couldn't marry Jews after March 1939, I looked it up, and knowing that fact gave their story a deeper sense of sorrow as I read it.

Take a step with Clara through her journey in 1993 to discover the mystery around who her father is while also following Max and Bettina through the late 1920s and through WW2. I really enjoyed Bettina’s perspective as a artist who isn’t initially approved of by the Nazi vision of good art. She transforms her art in a step to survive, which later proves to also provide for her child. I wish there were pictures or a movie to go along with this debut novel because the art described throughout their stories I imagine to have been so beautiful. Max’s perspective is heartbreaking.

Thank you to the author, St Martins Press and Netgalley for the eARC

Another fascinating WWII novel about a true porcelain factory in Dachau. The love of a painter and architect, and their story to survive while knowing their love was forbidden and a risk every day. I had never heard about a porcelain factory in Dachau and this story was so eye opening on what the Nazi's were attempting to do at this factory and their belief in the making of these porcelain animals. This story starts out in the early 30's to give background on how Max and Bettina have gotten to where they are during the war and why they do everything they can to risk being together one day again. Meanwhile, the other time line is told from 1993, and Bettina's daughter is trying to uncover the truth of her ancestry and this porcelain viking that has always been a mystery. Her mother refused to talk about the war and her past. As Bettina and her daughter work to uncover the truth of Bettina's past, a fear of who her father might be is at the forefront of needing to get to the truth of what happed during those war years. This novel was so well written and had so much history in it. Thank you to the author and St. Martin's Press for the complimentary book. This review is of my own review and accord.

Such beautiful writing in this author’s debut novel. It had such a flow to it and was written with such emotion. I devoured this book. The novel included things I did not know much about. Bettina, Max, Richard, and others were artists who were working in a modernistic style in the late 1930’s and beyond. As the Nazis felt that certain things should only be done the way they thought was right, or pure, this modern art, was not approved of. When Bettina and Max, a Jewish man, fall for each other, they eventually start to make plan for their future together. Bettina and Max soon realize they need to escape to Switzerland as the Nazis reign of terror starts to heighten. Unfortunately, this does not happen and Max is brought to Dachau, a concentration camp. Beforehand, Max was creating art in the porcelain factory and here he continues making highly coveted porcelain pieces for the Nazis and their families. As Bettina’s life starts to unravel, she remains in love with Max and does what she can to keep going in hopes they will again be together someday. The book has a dual timeline, as in the future Max and Bettina’s daughter Clara, and granddaughter Lotte try to find out about Clara’s father/Lotte’s grandfather. However, much of the story takes place in the past. Dual timelines don’t always work but this one definitely does in my opinion.
I certainly felt the love between Max and Bettina and the hope in their future. It was a sad story, as many books set in this time period are. The author did a great job developing the characters so that the reader really gets to know them and I loved (or hated!) the characters. I have nothing but high praise for the author’s first book and look forward to more in the future!
Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC. All opinions in this review are my own.

I wanted to like this more than I did. Historical parts about the porcelain makers were interesting and I have since learned more of that aspect.

It seems like the market is saturated with World War II fiction lately, but "The Porcelain Maker" by Sarah Freethy is unlike any of the others I have read recently. Told through dual timelines, it is the story of a daughter's search for the identity of her father and the answers to her mother's secrets. The subject matter is unique, revolving around the design and manufacture of Allach porcelain, in a factory run with slave labor from Dachau and of special interest of Himmler himself. I was compelled to research more about the porcelain and was led down the rabbit hole of looking at pieces that still exist today and are for sale for great sums. The actual figurines really are hauntingly beautiful.

I liked the storyline and the writing style, though at times it moved a bit too slowly. It tugged at my heart, but left me wanting a bit more character development. Though I enjoyed reading about the characters, they never really came to life for me. Overall, I think this was a good book and worth the read, but it won't be listed in my favorite books of 2023.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book and for introducing me to an aspect of World War II of which I was unaware.