The Porcelain Maker by Sarah Freethy is a gorgeously written historical fiction novel set in both the past and the present. In Germany in 1929, Max, a Jewish architect, and Bettina, a Christian painter, meet and fall in love. Around them the world is falling apart as Hitler and the Nazis slowly wrap their noose around central Europe. Max is sent to Dachau and Bettina fights to save him. Fast forward to 1993 and we meet Clara, Bettina's daughter, who attempts to unravel the truth about her mother's past.

"It seems that people will swallow anything if you feed it to them piece by piece."

I really loved this story and devoured it in 2 days. The writing is beautiful, I connected with the characters, and it painted a picture of a story that (I believe) has not been told). It's what I would consider "light historical fiction" which gives us a glimpse into history but is not too graphic. Of course, I immediately googled Dachau porcelain and there was a factory in Dachau work camp that Jewish prisoners worked in, creating porcelain figurines for the Third Reich. I am really excited for people to read this book - it was beautiful and heartbreaking.

Most definitely a different take on historical fiction about the Holocaust!

We have the story of Clara Vogel searching worldwide for what she has nailed down as clues to who her father is.

Growing up, she never knew who her real father was and was content with that until her mother said something very specific. Since that time, Clara started hunting for her father.

Her search brought her to an auction, which brought her to a,room of a Holocaust survivor who had recently passed away. In that room, she found a picture of who she suspected was the Holocaust survivor, her mother and another man. Seeing this picture brought up many thoughts and feelings.

With the help of her daughter Lotte, Clara goes on a very focused hunt so she can learn who she really is.

Does Clara get the answers she's looking for? Does she get more than she's looking for? Can and do the present meet the past?

Alternating between past and present, “The Porcelain Maker” is a riveting historical fiction that serves to remind us all of the atrocities that we are capable of committing when we allow intolerance, fear, and hate to drive our actions. By shining a spotlight on Max and Bettina, a fictional couple immersed in the art world, the author demonstrates how Hitler’s regime infiltrated every aspect of society, set on destroying anything diverse, unique, or creative in its wake. Boasting multi-dimensional characters and a storyline rich in detail, the author delivers a heart-wrenching story you won’t soon forget!

The Porcelain Maker is a unique viewpoint of a holocaust story. I have read very few books dealing on the subject of art and artists during the time of World War II and have not read anything about porcelain making during this time. This book follows a couple through pre-war time and as the war escalates. It also follows the story of a relative discovering their family history. The Porcelain Maker
explores relationships and the handling of art by the Nazis. This book kept my interest and kept me turning the pages. I enjoyed reading this story and will re-read it as the first time was a quicker read due to the short availability of the digital copy. Pick up a copy and dive in today. I received an advanced copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I love books where I learn something that I probably should have known. After reading this, I spent many hours reading about the porcelain makers near Dachau and the intersection with the war. This is a beautifully written account of a different view of the Holocaust. This is a great read for anyone interested in historical fiction and will likely spark a round of research around wartime porcelain.
Thank you NetGalley for an ARC.

The porcelain maker, what an emotional story.
We have two different time frames.
Germany, 1929 continuing through World War II.
Max, a Jewish architect and Bettina, a painter, are drawn to each other with hopes for a bright future together.
What corrupted these plans is Nazi Germany. You have to read the book to understand what is happening with both of them.
You then will understand why Bettina never wanted to talk about the past.
America, 1993.
Clara, Bettina’s daughter is determined to get to know the identity of her father.
Clara’s quest to piece together the puzzle of her origins brings her back to Germany where she and her daughter try to contact anybody that might bring some clarity in her mother’s past.
Doings so she is learning about the darkness of Nazi Germany. Knowing true friend from hidden foe can mean the difference between life or death.
I consider this one of the books that is hard to put down before you have finished it.

This was an interesting story.. I thought at the end it would say that parts of it were true. I wouldn’t be surprised as the horrors of that war were unbelievable. The writing style was enjoyable.

This book was extremely emotional. It had moments of great joy and much sadness. It was hard to put down, and difficult to describe as it is a very complex book. But it really drew you into the story. Sadly it left me feeling sad and unsettled with it's ending. An excellent book, however, would love to read more from this author.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martins Press, and the author, Sarah Freethy, for granting me an advance copy of this book in return for my honest opinion.

The synopsis band beautiful cover drew me in. I am a big fan historical fiction war novels. However, I have found the plot to become redundant.

This one was different and kept me captivated from start to finish. I loved the way the author, Sarah Freethy, combined the past and present. It made the book much more interesting.

The settings, character, storyline and plot were beautifully written and everything flowed seamlessly.

Highly recommend. An enjoyable read.

I received an ARC of this book from St. Martins Press via NetGalley in exchange for my honest feedback. It is hard to believe this is a debut novel; the author is very talented. Obviously being WWII historical fiction, the reader is aware there will be a lot of sadness and some parts that are difficult to read from an emotional standpoint. But you don't know exactly what is going to happen to Max, and I definitely flew through this book trying to find out.

The dual timelines worked well. I wish there had been just a little bit more from Clara's standpoint and maybe some flashbacks to Clara & Bettina's relationship. The WWII chapters were beautifully done, creating the atmosphere of the time. I liked that we met Bettina & Max when conflict was only just starting and they were still at the point where a true war seemed unlikely. Then the tension builds as the conflict, war, and persecution become more widespread. In addition, I thought the character development was excellent. Holger was one of my favorites.

I had never heard of Allach Porcelain before, but I love that Ms. Freethy took this little-known aspect of WWII and developed it into an absorbing story.

What would you do for love? Bettina, a German artist on the rise and Max, an Austrian, Jewish architect meet in 1939 and their love story takes them through the horrors of Nazism and beyond. In 1993, Clara, Bettina's daughter is trying to find the truth about her father. This story takes you through the art movement at the beginning of the war to a porcelain factory that operated outside of the Dachau prison camp. Written like a spy novel as Bettina and Max do some very subversive work defying the Germans. It was easy to get caught up with these characters and what they would do for love. Their back story comes to light as Clara investigates her roots. Very interesting read and one that I would recommend.

I so thoroughly enjoyed receiving an advance copy of this title and loved every word!
It was a poignant story that did an incredible job of weaving the past into the current and ultimately closing the circle.
I thoroughly suggest this title as a beautiful story with the sensitivity and gracefulness of the writer--it is a winner all the way!

Thank you again for the opportunity to read this most endearing title!

Brilliant. There are a lot of WW2/Nazi/concentration camp books out there and I find them moving every single time because of the horrors (and the truth) that they contain. This one, however, was exceptional. I often think about what that time was like for people of “pure blood” thay recognized how truly despicable the actions of Hitler and the Nazis were. I ask myself what I would do if I was alive during that time and could see the horrors of what was happening to people around me.

This book brilliantly navigates both sides of this- the woman and the man she loves (a Jew) and what they will do for their love, the life they want to live together.

also, the ending was, in a word, perfect.

2.5 ⭐️s rounded up. The storyline itself was ok and the look into the Dachau Porcelain Factory was an interesting one. But between the errors and the fatalistic and hard-to-swallow characters, it lost a lot of its shine for me.

The number of grossly poor decisions by Bettina especially but also Max, Richard, and their friends, did not feel believable, especially when they were all in their 30s, so not exactly young and naive. For people in their circles who had long been opposed to the rising Fascist and Nazi demands with their lifestyle choices, once it was apparent they could not escape Germany, it felt a little ridiculous that they wouldn’t hide and resist undercover, understanding the danger. But they decided instead the wisest decision was having intimate and submissive relationships with the SS. Twice. And in only one of them in a partial effort to resist. Mostly to hide. With the SS.

So much of the story became rather fatalistic and depressive, and there didn’t feel like a lot of redemption by the time it was done.

As for errors, I know ARCs have more edits they normally go thru but I’ve never seen an ARC with so many typos. It was unreal.

The other is that it was mentioned that Max (and his rabbit) had tattoos from Dachau. Except Dachau didn’t do that, only Auschwitz camps did. It made it feel poorly researched and looking for sensationalism for that to be added unnecessarily.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are mine.

Amazing!! The Porcelain Maker was a beautiful but heartbreaking historical fiction/love story with twists and turns that kept me captivated until the very end. This book kept me flipping pages in hopes that the love story would survive the atrocities of the Holocaust. Congratulations to Sarah Freethy for an outstanding debut novel! I will be anxiously awaiting for Sarah’s next novel.

I highly recommend The Porcelain Maker to historical fiction lovers. You won’t be disappointed.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley and Sarah Freethy for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

The Porcelain Maker takes place in a dual time frame - from 1920 - mid 1940 in Germany and in the recent past in the 1990's.

Bettina and Max meet and fall in love while studying at the Bauhaus in 1925 - Bettina is a young German woman who is being mentored by Kandinsky and shows great promise as an upcoming Expressionist artist. Max is an Austrian Jew from Vienna studying architecture. The story moves to Berlin and Munich in the 1930's and 1940's and follows their lives with the backdrop of rising war tensions and the ratcheting up of Nazi cruelty and oppression. Eventually Max is arrested and sent to Dachau where his talent for creating porcelain figures keeps him out of the worst peril, but only for awhile.

In the recent past, Bettina's daughter Clara is searching for the identity of her father after Bettina's death, and finally learns of the whole story of her mother and father's pasts, something her mother was never willing to share with her.

This is a poignant, sweeping historical novel, with good characterization all around of the major characters as well as minor ones. The time shift in the stories is well handled. The author skillfully and realistically portrays life in Berlin and Munich along with the rising political and threats to Bettina as and avant-garde artist and to Max as a Jew living in wartime Germany.

I would have given this a 5 star rating, but I never fully bought into why Bettina withheld the identity of her daughter's father. I also thought that the book would have benefited more from additional chapters devoted to Bettina and her life after Max's death and a bit onward into the mid to late 1940's.

Thank you #NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy.

This one was good it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time it was also an emotional read. But then most books set during WWII and the Holocaust tend to be emotional.

I enjoy historical fiction books that take place in multiple generations. This book takes place in 1929 and 1993. In 1993, Clara and her daughter are on a journey to find out who Clara’s father is, whom her mother has kept secret her whole life. Starting in 1929 we learn about Clara’s mother Bettina’s past and who her father is.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. The Porcelain Maker by Sarah Freethy is a moving story of love, loss and discovery. The story begins with two young artist who embark on life’s journey together, ready to face anything but quickly turns to hardship with the start of the Second World War. I felt so much sympathy for the main character and was inspired by the choices she made to protect the people she loved most. The challenges we ourselves have to face are nothing close to what people from this moment in time we’re forced to endure. It was a very moving story that included a focus on choices that some women were forced to make for survival. I would definitely recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction.

The Porcelain Maker is a story of love and pain in the midst of World War 2 and the Holocaust.

From the very first page, this author painted a picture (pun intended) for us to visualize. The writing was beautiful and rich. Characters were thorough, and the scenes blended well. The book has a dual timeline that kept me so engaged. I needed to know more, even if it slowly broke my heart.

I’ve read plenty of books that centered around topics that the author clearly didn’t research. This isn’t one of those. I don’t know more than surface level information about art, but the author has obviously researched the topic and how artists think. I loved that dive into a subject I don’t know much about.

I’ve made it a point to read books based around the Holocaust, and this one is a great addition to them. I’ll recommend it to anyone who has an interest in history.

I received this book from Netgalley for my honest review.