Amazing debut novel. Fabulous historical fiction. Max and Bettina are lovers. Bettina’s daughter Clara embarks on a journey to learn who her father is. I loved this book. Some parts are heartbreaking but well worth reading. I highly recommend it. I will watch for this Author’s next book. Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and the Author for allowing me to read and review this book.

Smart and thoughtful.

This is a dual-timeline book between 1993 and World War II. Clara has never known her father and is looking for him. She only has some figurines made in Dachau to go by ... and so many questions. What did her mother go through in WWII? Why the secrecy? What is the history of the porcelain figurines, and their meaning? I liked the author's intelligence and clear voice. A fresh take on a war novel. Interesting.

Great historical fiction from this debut author. I wish I could have seen drawings of the figurines in this book. I could not stop thinking about them. Set in Germany in 1929 and USA in the 1990’s. This is Clara’s journey to find out the truth of who her father is. Full of love, heartbreak, betrayal, this is a poignant novel that was captivating. If you like historical fiction, you will like this book.

3.5 stars rounded up.

Thanks to NetGalley st martins press and the author for the chance to read this amazing work of art.

What an amazing story! The Porcelain Maker is a dual timeline story with one timeline taking place during WWII and the other in 1993. During WWII, Bettina Vogel, an artist, and Max Erhlich, an Austrian Jew and future architect, both studying at the German artschool Bauhaus, meet and fall in love. When Max is sent to Dachau, he begins to work at the porcelain factory there. In the 1993 timeline, we meet Bettina's daughter Clara who wants to learn who her father was and follows the clues of the porcelain animals her mother loved so much to lead her to people who can answer her questions. There is so much more to this well-written story - I felt myself pulled into the tale at the very beginning, hoping that they both would survive the Nazis. No spoilers, but a recommendation to fans of historical fiction to read this novel. I was surprised to learn that this is Sara Freethy's first novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This debut author is a new voice in the WWII historical fiction genre and she doesn’t disappoint. The story is told in two time frames, 1990s and 1940s. Clara, the daughter of famous artist Bettina has set out to find out who her father is. Bettina has recently died and never told Clara the secret of her father. As we go back in time, we learn about her mother’s life and those of the people she knows. There are many tragedies that lead Bettina and the father of her baby to be apart, including the Holocaust. Bettina finds herself in her own type of prison when she marries a Nazi in order to keep her secret. Can she escape her prison and help the man she loves escape his so they can live as a family? As Clara learns about the story of her father, it allows her to know her mother better and why she did things she did.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Sarah Freethy's The Porcelain Maker is an interesting twist on the Holocaust. The story is slow to start, and the characters to really take shape, but hang in there. It really does get better and has interesting twists and turns.

This is an arc in exchange for an honest review!
This novel weaves us through different timelines starting with a young woman named Clara that arrives at an auction in Cincinnati in the 90’s hoping to discover who the identity of her father is and to understand more about her mother’s past.
We get to see a glimpse of Max and Bettina’s past during the times of World War II.
Clara’s mother is Bettina, and she’s hoping to find out more about her mother through the artistic pieces that had ended up in the auction.
I love a good historical fiction book, but this book is so much more than that. I had read the novel in one sitting, and it’s a story that really lingers in your mind and makes you think about life and the universe.
I highly recommend the novel to anyone that’s looking to immerse themselves fully into the plot.

In 1929, Max and Bettina meet in Berlin and fall in love. The problem? Max is Jewish and Bettina is not. As the Nazis slowly begin to take over Germany, Max and Bettina's love (and art) grows more mature. When Max is arrested and taken to Dachau, Bettina does whatever she can to keep their child safe from harm and to try to find out what has happened to Max. What she does discover leads her to create some beautiful works of art and takes her back, for only a short time, to Max.

In 1993, Clara, Max and Bettina's daughter continues a search for the father she never knew and a mother who felt very distant. She comes into possession of some porcelain figurines and slowly starts to trace her parents lives in Nazi Germany through those figurines. What she learns is that her parents bravery and pain lead to the creation of beautiful art and to her very life. She finds herself speaking to the last living person who knew, and care for, her parents, and she learns to what extent love will lead a person to do incredibly brave acts to protect and shield their loved ones.

One of the most powerfully interesting novels of the Holocaust I've read.

The Porcelain Maker seizes you from the first page and never lets go, encouraging the desire to go to Dachau and visit the Porcelain Factory and secretly help Max and Bettini overcome the Nazis rule. The book is a winner. Even though it is fiction, I would love to find some of the Porcelain!

This was a really good debut novel . It is an instant take on WW II fiction set in the porcelain factory in Dachau. It is a heartbreakingly beautiful story of love , survival and hope in such a dark time .
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review book

Both historical and romantic, a story woven between the past and present. Clara looking for information on father, following the trail of clues in the present. The past being the story of her parents romance. The trials and tribulations that was their reality during such a horrible time of war.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGallery for the chance to read this captivating story.

I don’t consider myself a romance reader, but ( definitely relate to historical fiction. This book, however brings the two together in a way that is poignant and touching. How sweet love is and how hard and unfair life can be at times. But I love the story and how Clara unwraps the history of her own beginning.

This is a captivating, heartfelt story that the author expertly weaves from the beginning in 1925 until where the story concludes in the 1990s.

Clara, of German heritage, living in England, travels to Cincinnati to attend an auction where she bids on and wins several porcelain pieces: eight total, including a rabbit and a lamb, a bear, and a Viking. She is interested in who these pieces initially belonged to; however, the auctioneer was not able to give her that information. Clara is searching, with the hope to discover who her father is. Clara’s deceased mother, Bettini was an artist, and she suspects possibly her father was too. Before flying back to England in an apartment that had belong to a man now deceased, she finds is surprised to find a picture of her mother.

Max Ehrlick, an Austrian Jew, lives in Germany following his dream to become an architect. Through a mutual friend, Max meets the beautiful German artist, Bettina Vogel. Over time they fall in love, but because he is Jewish and she German, they are unable to marry. As years go by, eventually it is imperative they leave Germany and go into hiding.

As this fascinating story unfolds between the different time periods, there are many twists and turns, unexpected events, and secrets. The many cast of characters, both good and bad, are excellently portrayed.
This is a story that did not leave me just because the last page was turned. I had to pause for a day or two to absorb it. This historical fiction book is beautifully written, and nearly impossible to put down.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A beautiful, heart wrenching story in the middle of the war. Sarah Freethy brilliantly flows through two different time periods. Clara yearns to find the link between her artist mother and these beautiful porcelain objects made during WWII. Thank you Net Galley for the ARC.

I love history. But I hate to read history books. I want to know how the history affected the average person. This book does just that. The story is set in Germany in 1929 and in America in 1993. It is about a couple in German who get caught up in the Nazi movement because one of them is a German but the other is a Jew and is arrested and sent to a concentration camp. This camp happens to be near a porcelain factory where his skills with making beautiful porcelain items gets him assigned to work in the porcelain factory. While it is not especially graphic, it does expose the reader to what it was like to live in a concentration camp during that time period. This book was a very interesting read and I would recommend it.

The Porcelain Maker by debut author S. Freethy, published by St. Martin's Press, is a full-length, stand-alone.
Set in the 1920, 1930 and the 21 jahrhundereds, the story spand decades.
Starts out in Germany after WWI, before WWII and tells about a dark chapter in german history.
Max and Bettina's story is heart-wrenching, raw and gritty. The writing is good, the story enthralling, sometimes a little bit dry. All in all I enjoyed reading the book, 4 stars.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an invitation to read this book. This was a lovely, engrossing, and heavy historical drama, that I highly enjoyed. The writing was absolutely beautiful. I felt like I knew the characters almost personally through the novel. The only thing that I will say is that I am not a person who enjoys art very much, and I found that the dialogue had a ton of art lingo describing art. That’s my only issue I had, otherwise it was a beautiful story.