“Dr. Eckert was The chair of the Treatment Center for Spinal Cord Injuries. She had only seen a handful of reports on patients with paralysis as extensive as Anna’s. Spinal strokes were rare”.
“Anna would need to learn how to adapt to her new body”.
“Part of that learning would be to figure out how to do things differently, but part of that learning would be treating herself with care that Anna Werner wasn’t use to”.
“The rest of her life? What was she talking about? What about healing?”
Dr. Eckert wasn’t telling Anna that her condition was permanent, only that she needed to be prepared for it to be.
The physical therapy at Anna would be going through would be mainly about strengthening the muscles so she could learn to control and live with her new physical constraints. “The facility and therapies are the best in Germany.”

“In Berlin” is a fiction novel that often feels like a memoir — the emotions from devastation, to anger, to acceptance, to hope and possibilities are real.

The storytelling weaves together Anna’s journey along with a growing connection with Batul al-Jabari, a janitor, a young Syrian woman who dreams of becoming a doctor.
Both women were dealing with types of displacement: (physical and cultural)….
Choices needed to be made. Advocacy for oneself needed to be made.
Through struggles ….physical, social, exile, family….we experience the characters strength and resilience through their intimate exploration of perseverance.

“Every person is different. I’ve seen people accomplish things they never thought they’d be able to do. My advice is never give up hope. Never stop telling your muscles to move. Never stop strengthening and training what you have. Never assume that your limitations today will be your limitations tomorrow.”

With depth and breadth and empathy, Eric Silverstein wrote a passionate moving novel.
Our awareness of one living with Spinal Cord injuries ….even cultural biases …. quadruples in size …..
The human spirit of toughness….adaption….and not giving up ….is truly remarkable!!

Kudos to Eric Silverstein for taking on this topic…..the issues and serious concerns….with tremendous respect and humanity.

Thank you #LiuBookGroup and #NetGalley for providing this #ARC Advance Reading Copy. Expected publication date is August 5, 2025.

4 Stars • In Berlin by Eric Silberstein hits all the feels. Anna, a high-flying software engineer, gets blindsided by a spinal stroke, flipping her Berlin life upside down. Enter Batul, a Syrian janitor with med school dreams, who sees Anna’s spark and kicks off a friendship that keeps them both going. Things get deep, but Batul’s stuck choosing between family and Anna. Berlin’s buzzing vibe ties it together in this quick, soulful read about bouncing back and real connection.

#InBerlin #EricSilberstein #Bookish

Good story about clashing cultures and societal norms. Anna has a stroke which leaves her paralyzed. Her girlfriend leaves her. She meets Basil a Syrian refugee and falls in love. But.Batul Must listen to her family and marries a doctor. Great ending. Thank you Net Galley for the free ARC.

In Berlin by Eric Silberstein is a remarkable and layered story that draws you into the life of Anna Werner, a vibrant software engineer whose world suddenly collapses after an unexpected medical event. What follows is not a simple rehabilitation narrative, but an emotional journey toward recovery, dignity, and connection. Anna’s struggle with her new physical limitations is portrayed with raw honesty.

During her hospital stay, Anna meets Batul al-Jaberi, a young Syrian woman with a dream of becoming a doctor. Batul’s conflicting thoughts—torn between loyalty to her family and the bond she builds with Anna—offer beautiful insight into her complex inner world. The growing friendship between Anna and Batul is both fragile and powerful, and is portrayed in a very believable way.

In Berlin is, above all, a story about love, hope, and resilience. Silberstein weaves together major themes like migration, loss, and healing in a gentle and natural way. It’s the kind of book that moves you and makes you reflect on how people manage to find their path again—despite everything. A true recommendation!

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC!

"I love you. I love you. I love you. A sustained, amplified cry echoing off limestone. Enveloping warmth. Belonging. Home."

A tender, unflinching look into being human and falling in love. Silberstein has crafted his characters to be both endearing and realistic, flawed in ways that make perfect sense. The prose is lyrical while still being simple and easy to read. The ending hurt in the best kind of way; a reminder that love can live on in so many different ways. I highly recommend!

A recent spinal scare of my own, with the frightening uncertainties it made for, had me especially interested in reading Eric Silberstein's “In Berlin,” in which his protagonist, 20-something software engineer Anna, looks to have suffered a spinal stroke.
Fortunately, in my own case further diagnostic testing suggested that the apparent abnormality was just that, an abnormality – knock on wood – but in Anna’s case her stroke proves to be very much the real thing and leaves her a tetraplegic requiring around-the-clock hospital care and constant vigilance over things that might hurt her body without her knowing it.
“A wrinkle in a sheet pressing into her, a crease in her gown under her weight in the wheelchair, friction on her skin,” anything could be the occasion for a health emergency from a condition so devastating that it has one of the similarly afflicted patients at the hospital so bitter that he wishes he’d drowned from the swimming accident that left him in his condition.
If he had the guts, he’d go to Switzerland, he tells Anna, who for all the direct and indirect consequences of her situation, including a break-up with her lover, Julia, can’t abide giving up, even as she hears of someone whose leg was savaged by a rat without his ever being aware of it – an ever-present danger, again, from a spinal condition.
An inconceivably rare condition for a person so young, thinks Anna’s health aide, a would-be doctor herself and Syrian refugee who shares Anna’s sexual predilection but for whom the inclination makes for an even greater issue, what with her culture’s aversion to homosexuality.
All in all, a compelling read for me, Silberstein’s novel, particularly as I say with my recent health scare, even if I was left pretty much clueless by many of the software references, which will no doubt be more understandable to younger, more technologically oriented readers.

I adored this book and read it in two days. The rich character development, the moving plot, the myriad of emotions, all captured me. It had the heart and complexity of one of my favorite novels, "The Covenant of Water." I was rooting for Anna and Batul throughout the whole story. I've been thinking a lot about the ending and while I wish it was different, I understand why the author wrote it the way he did. This is a book I will be thinking about long after the last page. Well done!