After her twin sister, Karin collapses and is brought to the hospital, Jutta finds herself in a difficult spot when the border between the West and East Berlin is shut down after the Soviet rule takes East Berlin. Because of this Jutta must find a way to get her sister back before things get worse. I gave The Girl Behind the Wall 3.5 stars, enjoying the
Book: The Girl Behind the Wall by Mandy Robotham
Series: Standalone
Publication Date: July 5, 2021
(Thank you NetGalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review)
**While this book has already been out I did receive it early so thank you again NetGalley!**
Tags: Adult, historical fiction, World War II, minor romance
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Thrift Books | Abe Books
Read: April 10, 2023 to April 19, 2023
A city divided.
When the Berlin Wall goes up, Karin is on the wrong side of the city. Overnight, she’s trapped under Soviet rule in unforgiving East Berlin and separated from her twin sister, Jutta.
Two sisters torn apart.
Karin and Jutta lead parallel lives for years, cut off by the Wall. But Karin finds one reason to keep going: Otto, the man who gives her hope, even amidst the brutal East German regime.
One impossible choice…
When Jutta finds a hidden way through the wall, the twins are reunited. But the Stasi have eyes everywhere, and soon Karin is faced with a terrible decision: to flee to the West and be with her sister, or sacrifice it all to follow her heart?
Spoiler Free Review
After her twin sister, Karin collapses and is brought to the hospital, Jutta finds herself in a difficult spot when the border between the West and East Berlin is shut down after the Soviet rule takes East Berlin. Because of this Jutta must find a way to get her sister back before things get worse.
I gave The Girl Behind the Wall 3.5 stars, enjoying the overall story and characters and liked that we see both sister’s points of views from both East and West Berlin. Jutta is willing to risk her life in order to get her sister back but as we bounce back and forth between both points of views, we see that life has changed so much for these twins, so much so that they almost don’t recognize each other after time has gone by. What I found interesting was how committed Jutta was in order to get her sister back while Karin’s life almost really looked up for her. As the twins are forced to separate, you see how much their life really evolved with each other in the same orbit but once East and West Berlin separated, their orbits were not longer circling the same universe. I think that it was rather heartbreaking seeing how one sister continued to stay and the other’s life began to look happier.
The one thing that I found pushed me towards a 3.5 star was the ending. I found that it began to rush a bit at the end and I felt unsatisfied with how it ended because it left me wanting more with how the sisters reunited again and what happened during their time apart. Overall, The Girl Behind the Wall was fun to read and something that you can pick up easily,
I hope you guys have a great day, please like and comment down below if you enjoyed this book as well or if you plan on reading it!
Loves,
Veronica Chen