Why a Booktrail?
1943: ‘In the very darkest hour, who do you trust, who do you love, and who can be saved?’
City of Women
What you need to know before your trail
It is 1943 – the height of the Second World War. With the men taken by the army, Berlin has become a city of women. And while her husband fights on the Eastern Front, Sigrid Schröder is, for all intents and purposes, the model soldier’s wife: she goes to work every day, does as much with her rations as she can, and dutifully cares for her meddling mother-in-law. But behind this façade is an entirely different Sigrid, a woman who dreams of her former Jewish lover, who is now lost in the chaos of the war. Sigrid’s tedious existence is turned upside-down when she finds herself hiding a mother and her two young daughters: could they be her lover’s family? Now she must make terrifying choices that could cost her everything.
Locations
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Berlin
The Berlin in this story is a bleak and dark, dangerous city where austerity roams the streets along with fear. You can;t trust anyone and not even those you have known for years. Friends and neighbours become potential enemies. Can you imagine what it would have been like living through such horror?
This is a city of women with the men out to war. Sigrid Schroder, is one of these women and works as a stenographer for the Reichspatentamt, the Patent Office. The stresses of having her husband away, trying to adapt to an increasingly hostile city is something she must face everyday. There are rules never to be broken such as an officer’s wife must never have an affair. And certainly not with a jew.
Ericha is another woman leading a double life although in very different ways. She is a member of underground organization providing safe houses for Jews and helping them to escape. Every day she runs the risk of discovery and those she is helping would certainly face instant death.
Borders and rules are not only rewritten but erased. The research in this novel is impressive and the author builds a dark, realistic and horrifying picture of choice where there is no choice left.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: City of Women
Destination: Berlin Author/Guide: David Gillham Departure Time: 1932
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