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Berlin, 1937. The city radiates glamour and ambition but danger lurks in every shadow…
The Winter Garden
What you need to know before your trail
Berlin of the 1930 was the epitome of glamour for some but danger for many others. Anna Hansen, is due to be married and so is attending one of Hitler’s notorious Nazi Bride Schools, where young women are schooled on the art of being an SS officer’s wife.
Tragedy strikes one night when she is murdered. Her death is quickly hushed up and forgotten but what happened to her and why? Clare Vine wants to find out – an actress by day and a undercover spy by night, she soon discovers that this investigation is going to reveal a lot more than anyone could have imagined. And that a deeper secret is about to burst everything wide open…
Travel Guide
Germany of the 1930s was obviously a very dark and dangerous time in Germany and this book highlights the horrors of that time. We never knew there were bride schools for example and the struggles of women to retain even a small piece of independence and integrity is hard to imagine now.
The world of glamour however was never far away and the world of the Ufa school where Clara is an actress is a world which was fascinating to discover. “That bright Thursday morning Goebbels was posing by the monumental gates of the Ufa film studios for a newspaper feature in honour of his fortieth birthday.”
The scene moves to the British Royal family – and the time of when the royals were in a state of flux – Edward VIII has just abdicated and he and his wife Wallis are set to arrive in Berlin. The Mitford Sisters are also there and it is striking to realise just how Hitler must have tried to attract the British upper classes and stars of their time.
Figures from history such as Hitler, Goebbels and his wife Magda come to life and it is quite the experience to live through such a time via a book. Pre- war Berlin may be examined in history books but not like this – not so you feel the breath on the back of your neck
The time spent with the Nazi elite is chilling – the trip to the hunting lodge Carinall owned by Goering is something that we will never forget. Such frivolity and pleasure against a backdrop of war and growing unease and destruction across Europe. Planning for war, bombings in Spain, German trickery and British suspicion all come together.
Booktrailer Review
Susan thebooktrailer
The Winter Garden is the sequel to the very successful and very enjoyable Black Roses. Don’t know what it is about books set during this period of history but when it’s seen through the eyes of regular, everyday people, actresses, women in general then it becomes all the more fascinating.
I knew little of the German film industry and was completely enthralled by the Ufa and the Babelsberg studios. Clara who we met in book one is again a great character and seeing these events through her eyes was a unique experience for I really got to know her in book one and she was equally as enthralling here.
A woman working in the German film industry whilst acting as a spy and having regular contact with Hitler, Goebbels and other high ranking German Officers is a fascinating premise that I for one am quite addicted to.
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