West of the Wall - Marcia Preston

...and so she returns to West Berlin with her hopes shattered. It is interesting to see through Trudy's eyes the relative affluence and material wealth of America in the 1960's compared to the conditions at that time in both East and West Berlin.

Back in West Berlin and again Wolfgang Kruger comes to her aid. Well, you will have to read the rest for yourself…

Having become immersed in the harshness of daily living in East ...
...contrast of West Berlin, although the latter was by no means an affluent society. I found the chain of events leading to Trudy's move to America, and indeed while in America, somewhat unbelievable and in some ways incongruous with the rest of the story. The only thing that kept this part of the story going for me was Trudy's feeling of being an outsider, her loneliness and steely determination to undertake anything that might reunite her family. ... more

I love reading a book that makes me want to find out more about a time and a place - and this is such a book. It is a story of a city divided in two by the building of a wall that physically separates families and friends, of the suffering and despair of East Berliners under strict communist occupation and the desperate choices one woman has to make.

Set initially in the early 1960's we are introduced to Trudy and Rolf Hulst. Following the building of the Berlin Wall young Rolf becomes a political dissident running an underground organisation helping people to escape to the west. Eventually his organisation is identified and he too has to flee. Trudy is left living with her aging mother-in-law to bring up a small baby, Stefan, not knowing whether Rolf made it safely to the west.

Life is grey and harsh in Communist East Berlin and Marcia Preston effectively draws the reader into the drudgery of Trudy's daily routines. Soon Trudy learns through an old friend, Wolfgang Kruger, that, as the wife of a defector, she is in danger of being brought in for questioning by the Stasi. Faced with possible imprisonment, torture or worse Trudy reluctantly takes up an offer of help to escape to the west. Tragically she is unable to take Stefan with her - a heart-wrenching decision for any woman.

Having survived the terrifying ordeal of her escape, Trudy learns the fate of her husband and sets about trying to find a way of being reunited with both Stefan and her mother in law.

The reader is then presented with a sequence of events which somewhat tests the bounds of credibility but nevertheless still provides an enjoyable read. President J F Kennedy visits to deliver his now famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech. Believing Kennedy is committed to helping Berliners Trudy more or less throws herself at his cavalcade and is helped up off the road by a presidential aid. After hearing her story he arranges for Trudy to travel to America to publicise her plight. Of course all this is not without a price and he is exploiting Trudy for his own political ambitions and so she returns to West Berlin with her hopes shattered. It is interesting to see through Trudy's eyes the relative affluence and material wealth of America in the 1960's compared to the conditions at that time in both East and West Berlin.

Back in West Berlin and again Wolfgang Kruger comes to her aid. Well, you will have to read the rest for yourself…

Having become immersed in the harshness of daily living in East Berlin in the 1960's it was interesting to see the contrast of West Berlin, although the latter was by no means an affluent society. I found the chain of events leading to Trudy's move to America, and indeed while in America, somewhat unbelievable and in some ways incongruous with the rest of the story. The only thing that kept this part of the story going for me was Trudy's feeling of being an outsider, her loneliness and steely determination to undertake anything that might reunite her family.

I must say I also found the ending slightly unsatisfactory. There were several loose ends which I would have liked to have seen tied up, although this does not prevent me from saying I would highly recommend the book.

This is certainly a book with some strong and vivid characters. There's a stark contrast between childhood friends Wolfgang Kruger and Rolf Hulst. Despite their political and ideological differences their friendship survived. Wolfgang remains to the end a dedicated friend to Rolf's family, even at the cost of his own career. His character develops well as he becomes more compassionate and considerate as he becomes increasingly disenchanted with the communist establishment. Rolf on the other hand, appears to have put his political ideals before the wellbeing and safety of his family. I got the feeling his actions were motivated by his politics rather than concern for his family and I was left thinking that he didn't love Trudy in the way she loved him.

Trudy is a wonderfully strong heroine and it was easy to sympathise with her plight when she was faced with the choice of almost certain imprisonment or fleeing to the west, particularly as this meant leaving behind her son in the care of his increasingly frail grandmother. She shows courage and determination in spades, undiminished by the passing of time and it is a steely resolve that drives her to consider any actions if it will reunite her family.

With a writing style which is both eloquent and passionate, Marcia Preston brings to life the bleakness and cheerlessness that marked the lives of ordinary people living in East Berlin at that time. It is at times a heart-wrenching story that had me rooting for Trudy right from the start and left me wanting to know more about the politics of the cold war period of which the Berlin Wall was so symbolic.

At the back of the book are a few extra pages with suggestions for reading group discussion points, a paragraph by Marcia Preston on how she came to write the book and a few questions and answers about the author. Some of the questions are a bit banal, for example do you prefer tea or coffee? Some may enjoy reading this though. This section concludes with an excerpt from the authors' debut novel The Butterfly House.

I read the paperback version which has 361 pages of reading and is published by Mira in June 2008 with a cover price of £6.99. It is currently available on Amazon for £4.24.

ISBN: 0778302040

A version of this review can also be found at thebookbag.

©perfectlypolished 2008 (aka perfectly-p) 

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