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Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Blog Tour: You Can't Hurt Me: A Novel by Emma Cook-Women's Fiction

 

BLOG TOUR: YOU CAN'T HURT ME




Welcome to the Blog Tour for You Can't Hurt Me: A Novel by Emma Cook



BOOK SUMMARY

The Silent Patient meets Rebecca in this twisty debut about the mysterious death of a woman with congenital analgesia, a rare condition where she can't feel any pain – and an obsessive journalist who will stop at nothing to uncover her most dangerous secrets.

Meet Eva, who can’t feel pain, and Anna, who can’t escape it.

Everyone has heard about the case of Eva Reid. Ever since she was born, she’s been immune to physical pain – she can get a paper cut, break a limb, and even give birth without feeling a single thing. Her rare condition has long-captivated reporters and researchers – including Dr. Nate Reid, Eva’s husband and acclaimed scientist renowned for his work in The Pain Laboratory. Also among them is Anna Tate, a ruthless journalist with a dark past of her own.

When Eva is suddenly found dead inside her home, it raises a flurry of questions around the last night of her life – and who might’ve been involved. Anna finds herself growing increasingly obsessed with Eva’s case: her cloistered, painless existence, her promising career as a psychotherapist, and especially her toxic relationship to Dr. Reid, whom she met and married as his former patient. But what other secrets could they be hiding?

When Dr. Reid embarks on the process of writing a book about Eva, Anna makes sure she’s first in line to work on the project with him. As she slowly inserts herself into their home and seeks to uncover what’s fact and what’s fiction, shocking discoveries await her – and not everyone may come out unscathed…



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emma Cook has been an editor at the Guardian for 16 years, commissioning on Guardian Weekend, editing her own section Do Something and now assistant editor and travel editor on the Observer magazine. She has written for a range of titles including the Guardian, the Independent, the Times, the Daily Telegraph, ES Magazine, Elle and Psychologies. She is an alumna of the Faber Academy's six-month Writing A Novel course, and You Can't Hurt Me is her debut novel.





EXCERPT

7 December 2022, 7:30 p.m. 

I am a ghost in the room tonight. A shadow no one will notice, exactly as it should be. Guests arrive, flowing toward the heat and hum of the glass atrium at the back of the bookshop. Turning my back to them, I retreat farther into the deserted aisles of Anthropology, reach for a slim volume, inhale the flutter of air as my thumb zips through the pages. I wait for that aroma, dry and sweet, biscuits and sawdust to work its usual magic, a sensory hit that never fails to reassure me. Until now. Books used to be an escape. A window to another world that for a short time might alter me in some unfathomable way. But I’ve been too close to them, seen how they can taint and twist the truth. 

I slip into the atrium packed with a hundred or so more guests. It is easy enough to lose myself here, hovering at the back behind a pillar. I’ve been paid to melt away into the ether, but I doubt they’ll be looking out for me. 

So why risk coming along at all, what will it solve? His book is displayed on a table next to me in a tower of carefully spiraled spines, a DNA strand to show every angle. On top a hardback copy is perched upright, his name embossed across the front in glossy black. I imagine teasing out the bottom copy, watching them topple to the floor. The cover is luxuriant, creamy, a lily in one corner. It could be a bereavement card. 

In a way, it is. Loss in fifty shades of vanilla. In those pages resides a version of his wife, Eva, much-loved, much-missed, much-constructed, packaged up for public consumption. The other ghost in the room tonight. 

It is his back I see first as he walks through the crowd. Briefly he turns around and from my vantage point I watch him, this stranger who only three months ago I thought I knew so well. He pauses to chat to someone, draws his fingers through the back of his hair, letting his hand rest at the nape of his neck, something I know he does when he’s tired or anxious. He looks a little older this evening, a little grayer, a scattering of salt at his temples, a silvery haze of stubble at his jawbone. I see now, or is it wishful thinking, how the past few months have punished him too. He is leaner perhaps, his face more angular. His brow bones protrude a little, lending him an almost hawkish glare. 

From my vantage point, I spy an attentive young woman as she approaches him, offering up an open copy of the memoir, the shadow of a smile as they connect. Even from here I can see she is transfixed, caught up in whatever he is telling her, that way he has diverted the conversation and channeling it elsewhere. 

He pauses, bites his lip, and I see something new in his expression, a tentativeness perhaps as he excuses himself from the guest, disappears into his public persona. Slowly he climbs the spiral staircase to a gallery that circles the room and by the time he’s at the top, he has become Dr. Nate Reid, any shade of hesitation vanished. 

Priya, his editor, is already there, smiling down at the crowd. Everything about her is sharp and precise, the cut of her pale silk dress cinched at the waist, the razored line of her dark glossy bob tucked neatly behind each ear. She taps her ring against a champagne flute and the clamor subsides. 

“Hello, everyone. Thanks so much for coming tonight. I’d like to start by saying what a privilege and an honour it has been working on this book.” She turns and raises her glass to him, her hand touching his arm. 

“Nate’s instinct for storytelling is rare and inspiring. Many of us are used to hearing about Dr. Reid as a distinguished neuroscientist and TV personality, so it has been even more impressive to discover his gift for personal writing, his unflinching honesty and extraordinary ability to let the reader in.” 

As she hands it over to him, there’s a peal of applause. Unflinching honesty? Here’s to fantasy fiction. 

He clears his throat and steps toward the balcony edge. “I’d like to return Priya’s compliment and say how deeply satisfying it has been collaborating with her.” He touches her hand. “One silver lining in my journey is that it has brought me here tonight. To be here with so many friends who have given me their unstinting support. In a strange sort of way, it’s like Eva’s last gift to me. I feel very loved.” 

He falters, falls silent for a moment. 

Priya passes him a glass of water and there is a tingling anticipation as the silence stretches. 

“When I started this book, I was overwhelmed. My first thought was, why would anyone do this? Then I realized here is a golden opportunity. My chance to help others in a similar situation. There are more of us around than you’d think.” He looks down at us, as if seeking out other grief-stricken souls in the crowd. “No one can really bear the truth that every minute of our life hangs by a thread. However much we think we can script our own existence and try to ensure nothing bad can ever happen to us, it does and it will.”

His index finger silently strikes the iron balcony rail, in sync with the rhythm of his words. “To each and every one of us. Tonight, tomorrow, at some point. Of course, that’s why memoirs about grief are so popular. They’re a window to a world that one day we’ll all inhabit, if we haven’t already. It’s only a matter of time.” He grips a copy of the book, raising it up. 

“Eva was an extraordinary person, someone who radiated optimism, a hunger for life. As many of you are aware, she was best known as a sculptor, her work was widely regarded. She also made headlines around the world when I first diagnosed her with a rare medical condition, congenital analgesia, the inability to experience pain. But pain is nature’s alarm system helping to protect us, or as C.S. Lewis once put it, ‘God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world.’ The value of pain is only evident when you see its absence. Which was why Eva was the most fearless person I ever knew, but the most vulnerable too.” 

Guests lean in, heads tilt and crane. One woman tucks loose hair behind her ear in the hope of catching more. That voice. Gentle, well-spoken. Articulate and low. Gravel and smoke. He’s lectured around the world, been interviewed by the New York Times and doorstepped by the Sun. As his reputation grows, his words became quieter, loaded with a particular power. 

A waitress passes with a tray of champagne and reluctantly I shake my head. It’s been five months since I touched a drink. Five months since that night at Algos House. Now I can’t help wondering if everything would have turned out quite as it did if I’d kept a clear head the whole time. I sip on a flute of orange juice, watch as he effortlessly ramps up his performance. 

“I wanted to examine how you carry on after something like this, how to accept the horror of it. To come back home one evening and discover, in an instant, that my wife had died. How do you begin to make sense of it?” 

How indeed. 

“Death is the great leveler, even for those who appear to be invincible.” He pauses, eyes shining. “Because it shows us who we really are, and reveals how much we truly love the person we have lost. Here’s to Eva. Tonight is for you.” 

He raises his glass as a tide of rapturous applause swells. It takes a moment or two, as the clapping subsides, to identify another noise in the crowd. A shriek. Like a contagion it spreads through the room, palpable and urgent. 

“Murderer! We know what you did!” 

I swallow hard. There are ripples of movement close to the door, security staff swarm, a scuffle ensues. “Justice for my sister!” she shouts, saying something else inaudible before she is bundled outside and removed from the event, leaving the crowd murmuring in her wake. I know I should leave but I’m frozen to the spot. 

Back up at the gallery, Priya steps steadily in front of him. “Well, I guess grief affects us all in different ways,” she says. “And hopefully Nate’s book will offer comfort and understanding to anyone who’s suffered great loss. As a publisher, I couldn’t ask for more. Nate’s on his way down now to sign copies so do buy one and see what all the fuss is about.” 

He appears, unphased, unflustered, his enigmatic reserve intact. There is nothing like the fury of a scorned woman to add intrigue, allure even. Priya knows this, so does he. Scandal swirls around him, somehow raising his stock rather than dimming it. I watch as he works the room. 

“Well, that was all highly entertaining, wasn’t it?” says a woman next to me, her breath ripe with wine and crisps. “Who was she?” 

“I’m not sure,” I lie. “Eva’s sister, I guess?” 

“Ah, the disgruntled sibling desperate for the true story to be told. Delicious.” She regards me for a moment and there’s a flicker of recognition in her eyes. 

She seems familiar, but I can’t quite place her. “Maybe a bit misery memoir for my liking,” she says, her tone conspiratorial. “But a great idea. Whoever got him to do it was completely on the money. Even more so if the sister doesn’t like it. I’m Jane. Jane Burton by the way. Mail On Sunday. And you?” 

I should have known; the over-highlighted hair and green quilt jacket are a giveaway. She swooshes the bubbles around her mouth and studies me as if I’m a puzzle to be solved. There’s that familiar glint in her eyes that I have grown to recognize down the years, a precise and very familiar brand of curiosity, watching from the sidelines, prying, insinuating, picking away. It’s part of the job, until it becomes part of you. 

“So you’re covering the book,” I ask. 

“Yes, we ran first serial last Sunday. Triumph over tragedy, the usual.” She shrugs lightly. “Still, if you cry, you buy, they say.” She smiles briefly, moves in a little closer so I can see a smear of fuchsia lipstick on her front tooth. I’m repelled by something in her that feels too close to home. I shudder slightly, step away from her, but she inches closer, as if we’re both coconspirators. 

“Good-looking, isn’t he? In that rather obvious way.” She crooks her head to one side, her eyes slide over him. 

“I guess, I hadn’t really noticed.” 

“What a horrible thing to happen. I don’t think you ever get over something like that, do you?” 

“I hear he’s doing pretty well.” 

“I wonder if he wrote it all himself?” Her steady look unnerves me. “A lot of them get help these days, don’t they?” 

“I wouldn’t know. If they choose to have a ghostwriter, it’s usually kept a secret.” A flush prickles my neck and spreads upward. 

I make my excuses and head for the exit, via Memoir & Autobiography for old time’s sake. The siren-call of those glittering lives on display spilling all—fame, grief, misery and addiction. “Read all about me, me, me,” they seem to echo, screaming for attention. I walk to the end of the aisle and stop in my tracks. There he is with Priya, standing just yards away. 

Something in me deflates, and I know that it’s all over. He talks quietly, rapidly, and Priya nods in affirmation, her head dipped. 

They carry on, deep in conversation. As I walk briskly past them toward the door, he looks up and our eyes lock. Priya reaches for his arm, but he pushes her away, starts toward me as I turn to the exit. 

“Wait,” he shouts after me. But I don’t turn back. I have spent too long under his skin and now it’s time to burrow out. I won’t be another acolyte like Priya. I don’t deserve Eva’s fate. 

I take off my heels, stuff them into my bag and start to run. Away from him. Still, I hear his voice, urgent and cracked, calling my name. I turn a corner and break into a sprint, my bare soles slap the cold wet pavement. Keep going, I tell myself, my breath ragged, my lungs burning. Only two questions keep circling. 

What did you do to Eva? 

What could you do to me?


Excerpted from YOU CAN’T HURT ME by Emma Cook, Copyright © 2024 by Emma Cook. Published by Hanover Square Press, an imprint of HarperCollins.



BOOK INFORMATION

You Can't Hurt Me 

Emma Cook

ISBN: 9781335430489

Publication Date: November 5, 2024

Publisher: Hanover Square Press


Buy Links:

HarperCollins

Bookshop

Barnes & Noble

Amazon

Books-A-Million

Target


Social Links:

Author Website

Instagram

Twitter (X)


Thank you to Cheryl Lee at Harlequin for inviting me to the Blog Tour.

Sunday, November 3, 2024

Book Review: Beyond The Mountains: An Immigrant's Inspiring Journey of Healing and Learning to Dance with the Universe by Deja Vu Prem-Memoir

Hello, dear Readers,

Below is my book review of Beyond The Mountains: An Immigrant's Inspiring Journey of Healing and Learning to Dance with the Universe by Deja Vu Prem.


Title: Beyond The Mountains: An Immigrant's Inspiring Journey of Healing and Learning to Dance with the Universe. 
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Genre: Memoir
Author: Deja Vu Prem.
Publisher: Counterpoint
Publication Date: November 19, 2024
Language: English
Hardcover: 208 Pages
Meet the Author: Deja Vu Prem
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

The powerful story of how an immigrant from the Philippines overcame childhood trauma and an emotionally abusive marriage to find her voice and thrive.
As a child in a small barrio in the Philippines, Deja Vu Prem faced neglect and physical abuse. At age seventeen, desperate to escape her situation and claim a better life for herself beyond the mountains of her town, she became a mail-order bride and moved to San Francisco. But the challenges of her childhood didn’t go away—they merely evolved into the form of her emotionally abusive husband.

Cut off from her family and any kind of emotional or financial support, Prem was a prisoner in her own home, unable even to use the phone or check the mail. But she wasn’t helpless. Relying on her deep faith and the fire within that had always pushed her to achieve, Prem made the brave decision to escape her situation to provide a better life for herself and her two young children.

Recounting Prem’s harrowing yet hopeful journey, Beyond the Mountains is a stirring and moving portrait of one immigrant’s refusal to be defined as a victim and a testament to finding the strength to forgive in order to reclaim the power that lives within us all.


My Thoughts

I was so amazed by Deja Vu's story. What a complex and raw journey.

TW: This book has sexual abuse, domestic violence, abuse, trauma, and LGBTQ content.

I was most impressed by her strong desire to go beyond the borders of her country, no matter what. Her desire was so strong that there was almost no other option but to do what needed to be done to achieve it. 

To come to another country that you had never been to, with a person you barely knew, with the hope that everything would work out. I don't know of many people who are that brave. Even though her marriage was not the ideal, loving one Deja Vu hoped for, I loved how she always protected her children from her father and all the bad in the world as much as she could. Also admire her for wanting to be her true self no matter what; once she decides, her sexual preferences shouldn't be hidden from her family, daughters, or the rest of the people in her life. 

Overall, it is a raw, honest, inspirational story.


Thank you, Counterpoint and NetGalley, for the free advanced listeners copy, in exchange for an honest review. 


Wendy


Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Book Review: Girl, Uncoded: A Memoir of Passion, Betrayal, and Eventual Blessings by Brandi Dredge -Memoir

Hello, dear Readers,

Below is my book review of Girl, Uncoded: A Memoir of Passion, Betrayal, and Eventual Blessings by Brandi Dredge.


Title: Girl, Uncoded: A Memoir of Passion, Betrayal, and Eventual Blessings
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Genre: Memoir
Author: Brandi Dredge
Publisher: She Writes Press
Publication Date: October 22, 2024
Language: English
Paperback: 284 pages
Meet the Author: Brandi Dredge
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

For fans of true crime memoir comes a gripping tale of one woman’s harrowing and spiritual journey of resilience after she learns that she was a victim of a sex crime—and her husband was the culprit.

At sixteen, Caroline longed to meet the man who owned the apartment she was hanging out at with her teenage friends. The one they said was a stripper, a fact that intrigued her. From the moment she saw Gary Richard, she craved his attention—and once their eyes met, he was all she wanted.

Months later, she was dismayed to discover that she was pregnant. But she had Gary Richard, she reassured herself, and he was all she needed to be okay. A belief that didn’t change even when, holding their week-old son, she sat in court and watched him face charges for stolen property. This was her family, her life; so when Gary Richard’s lawyer suggested a ploy to show the judge he was a changed man, she agreed. At seventeen years old, she became a wife.

Over the next nine years, Caroline’s identity and dreams of a fairy-tale life became twisted by adultery, betrayal, poverty, court cases, and lies. And then, one evening, the reality of her marriage finally became clear to her after a sergeant revealed she was the victim of one of her husband’s crimes—statutory rape—and her son’s DNA was the evidence the prosecution needed to convict him.


My Thoughts

A lot of people, including myself, at some point in life, have questioned why victims of domestic violence, or any abuse for that matter, don't leave their abusers. They just have to go, they say. Unfortunately, it has been proven time and again it is not that easy, even more depending on the level of abuse that person is experiencing. I am not saying that a little bit of abuse is ok; any kind of abuse is never justifiable; however, how severe it is makes it harder to walk away from the situation. 

I genuinely believe that is the case for the person at the center of Girl, Uncoded Caroline, and Gary Richard, who ends up being her husband.

She met him when she was a minor, and he was much older than her. They married and had a child. Even before getting married, he managed to control her and every situation and decision. This went on until years later, when Caroline finally walked away from the marriage, divorced him, and he was out of their house. 

Even though, through the years, Caroline started seeing who her husband really was, all the bad things and bad situations he put her and the kids through, the times she tried to end it, the times she forgave him again and again, at first I think she did it because she really thought things could get fixed and better, but in the end, in my humble opinion, I felt more than for the sake of the marriage; she stayed because of the kids. This is one big reason why I believe victims of abuse can't just leave; when there are children involved, it makes things more complicated because of the kids. 

I can only imagine how Caroline felt when she realized who her husband really was, all that he did to her, the kids, and their marriage, and also how hard it was for her to leave that toxic, abusive, unsustainable relationship. Put herself and the kids first. We all want our lives to work out for good, to have successful marriages, and to have the most minor problems possible. Still, at the same time, all these things are part of what life is, failure, mistakes, and disappointment, and I command Caroline to be brave enough to stop the abuse. 

Thank you, She Writes Press and NetGalley, for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. 


Wendy

Book Review: The Last One At The Wedding: A Novel by Jason Rekulak- Psychological Thriller

Hello, dear Readers,

My book review of The Last One At The Wedding: A Novel by Jason Rekulak.


Title: The Last One At The Wedding: A Novel
Rating:  5/5 Stars
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Author: Jason Rekulak
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: October 8, 2024
Language: English
Hardcover: 352 pages
Meet the Author: Jason Rekulak
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

From the author of the runaway hit Hidden Pictures, comes a stunning new work of domestic suspense

“Part conspiracy thriller, part family drama, The Last One at the Wedding kept my heart racing and my mind reeling.” ―Riley Sager.

"The ultimate middle-class Dad battles the 1% for his daughter's soul in the best thriller I've read all year." ―Grady Hendrix.


Frank Szatowski is shocked when his daughter, Maggie, calls him for the first time in three years. He was convinced that their estrangement would become permanent. He’s even more surprised when she invites him to her upcoming wedding in New Hampshire. Frank is ecstatic and determined to finally make things right.

He arrives to find that the wedding is at a private estate―very secluded, very luxurious, very much out of his league. It seems that Maggie failed to mention that she’s marrying Aidan Gardner, the son of a famous tech billionaire. Feeling desperately out of place, Frank focuses on reconnecting with Maggie and getting to know her new family. But it’s difficult: Aidan is withdrawn and evasive; Maggie doesn’t seem to have time for him, and he finds that the locals are disturbingly hostile to the Gardners. Frank needs to know more about this family his daughter is marrying, but if he pushes too hard, he could lose Maggie forever.

An edge-of-your-seat thriller that delves deep into the heart of one family, 
The Last One at the Wedding is a work of brilliant suspense from a true modern master.


My Thoughts

I listened to the audiobook version of this book, and it did not influence my opinion in any way.

This is the second book I have read by this author, and although I absolutely loved Hidden Pictures, I have to admit that The Last One at the Wedding was fantastic. I listened to the audiobook version, and the narrator was also fantastic.

While Hidden Pictures was more of a paranormal/scary book, his new book was different in that sense. However, it still had suspense elements that made me a little afraid of the outcome. With unexpected twists and very complicated characters, this book is well-written and fast-paced and keeps you engaged from the beginning to the end. 

Thank you, Macmillan Audio and Netgalley, for the Advanced Free Listening Copy, in exchange for an honest review.


Wendy 


Sunday, September 22, 2024

Book Review: First in the Family: A Story of Survival, Recovery, and the American Dream by Jessica Hoppe-Memoir

Hello, dear Readers,

Below is my book review of First in the Family: A Story of Survival, Recovery, and the American Dream by Jessica Hoppe.


Title: First in the Family: A Story of Survival, Recovery, and the American Dream. 
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Genre: Memoir
Author: Jessica Hoppe
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: September 10, 2024
Language: English
Hardcover: 272 pages
Meet the Author: Jessica Hoppe
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

An unflinching and intimate memoir of recovery by Jessica Hoppe, Latinx writer, advocate, and creator of NuevaYorka.

“A powerful thunderclap of a memoir.” ―Lilliam Rivera, author of Dealing in Dreams

A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2024: Today.com,
 LupitaReads, Electric Literature, Esquire, Publishers Weekly


In this deeply moving and lyrical memoir, Hoppe shares an intimate, courageous account of what it means to truly interrupt cycles of harm. For readers of 
The Recovering by Leslie Jamison, Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley C. Ford, and Heavy by Kiese Laymon.

During the first year of quarantine, drug overdoses spiked, the highest ever recorded. And Hoppe’s cousin was one of them. “I never learned the true history of substance use disorder in my family,” Hoppe writes. “People just disappeared.” At the time of her cousin’s death, she’d been in recovery for nearly four years, but she hadn’t told anyone.

In First in the Family, Hoppe shares her journey, the first in her family to do so, and takes the reader on a remarkable investigation of her family’s history, the American Dream, and the erasure of BIPOC from recovery institutions and narratives, leaving the reader with an urgent message of hope.

My Thoughts

Another fantastic memoir.

I listened to the audiobook version of this book. It did not influence my opinion on it in any way.

The author narrating the book was on point.

It is always interesting to me to read about other people's stories on alcoholism, and how this addition affects them and the people around them. Brings a little extra joy and happiness when there is recovery involved however, at the same time, it is bittersweet because for often than not that recovery comes with a big cost, in the case of the author, suffering and dealing with trauma related to generational, racial and societal aspects that otherwise they wouldn't have to experience or they could experience their addiction and healing process in a different way. 

I always appreciate when authors present their stories in the most honest, raw, and real way, no matter how ugly, or uncomfortable these are. Vulnerability doesn't come natural for most people, in this case Jessica does a pretty good job at it. I also appreciate how the author took the time to understand and comprehend the history behind her family, the roots of her trauma, and the struggles that come with family, society and one owns bagage. 

I appreciate the author sharing her story.

Thank you, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley, for the free advanced listeners copy, in exchange for an honest review. 


Wendy

Saturday, August 24, 2024

Blog Tour: The Berlin Apartment: A Novel by Bryn Turnbull-Women's Fiction

 

BLOG TOUR: THE BERLIN APARTMENT



Welcome to the Blog Tour for The Berlin Apartment: A Novel by Bryn Turnbull



BOOK SUMMARY

“Wholly immersive and impeccably researched, Bryn Turnbull’s tale brings the time vividly to life.” —Toronto Star on The Paris Deception.


For fans of Kate Quinn and Kristin Hannah, this sweeping love story follows a young couple whose lives are irrevocably changed when they’re separated overnight by the construction of the Berlin Wall.


Berlin 1961: When Uli Neumann proposes to Lise Bauer, she has every reason to accept. He offers her love, respect, and a life beyond the strict bounds of the East German society in which she was raised — which she longs to leave more than anything. But only two short days after their engagement, Lise and Uli are torn violently apart when barbed wire is rolled across Berlin, splitting the city into two hostile halves: capitalist West Berlin, an island of Western influence isolated far beyond the iron curtain, and the socialist East, a country determined to control its citizens by any means necessary. 


Soon, Uli and his friends in West Berlin hatch a plan to get Lise and her unborn child out of East Germany, but as distance and suspicion bleed into their lives and as weeks turn to months, how long can true love survive in the divided city?



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

BRYN TURNBULL is the internationally bestselling author of The Woman Before Wallis. With a master of letters in creative writing from the University of St. Andrews, a master of professional communication from Ryerson University, and a bachelor's degree in English literature from McGill University, Bryn focuses on finding stories of women lost within the cracks of the historical record. She lives in Toronto.






EXCERPT

Chapter 4

4


13 AUGUST, 1961


Uli stared out his apartment window, his pulse beating wildly in his ears. Seven stories below, a tangle of concertina wire ran the length of Bernauer Strasse, bisecting East Berlin from West: onlookers on both sides of the wire watched, muttering, as green-uniformed Grenztruppen, separated from the East German citizenry by a line of Volkspolizei, jackhammered the cobbles to fix stakes into the ground and carted in more spools of barbed wire, rolling it out with gloved hands. 

Was it war? He studied the faces of the border guards, searching for an indication of panic, of fear, but they looked measured and resolute. Was it a planned operation, then? A provocation? 

He needed to find Lise. He pulled on a shirt and trousers and descended into the fray. 

Outside, the sound of jackhammers was a relentless snarl that drowned out the fury of Berliners on both sides of the wire, shouting their ire. In the East, a mishmash of soldiers—police officers, border guards, and members of the People’s National Army—stood with their backs to the west, shoulder to shoulder, as guards hammered stakes in place. 

“Uli!” 

He wrenched his attention away from the barbed wire to see Jurgen’s stocky, sandy-haired figure. “Have you spoken to Lise?” 

Uli shook his head: across the street, a scrum of people had formed around a nearby telephone box. “I only just came outside. I’m still trying to piece together… What’s going on?” 

“Ulbricht’s sealed the border.” 

“Sealed it?” 

“Yeah.” Jurgen bit his lip, and Uli knew that he was thinking of his family, his brother and sister-in-law and niece, living in Bernau. “People kept saying he was going to do something, but I never thought…” He trailed off. “You’ve not seen Lise?” 

“Not since Friday.” Uli searched for a higher vantage point— a bench, the bonnet of a car—and gestured for Jurgen to follow him toward a rusting Mercedes, parked on the opposite side of the road. “Have you spoken to your brother?” 

“I tried telephoning Karl, but they’ve cut the wires. I heard they’ve sealed off the U-Bahn and S-Bahn as well… I don’t think anyone can make contact.” 

Uli jumped onto the bonnet of the Mercedes. What purpose did it serve to cut the telephone lines? He gave Jurgen his hand and tugged him up on top of the car: from here, they could see past the guards and jackhammers to the bewildered East Berliners beyond. 

“Lise was out of town, wasn’t she?” Jurgen muttered. In the empty streets beyond Bernauer Strasse, Soviet tanks rolled in and out of view in the direction of Brandenburg Gate: Where was the answering military presence from the West? He turned, hoping to see British or American troops: on a far-off corner, a pair of French soldiers watched the growing crowd but made no attempt to move closer. Surely, they had to intervene? 

Uli turned back to the barbed wire and his heart lurched: there, coming down Brunnenstrasse, was Lise. He shouted her name and waved to catch her attention: she turned and lifted her arm in response. 

Uli leaped down from the car and made his way toward the wire. He muscled past men and women with Jurgen in his wake, rising onto his toes to keep Lise in his sights. 

A shout rang up behind him—“Fascists!”—and the crowd surged forward. He stumbled, and a West Berlin police officer caught him before he hit the ground. 

“Watch yourself.” 

Uli straightened. “My fiancée. She’s in the East,” he began, hearing in his voice the panic he was trying, and falling, to quell. On the opposite side of the wire, Lise was pushing forward too, her pale head visible as she tried to reason with a Grenztruppe. “I need to speak with her, if you could just let me through, she’s right there—” 

The officer’s expression was pitying and fearful in equal measure. “I have my orders. No one is to approach the barrier,” he said. Across the wire, a second Grenztruppe turned his head, listening to their conversation over his shoulder. “They’re operating within East Berlin, we have no jurisdiction to intervene—” 

“They’re tearing the city apart!” Uli shouted, his rational mind reeling against the sheer absurdity of what was in front of him. He took another step, searching for a break in the wire. “If I could just talk to her—” 

The officer’s grip on Uli’s arms was mercilessly hard. “If you want to start the next world war, keep going,” he hissed, before shoving Uli back. “There’s nothing I can do, mate. Take it up with Walter Ulbricht.” 

He stumbled into Jurgen, trembling with a rage he’d never felt: an impotence, a helplessness that he’d not experienced since he was a boy. 

“Easy…this might only be temporary,” Jurgen said, his hand steady on Uli’s shoulder. “We ought to go to Brandenburg Gate. We might learn more about what this is—there will be reporters, politicians—” 

On the other side of the wire, he watched as Lise’s attempts to reason with a border guard failed: she stepped back, looking distraught. “If Ulbricht is sealing the border, we must act now. We need to find a way to get to Lise—bring her across—” 

“I know.” 

Uli broke off midsentence, wrenching his eyes away from Lise. Jurgen stared at him resolutely, an. gave ground to Uli’s panic and helped him think beyond his own fear and anger. 

“We need to act now, but whatever we do, it can’t be here,” Jurgen continued. He was right: they couldn’t push through, not here, where there were so many people, so many sets of eyes. “We find a break in the wire—a gap…” “They can’t be everywhere all at once,” Uli said. “Further along,” Jurgen whispered back, and Uli’s heart quickened. Across the wire, Lise stared at him, and he jerked his head, knowing that Lise would understand—she nodded and melted back into the crowd. 

“C’mon,” he muttered, and Jurgen took off down the street.


Excerpt from The Berlin Apartment by Bryn Turnbull. Copyright © 2024 by Bryn Turnbull. Published by MIRA.


BOOK INFORMATION

THE BERLIN APARTMENT: A NOVEL

Author: Bryn Turnbull

Publication Date: August 27, 2024

Publisher: MIRA

$18.99 USD | $23.99 CAD


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Thank you to Cheryl Lee at Harlequin for inviting me to the Blog Tour.