Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

"City of Women" sounded interesting enough from the description on the product page, but the actually story told within the book's pages is a lot more. There is so much to Sigrid and the other women who populate these pages that this was a hard volume to put down. Honestly, minus a brief break halfway through, I read it all in one sitting because I couldn't NOT find out what was going to become of Sigrid and the other characters. As I write this, it is approximately 2.5 months until the book's release, so the product page may be updated with more info prior to that date. However, in case it is not, I will offer up a larger synopsis: The story largely takes place in both 1943 Berlin and in Sigrid's reflections on the months before her husband Kaspar was put into the Army and shipped to Russia and when she was having an affair with a Jewish man she met in a movie theater. Throughout the book Sigrid continues going to work at the patent office, flashing back to former times, and then befriending a young girl in her building named Ericha who is working through an informal underground (in that it never belies a connection to any of the named larger underground groups) that is protecting Jews and other "criminals" from deportation. Ultimately Sigrid becomes part of this group while also befriending the half-brother and half-sister of an SS soldier, entering bomb shelters during air force attacks, and facing increased scrutiny from friends and neighbors...many of whom have informed on others. The book is completely captivating during this entire journey, but in the last 100 pages or so, the larger back story that even Sigrid is unaware of behind her friends and lovers unravels. What really ended up making this a five star book for me is how real it felt. In trying times you have people who go up and down with their emotions, but you also have those who are neutralized through the trauma while also experiencing the agonies and ecstasies of life. There is a base line and while there are peaks and valleys around it, the base line is the constant. I felt like Sigrid was neutralized while also being extremely passionate, loving, and loyal even when it would seem she had every reason to be anything but. Sigrid didn't let the ups of love lead her into the downs of hate, loathing, or betrayal. A larger component of the story was also the consistent underlying journey of female friendships - old ones, new ones, and those that would never be. This backdrop of varying degrees of friendship contrasts to the messages handed out by the German propaganda machine broadcasting a woman's place as a breeder to help propagate the superior German race and create the next generation of the German army. This is the best "regular" fiction historical fiction volume I have read in a long time. Every element of a moving story was there.