The Night Travelers: Four Women, Four Different Times in History, One Journey

The Night Travelers by Armando Lucas Correa is a historical fiction which features four generations of women and three time periods as they experience love, loss and hope. The story begins in Berlin, 1931 as the rise of Nazism sweeps through Germany, Ally Keller gives birth to a mixed-race daughter, Lilith and hides her from the world. When time runs out, Ally puts together a desperate plan to save her daughter’s life. Havana, 1958, Lilith is now an adult, finds herself excited for her future with her husband, Martin. As the fires of revolution grow, Lilith finds herself facing an impossible choice, as her own mother did, in order to save her own daughter, Nadine.  Berlin, 1989 as the Berlin Wall falls, Nadine is now a dedicated scientist who has spent her life avoiding the truth about her family. When her own daughter, Luna, begins to uncover the family history, it will be Luna faced with an uncomfortable truth in their family’s past and their place in history.  

The Night Travelers is my first book by Armando Lucas Correa. I can see why he has a reputation for sweeping historical fiction with depth of the human stories we often forget. It is a story about four women, separated by time but united by sacrifice. They each embark on journeys of self-discovery which is forged by the power of a mother’s love. It is a wonderful story of the interconnectedness of history and that history is more than just dates and events. It is the individuals who lived and sacrificed during troubling times. It is also a story that details the disgusting things people have inflicted on others and if we are not careful, we will repeat the same. Overall, I enjoyed The Night Travelers. It is the type of historical fiction which leads one to further research events in more depth than what is highlighted in the story. To me, that is a feature of great historical fiction. I highly recommend The Night Travelers. 

The Night Travelers is available in hardcover

The Girl Behind the Wall: family separations and the Berlin Wall

The Girl Behind the Wall by Mandy Robotham is a story about two sisters separated by the sudden construction of the Berlin Wall. One seemingly ordinary day, Karin is rushed to a hospital due to a sudden illness. While she is recovering, overnight she becomes trapped behind the Berlin Wall in East Berlin, separated from her twin sister, Jutta and the rest of their family. For years, Karin and Jutta lead parallel lives, cut off by the Wall. As Jutta tries desperately to get Karin home, Karin finds one reason to stay. She has fallen in love with Otto, a man who has given her hope despite the brutal regime she now lives in. When Jutta finds a way in, the sisters have days together, always trying to convince Karin to come home. With each visit, their time becomes short as the Stasi has eyes everywhere. Karin is faced with a terrible decision: to flee to the West and be with her family or sacrifice it all for the love of her life? 

I was ten years old when the Berlin Wall came down in November 1989. The images of the wall collapsing are vivid in my memory. I remember seeing a slab of the wall at the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda, California shortly after and it left an impression on my young mind. When I came across The Girl Behind the Wall, I was intrigued because I haven’t seen many books about the Wall. Most books usually focus on the war efforts and ignore the aftermath. I applaud Ms. Robotham for writing about this time of upheaval. Her descriptions of the desperation and the sadness experienced by the families torn apart are heartbreaking.  The story itself is a slow build to Karin’s ultimate choice. I did expect more moments of heart stopping terror and the cruelty of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Overall, I enjoyed the story, a glimpse of life in the immediate aftermath of the Wall. I recommend The Girl Behind the Wall. 

The Girl Behind the Wall is available in hardcover, paperback, eBook, and audiobook.