City of Women

by David R. Gillham Narrated by Suzanne Bertish

Overview

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND ONE OF*KIRKUS REVIEWS'*BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

It is 1943-the height of the Second World War. With the men away at the front, Berlin has become a city of women.

On the surface, Sigrid Schröder is the model German soldier's wife: She goes to work every day, does as much with her rations as she can, and dutifully cares for her meddling mother-in-law, all the while ignoring the horrific immoralities of the regime.

But behind this façade is an entirely different Sigrid, a woman of passion who dreams of her former Jewish lover, now lost in the chaos of the war. But Sigrid is not the only one with secrets-she soon finds herself caught between what is right and what is wrong, and what falls somewhere in the shadows between the two . . .

READERS GUIDE INSIDE

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

In this stunning debut about the battle between good and evil, Gillham puts a fresh spin on the horrors of WWII by focusing on civilian German women to reveal that, amid the many adherents of the party line there were a handful of unsung heroes. We first meet Sigrid Schröder in 1943. She is an unassuming stenographer stuck in a loveless marriage and living in Berlin with her sour, difficult mother-in-law. But her life is not as common as it seems, for she has a lover, a Jewish lover, and if that were not risky enough, Sigrid becomes entangled with a neighbor who is helping to shelter Jews. As the war progresses, and Sigrid’s husband is sent to the Russian front, she’s drawn deeper into a world where trust is a hard-won commodity. The line between what is “right” and “wrong” becomes harder to define as Sigrid, confronted with increasingly more horrifying realities, finds her resolve constantly tested. Gillham’s transcendent prose (“Looking into her eyes is like staring thorough the windows of a bombed-out building”; “The words both murdered her and made her whole”), powerfully drawn characters, and the multilayered dilemmas make his first literary effort a powerful revelation. Agent: Rebecca Gradinger, Fletcher & Company. (Aug.)

From the Publisher

As impossible to put down as it is to forget.

--Kirkus Reviews (starred review

[A] stunning debut . . . Transcendent prose.

--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Library Journal - Audio

Acclaimed author Gillham's latest novel is set in Germany during World War II. Thrust into Berlin in the midst of a war-torn economy, listeners are introduced to Sigrid Schroder, the wife of a German soldier. Trapped in a loveless marriage and living with her unappeasable mother-in-law, Sigrid moves about her daily routine of work and attending the cinema to avoid being home. She is drawn into the Resistance effort when a former lover comes back into her life. Filled with intrigue, romance, passion, drama, and suspense, the story will have listeners riveted from minute one. Suzanne Bertish, a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and a Broadway actress, does an excellent job of bringing the various characters to life. The narration is smooth and easily understandable despite Bertish's employing a German accent to add authenticity. VERDICT Fans of war dramas will enjoy this title. ["This is an exemplary model of historical fiction generously laced with romance, suspense, and exciting plot twists," read the review of the Putnam hc, LJ Xpress Reviews, 7/12.—Ed.]—Stephanie Charlefour, Garden City P.L., Canton, MI

SEPTEMBER 2012 - AudioFile

Sometimes it seems as if novels about WWII are a dime a dozen. David Gillham’s CITY OF WOMEN, narrated by Suzanne Bertish, manages to find a fresh angle on the much told story. Set in Berlin, a city that by 1943 was nearly devoid of men, the novel focuses on Frau Sigrid Schroder. Sigrid, whose husband is fighting on the Eastern Front, finds she can no longer live only as the good soldier’s wife and instead finds herself hiding Jews, even, perhaps, the family of her former lover. Bertish narrates ably, making Sigrid come alive to the point that her large character arc seems quite believable while still differentiating well between minor characters. J.L.K. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

In his debut about 1943 Berlin, Gillham uses elements common to the many previous movies and books about World War II—from vicious Nazis to black marketeers to Jewish children hiding in attics to beautiful blond German women hiding their sexuality inside drab coats—yet manages to make the story fresh. The blond beauty is Sigrid, a stenographer living alone with her unpleasant mother-in-law while her husband, Kaspar, serves on the eastern front. Sigrid's Berlin is a grim city full of suspicious, fearful citizens barely coping with shortages and almost nightly air raids, people not above turning each other over to the Gestapo for unpatriotic behavior. But Sigrid is mostly consumed in pining not for Kaspar but for Egon, the Jewish black markeeter with whom she carried on a passionate affair before he went into hiding. At first, Sigrid resists when Ericha, a rebellious teenager living in her building, involves her in an underground network hiding Jews, but iconoclast Sigrid soon finds that her experience as Egon's occasional "bagman" serves her well as she delivers supplies and humans to a safe house. At the same time, she befriends new neighbors, two sisters and their wounded-officer brother, Wolfram, whose impeccable German credentials are not what they seem. Sigrid finds herself wondering if a particular Jewish woman with two daughters in hiding might be Egon's wife. But when Egon reappears in her life, she doesn't bring up her suspicions. Instead she hides him in her neighbors' apartment, an awkward situation given that she has recently begun what she considers a purely sexual affair with Wolfram. The wounded and embittered Kaspar's return only complicates the situation. With her underground activities as intricate as her love life, Sigrid can trust no one, yet must trust a dangerously wider circle of acquaintances until the hold-your-breath suspense ending. World War II Germany may be familiar ground, but Gillham's novel—vividly cinematic yet subtle and full of moral ambiguity, not to mention riveting characters—is as impossible to put down as it is to forget.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169119916
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	08/07/2012
Edition description:	Unabridged

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