My version: Paperback
Genre: Historical Fiction, East Germany
Publisher: Twenty7
First published: 2015
ISBN: 978-1-78577-006-7
Pages: 400
Bought
From the cover:
East Berlin, 1975.
A teenage girl’s body at the foot of the Wall. The Stasi say she was shot while escaping – but from the West.
Oberleutenant Karin Muller, in the People’s Police, suspects otherwise.
But in East Germany, there is nothing more dangerous than asking questions…
Especially when the answers lead very close to home…
A strange one really. I felt cold all the way through reading it, not sure why. There was a certain detachment from the main character and I never really felt like I got to know her. I’ve not read much about life in East Germany nor the East of Berlin during this period, so I can’t say if it is historically sound or not. However, from what little I do know, the atmosphere and the ruthlessness of the system and the people intent on making sure it continues to protect them, is very well done. The moving back and forth in the time line – especially as the flashback/background story gets closer to the ‘now’ – was a little hard to get to grips with, but shouldn’t be a deal-breaker for reading further stories – as I can see there are – about Karin Müller. Especially as I’ve found where the ü key on my keyboard is.
You can buy Stasi Child from The Book Depository
Berlin Wall photo by Alessandro Bellone on Unsplash
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