The Silence In Between
This story is set in Berlin in the tumultuous German middle-third of the century. Lisette lives with her husband, 15-year-old daughter Elly and baby son Axel, in gloomy east Berlin. Axel is kept overnight in a hospital in the western sector of the city to investigate a puzzling medical condition, when the border is sealed overnight without warning and Axel is stranded on the other side; all movement between the areas are stopped by the communist GDR state. The family is fractured, and Elly takes it upon herself to find a solution. The story of how and why Lisette seems to be estranged from her daughter Elly becomes gradually clear as the story progresses – as can be anticipated, it is a bleak tale of human suffering and horror. There is a thread of psychological disturbance in the family, certainly exacerbated, if not caused, by the trauma of the German people in the years from 1938 to 1961, which are covered in the story.
While the historical context is mostly sound and the writer’s research is competent, there are a few issues. It is unlikely that an adult leisure shoe would be termed a trainer in 1961 (the OED’s first reference for use was in 1968), and would a conventional middle-aged German mother say “OK” in 1940s Berlin? There are lots of cliches, and it is odd even though music plays a central and influencing role in the lives of Lisette and Elly, the sense of the writing and narrative credibility can be a little curiously off-key and tone deaf at times. The writing is capable and the plot absorbing, but this is just a good and not outstanding work of fiction.
