The Lost Girl of Berlin (Daughters of New York)

Written by Ella Carey
Review by Dorothy Schwab

Kate Mancini is the only woman in the group of war correspondents in Berlin in 1946. Wanting to tell the balanced truth in the aftermath, she is thwarted at every turn. Kate has been told that Americans want to hear their news from a man and only want to get back to “normal.” Kate gets her lucky break when she is sent to report on the trials in Nuremberg. While in Berlin, handsome reporter Rick Shearer assists her in rescuing an orphaned girl from the ruins. Carey’s character development, showing Rick’s gentle approach to the speechless, scared blue-eyed girl, will endear readers to the dashing reporter.

After ten months of traveling Europe together, Kate is conflicted. She has no room in her life for husband and family—only the goal of landing a contract with a major news agency. After returning to New York City, readers will be enthralled with their blossoming romance and the iconic sites of the city. Carey gives readers hope when Kate lands a broadcasting job at WNYR and Rick’s career takes off with his own radio show. Meanwhile, Rick’s wealthy, powerful father, Willard, his devoted but fearful wife Frances, and Kate’s starry-eyed sister, Bianca, add immersive threads of betrayal, blackmail, and bullying. Readers will remain on edge and incensed but hopeful that goodness will win overall. The fear and suspicion of Communism and McCarthyism have infiltrated American society, and no one is off limits, not even popular broadcaster Rick Shearer. Carey’s exacting research makes this novel an eye-opening history lesson, and her words evoke deep emotion in the heartwarming love story of the orphan girl who fights her way back home. In The Lost Girl of Berlin readers will be frustrated and fascinated, but in the end fulfilled.