The Wall Between Us
This novel begins with the sudden, shocking building of the Berlin Wall in 1961, an event that brings danger and terror for many, including the two best friends whose relationship is at the core of the book. Anja and Monika wake up one morning to find their street, and therefore their friendship, cruelly divided by barbed wire and soldiers with machine guns. The story is of their struggle to remain in contact, and the damage the Wall brings to so many lives.
Cousins Anja and Monika spend all their time together, and share their beloved cat, Otto. Living on opposite sides of their street, their lives and the lives of their families are intertwined. But the building of an impassable concrete wall down the middle of the road devastates their lives. Anja, on the Western side, is angry and frustrated; Monika in the East is terrified of the spies who haunt this new life. No-one can be trusted, and the Stasi, the secret police, are everywhere. When Anja realises her cat has discovered a way to cross the barrier, she resolves to follow him, to meet up with Monika again, and together organise an escape to the West. Plans are made, but the Stasi are on their trail. A complex web of consequence and betrayal calls into question both loyalty and morality, and leaves the girls divided once again.
This is a compulsive, nuanced and relevant tale, about an important period of recent European history. The girls are believable yet caught up in events they cannot comprehend. Anja’s diary is full of the kind of formatting and punctuation – ‘VERY SCARY!’ – any 12-year-old would recognise, but the situations are far more serious than most will ever have to cope with. An involving and informative historical novel for 10 – 12-year-olds. Recommended.
