'A wonderful rediscovery...human,suspenseful,shot through with hard-earned wisdom'- Lee ChildOne of the first bestsellers in Germany after the Second World War,Berlin Finale is a breathtaking novel of resistance set against the downfall of the Third ReichApril1945,the last days of the Nazi regime. While bombs are falling onBerlin,the Gestapo still search for traitors,resistance fighters anddeserters. People mistrust each other more than ever. In the midst ofchaos,a disparate group - a disillusioned young soldier; a tradeunionist and saboteur; a doctor helping refugees - continues to fightback. And in Oskar Klose's pub,the resistance plan their next move,hunted at every step by the SS. Published in the immediate aftermath ofthe Second World War,Berlin Finale is an unforgettable portrait of life in a city devastated by war.Translated by Shaun Whiteside
Publisher: Penguin Books LtdISBN: 9780241245590Number of pages: 672Weight: 460 gDimensions: 198 x 130 x 34 mm
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A wonderful rediscovery,like a perfectly preserved time capsule,but also a terrific novel by any standards - human,suspenseful,shot through with hard-earned wisdomCaptivating,moving,unputdownable...One of the best Berlin novels,sitting alongside Hans Fallada's Alone in BerlinAn unbelievable rediscovery,much like Hans Fallada's Alone in Berlin. . . Very few books recreate in such a way the nightmarish and intense hell that was the end of the Second World WarMagnificently vivid...Art has a habit of resurfacing,when it is worthwhileAn epic work of documentary fiction...Its driving narrative and emotional heft keep us rapt...compelling and movingHeinz Rein lived through the final fighting when Hitler,from his bunker,decreed that any German officer ordering a retreat was to be killed on the spot by his own men. Berlin Finale is of interest now chiefly as valuable testimony from one who was there. . .It has the kind of doom-laden splendour of one of John Martin's apocalyptic visionsSpellbinding...vividly conveys the devastation wrought on Berlin by Allied bombing raids and the terrible,almost sub-human existence endured by its surviving citizens
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