Told in dual timelines this is a story about a complicated group of friends studying and an infamous art school.
In reading you learn more about Bauhaus and life in 1920's, post war Germany. The group dynamic was pretty interesting and i liked many of the characters. However i was left feeling a little bereft once i finished the novel, i just wanted more from it.

The writing though is really what makes this story, its suspenseful and beautifully evocative and should be applauded.

A slowly-creeping, softly-building story about guilt, art and obsession. I loved Naomi's writing and was swept up in the story of the Bauhaus babies and the glittering world they inhabit as it's gradually decayed. The Hiding Game is a wonderful mixture of the world-changing historical and the tiny, every-day personal. Highly recommended.

I thought this was going to be a psychological thriller based on some historical events around the Bauhaus art school which was based in cities in the east Germany in the 20s and 30s. I found it not so interesting as it was basically an introspective by Paul Beckermann, one of a group of six students who meet in their first year of study at Bauhaus. The group are two girls, Irmi and Charlotte and four boys Paul, Walter, Jeno and Kaspar. Initially Paul and Charlotte are an item as are Walter and Jeno but that latter relationship is more circumspect as this is not an age of enlightenment about same sex relationships. But then things take a turn as the relationships change and the rest of the books is full of the angst that this creates for decades to come. It is mostly looking back to their time at the Bauhaus, both as students and later as staff, but then jumps to more recent times when Paul is in England having escaped there from the Nazi uprising.

The writing is good but I just found the storyline quite dull. There were a lot of extreme emotions being portrayed for events that didn’t seem to warrant it.

I did enjoy learning at little more about the Bauhaus but am no more a fan of their style than I was before reading this book.

With thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I hugely enjoyed this book. Beautifully written, it tells the story of six friends who meet at the Bauhaus in 1920's Germany. It is impossible not to be completely caught up in their stories, which are obviously inextricably linked with the political turmoil of the 1930's. I knew very little about the Bauhaus, but this wonderful book made me want to find out more. Even without that interest this is a very moving story of very real, flawed people, which will remain in my memory for a long time. I thoroughly recommend it.

The Hiding Game is a novel about a group of friends and their rivalries in a dangerous time. Paul Beckermann starts at the Bauhaus art school in Germany in 1922 and finds himself amidst a new way of thinking about creating art, with Kandinsky and Klee as the stars they all dream of reaching. He forms a group of friends and seems to be falling into something with Charlotte, a woman from Prague. However, their group has divided loyalties and love and obsession will divide them as the Bauhaus moves location and the political situation becomes dangerous. As Paul looks back at this time, now much older and in England, he must confess the truth of what ultimately happened to their group.

The reader is drawn into the world of the Bauhaus and the combination of fictional friends and real life historical figures, with the narrative moving between their original time together and Paul's viewpoint and recollection much later on. He is the somewhat unreliable narrator finally telling the truth, but not wanting to reveal it too early. The characters are interesting, the kind of flawed, sometimes unlikeable people that work well in this kind of novel about obsession (both of people and art) and the cracks that form in intense friendship groups (though, despite comparisons, they don't reach the level of compelling that the group in The Secret History do).

The novel is a blend of the 'group of friends intensely studying something in a specific way and having a lot of drama' kind of narrative and a historical book that looks at the consequences of personal actions and decisions in the face of larger political danger. Without much knowledge of the artistic history or real life figures in the book, it was a good read though without a completely immersive spark.

The description of The Hiding Game as ‘The Secret History meets the world of the Bauhaus’ drew my attention immediately. It’s accurate too: Naomi Wood has created a group of friends with complicated relationships and desires. The atmosphere within the group is a little claustrophobic, and even the narrator Paul can’t explain it all. The story is set in and around the Bauhaus art school at its different locations in Weimar, Dessau and Berlin. I loved the way the fictional students interacted with real artists such as Klee and Kandinsky. It has definitely left me wanting to learn more about the movement and that era. The reasons for the school’s moves give a glimpse of events in pre-war Germany. It’s unsettling and provides a real undercurrent of tension to what happens to Paul and his friends. I mean it as a compliment when I say the book was too short: events were explained and resolved but I could have lived with the characters for longer.

I started reading this book as soon as I was approved as I loved her previous novel Mrs Hemingway. And I'm happy to say I also enjoyed this a lot.
This is an emotional historical fiction set in the Bauhaus school of Art around the time of Hitler’s rise to power, The group dynamics here remind The Secret History, if you were keen on that book. The school becomes a target as it's a liberal institution. The decision of escaping or staying together knocks at the door with its cruelty.
I loved this book as I love books about art and it really peaks through the pages a lot. Also, the humanity of the difficult situation; betrayals, decisions, dilemmas, love, and many more emotions are portrayed by Woods very successfully.

I'd recommend this book to historical fiction lovers.
Thanks a lot to Netgalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Naomi Woods’ last book, Mrs Hemingway, and here again she has crafted a beautiful and haunting historical novel, tinged with regret and longing. Set in the Bauhaus school of Art in the lead up to Hitler’s rise to power, the early parts of the story show Paul and his friends exploring their artistic futures, learning from the Bauhaus masters, and falling in love. There are echoes of the Secret History in the group dynamic, and as hearts are bruised and broken, the world outside the Bauhaus comes pouring in with the threat of Nazism. The Bauhaus school, with its liberal ethos and foreign students, is a target for the Nazis, and Paul and his friends find themselves torn between escape and staying together. The world of art looms large throughout the novel, and the jealousies, betrayals and broken promises are framed by the work the characters produce.

Bauhaus art school, the dying days of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Nazism... and six friends tangled in a morass of love, art, passion and jealousy.

I suspect this is one of those books where the less we know about art and the dark history of 1930s Germany, the more we might like this. Wood chooses to tell us the fate of one of the characters from the start so that it hangs over the flash-back narrative but, really, it's hardly surprising given the time and place.

I really liked the first half of the book and the gradual drip-feed of information about the relationships between the six friends. But the second half feels like it lost its way: some of the characters drop by the wayside, and the emotional level gets very fevered.

This works nicely as a superior summer beach read: 3.5 stars.

I knew I wanted to read this book as soon as I read comparisons with The Secret History and I wasn't disappointed.

I liked that this book was set in Bauhaus and used real people to augment the story. Recommended

This is a fascinating portrayal of a particular place and time and I learnt a lot about the Bauhaus movement from both the story and online research as the various people, settings and works of art inspired me to look them up along the way.
The tale is narrated backwards but the ending still comes as a tragic surprise, a reminder that all is not necessarily as it seems, especially in a time of war. I warmed least to Paul, the protagonist, but found a lot to empathise with in his quest for belonging which leads him to lose any chance of belonging - in either Weimar, Dressau or Berlin,
This is a beautifully-written and elegiac story and as someone who just feels very little connection to the visual arts (as opposed to the written word) I think it's impressive how much it moved me.

"The Hiding Game" is not only compelling fiction but also extremely informative, with historical detail about the Bauhaus movement and the frightening rise of right wing extremism in the 1920s and 30s.

I was a bit taken aback when I read the first pages. These tell the reader quite a lot about the ultimate fate of some of the key characters, and I feared that it might spoil the plot. I wouldn't say that it added to the novel for me, but it did give me a certain perspective on the twists and turns of the plot. But what interested me more than the fiction itself was the history of the Weimar Republic and of the Bauhaus Movement both of which I plan to investigate further.

This is one that I shall re-read!

With thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me a copy of the book in exchange for this honest review.

Set mostly in pre-war Germany, this historical novel, is set at the famous, Bauhaus art school. As such, it has appeal in terms of both the setting and the story. It begins with six friends, together in the golden years, at the beginning of the Bauhaus movement; starting in 1922 and winding through the pre-war years and, indeed, into the present.

The story is told mainly from the point of view of Paul Beckermann, who moved to London. The news that one of their group had died, leads him to think back and remember his youth, his love of the beautiful, unconventional, Charlotte, and recall his regrets.

This is a novel about friendship, love, betrayal, secrets and the shadow of history. For the excess of the Weimar Republic gives way to the rising National Socialist Party and a new, political regime. I really enjoyed the historical background, the writing was excellent and this would be a good choice for book groups, with lots to discuss. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

This is an exhilarating story, which mirrors the nature of the setting. Simply stunning, a fantastic thrilling read! This is a must read!

Tangled loves in dark times

This is the story of six friends who studied together at the famous Weimar art school, where the art teachers included Vassily Kandinski and Paul Klee. As an old man in austerity-hit post-WWII England, Weimar alumni Paul Beckermann reflects on his time there with his friends. Even if you've never heard of the art school, the friends' entanglements should hold your interest.

At the start, Paul is linked with the beautiful Charlotte, Walter with Jeno (short for Eugene) and Kaspar with Irmi. This changes when Paul jealously thinks he sees Charlotte coming out of Walter's room. The book charts their changing lives and entanglements in the turbulent inter-war era and into the second world war. A beautifully-written story of decisions made (sometimes selfishly, sometimes generously) in troubled times. My favourite book of the year so far.