This book will stay with me for a long time. I have read a lot of World War Two historical fiction but this was from a perspective I have never read before. Honestly I never really thought about what life was like in Germany for those who were “rescued” by the soviets. I loved the dual storyline which gave not only the immediate impact but how that affected generations after too. This is a harrowing story and it brings up so many emotions. I was born the year before the Berlin Wall fell and it always astounds me that this lasted into my lifetime. I’ve also been to see the wall myself which added a lot more context to this story. I will be encouraging everyone to read this and thank you to the author for sharing this story with the world.

It’s such a wonderful book. Fresh, clever, thoughtful and moving all at the same time. Vivid characters and a wonderful turn of phrase give it real life. I loved it.

This is a harrowing yet hopeful novel about a mother and a daughter in Berlin, set during the Second World War and border closure in 1961. It’s great and I always found myself learning a lot about history from reading a great piece of historical fiction writing.

The book begins with how Lisette, a woman from East Berlin, is separated from her sick baby Axel who is hospitalised in West Berlin, when the border is suddenly closed overnight in 1961. Her 15-year old daughter, Elly, decides to take it upon herself to get to West Berlin to find her brother and bring him back to her parents. It’s interesting to read about the distance felt between the mother and daughter, the reason of which becomes clearer and clearer as we get to learn about Lisette’s own past during the Second World War, which is really heartbreaking to read about. I love the alternating storylines and I thought they’re written so well.

I personally think that this book is one that has a lot of ‘thinking’ - I couldn’t help but ponder on the characters’ observations and thoughts whilst feeling moved by their challenging things that happened to them.

“…Like so many, I chose to be ignorant of the events that were unfolding. I was like a small girl plugging my ears with my fingertips and singing loudly to drown out the voices of truth. I was present, yet stupidly unaware.”

“…Mozart said that music is not in the notes but in the silence in between. I think that’s where our souls are – hidden in that silence.”

This is Josie Ferguson’s debut novel and I think it’s such a strong one. I loved every bit of it.

For lovers of wartime fiction this is a must. A harrowing story of Lisette and her family in Berlin. Lisette leaves her baby son in a hospital in Berlin only to be separated when East Berlin is cut off suddenly. Her relationship with her daughter Ella is tainted by this event and Ella decides to reunite the family.
Told from the point of view of both Ella and Lisette, this book gives the reader an insight into the difficulties faced by the German people in their own county.
A wonderful debut novel and I will be looking out for more works by her.
Thanks to Netgalley.co.uk and the publishers for this ARC.

Lisette takes her sick baby to a West Berlin hospital. She goes home to wash and sleep and finds the border closed the next day. The book moves between the present and past to produce a really deep and moving book, which makes you want to explore more the lead-up to the building of the Berlin wall and the people stuck in East Germany. In places, the book is deeply moving and sad, but also gives a sense of hope. I would really recommend it.

An extremely powerful yet heartbreaking book, highly charged with every emotion you can imagine this is a book that will drag you in and you’ll be lost for hours on end. Sheer class and one that will stay with you long after the last page.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I was invested in the characters straight away, I found it a quick read as I was so keen to find out how the story panned out. Fanstastic writing style, very emotive, great female characters, a brilliant example of historical fiction.

I have not read anything by Josie Ferguson previously. The writing reminds me of the work of Mandy Robotham, which I love. I was interested to realise on completing the book, that this is based on a true story. Briefly put, a mother has a baby in a hospital on the West side of Berlin. She has to leave him in hospital and return home to the east. Overnight the Berlin wall is erected. The parents cannot reach their son but his teenage sister is determined to cross over and bring him back. The rest is the completion of the story and for you to find out. Just one give away, there are twists in the story. This will make an excellent film or TV series. I hope that it is made. An interesting and page turner of a book.

The Silence In Between is a dual timeline story. In 1961, Lisette takes her sick baby to a West Berlin hospital for treatment. She returns to her home in the East of the city to wash, change clothes and have some sleep, and the next morning she wakes to find the Wall has been erected overnight. She can’t go back for her baby. This traumatic event causes her to lose her voice - which takes her back to the war and the last time she lost her voice.

Lisette lived in Berlin with her mother, and during the last days of WW2, she experienced what many women did at the hands of the Russians. This is brutal, and explains a lot about why Lisette is the mother she is to her daughter Elly.

Elly knows that the only way to make her mother happy is to get the baby back - no matter the cost. She’s a brave, resourceful young woman, who takes death defying risks for her mother.

There’s a lot of hope in this book of survival and loss. Elly is a symbol of determination - she never gives up, and her family is at the heart of all her actions.

The two female characters, mother and daughter, are exceptional women. The history behind their lives has been well researched and is believable, and their story has stayed with me well after finishing this book.

Highly recommended.

I LOVED it! In the heart of divided Berlin, The Silence in Between, weaves a poignant narrative that spans the tumultuous 1940s and the tense 1960s. This gripping story intricately explores the lives of Lisette and her daughter, Elly, against the backdrop of war-torn Germany and the Cold War era.
Ferguson crafts a compelling story filled with well-developed characters that invite readers into a world of fear, uncertainty, and the longing for connection. Lisette's journey is one of a woman caught in the throes of circumstance, while Elly's narrative is that of a young girl searching for familial bonds in a city literally and metaphorically divided by a wall.
What sets this novel apart for me is its emotional depth. The historical context provides a fascinating setting, but it is the unyielding bond between mother and daughter that truly captivates. Ferguson skillfully balances the dark shadows of history with glimmers of hope and resilience, illustrating the enduring strength of family ties and the human spirit.
For fans of historical fiction rich with emotional complexity, The Silence in Between offers a profound reminder of the unbreakable connections that define our lives, even amidst the harshest of divides.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my review copy, all opinions are my own.

As a big fan of historical fiction, I was really excited by the premise of this book and it did not disappoint! The book breaks your heart from the opening chapter and the tension is sustained throughout. A really powerful read!

In 1961 Lisette leaves her baby in hospital overnight intending to come back the following morning. But overnight the Berlin border is closed and she is unable to cross to the west, where the hospital is. Her daughter, Elly, always knowing there was a distance between them sees her mother shut down with the loss of her son. So she makes a plan to get to the west to bring her baby brother home. The other half of the story is from World War 2 in Berlin, and how Lisette and her mother survived it and the horrendous aftermath of the Rape of Berlin, when the revenge of the Russians was taken against the civilian female population. Historical fiction using real events. This is a dual timeline story, both as powerful as each other. Very well written, hard to put down.

What a rollercoasters story and so beautifully told. It has to be a must read for everyone interested in the social history of Germany in the fourties' and sixties in the divided Berlin.

The book focuses on Lisette and her daughter Elly two very musical and talented young women. The story is told on two timelines about their life growing up in Berlin during the fourties’ and the sixties when the wall went up.
How it shaped and altered their lives, dealing with adversity and trauma and the effects of it.

I loved it.

Adored this so much. Beautifully written and brilliantly plotted. Exposed a part of history I wasn't really aware of and it's so deftly done. Highly recommended.

The Silence In Between by Josie Ferguson is an historical fiction book, about Germany in the Second World War and the time afterwards. For those living in Berlin, there is the Rape of Berlin 1945, when the Russian soldiers entered Berlin and then there is the Berlin Wall, 13th August 1961 and then finally the wall coming down, 9th November 1989.
This is a debut book by the author and it is a very powerful novel about the women in one family who lived through those hard times. In their piano playing the women have a voice and then in Lisette case, that voice is taken away literally, when she is unable to speak.
An emotive novel with strong female characters who lived through a part of history that is no more.
Highly recommended

This started off well. A woman has to leave her baby in hospital while they run some tests. she returns home, fall asleep and the Berlin border is closed while she sleeps. She is in the east, her baby in the west. I was enjoying the premise and recommended it to a fellow bookworm who happened to be traveling to Berlin.

Unfortunately, for me, the book went down hill quite rapidly. I found the writing clunky, the two time lines annoying and by the second half of the book Elly and feeling the music of other people just got on my nerves.

Not for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

A stunningly well researched, emotionally aching book, about the devastating impact of German's history; WWII, the holocaust and division of the counyry by the Berlin Wall on individuals and families lives.

The strength of the two female characters, mother and daughter, was truely inspiring.

Definitely a brilliant read for those that love recent historical writing & a string character study. A stunning debut, will read anything they write in the future.

I couldn't put this one down and read it over a weekend. Engaging Characters and writing. Recommended 5 star read.

Imagine waking up and a wall has divided your city in two. Imagine that on the other side is your child..

In post war Berlin Lisette is on one side of the wall with her husband, 15 year old daughter Elly and dementia suffering mother, on the other side is her newborn son in hospital with a heart condition

The story moves between the perspectives of Lisette and Elly, and as we go back in time we discover the reason for their strained relationship

I love historical fiction, especially WW2 but it’s been a while since I’ve read one this good! It was really interesting to hear from the point of view of the German citizens, and the repercussions felt by them at the end of the war.

Can certainly see why this has been so popular and very pleased to say that for me it lived up to the hype.

The Silence In Between by Josie Ferguson resonates through the heart and soul. I am a GenXr, I remember when the Berlin Wall came down, I remember the lessons in school about the Eastern bloc and the wall going up, but this, this is a heart-rending story of the human experience of living divided by the wall


This is a debut, but in no way shape or form would I have believed it unless I had seen it in writing. This title is gripping, heart-rending, compelling and with a narrative that will keep you hooked start to finish

Imagine being seperated from your newborn. Imagine being seperated by your home being cleaved in two due to a political regime. Imagine a no-mans land of barbed wire monitored 24/7 by armed soldiers. To try to cross means to not reach the other side alive

In a stunning narrative of two sides of a wall, two completely different worlds less than a mile apart. One standing still in time, one moving forward with the rest of Europe. Will the families ever reunite?

Absolutely brilliant

Thank you to NetGalley , Random House UK, Transworld Publishers | Doubleday and Josie Ferguson for this incredible ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own