Berlin Duet by S W Perry
The book opens during the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 but much of the action is set in pre and post war Germany. We meet Harry Taverner as an old man whose memory is fading and who wants to pass on an important story to his daughter. As his daughter sits with him through a long night he tells story of Anna, a photographer. He is aided by copies of the photographs Anna had taken and the memories they conjure up.
He begins with Anna’s childhood and the events which led her mother to leave America with her escaping from the father who had instilled in her a love of photography. Anna is a vivid and interesting character and her story is one which engages the reader. We are inspired by her resilience and wonder at how she copes with all that life throws at her.
Anna finds herself, the child of a Jewish mother, caught up in the horrors which occurred in Vienna and Germany prior to the outbreak of war. We then follow Anna as she navigates her way through the difficulties which life throws at her aided by Harry, who works for the English “passport office”. She marries a man who becomes increasingly embroiled in the Nazi ideology and finds her it increasingly difficult to just record how others are suffering under Nazi rule.
The book is very well researched and is also a gripping read. We want to know what happens to Anna and how she negotiates the devastation which she encounters in a post war Germany where the Russian vie for power with the Allies. I have read and enjoyed other books by the author set in the Tudor period and this is an interesting departure for him.
Many thanks to the author, the publisher and Net Galley for the opportunity to read the book in return for an honest review.

For me, the book is not so much a duet as a concerto with Anna the soloist and Harry providing the essential accompaniment or taking over when she hesitates or doubts. Anna is a character who really leaps off the page. I loved her resilience and feistiness but also felt for her as she grapples with the challenges events throw at her. Harry is the epitome of a good man trying to do the right thing who comes to Anna’s rescue on more than one occasion.

The opening scene of the book in which Harry is surrounded by ghosts of the past is intensely moving. Realising that his memory is fading, he is determined to tell his daughter the story of Anna’s life and the events they witnessed together. Prompted by photographs taken by Anna, he describes how she was exposed to the magic of film through her father Rex who worked as a cameraman in Hollywood. It was he who gave her her first camera, a treasured Leica.

When her parents split up, Anna moves to Vienna with her wayward mother, Marion. Thanks to her mother she has an American passport but, less fortunately, Jewish blood. As the malign influence of Nazism spreads beyond Germany, Anna finds herself in a vulnerable position, married to a man, Ivo Wolff, who has become increasingly in thrall to Nazi ideology. Anna’s burgeoning career as a photojournalist brings her close to influential figures in the Nazi regime. However she struggles with the fact that in trying to capture truthfully the realities of war she is documenting the suffering of others, and possibly risking her photographs being used as Nazi propaganda. She finds comfort in the fact that her privileged access enables her to provide valuable intelligence to Britain. And of course there is the reassuring presence of the steadfast Harry.

But it turns out that privileged access doesn’t protect Anna from losing what is most precious to her, her two children by Ivo. And, even once the war is over, how do you find two people in a Europe that is in ruins and where hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced or disappeared?

It’s only in the final chapters that the whole picture is revealed and we learn just why it is so important to Harry to pass on the story to his daughter.

Berlin Duet is a dramatic story of wartime espionage with a moving love story at its heart.

Great story, well written and engaging story. I was engrossed all the way through. I particularly liked the interaction with the main character with his daughter during the fall of the Berlin wall.

Although the city of Berlin, with its volatile past, has already proved a rich font for post-war writers, there still seems to be space for new novels on twentieth-century German history, as Berlin Duet admirably demonstrates. It’s an epic tale, reminiscent of work by William Boyd or Sebastian Faulks, focussing on the pre-war, war-time and post-war exploits of Anna, a British/American Jewish war photographer recruited by the British Secret Service to spy on Goebbel’s inner circle.
Although perhaps a little knowing (and benefitting from authorial hindsight) in her 1930s assessment of the danger of the National Socialists, Anna is a rounded character with an in-depth backstory that extends to her eccentric parents and cruel husband. She is determined, compassionate and gifted with humour. (Her actions during a delousing at a Displaced Persons’ camp are notable for displaying these qualities.) But she is also manipulative and opportunist with an inconsistent attitude to parenting. Her personal experiences are vividly described against the backdrop of actual historic events.
The other storyteller and partner in this duet is retired British intelligence officer, Harry, who was Anna’s young, inexperienced handler during the war. His narrative opens in 1989 in Berlin, where he still lives. The night of the fall of the Wall triggers his memories and he recounts to his daughter his wartime involvement with Anna.
This is not a story with a twist – we all know how it ends on the macro level (Berlin falls, remains divided for 40 years etc etc). However, I think most readers will be unsurprised by what happens to our protagonist duo at the micro level either. But this is about the journey not the destination – a richly described voyage into the lives of ordinary people during times of great change, danger and suffering. The post-war portrayal of Berlin and its population in ruins is particularly profound.
Berlin is one of my favourite cities. I lived there briefly in the 1980s. My in-laws were stationed there in the late 1940s and my daughter lives there now. I have returned many times to soak up its cosmopolitan atmosphere, culture and language(s) and to visit countless museums dedicated to its history. I’m confident in saying Berlin Duet is authentic, meticulously researched and fluently written. I will be recommending it widely to those with an interest in twentieth-century history.
Definitely, one of my most enjoyable reads of the year so far.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.

This is a engrossing story about love, integrity and courage with characters that are beautifully written. Anna is a strong, complex, beautiful, brave woman who bears witness to the rise and fall of the third Reich through her photojournalism. Anna belongs nowhere and so can see with a clarity and perspicacity. Born in Hollywood, she has learned her silent film maker, English father's knack for bravado and sharp wits and has her American mother's chutzpah and refusal to be controlled. Harry is an amazing man and an English spy. He charms everyone and makes Anna feel safe. Ivo Wolff is Anna's handsome, Nazi husband, who asks her to pretend not to be Jewish and is father of her 2 children. Moving between 1989 Berlin and 1920s and 30s Hollywood, then Vienna and Berlin, author SW Perry's gripping and absorbing story evokes place and politics, music, sexuality, hatred and divided loyalty in a moving, sensitive way. I enjoyed the layers to this book, relishing the way Perry describes his characters as both brilliant and flawed and very human.

This a beautifully written novel about two people from totally different background, set over a few periods of history.
From 1938 to the Cold War and the falling of the Berlin Wall.
Berlin Duet is a compelling novel of love and obligation throughout some of history’s most darkest periods and some of its lighter ones.
An incredible story of resilience and determination, and the dedication of a mother’s will to do everything she can to protect and save her children.
This book is just sumptuous in its writing.
A novel that is intelligent, beautiful and has two characters that the reader can’t help but fall in love with.
I have to say I was utterly charmed by this novel. It’s truly exceptional.

This was a great story based in Berlin in the later stages og the second world War.Lots of action and the two spies were very realistic. Lots of tragedy and clearly shows the devastation that occured in Berlin itself. Unfortunately it is the innocent that suffer the most. Fascinating story.

This is such a brilliant story, I’ma huge fan of all SW Perrys books but as this was set in a totally different timeframe I was concerned it might not be as thrilling as his previous novels.

There was no need at all to be worried, it was even better in my opinion. I loved the characters I was supposed to love and understood the way the less enchanting types behaved the way they did. There’s quite a plot twist at the end which totally adds to the magic of the story. More please!!

Thank you to Netgalley the author and publishers for an arc in exchange for an honest review

A moving and dramatic story of wartime lovers and spies.

"Berlin Duet" opens in Vichy France in 1942. A couple rendezvous outside a quiet village. The man tells the woman they need to relocate her and her family to Spain before the Nazis arrive. But before they conclude their business, a car arrives and they witness a kidnapping and murder. Her children have been taken and her mother killed.

Fast forward to 1989 Berlin, and the same man, Harry, now old and clearly confused, is rescued by his daughter when he tries to visit a hotel, long demolished. She takes him back to his apartment, where he retrieves an old suitcase, and asks his daughter to sit with him, while he reveals to her, an old story.

And so the reader is drawn into a story, the life of a young girl, Anna Cantrell. Born to an English father and an American mother, she grows up surrounded by the magic of early twentieth-century Hollywood. Her father is a cameraman, and she soon learns to view the world through a lens. We learn how her mother and father came together, how they grew apart, and how Anna ended up in Vienna, Later, as she develops her love of photography, she witnesses the growth of Nazism, and is eventually drawn into the shadowy world of espionage. As we reach the events of the opening chapter, then move beyond, Anna searches for her children, while recording the lives of WW2 Berlin and its people.

Fans of SW Perry will be familiar with his historical series of "Jackdaw" mysteries, so this wartime spy thriller might come as a surprise. And it is a surprise - a good one. The story takes place against the bleak background of the years leading up to WW2, and the war itself, with vivid depictions of people making choices, and places devastated by events. The growth of Nazism and the persecution of Jews and other minorities are observed by the way those involved are changed. There's a cast of memorable characters, brave, cowardly, avaricious and opportunistic, and those simply caught up in events over which they have no control. Anna Cantrell shines, as she undergoes any number of highs and lows, but always moving forward in her life, emerging as a three-dimensional person - so much so, I had to check if she really existed. Not a lot of time is spent on the actual war years, except where they affect the characters. But Austria and Germany are vividly portrayed, as they weather the storms of the war.

This was a rewarding read, full of characters the reader will love, hate, despise and weep for in turn. The final chapters may not come as a huge revelation, but that's not important. The journey to get there is the true pleasure. In telling his story, Harry slowly reveals to his daughter, photographs and letters marking key events in his life. There's a few annoying time-jumps, and a few loose ends not resolved, but overall, Anna's story is worthy of a 1940's Noir film.

Recommended for fans of Chris Lloyd, Alex Gerlis and Rory Clements.