City of Women

It is 1943 - the height of the Second World War. With the men away at the front, Berlin has become a city of women. On the surface, Sigrid Schröder is the model German soldier's wife: she goes to work every day, does as much with her rations as she can, and dutifully cares for her meddling mother-in-law, all the while ignoring the horrific immoralities of the regime. But behind this façade is an entirely different Sigrid, a woman of passion who dreams of her former Jewish lover, now lost in the chaos of the war. And Sigrid is not the only one with secrets - she soon finds herself caught between what is right and what is wrong, and what falls somewhere in the shadows between the two ... "Gillham's Berlin is a terrified city, where nobody dare speak the truth and the smallest decision can cost you your life. A terrifically tense first novel." The Times "David Gillham's excellent new novel, City of Women, is built on one of the most extraordinary and faithful recreations of a time in history - Berlin in World War II - that I've ever read." Alan Furst