Hauntingly beautiful depiction of what Berlin must have been like for the women left behind in war. It is a powerful as The Book Thief. Sigrid stumbles day to day to her mundane job, putting up with her less than friendly mother-in-law and going to the cinema to see her secret lover which seems to be the only release from the monotony of Berlin during World War II. Her husband is on the Eastern front and all that is left in her building is a misfit group of women and wounded men all of whom live in fear of not coming across as a good party member, finding enough food and surviving the bombings. Sigrid is very good at keeping secrets - others and her own and we see her life change drastically as she begins to trust a young woman au pair and get pulled deeper and deeper into a world of lies. She is not perfect, none of the women in the book are, and must decide whom to trust and how much truth to give up. The characters we hate we begin to understand and love while the characters we love we begin to mistrust and feel betrayed. This book will be a book club selection for years to come due to the masterful writing and depth of characters. A fantastic debut for David R. Gillham. I was lucky enough to receive an ARC copy but have already ordered a copy for the library.