Fiction set in pre 1989 Berlin?

[EnglishGirlApproximately]

Currently enjoying a city break in Berlin and finding the reminders of life divided by the wall endlessly fascinating. Can anyone recommend a novel.set during this time? Ideally based on normal people, every day life - nothing too schmaltzy but not too serious either. Happy for it to be a thriller or at a push a romance as long as it's well written. Thanks!

Stasiland by Anna Funder is good.

Die neuen Leiden des jungen Werther is set during that era & is about youth in the DDR.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Sorrows_of_Young_W.

https://lithub.com/reading-beyond-the-wall-7-acclaimed-books-about-and-from-east-germany/

There are some great films such as Goodbye Lenin, Barbara, The Lives of Others.

I would also recommend Deutschland ‘83.

Confession with blue horses by Sophie hardach is a book of before and after 1989 - the main character visits Berlin and is trying to unravel what happened when she was a young child when her family tried to defect

What a great thread @EnglishGirlApproximately. Thanks for starting it.

Another vote for Stasiland - a really memorable read.

I enjoyed the David Young series of novels which were set in cold war East Germany.

Yes I was coming on to recommend this. It's a great read. Berlin serves as a backdrop and it's more about the characters than political. I thought it gave great insight into what life was like in the 80s, it's mostly set in the West. Until I read it I never thought of how restricted life was in the west too, this tiny island within East Germany. People may have been at liberty to leave but most couldn't afford it.

Gosh thanks all, some brilliant recommendations to keep me busy. Berlin is getting under my skin a little bit and we're already planning a return visit.

The Silence Inbetween by Josie Ferguson. The same family and two threads, the aftermath of World War 2, when the Russians entered the city and 1961 when the Berlin Wall was erected.
A Woman in Berlin mentioned up thread is listed as source material as is the BBC podcast Tunnel 29, which is worth a listen.

Another vote here for The Short End of the Sonnenallee by Thomas Brussig. Set in the early 80s in East Berlin.

Further back if you want to read some books set in prewar Nazi Germany then read Irmgard Keun. Her books are short but capture 1930s Germany so vividly. The Artificial Silk Girl is partly set in Berlin but After Midnight or A Child of All Nations are probably her best novels.

Bit different but the graphic novel Madgermanes by Birgit Weyhe about Mozambican workers in East Germany who went there in the 1970s.

Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck. Another East Berlin novel about an age gap relationship.

Not as far as I'm aware. It has a number of characters who jump the Wall, for different reasons. I'm not very helpful here as I haven't read it yet, but here are some more helpful links!

Here's the blurb: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/57480/the-wall-jumper-by-schneider-peter/9780141187983

Here's a piece by Ian McEwan on the book: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/oct/22/featuresreviews.guardianreview31

This thread has reminded me that I'd really like to read it. And it is a short novel.

The House by the Lake by Thomas Harding is fascinating/riveting

No one has mentioned Philip Kerr's 'Bernie Gunter' series of crime novels yet. The earliest are the best. Quite dark but very readable, and interesting on the early years of National Socialism.

Berlin Noir series by Philip Kerr. Ex policeman turned detective in 30s Berlin through the war and after.

Sorry- x posted.

The fanclub spotted this simultaneously.... love it!

I second recommendations for films Lives of Others and Barbara.
There is another excellent one called The Legend of Rita which is about a revolutionary group like Baader Meinhof in Paris. A cop is killed and they are given sanctuary in East Germany.

Also second the film The Lives of Others.

For books, there is Ian McEwan's The Innocent, which is set in 1950s postwar and early Cold War Berlin.

Brilliant thanks everyone, I think I've read the Douglas Kennedy but all other suggestions are new to me. I've been in a bit of a reading slump lately finding most books disappointing so hopefully these will help

Good Bye Lenin! is streaming on Prime at the moment.

My husband is a Berlin wall obsessive and also recommends "They Divided the Sky" by Christa Wolf. Also got some good tips from here for presents!!

The latest Mick Herron book is mostly set in 1994 Berlin. The Secret Hours I think. It is connected to the Slough House series but can be read as a standalone. Really gripping.

Edit sorry a bit later than you asked for but very atmospheric.

And 89!