Fiction set in pre 1989 Berlin?

56 replies

EnglishGirlApproximately · 25/05/2026 21:11

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!

OP posts:

elkiedee · 04/06/2026 05:17

Guineapigs4ever · 26/05/2026 09:40

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

I loved this one - it's about the history of a house through 20th century change in Germany - I should have reviewed it but never got round to it.

TeaAndStrumpets · 04/06/2026 07:39

elkiedee · 04/06/2026 05:16

I like the Bernie Gunther novels too, although they are set between the 1930s - the Nazi era, wartime and after, and Bernie gets involved in early Nazi hunting days. He's a cynical PI, and Philip Kerr obviously had a lot of fun pastiching Marlow. If you don't find Marlow pastiche funny it could be grating. There are 14 books in the series and if you use Kindle you can probably get bargains, more easily. Books 1-3 in the series are most easily available as a trilogy, in paperback or Kindle.

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Sadly Philip Kerr died in his early 60s a few years ago, but Jane Thynne obviously shared her husband's interest, and has written a number of books of her own, including 3 series of books

The first is the Clara Thynne books, featuring a young woman who is half German, half English, was brought up in England and has now come to Berlin.

The second features a woman in London being recruited as some kind of agent, and returning to places she knew before like Vienna and Paris.

Then there are two books set in alternate reality British Reich, written under another name - C J Carey I think - #1 is Widowland

And a recent standalone set in the 30s. She has also written a handful of other books before she joined Kerr in writing about this stuff. I wonder if they fought over reference books!

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Thanks, that is really interesting to know.

FlippantlyShe · 04/06/2026 08:54

elkiedee · 04/06/2026 01:40

Brigitte Reimann, Siblings is good but it's set in 1961. If you're looking for something closer to 1989, perhaps Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos

I love JE. Kairos is very good.

elkiedee · 04/06/2026 10:48

CrossPurposes · 26/05/2026 23:29

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

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I've also been searching for this for ages. Have the DVD but nothing to play it on, Was recommended for DS2's history school trip to Berlin in y10 (2024) but I've wanted to watch it almost since it first came out. Yes, have looked it up on Amazon Prime to check. So thank you.

MrsSchadenfreude · 09/06/2026 20:41

Zoo Station by Christiane F. The first book I read in German. It’s gritty, not a cheerful read.

Also second Deutschland 1983. Very evocative of the 80s and the Cold War. I was living in Warsaw then, and this took me right back.

Benvenuto · 09/06/2026 21:09

Hans Fallada - Alone in Berlin is set during World War II. Despite being written just after the War, it was translated into English fairly recently to some acclaim. (I’m reading the German version but haven’t got far enough with it to review it).

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