Shadows of Berlin

December 1, 2021
Unlike her mother, an artist who died in a German concentration camp, Rachel Perlman managed to survive the war and is now, in 1955, settled in New York, married to a ""nice Jewish boy"" from Flatbush. Yet the ""shadows of Berlin,"" where she lived as a ""U-Boat""--a Jew hiding in plain sight in a desperate attempt to evade capture--continue to enshroud her life. Unable to reveal the depth of her survivor guilt to anyone in New York, from her psychiatrist to her in-laws, who treat her as a curious ""specimen from a blackened planet,"" Rachel struggles silently with ""the muscularity of her fear and shame."" Then her Uncle Fritz, complicit in what happened in Berlin, reveals that he has found one of Rachel's mother's paintings, and the power of that painting, as well as its subject--a woman who both saved and helped damn Rachel during the war--brings about a catharsis and a possible path to redemption. Echoes of Sophie's Choice reverberate throughout Gillham's novel, but he makes it his own with both the crisply detailed portrait of postwar New York and the compelling U-Boat story.

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Starred review from February 14, 2022
Trauma and survivor’s guilt haunt a young woman in Gillham’s stunning latest (after Annelies). Berlin-born Rachel Perlman, 29, lives in New York City in 1955 with her American husband, Aaron, having fled Europe after WWII. Gillham flashes back to the years before the war, with Rachel (born Rashka Morgenstern) living comfortably in Berlin with her widowed artist mother until the anti-Jewish laws strip them of their possessions and her mother’s livelihood. Rachel and her mother go underground and live as what are known colloquially as “U-boats,” or Jews hiding in plain sight. They’re caught in 1944, and to save themselves from being sent to a concentration camp, Rachel is pushed into helping her mother’s former muse Angelika identify other U-boats. Now, in New York, Rachel struggles to be a conventional wife, while being terrorized by nightmares and visions of her deceased mother and others. After her uncle discovers her mother’s shocking portrait of Angelika, Rachel’s painful memories of Berlin peak into overdrive. Gillham’s use of Berlin’s cafés and New York’s walk-ups, restaurants, and parks is superb, and the generous sprinkling of Yiddish in the text adds a layer of richness. While the story is a tribute to resilience and starting over, it doesn’t shy away from the hurt that adults can bring to children. This is heart-wrenching and memorable. Agent: Rebecca Gradinger, Fletcher and Co.