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Alone in Berlin

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Alone in Berlin

By: Hans Fallada, Michael Hofmann - translator
Narrated by: John Telfer
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Berlin, 1940. The city is paralysed by fear. But one man refuses to be scared. Otto, an ordinary German living in a shabby apartment block, tries to stay out of trouble under Nazi rule. But when he discovers his only son has been killed fighting at the front he's shocked into an extraordinary act of resistance and starts to drop anonymous postcards attacking Hitler across the city. If caught, he will be executed.

Soon this silent campaign comes to the attention of ambitious Gestapo inspector Escherich, and a murderous game of cat-and-mouse begins. Whoever loses, pays with their life.

Every Man Dies Alone was published in the UK as Alone in Berlin.

English edition copyright 2009 Melville House Publishing; Translation copyright 2009 Michael Hofmann.

©1994 Aufbau-Verlagsgruppe GmbH, Berlin (P)2010 Hachette Digital Classics Heartfelt Scary Thought-Provoking Inspiring
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This book gripped me from the first to the last. It is narrated superbly. The writing is wonderful. He paints a vivid picture but without getting bogged down with descriptions, The characters simply come alive. It's an incredibly moving, gripping story based around an ordinary couple in their twilight years who, after the death of their only son at the front, decide to resist the Nazi regime for their own sake. It holds no punches. An amazing book.

Chilling but couldnt put my ipod down

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this book pulls you further and further into a game of cat and a mouse between one couples fight against the Nazi terror machine.A fascinating listen,hard to believe it was written in 1947! A superbly written book which kept an air of foreboding right to end. the narrator is brilliant too.

Absolutely gripping

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"Alone in Berlin" is beautifully read by John Telfer, the characterization he offers builds distinct mental images of each personality that populates this story. The story itself overturns the stereotypical portrayal of Germans in the 1940s and examines the seldom visited theme of native resistance to Hitler's regime. Unexpectedly there is even a Gestapo inspector who develops a modicum of humanity! More than anything the book shows how living in fear of sadistic tyranny can destroy all common decency but also that the tyranny sows the seeds of its own destruction with the fear it creates. Of course we all know that Nazism was destroyed from the ouside but even without that the Third Reich would never have lasted a thousand years. The narration is well done and the book touches on ideas that require some extra chewing. Highly recommended.

The German Home Front

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A truly brilliant description of Berlin under the Nazis. This title was recommended by a German friend along with others by the same author.

Alone In Berlin

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Gives an excellent sense of wartime Germany and a dramatic understanding of the bravery of those who protested, even in small ways, but without caricaturing German society into heroes and villains. Also just a well-written, compulsive book.

Alone in Berlin

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