Then We Take Berlin
Ürünler eklenemedi
Üzgünüz, sepetiniz kapasiteye ulaştığı için bu ürünü ekleyemedik.
Sepete ekleme başarısız oldu.
Lütfen daha sonra tekrar deneyin
İstek Listesine ekleme başarısız oldu.
Lütfen daha sonra tekrar deneyin
İstek listesinden kaldırma başarısız oldu.
Lütfen daha sonra tekrar deneyin
Kütüphaneye ekleme başarısız oldu
Lütfen tekrar deneyin
Podcast takip edilemedi
Podcast takibi bırakma başarısız oldu.
3 ay boyunca aylık £0,99
Teklif 29 Ocak 2026 tarihinde saat 23:59 GMT itibarıyla sona erer.
Then We Take Berlin
Seslendiren:
Lewis Hancock
15,46£ karşılığında satın al
-
Seslendiren:
-
Lewis Hancock
-
Yazan:
-
John Lawton
Özet
John Holderness, known to the women in his life as ‘Wilderness’, comes of age during World War II in Stepney, breaking into houses with his grandfather. After the war, Wilderness is recruited as MI5’s resident ‘cat burglar’ and finds himself in Berlin, involved with schemes in the booming black market that put both him and his relationships in danger.
In 1963 it is a most unusual and lucrative request that persuades Wilderness to return - to smuggle someone under the Berlin Wall and out of East Germany. But this final scheme may prove to be one challenge too far....
©2014 John Lawton (P)2014 Oakhill Publishing
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
Eleştirmen yorumları
"A superbly well-built Cold War cocktail - bracing, deliriously delicious, but carrying the slightly bitter aftertaste of dreams gone bad." (Booklist)
"John Lawton finds himself in the same boat as the late Patrick O'Brian - a sublimely elegant historical novelist as addictive as crack but overlooked by too many readers for too long." (Daily Telegraph on A Lily of the Field)
Gripping
Bir sorun oluştu. Lütfen birkaç dakika sonra tekrar deneyin.
Fascinating take on modern history
Bir sorun oluştu. Lütfen birkaç dakika sonra tekrar deneyin.
pleasant suprise
Bir sorun oluştu. Lütfen birkaç dakika sonra tekrar deneyin.
where was the end?
Bir sorun oluştu. Lütfen birkaç dakika sonra tekrar deneyin.
Then We Take Berlin opens in 1963 as Joe Holderness travels to New York to be offered a job by a colleague of Frank, a buddy from his days in Berlin after WW2. I enjoyed Joe’s wide-eyed reaction to seeing the sights of New York for the first time. The job he’s offered will involve him returning to Berlin and making use of his knowledge of that city. However, it will be a long time before the reader learns more about what Frank and Joe got up to in post-war Berlin and even longer until the mission Joe is offered takes place.
Instead the book goes back in time to 1941 to reveal Joe’s wartime childhood, including his experiences at the hands of a violent father. Events occur which mean Joe is brought up by his grandfather, Abner, and Abner’s girlfriend, Merle. It’s during this time that Joe is tutored in the dubious skills that will prove to be of such value in the future. Later, after the war has ended, he’s called up for National Service and Joe’s facility with languages is spotted by the British Secret Service. The result sees him embark upon an entirely different kind of education.
Then in what I thought was one of the most powerful sections of the book, the story moves to Germany and introduces a new character – Nell. Evacuated during the war from her home in Berlin to live with her uncle, the end of the war brings her by chance to the site of a wartime atrocity. Using her powers of persuasion and a few untruths, she gains work as an interpreter for the Allied forces and begins documenting the identities of survivors. She is nevertheless determined to return home to Berlin because, as she frequently says, “I am a Berliner”.
Eventually the story of Joe’s exploits in post-war Berlin takes centre stage as he and some comrades with connections in the right places take advantage of the flourishing black market. But have they got in over their heads? There’s an impressive amount of detail about the Berlin of the time which is clearly the product of a lot of research.
As the book reaches its climax we’re back in the year 1963 and Joe finally undertakes, albeit with reservations, the job he’s been contracted to do. Events move along at pace and woven into the story is an iconic moment in history that takes place in West Berlin. The author gives Nell a pivotal role in this, as signalled in the opening chapter. The last few chapters of the book are full of tension and the ending leaves enough loose ends to make a sequel irresistible.
Although only around 400 pages, the book has a lot of chapters, many of which are extremely short. Having taken a quick peek at my copy of The Unfortunate Englishman, I see that it also has many short chapters so this must be a deliberate style choice on the part of the author. The audiobook version has over two hundred chapters and I’m guessing its narrator, Lewis Hancock, must have been pleased when it was finally time to say “Chapter 206”. Talking of the narration, Lewis Hancock does a great job coping with the different accents required – Russian, German, American, etc. – although I did have difficulty at times recognising it was Nell speaking.
Then We Take Berlin is an entertaining spy thriller with a charismatic central character and, despite my reservations about its structure, I definitely intend to read the next two books in the series at some point.
Entertaining spy thriller - first in a series
Bir sorun oluştu. Lütfen birkaç dakika sonra tekrar deneyin.