The Porcelain Maker
'A page-turning journey' Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz
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5.0 • 4 Ratings
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
'A page-turning journey to uncover a past of heroism, betrayal, love, and loss’ Heather Morris, bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz
'A gorgeous debut' Heat
‘A standout novel of heartbreak, survival and hope in time of war' Rachel Hore
Two lovers caught at the crossroads of history
A daughter’s search for the truth
Germany, 1929.
When Max, a Jewish architect, and Bettina, a beautiful and celebrated German avant-garde artist, meet at a party their attraction is instant. In love with each other and the art they create, their talent transports them to the dazzling lights of Berlin. But Germany is on the brink of terrible change, and their bright beginning is soon dimmed by the rising threat of Nazism.
When Max is arrested and sent to the Dachau concentration camp, it is only his talent at making the exquisite porcelain figures so beloved by the Nazis that stands between him and certain death. At first, Bettina has no idea where Max has been taken but when she learns of his fate, she is determined to rescue him whatever the cost.
Now, a lifetime later, Bettina’s daughter, Clara, sets out on a journey to uncover the truth about her identity. As she weaves together the fabric of her past, she discovers the terrible secret her mother wanted hidden forever.
For fans of Heather Morris and Kristin Hannah, The Porcelain Maker is a sweeping, epic story of love, betrayal and art, set across Europe from the 1920s Weimar Republic, to dark and glittering 1930s Berlin.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Freethy's underwhelming debut revolves around a protracted love affair between a German Christian artist and an Austrian Jewish architect. Bettina Vogel, the artist, meets Max Ehrlich for the first time in 1925 Weimar Germany, where they share a mutual interest in the Bauhaus school of art. As the Nazis rise to power in the 1930s, Bettina's brother joins the party and opposes her romance with Max. Eventually, Max disguises his Jewish identity and gets work as a porcelain sculptor. In a parallel narrative set in 1993, Bettina's daughter, Clara, pursues the mystery of her paternity. She finds a clue in a 1941 photo from the Dachau death camp depicting her mother and two other men, one of whom is identified as Max. Clara's visit to her dying mother early on discloses that Bettina survived WWII, leaving only Max's fate, and his role in Clara's life, as open questions. Freethy keeps up momentum with the story of Clara's search, but her depiction of the concentration camps feels cursory, and torrid prose doesn't help ("Their mouths met and merged, melting in a white heat that should, by rights, have burned them both entirely"). This doesn't stand out amid the glut of WWII fiction.
