The Porcelain Maker
A Novel
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4.4 • 5 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
An epic story of love, betrayal, and art that spans decades, through the horrors of World War II to 21st century America, inspired by an actual porcelain factory in Dachau.
Two lovers caught at the crossroads of history.
A daughter’s search for the truth.
Germany, 1929. At a festive gathering of young bohemians in Weimar, two young artists, Max, a skilled Jewish architect, and Bettina, a celebrated avant-garde painter, are drawn to each other and begin a whirlwind romance. Their respective talents transport them to the dazzling lights of Berlin, but this bright beginning is quickly dimmed by the rising threat of Nazism. Max is arrested and sent to the concentration camp at Dachau where only his talent at making exquisite porcelain figures stands between him and seemingly certain death. Desperate to save her lover, Bettina risks everything to rescue him and escape Germany.
America, 1993. Clara, Bettina’s daughter, embarks on a journey to trace her roots and determine the identity of her father, a secret her mother has kept from her for reasons she’s never understood. Clara’s quest to piece together the puzzle of her origins transports us back in time to the darkness of Nazi Germany, where life is lived on a razor’s edge and deception and death lurk around every corner. Survival depends on strength, loyalty, and knowing true friend from hidden foe. And as Clara digs further, she begins to question why her mother was so determined to leave the truth of her harrowing past behind...
The Porcelain Maker is a powerful novel of enduring love and courage in the face of appalling brutality as a daughter seeks to unlock the mystery of her past.
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.
Customer Reviews
An Interesting Read!
This is a dual-timeline story. The book begins with Clara in 1993 buying porcelain at an auction in hopes of finding more about her father, Max Ehrlich. Clara had never met her father. She knew that conversations about her father and World War II were off limits with her mother. Her housekeeper, Heida, raised her since her mother was not capable because she suffered from severe depression. Clara’s daughter, Lotte, as part of her university studies, helps to find out more about Max and Bettina. This timeline follows Clara and Lotte on their discovery. How will Clara react when she finds out about her father?
The second timeline takes place in Germany. It follows Clara’s parents, Max, an Austrian Jewish architect, and Bettina, a painter from Germany who both attended the same art school, and their experiences during WWII, including Max being sent to Dachau concentration camp for being arrested for working under a false identity.
Each storyline equally drew me in, but I was drawn more to Clara’s story. It was interesting to see her struggles with not knowing her father and living with a mother with severe depression and how that had affected her. Then the emotion Clara went through discovering who her father was.
I loved how the author chose to write this story from an artist ‘s perspective. This made for a heartfelt, heart wrenching, and interesting read. Definitely a must read for those who enjoy reading historical fiction.