Listen and read

Step into an infinite world of stories

  • Read and listen as much as you want
  • Over 950 000 titles
  • Exclusive titles + Storytel Originals
  • Easy to cancel anytime
Try now
image.devices-Singapore 2x
Cover for A Bookshop in Berlin: The Rediscovered Memoir of One Woman's Harrowing Escape from the Nazis

A Bookshop in Berlin: The Rediscovered Memoir of One Woman's Harrowing Escape from the Nazis

17 Ratings

3.7

Duration
6H 26min
Language
English
Format
Category

Biographies

A PEOPLE BOOK OF THE WEEK WINNER OF THE JQ–WINGATE LITERARY PRIZE “A haunting tribute to survivors and those lost forever—and a reminder, in our own troubled era, never to forget.” —People An “exceptional” (The Wall Street Journal) and “poignant” (The New York Times) book in the tradition of rediscovered works like Suite Française and The Nazi Officer’s Wife, the powerful memoir of a fearless Jewish bookseller on a harrowing fight for survival across Nazi-occupied Europe.

In 1921, Françoise Frenkel—a Jewish woman from Poland—fulfills a dream. She opens La Maison du Livre, Berlin’s first French bookshop, attracting artists and diplomats, celebrities and poets. The shop becomes a haven for intellectual exchange as Nazi ideology begins to poison the culturally rich city. In 1935, the scene continues to darken. First come the new bureaucratic hurdles, followed by frequent police visits and book confiscations. Françoise’s dream finally shatters on Kristallnacht in November 1938, as hundreds of Jewish shops and businesses are destroyed. La Maison du Livre is miraculously spared, but fear of persecution eventually forces Françoise on a desperate, lonely flight to Paris. When the city is bombed, she seeks refuge across southern France, witnessing countless horrors: children torn from their parents, mothers throwing themselves under buses. Secreted away from one safe house to the next, Françoise survives at the heroic hands of strangers risking their lives to protect her. Published quietly in 1945, then rediscovered nearly sixty years later in an attic, A Bookshop in Berlin is a remarkable story of survival and resilience, of human cruelty and human spirit. In the tradition of Suite Française and The Nazi Officer’s Wife, this book is the tale of a fearless woman whose lust for life and literature refuses to leave her, even in her darkest hours.

© 2019 Simon & Schuster Audio (Audiobook): 9781797105192

Release date

Audiobook: 3 December 2019

Others also enjoyed ...

  1. Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II
    Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II Robert Matzen
  2. The Age of Light
    The Age of Light Whitney Scharer
  3. How to Be a Refugee: The gripping true story of how one family hid their Jewish origins to survive the Nazis
    How to Be a Refugee: The gripping true story of how one family hid their Jewish origins to survive the Nazis Simon May
  4. Searching for Hassan: A Journey to the Heart of Iran
    Searching for Hassan: A Journey to the Heart of Iran Terence Ward
  5. The Light at the End of the Day
    The Light at the End of the Day Eleanor Wasserberg
  6. The Tenth Muse: A Novel
    The Tenth Muse: A Novel Catherine Chung
  7. Murder In Matera: A True Story of Passion, Family, and Forgiveness in Southern Italy
    Murder In Matera: A True Story of Passion, Family, and Forgiveness in Southern Italy Helene Stapinski
  8. The Porcelain Thief
    The Porcelain Thief Huan Hsu
  9. A Bit of Brontës, a Dollop of Dickinson, an Offering of Austen: A Dab of Dickens, Vol. 2; Selections from A Dab of Dickens & a Touch of Twain, Literary Lives from Shakespeare’s Old England to Frost’s New England
    A Bit of Brontës, a Dollop of Dickinson, an Offering of Austen: A Dab of Dickens, Vol. 2; Selections from A Dab of Dickens & a Touch of Twain, Literary Lives from Shakespeare’s Old England to Frost’s New England Elliot Engel
  10. Lara: The Untold Love Story and the Inspiration for Doctor Zhivago
    Lara: The Untold Love Story and the Inspiration for Doctor Zhivago Anna Pasternak
  11. Disappearing Moon Café
    Disappearing Moon Café Sky Lee
  12. Walking With Ghosts: A Memoir
    Walking With Ghosts: A Memoir Gabriel Byrne
  13. Lara: The Untold Love Story That Inspired Doctor Zhivago
    Lara: The Untold Love Story That Inspired Doctor Zhivago Anna Pasternak
  14. The Soong Sisters
    The Soong Sisters Emily Hahn
  15. The Boston Girl: A Novel
    The Boston Girl: A Novel Anita Diamant
  16. Day
    Day Elie Wiesel
  17. Prague Spring
    Prague Spring Simon Mawer
  18. Bird Cloud: A Memoir
    Bird Cloud: A Memoir Annie Proulx
  19. Barracoon: The Story of the Last Slave
    Barracoon: The Story of the Last Slave Zora Neale Hurston
  20. The Most Precious of Cargoes: A Fable of the Holocaust
    The Most Precious of Cargoes: A Fable of the Holocaust Jean-Claude Grumberg
  21. This Victorian Life: Modern Adventures in Nineteenth-Century Culture, Cooking, Fashion, and Technology
    This Victorian Life: Modern Adventures in Nineteenth-Century Culture, Cooking, Fashion, and Technology Sarah A. Chrisman
  22. The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym
    The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym Paula Byrne
  23. The Crossway
    The Crossway Guy Stagg
  24. Where the Past Begins: A Writer’s Memoir
    Where the Past Begins: A Writer’s Memoir Amy Tan
  25. Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead
    Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead Paula Byrne
  26. The German House
    The German House Annette Hess
  27. Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family
    Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family Mitchell Jackson
  28. A Small Place in Italy
    A Small Place in Italy Eric Newby
  29. Square Haunting: Five Women, Freedom and London Between the Wars
    Square Haunting: Five Women, Freedom and London Between the Wars Francesca Wade
  30. Twelve Years a Slave
    Twelve Years a Slave Solomon Northup
  31. The Madonnas of Leningrad
    The Madonnas of Leningrad Debra Dean
  32. The Good at Heart
    The Good at Heart Ursula Werner
  33. Correspondents
    Correspondents Tim Murphy
  34. Where the Past Begins: A Writer's Memoir
    Where the Past Begins: A Writer's Memoir Amy Tan
  35. The German House
    The German House Annette Hess
  36. Short Life in a Strange World: Birth to Death in 42 Panels
    Short Life in a Strange World: Birth to Death in 42 Panels Toby Ferris
  37. Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading
    Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading Nina Sankovitch
  38. The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames: A Memoir
    The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames: A Memoir Justine Cowan
  39. All That I Am: A Novel
    All That I Am: A Novel Anna Funder
  40. Mrs Gaskell and Me: Two Women, Two Love Stories, Two Centuries Apart
    Mrs Gaskell and Me: Two Women, Two Love Stories, Two Centuries Apart Nell Stevens
  41. The Survivors: A Story of War, Inheritance, and Healing
    The Survivors: A Story of War, Inheritance, and Healing Adam Frankel
  42. The Pages
    The Pages Hugo Hamilton
  43. Lives of Houses
    Lives of Houses
  44. The Best of Us: A Memoir
    The Best of Us: A Memoir Joyce Maynard
  45. Véra: Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov
    Véra: Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov Stacy Schiff
  46. The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation
    The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation Rosemary Sullivan

Features:

  • Over 950 000 titles

  • Kids Mode (child safe environment)

  • Download books for offline access

  • Cancel anytime

Most popular

Unlimited

For those who want to listen and read without limits.

S$12.98 /month
3 days for free
  • 1 account

  • Unlimited Access

  • Unlimited listening

  • Cancel anytime

Try now

Unlimited Bi-yearly

For those who want to listen and read without limits.

S$69 /6 months
14 days for free
Save 11%
  • 1 account

  • Unlimited Access

  • Unlimited listening

  • Cancel anytime

Try now

Unlimited Yearly

For those who want to listen and read without limits.

S$119 /year
14 days for free
Save 24%
  • 1 account

  • Unlimited Access

  • Unlimited listening

  • Cancel anytime

Try now

Family

For those who want to share stories with family and friends.

From S$14.90/month
  • 2-3 accounts

  • Unlimited Access

  • Unlimited listening

  • Cancel anytime

2 accounts

S$14.90 /month
Try now