A chance discovery inside a vintage typewriter case reveals the gripping story of two sisters on opposite sides of World War II in this captivating novel for readers of Lilac Girls and The Women in the Castle.“Spins a captivating tale of two young English women—sisters caught on two opposing sides of the war.”—Associated Press New York, present day: On a whim, Juno Lambert buys a 1931 Underwood … On a whim, Juno Lambert buys a 1931 Underwood typewriter that once belonged to celebrated journalist Cordelia Capel. Within its case she discovers an unfinished novel, igniting a transatlantic journey to fill the gaps in the story of Cordelia and her sister and the secret that lies between them.
Europe, 1936: Cordelia’s socialite sister Irene marries a German industrialist who whisks her away to Berlin. Cordelia, feistier and more intellectual than Irene, gets a job at a newspaper in Paris, pursuing the journalism career she cherishes. As politics begin to boil in Europe, the sisters exchange letters and Cordelia discovers that Irene’s husband is a Nazi sympathizer. With increasing desperation, Cordelia writes to her beloved sister, but as life in Nazi Germany darkens, Irene no longer dares admit what her existence is truly like. Knowing that their letters cannot tell the whole story, Cordelia decides to fill in the blanks by sitting down with her Underwood and writing the truth.
When Juno reads the unfinished novel, she resolves to uncover the secret that continued to divide the sisters amid the turmoil of love, espionage, and war. In this vivid portrait of Nazi Berlin, from its high society to its devastating fall, Jane Thynne examines the truths we sometimes dare not tell ourselves.
Advance praise for The Words I Never Wrote
“In sumptuous prose, Jane Thynne limns the lives of two sisters ripped apart by the moral choices they made in a time of war. Dramatic, fast-paced, and emotional, The Words I Never Wrote puts the interior details of women’s lives in stark relief against the dramatic backdrop of Europe in World War II, helping readers understand the difficult choices that women made.”—Elizabeth Letts, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Horse
“Haunting, taut, and compelling, this portrait of two upper-class British sisters divided by World War II is a kaleidoscopic story of love and betrayal whose characters are never quite what they seem. It will capture your attention immediately and keep you thinking for a long time to come.”—Lynne Olson, author of Madame Fourcade’s Secret War
more
In sumptuous prose, Jane Thynne limns the lives of two sisters ripped apart by the moral choices they made in a time of war. Dramatic, fast-paced, and emotional, The Words I Never Wrote puts the interior details of women’s lives in stark relief against the dramatic backdrop of Europe in World War II, helping readers understand the difficult choices that women made.
Jane Thynne’s latest novel is magnificent. In her first standalone, she expertly intertwines the stories of three different women with secrets — two sisters on opposite sides in World War II, and the present-day young photographer who pieces their stories together. Thynne works with a journalist’s talent for choosing the telling historic detail — including cameos by the ambassador to Germany’s daughter Martha Dodd and double-agent Kim Philby — combined with a novelist’s sense of how those details come together to shape a relevant and timeless story.
A gripping account of sisters divided by war… Thynne’s depiction of prewar Berlin is superb.
I love Jane Thynne’s novels, especially the Clara Vine series set in the Second World War, as this novel is. So it was with a great deal of anticipation that I began to read.
Unfortunately, I was disappointed. THE WORDS I NEVER WROTE is a braided narrative with part set in the present day, and part set in the past. Although I loved the concept of modern-day Juno Lambert discovering a 1931 Underwood typewriter that once belonged to celebrated journalist Cordelia Capel, I agree with other readers that this part of the story was not strong and should have been cut.
The real meat of the story (as so often in these braided narratives) is what happened in the past. That part of the novel begins in 1936, when Cordelia Capel’s sister Irene marries a German businessman and goes to live in Berlin. As most everyone knows, marrying a German in the 1930s was NOT a good move, and so tension naturally arises as to what is going to happen to Irene and her new German family when the Second World War engulfs Europe in the Fall of 1939.
But I really think that Jane Thynne should NOT have relied on that historical tension alone. What this book needed, IMHO, was its OWN tension, a narrative arc that gives a novel a spine until the tension is so great, you cannot put the novel down.
Instead what we have is a braided narrative going with the sisters (another reason why we didn’t need the present day to intrude), with Cordelia reporting on the war from Paris, and Irene going to mind-numbingly boring functions in Berlin, with a husband who increasingly turns into a stereotype of a Nazi monster. Meanwhile, the Jews are being systematically hounded, and although those scenes were powerfully narrated, still the novel lacked direction. Three stars.
The Words I Never Wrote by Jane Thynne is a sweeping historical novel. I found this book to be well-written with developed characters. The story takes us from 1936 through 2016 moving from England, New York, Paris and Berlin. Juno Lambert purchases a 1931 Underwood Portable typewriter for a photoshoot. It once belonged to the famed journalist Cordelia Capel and there is a partial manuscript inside the case. After reading the document, Juno wants to uncover the rest of the story. Cordelia’s sister, Irene married a German lawyer and moved to Berlin. Her husband is a Nazi sympathizer and they moved in exalted circles. There are endless parties and social functions for Irene to attend. At first, she believes everything is normal in Berlin. Slowly Irene begins to see what is really happening in Berlin, but she needs to be careful. Irene is watched because she is English and her letters to Cordelia are monitored. Cordelia becomes a journalist. Something happens between the two sisters that has them become estranged. The author captured the time period with her descriptions of the clothing, the atmosphere in Paris and Berlin, the attitudes of the people, the political climate and so much more. Real historical figures are included like Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, Martha Dodd, and Kim Philby. I did feel that some descriptions were too detailed and there were a few scenes that were drawn out which slowed down the pacing. The middle is a little sluggish, but then I reached the climax which had me quickly turning the pages to see how the story would turn out. It was interesting to learn what it was like in Germany leading up to World War II. I liked that each sister had a distinctive voice and point-of-view (as did Juno). I am glad that I decided to read this book and regret not fitting it into my schedule sooner. My favorite phrase is “. . . words could change the world.” The Words I Never Wrote is a complex and moving novel with a unique Underwood typewriter, a celebrated correspondent, a socialist socialite, lighthearted letters, an incomplete manuscript and a wicked war.
The Words I Never Wrote, by Jane Thynne, is the tale of two sisters on opposite sides of World War II, whom we “meet” by chance an antique typewriter that once belonged to the world-renowned journalist.
For the full review, go to https://kindredconnection.wordpress.com/2020/03/03/the-words-i-never-wrote/.
The Words I Never Wrote
Jane Thynne
Ballantine Books, Jan 2020
380 pages
Historical Fiction, WWII
Borrowed from Derry Public Library
The cover is interesting with the misty background of a city then the woman in a tailored suit looking pensive. In front of that is the old typewriter with the title typed on the paper and there is an overlay of old water-stained paper. You know you’re going to be looking into the past. I had seen this book written up on one of my feeds several days before I was at the library and it rang a bell in my head. Still intriguing. Yes!
And the decision paid off. I left this for the last book to read out of my library stash for what reason, I really don’t know. But what a great book.
The two sisters in the book are situated on different sides of WWII because one is still at home in England and the other has married a German industrialist and moved to Berlin. Irene had fallen in love with Ernst and hadn’t given a thought to what it would mean in a more worldly sense. The sisters weren’t able to keep up their correspondence for very long because Irene couldn’t write what she really thought and what she was really doing after awhile. She knew her mail was being read and she was being followed. Cordelia thought her sister was becoming a good little Nazi wife since she was socializing on the highest level of society and military and government. She couldn’t write about the other side of her life, the part that was taking place in the shadows. The part she did because it’s what her sister would expect her to do.
Cordelia goes about her life. Mourning the man she had met and loved when she was living in Paris for several years who had been killed by the Germans. Another strike against her sister. The sisters don’t speak or see each other until the British and their allies are in control of Berlin and debriefing the citizens. Irene is still there, and Cordelia is among the debriefers. Finally, they get to share their stories and secrets.
Juno is a correspondent who bought an old typewriter with a case. In that case was a partial manuscript for a novel, Cordelia’s novel. She’s curious enough to want to know what is missing, so she travels to Berlin to pick up where the manuscript stops in mid-sentence to find out what secrets are left.
Jane Thynne has crafted heartbreaking scenes and heart-touching scenes as she created this sometimes brutal, sometimes lovely story. You got to know characters on both sides of the battle and you liked and hated them on both sides. Why should we consider Jews good just because they were Jews when they made money by turning in other Jews to the Nazis, but a Nazi officer was bad even though he looked the other way when a woman was hiding a Jew in her house rather than report him as was his job? Jews weren’t all good, and Germans weren’t all bad. They were all people caught up in a horrible situation that most of them had no control over. Some of them made good decisions and some made bad decisions. Some lived and some died. Ms. Thynne brings all this to vivid life. She is an author I would like to read more of. Highly recommended.
The Capel sisters Cordelia and Irene are separated after Cordelia marries a German industrialist in 1937 on the English estate of of the girls’ parents. Cordelia, the older sister is an aspiring artist and Irene is a writer. The author of The Words I Never Wrote, Jane Thynne has created a wonderful historical fiction exposing life during pre-war, during the war, and after the war in Berlin.
I felt like I was a witness to what Irene experienced as told through letters to her sister before and during part of the war and through a partly written novel by her sister Cordelia which is found in 2016 by a free lance writer, Juno, in New York.
Thynne brilliantly captures the fears of living in Germany and the difficult times the sisters have. I also enjoyed Juno’s story as she tries to figure out why Cordelia left an unfinished novel in the ancient typewriter case that she bought. If you like World War II historical fiction, I think you will like this novel as much as I did. I also feel bookclubs will have lots to discuss after reading. Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is an exceptional WWII historical fiction read! I absolutely loved it and recommend it to any and all fans of this genre!
In 2012 in Brooklyn, NY, Cordelia Capel, 96, who has been called “the foremost chronicler of our American life, receives yet another prized journalism award and begins to reminisce about her long and illustrious career.
In 2016, Juno Lambert, 36, a photographer, stops in a typewriter store in NYC to find a prop for an upcoming photo session. She is immediately drawn to a black enamel Underwood Portable from 1931. The shop owner is reluctant to part with it, saying that it belonged to a very important lady, Cordelia Capel, who recently died at age 99. Juno is insistent, and he agrees to sell it, showing her that inside the case is an unfinished manuscript of a novel Cordelia was writing.
Juno reads the manuscript which begins in the year 1936 with the marriage of Cordelia’s older sister Irene and tells the story of their relationship. Born into a wealthy family and raised in London, the girls were very close throughout their childhood, but things begin to change when Irene, at 22, marries a German law professor Ernst Weissmuller, 35, and moves to Berlin.
Cordelia always wanted to be a journalist, but her gender works against her. She accepts an offer of a job in the Paris news office as a secretary, and begins honing her journalism skills on the side. The sisters exchange letters, but Irene discovers that her husband is a Nazi sympathizer and finds that she must hide her true thoughts about what is occurring in Germany. Everyone is being watched; no one escapes scrutiny. Cordelia, frustrated that Irene doesn’t express her dismay and distain for what is happening in Germany in her letters, assumes that Irene, too has become a Nazi sympathizer.
Juno, enthralled by the sisters’ story, undertakes a quest to find additional information as to what happened to each of the women, to see how their story ends.
Ms. Thynne does an excellent job of creating deep, complex, characters and describing the era and political happenings from multiple viewpoints. She draws the reader in quickly and holds them tightly throughout the book. It was very interesting to read what was happening inside Germany from a non-German viewpoint, and I must say, though I often read books of this genre and time period, I learned a lot from this book.
This is one of my favorite reads of this genre. I will definitely be looking at Jane Thynne’s prior offerings and no doubt will be adding several of them to my TBR pile!
My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine for allowing me to read a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed here are my own.
A Tale of Two Sisters
The story started a little slow but it soon picked up and by the end of the book I couldn’t wait to finish it. I did get distracted a few times between England, France Germany and current day. Had to go back and reread a few pages to find where I was.
Juno buys an antique typewriter from 1939 and finds an unfinished novel in an envelope inside the computer case. Her search for the ending of the story takes her to Berlin. What she finds is the story of two sisters that were very close until Irene married a German man and moved to Germany. Cordelia began to work for a newspaper reporting on fashion and soon was sent to France. The sisters corresponded back and forth a few times and then stopped talking as the Nazi’s took over and they decided not to write anymore because they disagreed with each other over politics.
The story is about the lives (so very different) of the two sisters both working against the Nazi’s each in a different way. They miss each other but do not talk for several years. The book tells about each sister’s life Irene with Ernest and then the Nazi officer Hoffman. Her activities in the underground helping the Jewish under her husband’s nose. Cordelia with her writing job that turns into a job with the resistance in France and her love for Torin. After the war Cordelia is working as an interpreter she goes to Berlin to interpret for the British during interrogations. One of those interrogated is her sister Irene.
It shows that sisters love each other no matter what has happened and that sometimes life has a way of throwing a kink into things so they turn out way different than what we would wish them to be. Sometimes people are not what we think and events happen that we cannot control.
The book had a lot of history during the War how the Elite Nazi’s lived, how the Jews struggled, betrayal, love , and heartbreak. It was a good book, I enjoyed it and would recommend it.
The Words I Never Wrote threads its way through layers of twentieth-century history, weaving a pattern of love, loss, hope, and tragedy against a backdrop of conflict. Two sisters separated both ideologically and geographically are brought together once more when a half-finished manuscript describing their lives surfaces more than half a century later, allowing their stories to be unpicked and re-sewn together in a deeply moving narrative. Highlighting the power of the written word to bear witness to the seismic shifts of history, this is complex material beautifully stitched. I couldn’t recommend it more highly.
Haunting, taut, and compelling, this portrait of two upper-class British sisters divided by World War II is a kaleidoscopic story of love and betrayal whose characters are never quite what they seem. It will capture your attention immediately and keep you thinking for a long time to come.
Juno buys and old typewriter. Inside she finds a manuscript and some letters. She does some research and finds out the author is a journalist like herself. This leads her on a quest to find out more, more than she bargained for.
This story revolves around two sisters, Cordelia in England and Irene in Berlin. Politics and war get in the way of their relationship and causes a huge tear. When the war is over Cordelia travels to Berlin as an interpreter. She finds her sister but it is not easy to repair the fissure in their relationship.
I fluctuated between three and four stars on this read. Basically because of the flow. I settled on four stars because of the ending. But, this story had a slow start, picked up, slowed down again, then ended well. It is very well researched and I enjoyed reading about Berlin before and after the war. It just has some flow issues. But it is not enough to make you put the book down. The mystery surrounding this story is intriguing and unique. So give it a go!
I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.
The Words I Never Wrote by Jane Thynne is a very interesting historical fiction that involves two time periods between present day and WWII.
I was mostly interested in the stories of Irene and Cordelia, two sisters that were once close, and like many things during times of war and unrest, are separated by different paths that their lives take, however both unified in their quests to help undermine and fight against the Nazis in their own ways despite initially their opposing political views.
The author did a good job in interweaving present day Juno with the stories of Irene and Cordelia. A touching and harrowing story.
4/5 stars
As the book begins we are at the wedding of the older sister Irene’s, as her life is about to begin with her new husband, she is marrying a rather well to do man who is from Germany and we are in the 1930’s.
The author also gives us a younger sister Cordelia, and we follow her as she goes about her life to become a journalist.
What put the story together, well, we are given a young woman who happens to buy a beautiful vintage typewriter, how I would love one! With the typewriter is a partial novel about the owner and that happens to be Cordelia.
We get up close and personal into the lives of these woman, their loves and losses, their daily lives, and just the survival during these horrible times.
The author puts faces on these people, and we walk in each sister’s shoes with the help of Juno, an aspiring photographer who now has the typewriter and now wants the rest of the story,
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Ballantine Books, and was not required to give a positive review.
The Words I Never Wrote by author Jane Thynne is one of the most heartbreaking novels I have read! The current day narrator is Juno Lambert, a young photographer who discovers an unfinished novel in the case of a 1931 Underwood typewriter. Juno is at a crossroads in her life and becomes entranced with learning more about the life of the previous owner of the typewriter.
Cordelia and Irene Capel are sisters whose bond changed drastically in 1936 when Irene married a wealthy industrialist and moved from the family home in England to Berlin. Irene gets caught up in the social side of the prelude to World War II as she trusts her husband while the country politics and Hitler’s influence changes the world. Cordelia is working as a secretary and fashion journalist in Paris and grows more concerned as she thinks Irene is blind to the conditions of human suffering around her. This leads to an estrangement of communications between the sisters during the war-torn years.
The story is based on the events which happen worldwide during Hitler’s reign and the Nazi rage.
There are no happy endings in this story of the two sisters, even after the war. The book is brilliantly written and the author was very successful at grabbing my interest and then leaving me feeling shredded when I had finished the book.
Publication Date: January 20, 2020
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.