From the bestselling author of The Forgotten Hours comes an unforgettable story of one woman’s journey to reclaim what she lost in a country torn apart by the devastating legacy of WWII.
On the windswept shores of an East German island, Bettina Heilstrom struggles to build a life from the ashes. World War II has ended, and her country is torn apart. Longing for a family, she marries Werner, an … she marries Werner, an older bureaucrat who adores her. But after joining the fledgling secret police, he is drawn deep into its dark mission and becomes a dangerous man.
When Bettina falls in love with an idealistic young renegade, Werner discovers her infidelity and forces her to make a terrible choice: spend her life in prison or leave her home forever. Either way she loses both her lover and child.
Ten years later, Bettina has reinvented herself as a celebrated photographer in Chicago, but she’s never stopped yearning for the baby she left behind. Surprised by an unexpected visitor from her past, she resolves to return to her ravaged homeland to reclaim her daughter and uncover her beloved’s fate, whatever the cost.
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A beautiful, lyrically-written book. Technically, yes, it’s a love triangle: an East German housewife coming of age at the end of WWII, her bureaucrat husband who is mesmerized into the secret police of USSR-controlled Berlin, and the firebrand soldier-turned-writer who comes between them…but it’s so much more. It’s about how personal decisions become desperate and rash when your emotions are the only things you can control in a Soviet state. It’s about how guilt resonates–as a nation, with the German people struggling to come to atone for their terrible war-time legacy; and as human beings, when one act of cruelty between husband and wife ripples profoundly through the next decade. It’s about forgiveness, as three people who have all made mistakes struggle to do what is right in the end for the innocent. This book will stay with me a long time.
Beautifully crafted, this heartrending story takes the reader on a journey of love, loss, and through the travesties of war. I loved it.
From the start of This Terribly Beauty we are effortlessly transported into Bettina’s life and her past. Ms. Schuman offers of the story of a life confronted by challenges; those large challenges involving World War II, as well as personal challenges, made by the main character. Bettina’s circumstances are often out of her control, but her early decision to follow her heart, her judgments and her eventual resolution are all understandable.
We, as readers, are drawn in and find ourselves sympathizing even with choices we might not have made ourselves. It is easy to share outrage, loss and conviction. She sees her world as if through the lens of a camera and more and more becomes clear. Love both captivates the main character and traps her.
The author writes her prose with immediacy; with an in-the-moment quality that is hard to describe. At the outset, I thought to find fault with it, but progressing, found myself drawn in, so the style disappeared and all that is left is story and the emotions.
Background details seem to emerge in almost poetic turns of phrase, for example: “…there’s an unruly rosebush twisting its way over the step…” and ” …memories live in each closet.”
The synopsis really does this book no service, leading me to expect a rather abrupt drama, rather than the thoughtful and heartfelt life’s journey This Terrible Beauty offers. Five solid stars and I highly recommend you add This Terrible Beauty to your “must read” list.
Amazingly stark, brutal, and realistic novel beautifully and tenderly written about the people living in Germany during the last years of the Nazi regime, then after the takeover by the Russian Soviet Union. This novel should be mandatory reading for young people so they may truly understand the real-life meanings of communism, socialism, and capitalism. Never knowing who to trust or whether your home is going to be taken from you or if you are going to have anything to eat or whether your spouse is going to turn you in to the government for what that spouse considers subversive action.
The suppression of art and literature and the oppression of people’s rights are paramount and haunting. Schumann delivers powerful examples throughout her novel. The love story seems one of the few rays of hope in the protagonist’s pared-down version of the life she’s had to build to survive, and we realize how fleeting it must be as her husband has risen to power in the new Secret Police.
Again, highly recommended for young people to understand differences in socialism, communism, and capitalism. Also highly recommended to anyone for the in-depth portrayal of this period of history. Kudos, Katrin Schumann!
THIS TERRIBLE BEAUTY by Katrin Schumann is a beautifully-written and compelling work of historical fiction that will stay on my mind for a long time. Inspired by actual historical events, the story has a past and present timeline that follows the heartbreaking journey of main character, Bettina Heilstrom as she seeks to rebuild her life after a devastating loss. The past timeline is set on an island in East Germany after World War II has ended and Germany has been divided. East Germany is under the control of the German Democratic Republic which is becoming increasingly repressive to its own citizens. Bettina’s husband, Werner is quietly rising in the ranks of the new secret police, a dangerous role which keeps them under constant scrutiny. When Werner discovers that Bettina has been unfaithful to him, he punishes her by forcing her to give up her young daughter, Annaliese and leave the country forever in return for sparing her lover, Peter’s life. Broken-hearted and alone, Bettina ends up in Chicago where ten years later she is a reknowned photographer. However, she has never given up hope of someday being reunited with her daughter. A surprise visit from someone in her past sets Bettina on a path back to her homeland to search for her daughter and learn the fate of her former lover. The descriptions of the characters, their relationships and the political climate in both timeframes are vivid and haunting. I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen in the end. THIS TERRIBLE BEAUTY is a touching and emotional story of love, loss and the tragedies of war and I recommend it most highly.
This Terrible Beauty by Katrin Schumann is an informative tale of how life was back after World War 2 ended for the German citizens that were stuck on the east side of the wall where Russia was in control.
Could Bettina handle things differently than she did?
Bettina Heilstrom
Bettina is our main character, and the one we follow most of the time. She married when she was young and didn’t have a good marriage. Bettina has done some things that I was okay with, but she could have tried not to give in to her urges of finding a different man. Either that or told the first guy that no, you couldn’t marry him. Just my thoughts here. If she didn’t stray from her marriage, she might have been there for her daughter while she was growing up or not.
What I like about Bettina is that she tries to be a good person and do the right things, even if the right thing for her wasn’t the right thing for her marriage. What I didn’t like about Bettina is that she could have tried to be with her husband more than what she did.
Three Stars
This Terrible Beauty by Katrin Schumann was something that I didn’t expect to happen. Okay, I do have to admit that the only reason I wanted to finish reading it was to see if she got her daughter back. With that explanation, I can’t exactly say anything about that as it is part of the plot of the story. We did go back in time a lot, and it was interesting to see what things were like for a German after World War 2 with the Russians with them in East Germany.
After all that, I am giving it three stars and recommending this book to those who like historical women’s fiction.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of This Terrible Beauty by Katrin Schumann.
Until the next time,
Karen the Baroness
If you would like to see other reviews like this one, check out BaronessBookTrove.com.
A well written and fascinating account of the characters lives at the end of WWII, on the island of Rugen in East Germany. It also takes place in two time frames, in 1961 Chicago, where Bettina, the main character is a photographer, and the back story 1943 in East Germany, where we read about a lot of the harsh politics that went on in Germany after the war, The Cold War divided Germany between the Western Allies in the West and Soviets in the East. Germans had little voice in government until 1949 when two states emerged.
Its a story of characters who have the feelings of, inadequacies, resilience, power, strength, hopelessness and hopefulness, loving and loosing things important to them. Each of the characters have their own complicated backgrounds, which make it an interesting read.
Bettina the main character has married an older Werner after the war , but it is not a happy reunion and she turns to Peter a teacher and writer who becomes her true love. A child is born to Bettina, but the paternity is unclear, thus we go into the part of the story where Bettina moves to America.
The synopsis of the book is readily available, so I will just let you read the story, and the fine details of these characters lives and thoughts, and let you form your own opinions of them.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the copy of this book.
Powerful loves in the midst of very ugly & intrusive politics in post war East Germany. Very well researched. So believable.
Captivating, pensive, and absorbing!
This Terrible Beauty is an intriguing, compelling tale that sweeps you away to East Germany following WWII when the country is still reeling with the aftermaths of war, and the new Soviet rule is causing repression, economic instability, political upheaval, social injustice, and lack of freedom.
The prose is evocative and vivid. The characters are lonely, complex, and vulnerable. And the plot using a past/present, back-and-forth style is a moving tale about war, loss, familial relationships, heartbreak, guilt, desperation, betrayal, resilience, courage, hope, forbidden love, and the importance of creative expression.
Overall, This Terrible Beauty is a beautifully written, poignant, nostalgic tale that is a lovely blend of historical facts, thought-provoking fiction, and intense emotion that reminds us of the enduring power of love and the self-sacrificing, unbreakable bonds between a mother and her child.
This is a descriptive and emotional story about a woman living on a small island in the Baltic Sea. Historically, the island has been under the rule of different countries, and is currently part of Germany. The story begins in 1961. The protagonist is a photographer in Chicago and has just received a prestigious award. There’s a sense of sadness within her as she counts the beads on her camera strap that represent the age of her daughter. She has experienced great loss, and her memories go back ten years where her story untangles the events of her unhappy marriage and losses during a repressive political climate. A good story, excellent historical value and a cover and title perfectly suited for the content.
Linda’s Book Obsession Reviews “This Terrible Beauty” by Katrin Schumann, Lake Union Publishing, March 1, 2020.
Katrin Schumann, author of “This Terrible Beauty has written a captivating, intriguing, intense and thought-provoking novel. The Genres for this novel are Historical Fiction and Fiction. The timeline for this story is set after World War Two in the 1950s and 1960’s when Germany is divided and goes to the past and future when it pertains to the characters or events. The story takes place in East Germany, Rugen, which is taken over by the Russians. It also takes place in Chicago and America. The author describes the characters as complex and complicated.
History has shown how devasting World War Two has been, and how evil the Nazis were. After the war, there were many problems, but people had hope at first. When the Russians took over East Germany, many of the people living there had no idea how evil can take different forms. One has to wonder what the devastation of war has taught us.
Bettina marries Werner, an older man that had come to her father’s store. He assures Bettina if they marry he will take care of her. With the changes after the war and the devastation that exists in the country, Bettina does marry Werner. Werner gets involved with the Russian government and is quite busy and becomes a powerful man. Bettina and Werner have a baby girl. Bettina is lonely and falls in love with a young writer.
When Werner learns of Bettina’s betrayal, he makes her leave without her daughter. She will be arrested on sight if she ever returns to her country. Is there any way that Bettina will ever see her daughter or lover again? Bettina has a special talent in taking pictures and showing reality.
I appreciate that the author discusses the tragedy of war and the aftermath can be just as devastating. In many ways, this reminds me of the song sung by Peter, Paul and Mary, and others, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”
This is so well written and vividly describes the characters, country, and landscape. I would highly recommend this poignant and thought-provoking story.