May 9th, 2025
Home | Log in!

On Top Shelf
MIXED INKMIXED INK
Fresh Pick
THE GREEK HOUSE
THE GREEK HOUSE

New Books This Week

Reader Games


The books of May are here—fresh, fierce, and full of feels.

Slideshow image


Since your web browser does not support JavaScript, here is a non-JavaScript version of the image slideshow:

slideshow image
Wedding season includes searching for a missing bride�and a killer . . .


slideshow image
Sometimes the path forward begins with a step back.


slideshow image
One island. Three generations. A summer that changes everything.


slideshow image
A snapshot made them legends. What it didn�t show could tear them apart.


slideshow image
This life coach will give you a lift!


slideshow image
A twisty, "addictive," mystery about jealousy and bad intentions


slideshow image
Trapped by magic, haunted by muses�she must master the cards before they�re lost to darkness.


slideshow image
Masquerades, secrets, and a forbidden romance stitched into every seam.


slideshow image
A vanished manuscript. A murdered expert. A castle full of secrets�and one sharp-witted sleuth.


Since your web browser does not support JavaScript, here is a non-JavaScript version of the image slideshow:

slideshow image
Two warrior angels. First friends, now lovers. Their future? A WILD UNKNOWN.


The Porcelain Maker

The Porcelain Maker, November 2023
by Sarah Freethy

St. Martin's Press
416 pages
ISBN: 1250289343
EAN: 9781250289346
Kindle: B0BQGKJ66H
Hardcover / e-Book
Add to Wish List


Purchase



"A well-plotted, character-driven, and powerful WWII novel"

Fresh Fiction Review

The Porcelain Maker
Sarah Freethy

Reviewed by Evie Harris
Posted November 19, 2023

Women's Fiction Historical

Max, an Austrian Jewish architect, and Bettina, a German artist, were madly in love. Subject to the German rules of pre-WWII, they weren't allowed to marry. Max felt they should leave the country, but Bettina was optimistic things would improve.  She was wrong. Their lives took a path no one could have foreseen.

Their story spans history from the 1920s to 1993 and it is told in different time periods.  We get to know Max and Bettina through their own voices from the past, but it is Bettina's daughter Clara's quest to find out who her birth father was that truly reveals their absorbing story. Each did what they had to do to survive and they paid dearly for their love for one another. 

THE PORCELAIN MAKER by Sarah Freethy is a skillfully told historical fiction novel in which tragedy casts a shadow.  As we follow Clara's search for answers about her father, much is also revealed about Bettina and pieces begin to fall into place about previously unanswered questions. With what effect?

THE PORCELAIN MAKER brings forward a dark time in history. Well-plotted and character-driven, this powerful story is memorable. It is engrossing, poignant, and well worth reading.  Highly recommended.

Learn more about The Porcelain Maker

SUMMARY

A sweeping, epic story of love, betrayal and art, set across Europe from the 1920s Weimar Republic, to dark and glittering 1930s Berlin and then to twenty-first century America where the story ends.
 
It’s 1929 and two lovers are caught at the crossroads of history as Nazi Germany is about to unleash its darkest forces. Richard, a Jewish architect and Bettina, a beautiful and celebrated German female artist, on the eve of World War II. Their love sparks brightly but it cannot last.
 
Later, at the turn of the twenty-first century, Bettina’s daughter Clara goes on a journey to trace her roots and discover the identity of her father, a man she has never known. As Clara pieces together the puzzle of her real origins, we follow the story of Richard and Bettina, and reveal its tragic and jaw dropping final twist as Clara weaves together the fabric of her past and discovers the secret that has always been kept from her.
 
The novel is inspired by the true story of the white porcelain pieces Hitler adored, the concentration camps where they were made, and the SS guards who were given them.


What do you think about this review?

Comments

1 comment posted.

Re: A well-plotted, character-driven, and powerful WWII novel

Great
(Absolute Digitizing 1:22am November 20, 2023)

Registered users may leave comments.
Log in or register now!

 

 

 

© 2003-2025 off-the-edge.net  all rights reserved Privacy Policy