Confession with Blue Horses by Sophie Hardach
If, like me, you are a fan of the Deutschland 83-86-89 TV series, then this book is for you. Half set in East Berlin in 1987-9 and half in 2010, it follows the story of Ella and her search for the truth. In 1987 Ella is living with her family in an apartment near the wall. Her parents are art historian academics, who are becoming more and more uncomfortable with and restricted by the state’s viewpoint over worthwhile art and the freedom of artistic expression, or lack thereof. Whereas Ella’s grandmother, who lives downstairs, and of whom Ella is very fond, is a card-carrying GDR supporter. To her grandmother’s dismay, Ella’s parents hatch a plan to escape to the west. Flash-forward to Berlin in 2010 where we meet Aaron, an English PhD student interning at the Stasi archive. The shredded Stasi files are being painstakingly reconstructed, and victims of persecution are able to access their surveillance documents, discover traitorous friends and even read interrogation transcri...