In this “spare, effecting novel,” a playboy in WWII Berlin discovers that the bliss of romance cannot shield him from the horrors of war (Publishers Weekly).
Friedrich, a wealthy but naïve young man, arrives in Berlin from Switzerland in 1942 with dreams of becoming an artist. He is hypnotized by Kristin, a beautiful artist’s model who teaches him how to navigate a bustling city filled with danger. Yet the horror of war feels far away as Friedrich and Kristin luxuriate in the Grand Hotel, where even Champagne and fresh fruit can be obtained thanks to the black market.
But the mood in the city darkens as the Nazi Party begins to terrorize anyone who might be disloyal to the Reich. And when Friedrich discovers that Kristin is not everything she seems, she tells him an astonishing secret: that her real name is Stella, and that she is Jewish, passing for Aryan.
As Friedrich confronts Stella’s unimaginable choices, he finds himself woefully unprepared for the history he is living through. Based in part on a real historical character, Stella sets a tortured love story against the backdrop of wartime Berlin.
