A Night Divided by Jennifer A Nielsen

"The fence began to be replaced with a concrete wall that was taller, thicker and stronger. Sharp edges of broken glass were cemented into the top to prevent anyone from climbing over it, and watchtowers were built so fewer officers could guard larger areas. With one stacked block of concrete over another our prison slowly became a fortress. And all we did was watch it happen."

On the night the Berlin wall divides the city Gerta's father and one of her brothers has travelled to the west. Now they are a family divided with Gerta's mother and oldest brother Fritz on one side and her father and middle brother Dominic on the other side. Over the coming months life on the eastern side becomes harder and no one can leave - if they are caught, they are jailed or worse executed. Gerta hears that the brother of her best friend has a plan to leave but the next day they learn he has died. Gerta knows any attempt to reunite her family will be extremely dangerous. But then she sees her father across the wall, and he seems to be sending her a message about digging. Mysteriously Gerta receives a drawing which has perhaps come from her father. It is a building and when she finds it, she discovers there might be a way to dig a tunnel to the other side. 

"It was just a pencil drawing of an old building. Square and made entirely of brick, there were two long windows in the front, but with no glass in them except for jagged pieces in the corners. An old chimney ran up the side of the building ... There were three ground-level window openings too, but no door."

Here are a couple more text quotes:

"I wanted books that weren't censored. I wanted to see places that were now only pictures in smuggled magazines that had passed through many hands. ... I wanted a home without hidden microphones, and friends and neighbors I could talk to without wondering if they would report me to the secret police. And I wanted control over my own life ... "

"We've lied to the state and to the police and to nearly everyone we've spoken to in the last month. You said yourself that isn't wrong, not for this tunnel ... right now we are sitting directly below the Death Strip! What does a stolen shovel matter at this point."

Every page of this book will have you holding your breath. It seems impossible that Gerta and her brother can possibly do this and not be found. Adding to the tension their mother has had to leave to visit their grandmother, and their food is running out and their nosy neighbour is certain to inform on them to the Stasi. Ms Yingling gives a detailed plot summary in her blog post. 

Bookseller blurb: With the rise of the Berlin Wall, Gerta finds her family suddenly divided. She, her mother, and her brother Fritz live on the eastern side, controlled by the Soviets. Her father and middle brother, who had gone west in search of work, cannot return home. Gerta knows it is dangerous to watch the wall, yet she can't help herself. She sees the East German soldiers with their guns trained on their own citizens; she, her family, her neighbors and friends are prisoners in their own city. But one day on her way to school, Gerta spots her father on a viewing platform on the western side, pantomiming a peculiar dance. Gerta concludes that her father wants her and Fritz to tunnel beneath the wall, out of East Berlin. However, if they are caught, the consequences will be deadly. No one can be trusted. Will Gerta and her family find their way to freedom?

I picked up this book which was published in 2015 for just AUS$4 from a recent charity book sale - it is in hardcover copy with an intact dust jacket. I really enjoyed A Night Divided but the Kirkus review is not so positive:

Based on historical fact, the story shines a personal light on the many families who were separated by the division of the two cities. Nielsen convincingly paints a chilling picture of repressive, Communist-controlled East Berlin, so much so that when Greta sees her father on the other side of the wall, years later, pantomiming digging, readers easily accept her plan to dig an escape tunnel into West Berlin. Kirkus

This is a wonderfully written story about life behind the Berlin Wall. Middle school audiences will devour this fast-paced thriller about a horrific time in German history. Historical Novel Society

You can see other books by Jennifer A Nielsen here. 

This book is the perfect follow on from these:

The Wall between us

The Great escape

Escape

The Wall Between Us by Dan Smith

Anja and Monika are best friends. They live in Berlin and it only takes a few steps to cross the street to see each other ... until!  The year is 1961. It is August 13th.

1. How will I see Monika if there's barbed wire right along the middle of the road.

2. How will Otto get back home? (Papa says Ottos will be find. He says cats are cleverer than the devil and that they can find a way through anything.)

3. How will Uncle Konrad get to work?

4. What's going to happen now?

The answer to question four forms the content of this book. We read journal entries by Anja and letters from Monika although sadly these cannot be delivered.

"At midnight on 13th August, 1961, East German authorities built a barrier of barbed  wire and cinder blocks to stop their citizens from leaving. ... The Berlin wall was approximately 155 kilometres long and (it) was five metres high in some places. .... Approximately 200 people were killed trying to escape from East Berlin to West Berlin. At midnight on 9 November 1989, restrictions were ended and people were finally free to pass through the Berlin Wall."

Read an extract from the first chapter here. And here is a very detailed review with text quotes and images. 

This is a compulsive, nuanced and relevant tale, about an important period of recent European history.  Historical Novel society

From the beginning of the story, we are aware that Anja and Monika get arrested for their crimes. Each journal entry or letter is preceded by a Ministry for State Security case file note. These detail Anja and Monika’s arrest in the Autumn of 1961. What we are yet to discover is what the two get up to and how they get found out. Smith presents us with one great big jigsaw puzzle and piece by piece, we have to ascertain how the arrest will unfurl. Just Imagine

I was on the edge of my seat the whole way through this gripping first-hand account which relates the events between 13th August and 7th October - the date of Anja's arrest. I highly recommend this book for readers aged 10+. It was published in 2023 by Chicken House in the UK. This publisher always deliver splendid books for middle grade readers. 

Bookseller blurb: A stunning, exciting story from acclaimed author Dan Smith - author of the Carnegie Medal-nominated Nisha's War. BERLIN 1961 Anja and Monika live opposite each other. They play together every day, with Otto the cat. One night they wake up to bangs and shouts. Soldiers are building a huge barbed wire fence between them. A terrible forever wall that gets longer and higher until it divides the whole city. On the East side, Monika is scared - neighbours are becoming spies and there are secret police everywhere. It's Anja who spots that Otto has found a way across. If he can visit Monika, then perhaps she can too. But Anja gets trapped and there's no safe way back . . .

I also enjoyed this book by Dan Smith:

She Wolf

A Great Escape by Felice Arena

The setting for A Great Escape is Berlin during the cold war just as the wall is going up and East and West are divided. The story begins on the day of the division. Barbed wire is put up all over the city and citizens are no longer allowed to travel between the two parts of the city. Peter has been left behind with his grandparents while his parents and sister are now on the other side.

Peter's whole focus is now on escape. He tries asking at the checkpoint but he is chased away. He sees a young couple who try to escape over the wall at the back of a cemetery. The young girl makes it over but her fiance is captured. Peter knows he cannot escape this way.

Now Peter is even more determined to leave. At midnight he quietly leaves the house he shares with his Oma and invalid Opa. He thinks he can swim across to the West but just as he is about to jump in the river he sees another young man with the same idea. He watches in horror as this man is shot by police who have quickly arrived in a patrol boat.

Things are very quiet on the East side of the wall. So quiet Peter notices every movement. A flock of pigeons wheel overhead. Peter follows them to the roof of a building. This building straddles the wall with half in the east and half in the west and it is set to be demolished. The pigeons he saw are homing pigeons and they are in the care of Otto, an apprentice carpenter, who has been forced to work on building the wall. Otto has a plan to fly to the West but he needs materials so he makes a promise to Peter that he can fly too.

The aspect of this book that I really appreciated, oddly, was the selfishness of Peter. Early on we meet Oma and Opa and it is easy to see they are struggling. Opa can no longer talk and needs assistance with every aspect of daily life. Now that Peter's parents are gone how will these elderly people get enough money for food? Peter, surely has to take some responsibility to help them. He is so fixed on leaving he cannot see that he actually needs to stay.  I don't want to spoil the story but during the final scenes I did let out a huge sigh of relief.

A Great escape is the third book in a series by Felice Arena which focus on bravery and war time from the point of view of a young protagonist. The first was The Boy and and Spy set in Italy during WWII and the second Fearless Frederic set during the Paris floods of 1910.  I think A Great Escape is the best one so far. I highly recommend this book for all young history fans. It is easy to read (only 156 pages) and the pace of the action means you just gallop through the story just as Peter himself races around Berlin desperate to escape and desperate to avoid capture. I read this whole book in one sitting. Perfect for age 9+. I was lucky to have an advance copy from my local bookshop.  I read this book in January. This book will be published in early March 2019. I would follow A Great Escape with Oranges in No Man's Land by Elizabeth Laird and Honey Cake by Joan Betty Stuckner.