Leaving Berlin
Targeted by McCarthyism for his prewar politics, a young Jewish writer who fled the Nazis to America makes a desperate bargain with a fledgling CIA to work as a spy in a decimated Berlin. "From the bestselling author of Istanbul Passage--called a "fast-moving thinking man's thriller" by The Wall Street Journal--comes a sweeping, atmospheric novel of postwar East Berlin, a city caught between political idealism and the harsh realities of Soviet occupation. Berlin 1948. Almost four years after the war's end, the city is still in ruins, a physical wasteland and a political symbol about to rupture. In the West, a defiant, blockaded city is barely surviving on airlifted supplies; in the East, the heady early days of political reconstruction are being undermined by the murky compromises of the Cold War. Espionage, like the black market, is a fact of life. Even culture has become a battleground, with German intellectuals being lured back from exile to add credibility to the competing sectors. Alex Meier, a young Jewish writer, fled the Nazis for America before the war. But the politics of his youth have now put him in the crosshairs of the McCarthy witch-hunts. Faced with deportation and
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Returning to East Berlin in 1949 as a celebrated literary exile, Alex Meier is also working off a deal with the CIA. He is meant to inform on the cultural figures around him. He starts to see how badly that ends.
Leaving Berlin was written by Joseph Kanon and published in 2015. Kanon writes Cold War espionage fiction in the tradition of Alan Furst and John le Carre. His other novels include The Good German and Defectors.
Leaving Berlin is fictional but set in the real divided Berlin of 1949 to 1950, with documented historical figures including Bertolt Brecht in supporting roles. Joseph Kanon researched the period extensively.
Leaving Berlin is 371 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Leaving Berlin takes most readers 6 to 8 hours to finish.
Leaving Berlin is a standalone novel by an unknown author, not part of a series.
Leaving Berlin is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.