The Wall Between Us by Dan Smith

Anja and Monika are cousins and best friends. They live on the same street, across the road from each other and see each other every day. They even share a cat! And it’s Otto who entirely unwittingly is the start of all the trouble.

The time is 1961. The place is Berlin. The city is split into four sectors, each governed by one of the Allies in a war that ended before Monika and Anja were born. Three of the Allies co-operate with each other to oversee West Berlin as they do West Germany. But the USSR stands apart and, as Anja and Monika are born, so is East Germany, controlled by the Soviets. There is still freedom of movement between East and West Berlin, though, and the girls come and go without a thought. However, the somewhat arbitrary sector borders mean that the cousins actually live in two different countries.

But that makes no difference as far as the two twelve-year-olds are concerned. Until, that is, one night they and their families and neighbours are woken by the sounds of workmen and shouting bystanders. Taking everyone by surprise, the East German government has started building a barbed wire fence around West Berlin. Anja and Monika’s street has been split down the middle and they can no longer visit each other. As the days and weeks go on, the fence turns into the Berlin Wall, fortified and manned by soldiers with orders to shoot to kill anyone who tries to leave East Berlin.

The cousins are devasted. As the Wall gets higher, they can no longer even wave to one another. But Otto, the shared cat, is still able to come to come and go. Anja, desperate to see her friend, follows Otto to see how he is managing to cross the Wall. When she discovers his route, she determines to follow him…

The three word description of the back of this book says: thrilling, historical, adventure. That’s true on all counts. To that I’d add atmospheric, scary and a great sense of place. I’ve only ever visited Berlin since the wall came down, but that sense of a divided city was still there. And the confusion, incredulity and panic as the physical division of the city was enforced that Dan evokes in his book is a well-documented historical fact.

For me this book is fascinating as I grew up in a world with two Germanys and a divided Berlin. I was intrigued by the situation and read a lot about it. Berlin was the topic of a number of listening, speaking and translation exam questions as I studied German through school and into university. I’d have gobbled this book up if it had been available to me in primary school – just as I did two days ago in fact. I feel sure that it will appeal to a wide range of nine and ten year-olds because of its adventurous plot, the underlying sense of danger and the way it describes a hugely significant piece of twentieth century history.

Dan Smith is a talented and sympathetic writer. His plots and characters engage and captivate readers who are drawn into the action. The Wall Between Us does all these things apparently effortlessly. Inevitably Dan will have researched his subject carefully and in depth, but that work is hidden beneath the story and is never allowed to intrude. And so, whilst reading, it is easy to slip into another world and experience vicariously life dominated by a Wall.