Books I've Read: Under the Same Stars

 

I've loved all of Libba Bray's books, so when I saw this one in the library, I knew it was a must read for me.  And I wasn't disappointed.

The book is set in three different time periods - Nazi Germany during the early part of the war, 1980s Berlin and 2020 New York during the pandemic.  Very different times, very different characters, but somehow, all the people in these three eras are connected.

The story centers on a tree known as the Bridegroom's Oak.  Legend has it, if you write a letter and post it in the tree, your true love will write back.  In 1940s small town Germany, Sophie is still young enough to believe in fairy tales even as her best friend Hanna urges her to grow up and think about other things.  But Sophie continues to write to the tree, the letters she receives back the only bright thing in an increasingly dark world as war sets in.  

When she and Hanna join the Resistance, the oak and its legendary powers become critical to their mission to get innocent people out of the country before they are put to death.

In 1980s Berlin, Jenny has just arrived with her family to spend the summer.  She's suffocating under the weight of their expectations and unsure if the life she wants is the one she sees her mother living.  When she meets Lena, a punk determined to tear down the wall splitting the city in two, everything changes.  And then there's the old lady in her apartment building whose secrets are too intriguing to ignore.

And in 2020, the pandemic has everyone shut into their homes.  Miles, just finishing his final year of high school, is alone in his apartment, on of his mothers trapped overseas, the other staying away because she works as a nurse at a local hospital.  When his friend Chloe receives a strange package from her Swedish grandmother, they embark on a mission to discover the truth behind a mystery from 80 years ago - how two girls went missing near the Bridegroom Oak.

When I started this book, I had no idea how these three very disparate stories might relate to one another and how they might come together.  I was fascinated by the portrait of Berlin in that 1980s period - I lived in Berlin later, in the early 2000s, and by that time so much of the division between East and West had already been erased.

When, at about the halfway point, I started to figure out how each time period related to each other, I was compelled to keep reading, desperately wanting to know how everything played out.

The details of each time period were vividly drawn .  There must have been a lot of research done to get each time and place feeling this authentic and lived in.  And even though the wartime story was the the central one, neither of the other ones felt like they were in service of it or existed solely to push through ideas and information that would help resolve that one.  Every set of characters had their own lives, loves and things that concerned them, outside of the other story.

So, I'd recommend this one.  It's well written, well researched, and more importantly, a compelling story that will keep you turning the pages as each new revelation comes to light.

But don't just listen to me. Here's the blurb:

It was said that if you write to the Bridegroom’s Oak, the love of your life will answer back. Now, the tree is giving up its secrets at last.

In 1940s Germany, Sophie is excited to discover a message waiting for her in the Bridegroom's Oak from a mysterious suitor. Meanwhile, her best friend, Hanna, is sending messages too—but not to find love. As World War II unfolds in their small town of Kleinwald, the oak may hold the key to resistance against the Nazis.

In 1980s West Germany, American teen transplant Jenny feels suffocated by her strict parents and is struggling to fit in. Until she finds herself falling for Lena, a punk-rock girl hell-bent on tearing down the wall separating West Germany from East Germany, and meeting Frau Hermann, a kind old lady with secrets of her own.

In Spring 2020, New York City, best friends Miles and Chloe are slogging through the last few months of senior year when an unexpected package from Chloe’s grandmother leads them to investigate a cold case about two unidentified teenagers who went missing under the Bridegroom’s Oak eighty years ago.