A Woman in Berlin

Begun on the day when Berlin first saw the face of war, the author describes life within the falling city as it was sacked by the Russian Army. Fending off the boredom and deprivation of hiding, she records her experiences, observations and meditations in this stark and vivid diary. Reports of the bombing, the rationing of food and the overwhelming terror of death are written in dispassionate, though determinedly optimistic, prose. It caused huge controversy when first published in German in the 1950s. In 2003 it was republished in Germany to critical acclaim - and more controversy. Newly translated into English, this is an astonishing and deeply affecting account of a woman fighting for survival amidst the horror and inhumanity of war.