Wartime Berlin, a city where the police answer to the Gestapo, tension is everywhere, and ordinary people struggle to survive is the setting for Hans Fallada’s novel Every Man Dies Alone. Written in 1947 and based on real events, this novel is translated into English for the first time. It opens with the delivery to Anna and Otto Quangel notification of the death of their son in the invasion of France. A quiet working class couple who keep to themselves, they share a building with a retired judge, a Nazi party family, an opportunistic petty criminal and an elderly Jewish woman. Grief over their son’s death, inspires them to begin a campaign of writing anti-Hitler postcards, dropping them in buildings around the city. They envision the rising of the common people against Nazi control of their lives as the cards are passed from hand to hand, inspiring discussion and dissent. In reality the cards are immediately turned in to the police, inspiring only terror in the hapless individuals who pick them up. In the dance of cruelty, manipulation, conspiracy and betrayal surrounding them, they doggedly continue to drop their postcards. United and fearless, convinced the war will be over soon and life will be better, they grow closer as the months go by. The police inspector in charge of their case is initially amused. As time passes Gestapo pressure increases, amusement turns to frustration and fear. Well written, following multiple intersecting storylines giving a taste of life in wartime Berlin, this is a can’t put down novel. ~Marla Vandewater