Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of Forty Autumns: A Family's Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall

Forty Autumns: A Family's Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall
reading-galore avatar reviewed on + 115 more book reviews


This is an enlightening account of the building and destruction of the Berlin Wall with memories of the times as told by the granddaughter of an East German family. The author's mother makes it out of East Germany, marries an American and comes to the United States. The rest of her family is stuck behind the Iron Curtain with minimal contact between them over the forty years. The East German family's courage and faith in family ties helped them survive this difficult time. I enjoyed reading this story although much of the history about the wall was already familiar to me. The family's situation, although not unique for the time, was still very interesting and heartbreaking.