Even though I know my history, I still felt suspense and involved in the family’s life, rooting for a reunion at some point in time. This is a captivating book which is difficult to put down. I was surprised to learn that the family did have some contact, even though sparse and often a long time in between, with their daughter in the West. Most of the book tells to story of the family in East Berlin, how they lived, worked and feared the brutal regime. The book is difficult to put down, in between the story of Hanna and her family, the author also gives some historical context for the reader. This book takes history one step further and tells it from a personal level. Forty Autumns: A Familys Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall, by Nina Willner, is both a heart-wrenching, inspiring true story of a family torn asunder by political repression and a clear-eyed, detailed history of the East German regimes forty-year reign. Many of us have learned about East Berlin in school, from books, TV or espionage movies. I cannot imagine the determination and bravery it takes for a young person to live everything they know behind and escape into an unknown world. The story takes shape after World War II when Berlin was split between the Allied powers. Hanna left behind two loving parents, eight brothers and sisters, as well as friends and childhood memories. Publisher: William Morrow 1St Edition edition (October 4, 2016)įorty Autumns: A Family’s Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall by Nina Willner documents how the author’s mother escaped the communist rule of East Berlin at the enormous price of being separated from her family for 40 years.Willner is a former American military intelligence officer, the first to lead intelligence operations in East Berlin during the cold war.

Forty Autumns: A Family’s Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall by Nina Willner is a non-fiction book chronicling the separation of the author’s mother from her family in East Germany.

Forty autumns book