France, 1942.

Orphaned sisters Lรฉa and Rose live under the increasingly oppressive German occupation in Orlรฉans. Times have been tough since their mother died โ€“ all they have left is each other โ€“ but practical Lรฉa does her best to take care of Rose, the daydreamer. 

Then Lรฉa loses her job, just as Rose has a sudden and heart-stopping encounter with Andrรฉ, a handsome young French fugitive, that changes her life forever. 

The women must flee the city, and everything theyโ€™ve ever known, finding safe lodgings with a kindly Loire winemaker and his family on their idyllic farm. 

But they arenโ€™t safe for long. And, faced with the grim choice between imprisonment or travelling to Germany to work for the war effort, Lรฉa โ€“ against everything she believes in โ€“ reluctantly chooses the latter, thinking only of taking care of Rose. 

In a remote town in eastern Germany, Lรฉa and Rose are confronted with the horror of the Nazisโ€™ brutality and treatment of the women workers, and learn to survive by clinging to the love theyโ€™ve each found in a bleak existence, and by keeping their enemy even closer . . . 

Yet tragedy, heartbreak and betrayal await these brave sisters, as their bond is tested beyond anything they could have imagined in this heart-wrenching WW2 tale.

THE SISTER BEHIND THE BERLIN WALL

Historical Novel Society-NYC - International Open Mike Reading & Discussion of The Sister Behind the Berlin Wall, 21 February 2026