Shadows of Berlin by David R. Gillham

The war may be over, but some memories refuse to stay buried.

Shadows of Berlin by David R. Gillham is an emotional historical novel about survival, guilt, identity, and the lasting wounds carried by those who lived through the Holocaust.

In 1955, Rachel Perlman is living in New York City with her American husband, trying to build a new life far from the devastation of wartime Europe. A Jewish refugee from Berlin, Rachel has survived what so many others did not—but leaving Germany behind has not freed her from the memories of what happened there.

When a familiar painting unexpectedly resurfaces, Rachel is forced to confront secrets from her past and the painful choices she made to survive. As the life she has carefully constructed begins to fracture, the boundaries between memory, guilt, and truth become increasingly difficult to ignore.

Moving between postwar New York and Rachel’s memories of Berlin, Shadows of Berlin explores the complicated reality of surviving catastrophe when survival itself can carry an unbearable weight.

Haunting, thoughtful, and deeply human, this is a story about trauma, love, art, and the difficult journey toward forgiving yourself for surviving.

Perfect for readers who love: WWII and postwar historical fiction, Jewish historical fiction, stories of survival, complicated female protagonists, family secrets, art and history, and emotionally powerful novels about the lasting consequences of war.