Berlin 1932: teenage Sophie soon discovers what the rise of Fascism will mean to her disabled brother and to her Jewish lover. If you liked The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, you will love this huge, realistic, blackly humorous novel, not least for its rebellious heroine and her outsider friends. And the really good news is that this book is one of a series, so you can continue the Zarco chronicles as soon as you finish reading.
Late that night, Dr Lowenstein examines her. His medical evaluation is against the law, since he is a Jew and she is an Aryan, but Vera's womb itself has become illegal, so what do the bespectacled eyes of a seventy-year-old Jewish physician matter by comparison?
He discovers incision marks on her belly.
'I've seen those a lot lately,' he tells her. 'The surgeon tied your ovarian tubes.'
'So ... so I'm no longer pregnant?' Vera asks timidly, shivering. She has had the chills for the last hour. 'And I'm barren?'
