by Anna Funder
First published 2006
In the ruins of Cold War Berlin, a young Australian woman embarks on a personal quest to uncover the truth about the East German Stasi secret police. As she interviews former Stasi agents and their victims, a chilling portrait emerges of a state that monitored its citizens' every move. With each revelation, the stakes rise, and the author must confront the moral complexities of a society where trust was a luxury and freedom a privilege.
Genres: history, 20th-century, non-fiction, 21st-century
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: moral-complexity, personal-quest
Setting: Berlin, East Germany
Period: Cold War
307 pages · Kindle Edition · Harper Perennial