Wunderland

Epstein's hard-to-put-down novel covers several time periods, from a teenage friendship in 1933 to a mother-daughter relationship in 1989, and their intertwined history. The narrative diverges from other World War II novels by viewing the rise of Hitler through the eyes of two teenage German girls, Renate Bauer and Ilse von Fischer. Epstein does an amazing job of showing how Hitler's reign changed the German people through the characters of these two close friends. Ilse joins the Nazi movement while Renate discovers a family secret. How their lives were changed, not only in the moment but with lasting consequences felt way into the future, fleshes out Ava's story in 1989. When Ava's mother's ashes are delivered to her house along with a trove of unmailed letters, she is moved to unpack her mother's background and her own past.