The Pieces from Berlin
The Pieces from Berlin by Michael Pye is a First Edition novel published by Knopf on February 25, 2003. This 352-page work explores the life of Lucia Müller-Rossi, a prominent antique dealer in Zurich, whose past is intertwined with the trafficking of stolen art during wartime Berlin. The narrative unfolds when Sarah Freeman, upon seeing a familiar inlaid table in Lucia’s shop, triggers a series of revelations that challenge the silence surrounding Lucia’s history and the consequences of her actions.
Readers will find a gripping exploration of the psychological impacts of war and the legacy of the Holocaust as the story delves into the intertwined lives of survivors. The novel addresses themes of memory and the moral complexities faced by individuals during times of conflict. As Lucia’s son, Nicholas, confronts his mother’s past and Sarah seeks to reconcile her own wartime experiences, the book presents a poignant reflection on the choices made in dire circumstances and their lasting effects across generations.
Official synopsis Publisher
From the author of Taking Lives: a riveting new novel, inspired by a true story from secret criminal files, about a woman who made her fortune trafficking stolen art in wartime Berlin—and the fearsome price other people paid for her crimes.
Lucia Müller-Rossi is the grandest of Zurich antique dealers, still flourishing and still respect-able in her nineties. Her past is unknown, or conveniently ignored, until the day Sarah Freeman looks into her shop window and sees a delicate inlaid table that she and her husband once owned before the war. It is a “piece from Berlin,” and because of it, decades of lies and silence are about to end.
With the skills of a master storyteller and the insights of a historian, Michael Pye brings to life the devastating legacy that shadows the Holocaust. The Pieces from Berlin is the graphic story of survivors finding the courage to face a buried past, as Lucia’s son, Nicholas, patches his memories of wartime Berlin into a true picture of his mother’s life and crimes, and Sarah Freeman tries to exorcise her ghosts by involving an Englishman who has his own wartime scars.
Their intensely moving stories cast brilliant light on the terrible choices people must make in the very worst of times—and the human toll they exact through the generations.
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