Berlin Calling

By: Kelly Durham

Narrated by: Christopher Lane

Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Germany 1938. While young and old are captivated by the country's rapid ascent under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, naive Maggie O'Dea, an American studying abroad, finds her own fortunes turning after falling in love with a handsome soldier and landing a job with the Propaganda Ministry. Embodying the infectious spirit of nationalism sweeping the country, her powerful dispatches launch her broadcasting career as a champion of the Fatherland.

But as Germany invades one peaceful neighbor after another and the wheels of World War II are set in motion, Maggie starts opening her eyes to the grim reality of Hitler's intentions. Torn between her successful career rooted in the allegiance to her adopted land and a growing dread over her role in a tyrant's ruthless reign, Maggie - supported by a new love - must fight her own war of conscience. Will she survive a conflict threatening the world...and her own life?

©2015 Kelly Durham (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

WWII Absolute Must Read; In Line With Some of the Best!

Highly recommend purchasing this book if you are hesitant. Berlin Calling had been on my wishlist for a couple of months and I kept putting it off in search of a great WWII book with more reviews. Wasted time. This is a great book! A fantastic book! As a matter of fact, this novel is now on my Top Five list of WWII historical fiction novels along with Beneath A Scarlet Sky, The Kommandant’s Girl, Lilac Girls, and The Nightingale.

This novel is a bit refreshing, in the sense that it is not based on a Jew in the ghetto or concentration camp, nor does it convey the severe oppression and harrowing details relative to the manner in which the Nazis abused the Jews. Instead, Durham’s protagonist is an Irish-American character naively choosing to live in Berlin and pursue a career after her studies at the university. Similar to many other novels, the war manages to swallow up all youth and somehow place them in the position to fight for their country. The novel is not typical, expertly written, intriguing, imaginative, and unpredictable.

Excellent narration! Some scenes and characters are truly brought to life. What an outstanding job.

Cannot recommend this novel enough!

A new Perspective

I have read a lot of WWII novels. This one, told from the inside of the German Propaganda News/Radio was a new take. An interesting perspective on how people were informed and led to believe the craziest of ideas, the sadness I felt knowing the truth, yet having no power to reach into the novel and help. This book was well told. I feel like there could have been a bit more to the story and it had a bit of a slow start but overall a good read

Great story. Excellent narration!

Christopher Lane's capture of American, British and German accents makes this a winner. I highly recommend if you like WW 2 stories.

The story dragged

It was too long; a great deal of the minutia could have been edited out or at least shortened. The ending was incomplete; you're left wondering what happened to two major characters in the novel. It was a good idea, and did a decent job of showing the war-time shortages and the destruction of Berlin. The Maggie character was interesting and lively. But the story needed serious editing and tightening, so only three stars from me. I would read more by this writer, but I'll look at the length very seriously before I purchase another book by him.

predictable but good.

Good, but a bit predictable. Reading was very good and will look for the sequal.

different perspective on WWII

i liked the book because i never read it from this perspective. It was very interesting and well written.

Best in the series for me.

Enjoyable, like the main characters too, a few implausible coincidences too many but good listen and finished really fast, so I didn't find it too long and the ending left openings for another addition.

Wanted it to end!

I really enjoy good WWII historical fiction, however Berlin Calling is not one I would recommend. I kept checking to see how many more hours were left on the recording. I found that I really didn’t like any of the characters, and did really didn’t care what happened to them including Maggie, the main character. The story of espionage was boring, and even a child could figure out how to break the code.
The only redeeming quality was the narrator, Christopher Lane. He did remarkable job with the accents, but not so remarkable with female voices. For a much more interesting read, I would suggest The Tattooist of Aushwitz by Heather Morris.

Very Informative

In addition to a great story line, this book gave a lot of insight of life during the war in Germany. It showed it from a different perspective than I am used to getting. I loved the main character, Maggie even if she was somewhat naive as to what was going on around her. I learned a lot about World War II while listening to this and it really kept my interest. The narrator was great with mastering all of the different accents. The only thing I wish was different was the ending...but I'm guessing maybe it was left that way for a possible sequel??

Not as good as advertised

The narrator was awesome. The story was disappointing. Not a very good novel. It could have been told in 20 minutes. If you like history, spare yourself this book.

I tried three times to get into this

After trying to read twenty chapters or so I found myself irritated with the main character of this book and after the final time I gave. I found the main character unbelievable and naive ignoring world events and advice because was having a good time.

An intriguing narrative

I was unsure if this was going to equal other ww2 novels but the narration was so good I did enjoy this story Characters where really good

Great listen.

I really enjoyed this book. My only complaint is that it finished all too soon!