The Girl from Berlin

A Novel

By: Ronald H. Balson

Narrated by: Fred Berman

In internationally-bestselling author Ronald H. Balson's newest audiobook, The Girl from Berlin, Liam and Catherine come to the aid of an old friend and are drawn into a property dispute in Tuscany that unearths long-buried secrets.

An old friend calls Catherine Lockhart and Liam Taggart to his famous Italian restaurant to enlist their help. His aunt is being evicted from her home in the Tuscan hills by a powerful corporation claiming they own the deeds, even though she can produce her own set of deeds to her land. Catherine and Liam’s only clue is a bound handwritten manuscript, entirely in German, and hidden in its pages is a story long-forgotten…

Ada Baumgarten was born in Berlin in 1918, at the end of the war. The daughter of an accomplished first-chair violinist in the prestigious Berlin Philharmonic, and herself a violin prodigy, Ada’s life was full of the rich culture of Berlin’s interwar society. She formed a deep attachment to her childhood friend Kurt, but they were torn apart by the growing unrest as her Jewish family came under suspicion. As the tides of history turned, it was her extraordinary talent that would carry her through an unraveling society turned to war, and make her a target even as it saved her, allowing her to move to Bologna—though Italy was not the haven her family had hoped, and further heartache awaited.

What became of Ada? How is she connected to the conflicting land deeds of a small Italian villa? As they dig through the layers of lies, corruption, and human evil, Catherine and Liam uncover an unfinished story of heart, redemption, and hope—the ending of which is yet to be written.

An extraordinary, poignant, & triumphant story.

I loved the exquisite writing, the story which is part memoir and part fast-paced legal drama, and the characters (except the Nazis) and settings. The music history and joy, and the sweet/sad love of family and a true love bound it all together like a well-played symphony.
I had many "if only" moments, but the story told wouldn't have been as great.
The narration was well done as well.

A moving book

A beautiful story of a tragic period in history. It will keep you listening and leave you with a broken heart.

Love the narrator

Another great book by Balson. I love listening to Fred Berman read! Liam and Katherine are perfect ❤️

Nice twist of a story

I have read many books in this genre and I really like the way in which this is presented. Great then and now story which transfers very smoothly.
Also the narrator did an excellent job.

Great story

Great story, the only thing I would comment is that it is very odd that so many people from a small town in Italy would speak English. Other than this it was great.