Inspired By Berlin, Juliet Conlin

July 16, 2020 | By Juliet Conlin | Reply More

I’m often asked how long it takes me to write a book. That’s a very difficult question to answer, as (for me, at least) it is not a linear process. That is, I don’t sit down and map out the plot, construct my characters, do the research, and then start typing away. (In fact, I hardly type at all during my first draft; I write almost all of it longhand!) The process is far more helter-skelter than that.

The idea for a novel is usually sown as a tiny, tiny seed somewhere in my brain, many years before it actually becomes a writing project. Then, in between the demands of everyday life – children, housework, the day job, paperwork, exercise – the idea gradually takes on form until I get a real sense that it can be crafted into a story.

Sisters of Berlin began, some six years ago, as a writing project entitled A Hunger Artist, from an idea my husband gave me. Originally, it was about a woman suffering from an eating disorder, who discovers that her great-grandfather was a hunger artist – these were performers, common in the 18th to 20th centuries, who starved themselves for extended periods of time at “freak shows” for the amusement of paying audiences. I wrote a couple of pages before deciding that this was not going where I had hoped, so I put it aside and wrote another book instead – The Lives Before Us, my third novel.

Then, around the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (in 2014), I decided I really wanted to write a book about Berlin, my adopted home city, and a place I love. The character of Nina (the protagonist in Sisters of Berlin) had never left me, so I rifled through my notes, drafted some more, and gradually, the story came together.

In the very first draft, Nina’s eating disorder takes centre stage, but some very constructive feedback from beta readers suggested that there were two competing storylines, neither of which were being realised to their full potential. So I took the book apart again and set about doing a complete re-write, and this time, it became clear that the book was primarily about sisterhood.

Set in contemporary Berlin, Sisters of Berlin tells the story of Nina Bergmann, who, after the violent death of her sister, comes face-to-face with inner demons she believed long since banished, and discovers how her family’s past and that of the once-divided city are linked in unimaginable ways.

Like my main character – Nina – I grew up in West Berlin. And so I experienced first-hand one of the most dramatic and thrilling events in modern European history: the dismantling of the Berlin Wall. I vividly remember a cold November evening in 1989, when I – along with thousands of other Berliners – went to see history in action. Dozens of people had already climbed up onto the Wall (not easy to do; at over 11 feet, it was fairly high!), and suddenly I was being pushed from the back and pulled from above and before I knew it, I was standing on the Wall – exhilarating times!

But it is not so much this momentous occasion itself, but rather its turbulent, disruptive aftermath – still very much tangible three decades on – that forms a shifting backdrop to Sisters of Berlin. I soon realised that there are advantages and disadvantages to writing a novel about a place I call home.

The streets and neighbourhoods are ones I am intimately familiar with, so I could conduct research from my very own doorstep, as it were. But then I also had to take a step back and view my home city from the perspective of a reader who might not know Berlin at all. What would a reader be interested in? What is it about Berlin that makes it special, different? In doing so, I became aware of the power of place as a witness to the stories of the past – the Wall; Checkpoint Charlie; the quiet, tourist-free residential areas; the city’s more neglected urban pockets.

I found myself intrigued by how Berlin’s fractured history has shaped – and oftentimes devastated – individual, family and collective identities. In particular, I was fascinated by the nonchalance of ordinary Berliners towards their city’s past – a past in which their day-to-day lives remain inseparably intertwined.

Sisters of Berlin is about one of these seemingly ordinary Berliners and her family, whose lives are still unsettled by the ghosts of the past. It is also a story of how Berlin as a city continues to reckon with its history. It is not the first novel I have written, but it is my first novel set so close to home.

While I have always wanted to write about Berlin, it took me some time to find a story that fit the city. So many thrillers have been written about Berlin, I didn’t want to add to that list. I wanted to tell a story exploring themes that most interest me – human relationships, grief, sisterhood, love, and most of all, hope. These themes crop up in my writing time and again, as they are universal, always present in our lives, no matter who and where we are.

As a writer, I am always trying to make sense of the world, or at least shine a light on certain aspects of it. I hope I have done my hometown justice in Sister of Berlin, and that my readers are inspired to visit!

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Juliet Conlin is a British-German writer and translator and writes in both English and German. She holds an MA in Creative Writing and a PhD in Psychology. Her novels include The Fractured Man, The Uncommon Life of Alfred Warner in Six Days and The Lives Before Us. Her latest novel Sisters of Berlin is set in contemporary Berlin and was released in April 2020. Juliet lives in Berlin with her husband and four children.

SISTERS OF BERLIN

BERLIN 2019.

A young writer is brutally attacked in her home and left for dead. For her sister Nina Bergmann, it’s the beginning of a nightmare that will threaten to destroy her marriage, her job and – ultimately – her life. As she sets out to unravel the truth about what really happened to her sister, Nina comes face-to-face with inner demons she believed long since banished and discovers that her sister’s past and that of the once-divided city are intertwined in unimaginable ways. The Wall may be gone, but its legacy still haunts Berlin.