Ainsi Berlin, Laurent Petitmangin’s second novel, confirms the author’s immense talent for probing the nuances and contradictions of the human soul.
The war has just ended. In the rubble of Berlin, Käthe and Gerd set out to build the new world they had fought for. They imagine a programme in which the children of the intellectual elite, removed from their families and raised free of sentimentality, will form a generation of superior individuals ensuring the future of East Germany. But as the wall goes up, a woman in the West has different ideals and dreams of renewal. Liz, an American architect, intends to do everything she can to defend the values of the Western world. When Gerd meets Liz, the strength of his convictions begins to waver...
With his hero torn between two women, tossed about by History, standing halfway between the opposing faces of Berlin, between two worlds, the author depicts a duel between feelings and ideals, an eternal fight against oneself.
