Joanna Brady

I was so excited when I learned that Joanna Brady had released her second novel. I read her first one years ago when it was first released and LOVED it. “Night Witch in Berlin” did not disappoint!

With August 2021 being the 50th anniversary of the surprise overnight raising of the Berlin Wall, I have been reading novels getting the perspectives of Americans and East Germans over the events leading up to it. This is the first Soviet perspective I have read, and it is fascinating.

It is obvious that Joanna did a lot of research for this brilliantly written story. There are characters I loved and others I detested; but they all elicited an emotional response from me, the sign of great character development. At its heart, it is a love story – romantic love, sisterly love, motherly love.

Captain Kira Voronova is an ace pilot with the Soviets’ Night Witches, a battalion of Russian female pilots, some of them barely out of their teens, flying biplanes on nightly bombing missions over Nazi territory. (If you loved “The Huntress” by Kate Quinn, I highly recommend this book to you.) She is forced to spy on American Intelligence officer Major Vick Moran. But who is spying on whom? Kira will be forced to make decisions, and the wrong choice could place her before the firing squad. My only regret was that I was unable to set aside the time I needed to totally immerse myself in this wonderful novel. At some point I plan to go back and re-read it in order to fully appreciate the remarkable bravery exhibited by its myriad of characters.

I highly recommend this book to those who enjoy discovering another unknown gem in history. Actually, I recommend it to everyone!… (meer)