Strong independent women after WW2

Remember the Morelli family from A New York Secret? In that book Tom featured prominently, together with his girl Lily. The Lost Girl of Berlin tells the story of Tom’s neighbour Kate Mancini. Kate grew up next door to the Morelli family, together with her sister Bianca. Two Italian families living in the Village.
It’s 1946 and Kate is in Germany, reporting on the aftermath of the devastating World War 2. While traveling through Berlin, she happens upon a little girl of about 10 years old. She is sitting in the rubble in front of a blown-up house, all alone. Kate cannot do anything else but rescue the mute little girl.
Luckily Kate is not alone on her tour through Germany. One of the other journalists is the handsome and caring Rick Shearer. Together they pick up the girl and bring her to safety with friends of Rick, who live in Germany.
Returning to the United States, Kate’s hopes are crushed, as women are simply not hired for jobs that men could do instead. While Rick easily gets an important job as a reporter, Kate struggles to get even a small freelance job reporting on women’s topics. It takes all of her energy to get her career on track, so much that she cannot afford herself to fall in love with Rick.
But then tragedy strikes. Will the German orphan ever speak again? Will Rick’s reputation survive the post-war years?

Author Ella Carey has written a strong second novel in her Daughters of New York series. I liked it even better than I did A New York Secret. Just like in A New York Secret the protagonist is an American woman and most of her battles are fought in America. Most of the story in The Lost Girl of Berlin is set in post-war America, as opposed to America during the war in A New York Secret. Again a strong female protagonist is the shining star of the novel. And Kate even has historical origins!
In the author’s note Carey tells the reader that “parts of Kate’s professional journey are inspired by the life of Pauline Frederick, the pioneering American female broadcast journalist.” Doing a little research online I learn that Frederick started her career in journalism already as a high school student. When she was 18 years old, she had to have her womb removed, leaving her unable to ever have children. Frederick decided to devote all of her time to a career. After high school she studied at the American University in Washington, where she received a bachelor’s and master’s degree in political science and international law. In her work as a journalist she encountered the problem that men usually weren’t interviewed by women. That is why she turned to interviewing the men’s wives instead. She has had to work hard and fight for her place in the masculine world of broadcast journalism. This historical story behind the character of Kate gives the novel just a little bit more depth.

Is there no flaw in this novel? Unfortunately, that is not the case. Just as I remarked in my review of A New York Secret some characters in The Lost Girl of Berlin have quite the sensational change of heart. For example, one of the characters switches suddenly to the totally opposite of the opinions he has expressed throughout the book. Almost the entire novel he is an arrogant aristocrat with a low opinion about girls of lower class, especially with a foreign background like Kate’s. Suddenly he bursts into tears, is sorry for everything he has ever said and devotes himself again to his family. I think in real life these things take a little more time, making this feel a bit forced and unrealistic.

All in all, however, I can only say that I loved reading The Lost Girl of Berlin and that I am most certainly looking forward to the next book in the series! Hopefully I won’t have to wait too long!