Wunderland

"Searing . . . a heartbreaking page-turner."-People (Book of the Week)

An intimate portrait of a friendship severed by history, and a sweeping saga of wartime, motherhood, and legacy by an award-winning novelist

East Village, 1989

Things had never been easy between Ava Fisher and her estranged mother Ilse. Too many questions hovered between them: Who was Ava's father? Where had Ilse been during the war? Why had she left her only child in a German orphanage during the war's final months? But now Ilse's ashes have arrived from Germany, and with them, a trove of unsent letters addressed to someone else unknown to Ava: Renate Bauer, a childhood friend. As her mother's letters unfurl a dark past, Ava spirals deep into the shocking history of a woman she never truly knew.

Berlin, 1933

As the Nazi party tightens its grip on the city, Ilse and Renate find their friendship under siege-and Ilse's increasing involvement in the Hitler Youth movement leaves them on opposing sides of the gathering storm. Then the Nuremburg Laws force Renate to confront a long-buried past, and a catastrophic betrayal is set in motion. . . .

An unflinching exploration of Nazi Germany and its legacy, Wunderland is at once a powerful portrait of an unspeakable crime history and a page-turning contemplation of womanhood, wartime, and just how far we might go in order to belong.

Praise for Wunderland

"The title of this searing account of life in Nazi Germany alludes to Alice's Adventures-and the surreal feeling of watching what you thought was true exposed as false. . . . Inspired by the memoir of a Hitler Youth member, it's a heartbreaking page-turner."-People (Book of the Week)

"[An] intimate, unflinching saga of friendship, womanhood, and the awful legacy of Nazi Germany."-USA Today

"Engrossing . . . Epstein reveals the devastating choices these women make."-Real Simple

"Wunderland is both an engrossing family drama and a foray into a dark period of history . . . a wholly original angle to the WWII novel. You'll read it in one shivered sitting."-Refinery29

"[A] heartbreaking historical tour de force . . . Man's inhumanity to man-and the redemptive power of forgiveness-is on stark and effective display in Epstein's gripping novel, a devastating tale bound for bestseller lists." -Publishers Weekly (starred review)