Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada

This novel was first published in 1947. It is written by a German man who lived a colourful life, having killed a schoolfriend in a duel and spent much of his adult life in psychiatric hospitals trying to conquer his various addictions. The novel is much more peaceful than either the subject matter or the author's life might suggest and is based on real life events. It is focused on small acts of resistance and the effect they can have on individuals and the wider public. Following the death of their son in the war, an older German couple (Otto and Anna) start to hand write a postcard a week denouncing the Fuhrer and the Reich's politics. The couple drop those cards in buildings across the city and the novel follows the people who pick them up, the gestapo investigation and the couple themselves. I enjoyed this novel as it did not fall into the usual goodies and baddies trap of war stories. The Gestapo investigator is cruel but not stereotypically so and is quite a likeable character whilst Otto is quite awkward and not particularly kind or charitable. It is also refreshing to read about resistance which did not involve elaborate, heroic gestures because that makes it much easier to imagine the smaller-scale reality of Berlin during the war. The afterword which describes the couple on which Otto and Anna are based was very interesting. I would recommend this as a different take on a theme but I don't think it is outstandingly well written and the dialogue can be a bit clumsy at times (possibly a result of the translation).