School Library Journal Review
Gr 7--10--Set in East Germany during the days leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, this accessible verse novel is told from the perspective of Helena, a 16-year-old pianist who dreams of one day working as a conductor. When her best friend escapes over the border with her family, Helena begins to question the restrictions and surveillance imposed upon the citizens of the German Democratic Republic. Her burgeoning activism is further stoked by her father's involvement with the freedom movement and by a romantic relationship with Lucas, an idealistic piano student who wants Helena to flee to the West with him. When Helena is approached by the secret police, the Stasi, to inform on Lucas, she is forced to evaluate her loyalties and make decisions that will define her as an artist, daughter, citizen, and friend. Helena's voice is clear and earnest, and her desires and challenges easy for readers to grasp, although the consequences of Helena's choices are somewhat anticlimactic at times. Green's lyrical style features restrained use of imagery, with poetic elements most visibly expressed through line breaks and the positioning of words and phrases for rhythmic and expressive effect. Personification is also employed, with Helena's first-person narration interspersed with short sections in the voice of St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig; these sections use a pattern poem format, with the lines arranged in a pillar shape to reinforce the notion of collective strength. VERDICT This verse novel has thematic and stylistic similarities to works by Kip Wilson and will be of interest to those seeking read-alikes, as well as lovers of classical music. It could also support classroom units relating to the German Democratic Republic or political activism.--Leonie Jordan
Horn Book Review
In this novel in verse set in 1989, sixteen-year-old Helena lives in Leipzig, East Germany, during a period of oppression when citizens inform on their neighbors. But times are changing, and peaceful protests against the government are gaining momentum. Helena finds solace in music and begins to fall in love with a fellow piano student, but she's pressured to spy on him and reluctantly reveals his plans to escape. As weekly peace prayers at the Saint Nicholas Church turn into a massive march, Helena chooses to confront her betrayal and her fears, and act: "There comes a time / when every voice / must cry out, a time // when every person must lean / into their fear, spread their wings / and rise up. // That time / is now." Green conveys Helena's anxieties and hopes in equal measure in lyrical free-verse passages that flow together like a musical composition. She balances discussion of the political upheaval of the time just prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall with a sensitive exploration of Helena's personal struggles and emotional growth. An author's note with historical background, a glossary, and selected sources are appended. Sylvia VardellMay/June 2024 p.139 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
In the German Democratic Republic during the latter months of 1989, a 16-year-old girl faces the realities of her government's violent control of its people. Helena's life in Leipzig revolves around music. An avid pianist, she imagines someday becoming a conductor and using the power of music "to stir people / to dreams. Imagining / the possibility lets loose / butterflies within me." Constraints about people's life choices in the GDR, and her mother's practical concerns over her future, leave her career plans uncertain. For Helena, music is her path to freedom and a form of release from the oppression surrounding her. But after her best friend escapes to Austria during a rush on the border, Helena joins her father in protesting the intolerable conditions in which they live. Under constant observation by the Stasi and with new travel restrictions in place, citizens are unable to leave the country, and their expressions of dissent are violently shut down. Helena's narrative is a moving piece of historical fiction that is detailed, well researched, and remarkable in its ability to transport readers into another era. Written in verse, this lyrical novel skillfully tackles the complicated issues of political oppression, police brutality, and nonviolent acts of resistance. The poems vary in length and style, emphasizing major themes and important moments with delicate artistry. Emotionally resonant and masterfully crafted. (author's note, glossary, selected sources) (Verse historical fiction. 13-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
All Helena has known her whole life has been the Communist regime in the East German city of Leipzig. Locked behind the Iron Curtain, she finds solace in playing the piano, but, after the defection of her best friend and the subsequent crackdown on her community by the East German Stasi, Helena feels her dream of being a composer threatened. She must choose whether to protect herself by giving up others' secrets--including those of the young man she may be falling for--or to join the burgeoning protests fighting for a brighter future for all East Germans. Helena's story captures a ground-level view of the Monday demonstrations, peaceful protests that pitted the brutal Communist German government against citizens armed with only prayer and song. Poems carry the narrative, giving the book a very personal, introspective feel, impressing upon the reader the paranoia that many East Germans lived with after WWII. However, it also shows the power of hope against fear, as well as the strength of a united people in the face of tyranny.
