Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve
Countless thrillers and books with the World War theme have been written, so to produce an original one of either genre is a nearly insurmountable task. Oriana Ramunno has accomplished this by setting her second full length novel in Berlin in 1944 and partly in Kiev in 1941.
The chief character is Hugo Fischer, a criminologist, horrified by the Nazi excesses and quietly objecting to them, his nephew, Gioele, a boy who has miraculously been saved from a concentration camp death, and Edmond, Hugo’s father, a master of the jovial taunt and watchful eye.
From the beginning, it is a gripping read. Two bodies of a prominent and respected doctor and his researcher wife are discovered which initially seem to indicate death by murder/suicide. Although superficially convincing, this theory does not satisfy the niggling doubt that worries Hugo. So the mystery arises then becomes complicated by the finding of a third murdered body in the river Spree.
A personal pressure to reach a solution to the crimes which he thinks are linked, mounts on him. This is made increasingly difficult by the wartime horror of life in a devastated city, and Hugo struggling with the pain and increasingly debilitating symptoms of MS.
Occasionally, these dark times are lifted slightly by mild humour. Coffee, long missed by the ordinary citizen, is a hot drink made by grinding anything, even, beans. This revolting brew is referred to as ‘ersatz’ coffee, frequently drunk but never enjoyed. There is a visit to a circus with its exotic animals which provides a momentary magical experience for Gioele, and also a touch of magic in the black market in Alexanderplatz when Hugo, exchanging coupons for bread, manages to escape certain dire consequences for acquiring extra loaves, by having a bag with a false bottom.
The destruction of the once great city is constantly referred to with descriptions of the rubble, the famous landmarks, the old zoo; but overwhelming is the atmosphere of dust and the odour of death. Surviving is the dominant goal of all with daily horrors to confront. As in the camps, Berlin has become a society built on cruelty and a form of madness.
The chapters on Ukraine concentrate on this with a horrifying account of the massacre in Kiev in 1941. It was almost impossible to remain sane in the face of the deaths of the innocent.
The plot is a striving to find a solution to the three murders, reduced in their impact by so much awareness of war; but it continues to weave a path through the chaos to the concluding surprising twists. The ever looming smoke that clouds the skies overhead does not hide the eventual truth.
The harsh reality of these times is lightened by the child, his devoted uncle Hugo’s decency and the humorous asides by Edmund with his age and experience lending perspective. Romance is not absent either, and Adele, a nurse, steps in at crucial moments, bringing relief and rare happy interludes.
Checking horrific references such as the ‘ frozen meat medal’ and ‘flying crocodiles’ indicates extensive research. As it is also backed by her primary source, her great uncle, Oriana Ramunno’s book has authenticity and clarity that powerfully carries its readers to a world we had hoped would never again emerge. Hugo and his family do triumph but many did not.
Smoke in Berlin
[2025]
by Oriana Ramunno
translated by Antony Shugaar
Hemlock Press
ISBN: 978 000866 893 8
$34.99; 370pp