People are disappearing. I spoke to my neighbour yesterday, we laughed at some nonsense, and today he is gone. We only discovered he was missing because the dog wouldn't stop howling and we all knew he would never leave his beloved pet. So I am careful, extremely careful.

I used to live in Berlin, on Prenzlauer Allee.

Now I live in East Berlin, still on Prenzlauer Allee.

To many it may seem a difference scarcely worth mentioning, one small extra word added. But to me it is the difference between night and day, between life and death. In East Berlin no one trusts anybody any more.

Two families divided by war.

A entire city on the edge of disaster.

1948, Berlin. Russian troops have closed all access to the city. Roads, railway lines and waterways are blocked and a city of two million people is trapped, relying on airlifts of food, water and medicine to survive. Anna and Ingrid are very different women resorting to very different ways to survive. But they both need to find those they love and, to do that, find a way to escape from Berlin.

Praise for kate Furnivall's writing:

'Kate Furnivall has a talent for creating places and characters who stay with you long after you have read the final word' JANE CORRY

'Hugely ambitious and atmospheric' KATE MOSSE

'Perfect escapist reading' MARIE CLAIRE

'Fast-paced with a sinister edge' THE TIMES

'Thrilling, compelling, wonderful!' LESLEY PEARSE