My enormous thanks to Jess Barratt at Simon and Schuster for sending me a copy of The Porcelain Maker by Sarah Freethy in return for an honest review. It’s my total pleasure to share that review today.

Already available in other formats, The Porcelain Maker will be released in paperback by Simon and Schuster on 23rd May 2024 and is available for pre-order through the links here.

The Porcelain Maker

Two lovers caught at the crossroads of history
A daughter’s search for the truth

Germany, 1929.
When Max, a Jewish architect, and Bettina, a beautiful and celebrated German avant-garde artist, meet at a party their attraction is instant. In love with each other and the art they create, their talent transports them to the dazzling lights of Berlin. But Germany is on the brink of terrible change, and their bright beginning is soon dimmed by the rising threat of Nazism.

When Max is arrested and sent to the Dachau concentration camp, it is only his talent at making the exquisite porcelain figures so beloved by the Nazis that stands between him and certain death. At first, Bettina has no idea where Max has been taken but when she learns of his fate, she is determined to rescue him whatever the cost.

Now, a lifetime later, Bettina’s daughter, Clara, sets out on a journey to uncover the truth about her identity. As she weaves together the fabric of her past, she discovers the terrible secret her mother wanted hidden forever.

For fans of Heather Morris and Kristin Hannah, The Porcelain Maker is a sweeping, epic story of love, betrayal and art, set across Europe from the 1920s Weimar Republic, to dark and glittering 1930s Berlin.

My Review of The Porcelain Maker

Max is about to meet the love of his life, Bettina.

The Porcelain Maker is an affecting, immersive story that totally captivates the reader. I found it such an authentic read that I had to research the characters in more detail afterwards and was surprised that, other than historical figures like Himmler, these vivid, artistic and rounded people are invented by Sarah Freethy.

There’s such a plethora of fiction based on World War Two that I wasn’t anticipating such a fresh approach as we have in The Porcelain Maker. Of course there are mentions of the treatment of Jews, the power of the Reich and the depiction of the Arian ideal. However, instead of a focus on the horrors of concentration camps, instead there’s an intelligent, carefully researched and imaginative consideration of art underpinning the story. With references to real life works and artists, it becomes even more difficult to accept that Max and Bettina are not real people. I found the way the story was constructed around Max and Bettina’s separation and the art of the time was fascinating.

I loved meeting these two creative artists. The sense of passion that Max and Bettina have for one another and their absolute loyalty to each other are deeply emotional aspects. Whether it’s because Sarah Freethy is writing about artists I’m not sure, but her prose has a painterly atmosphere, enabling the reader to picture both character and setting so clearly. As Clara researches her past, discovering what happened to her mother Bettina, she becomes more real too and every element of this story feels assiduously researched and authentically presented.

I thought the balance between the two timelines in The Porcelain Maker was really well achieved. There’s far more about the 1930s and 40s than the 1993 era. This is as it should be because it is very much that past that has shaped Clara’s present life, and the effect is achieved with sophistication and without sentimentality.

There are themes one might expect, such as the brutality of the Nazi regime, but The Porcelain Maker is more about the nature of family, of true love and of courage and creativity. Alongside the making of porcelain artifacts is an impactful iterative image that we all have feet of clay, that we can be turned to dust in an instant, but that we can create our own destinies too. In amongst the grief, the pain and loss presented here is a true sense of the endurance of the human spirit.

I picked up The Porcelain Maker expecting that I would appreciate yet another war story. What Sarah Freethy gave me was so much more. She has delved into a neglected area and produced a compelling narrative that is immersive, convincing and that feels written with uncompromising integrity. I thought The Porcelain Maker was excellent.

About Sarah Freethy

Sarah Freethy worked as a producer and script consultant in television before turning her hand to fiction. The Porcelain Maker is her debut novel. She lives in Hampshire, England with her family.

For further information, visit Sarah’s website, follow her on Twitter/X @freethy and find Sarah on Facebook and Instagram.