Often what the reader brings to a book makes it either better or worse in the reading. I expected this to be the case when I requested a Net Galley advance reading copy of The Slow March of Light by Heather B. Moore, to be published on September 7. Her story is based on a true happening of an American soldier who worked as a spy during 1961 as tensions escalated between the East and West and ultimately culminated in the overnight erection of the Berlin Wall. My husband’s draft notice that began a military career was instigated by an increased need for soldiers when the Berlin Wall went up, and we had visited East Berlin, traveling as a military family during the time he was stationed in West Germany. I knew I would be picky about details in the book.
Heather bases about half of her story on interviews with the protagonist Bob Inama. His plans to enter the university law school are interrupted by a draft notice. With enough German language lessons behind him to be fairly fluent, he becomes an ideal person to train by polishing his pronunciation and understanding so that he can attach himself to a professor who travels between East and West. The pictures he takes of possible East German military sites are invaluable.
The other half of Heather’s story is largely fiction, based on a girl, Luisa Voight, who gets a small mention as Bob tells the social side of his story. Heather weaves a tale around her grandmother in the East side of Berlin who refuses to leave to come to the West until it appears to be too late. Meanwhile, Luisa joins a risky spy network herself to help those who want to cross into freedom.
Bob gets caught and sent to prison where he forms an odd relationship with one of the guards. The wall goes up before Luisa can convince her grandmother to come to the West side. Tension for both the factual tale and the fictional one keep the reader in high suspense. Both rang true all the way through to this reader who passed through Checkpoint Charlie while the Berlin Wall was still in place which means that what I brought to the book made it all the better. I will not spoil the ending, but will say that the truth in the ending is even stranger than fiction. Which means you need to be sure to read the author’s note.