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by Milo Todd
For readers of All the Light We Cannot See and In Memoriam, a moving and deeply humane story about a trans man who must relinquish the freedoms of prewar Berlin to survive first the Nazis then the Allies while protecting the ones he loves.
In 1932 Berlin, Bertie, a trans man, and his friends spend carefree nights at the Eldorado Club, the epicenter of Berlin's thriving queer community. An employee of the renowned Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld at the Institute of Sexual Science, Bertie works to improve queer rights in Germany and beyond, but everything changes when Hitler rises to power. The institute is raided, the Eldorado is shuttered, and queer people are rounded up. Bertie barely escapes with his girlfriend, Sofie, to a nearby farm. There they take on the identities of an elderly couple and live for more than a decade in isolation.
In the final days of the war, with their freedom in sight, Bertie and Sofie find a young trans man collapsed on their property, still dressed in Holocaust prison clothes. They vow to protect him--not from the Nazis, but from the Allied forces who are arresting queer prisoners while liberating the rest of the country. Ironically, as the Allies' vise grip closes on Bertie and his family, their only salvation becomes fleeing to the United States.
Brimming with hope, resilience, and the enduring power of community, The Lilac People tells an extraordinary story inspired by real events and recovers an occluded moment of trans history.
In what ways, if any, does this book alter your perceptions of WWII, the Holocaust, and/or America's role in the liberation of Germany? Did anything surprise you?
Like most of you, I had read many books about the Holocaust but I had never heard to the reimprisonment and continued persecution of homosexuals after what was supposed to be the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps. This shocked me so much that I had to research it to see if it was true hi...
-Tyra_D
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-kim.kovacs
"Stirring...In Todd's hands, this vital chapter of LGBTQ+ history comes to life, as the characters find a means to survive through found family. This timely historical drama hits hard." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Todd's detailed narrative conveys the terrors and uncertainties of life during wartime: the inability to trust even close neighbors or loved ones' true identity; the fear of attack; the wrenching horror of trying to make sense of who lived and died. The ambitions and joys of Berlin's queer community are equally well drawn...Todd vividly illustrates the power of love and community in the face of oppression." —Kirkus Reviews
"A well-written, engrossing story full of suspense; a good addition to literature on the history of LGBTQIA+ Germans during World War II." —Library Journal
"In The Lilac People, Milo Todd brings to life the hope, joy, and complexities of trans identity and community in Weimar Berlin and beyond. At once a celebration of what becomes possible when humans truly accept one another and a stark reminder of the precipice between personal freedom and catastrophe, the story of Bertie Durchdenwald's fight for autonomy, dignity, and love cuts through history to underline what's at stake in our present moment." —Jason Lutes, creator of Berlin
"Exhaustively researched, gorgeously crafted and presciently timed" —LA Times
"This beautiful, necessary story, full of enthralling action and sharp moral questions...announces an important new voice in American fiction." —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"The Lilac People is wholly unique and original. The novel offers a fresh and timely perspective, illuminating the inclusion of a much-needed historical trans narrative, one that celebrates the soul-sustaining life force of community." —The Boston Globe
This information about The Lilac People was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Milo Todd is a Massachusetts Cultural Council grantee and a Lambda Literary Fellow. His work has appeared in Slice Magazine and elsewhere. He is co–editor in chief of Foglifter and teaches creative writing to queer and trans adults.
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