Dan Fesperman's novel Winter Work is set during the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, which sparked the reunification of East and West Germany about a year later. After World War II, East Germany was sealed behind the Iron Curtain and became a police state similar to the USSR. Loyalty to the state was everything, and neighbor spied upon neighbor; the atmosphere was one of constant fear and paranoia. As Fesperman writes, "Buy a book and someone always had to know which one, and then made a note of it. Make a phone call and you assumed it was overheard. Say something critical, even in passing or in jest, and perhaps someone would get the wrong idea. If you heard nothing about it later, was that good or was that worrisome?" The Stasi, East Germany's secret police, was responsible for the enforcement of the loyalty requirement. At one point, the organization is thought to ...