A Night Divided, Jennifer Nielsen. It is 1961 and the Berlin Wall goes up, dividing families, separating friends, enclosing people within its borders for years to come. Gerta, her brother Fritz, and their mother are left within the patrolled walls, while her father and brother, Dominic, left the city earlier that day for work. Life takes a drastic change: food is hard to come by, work is scarce, trust is absent and armed guards watch every move. One day, while walking with her friend, Anna, she notices her father and brother on the other side of the wall dancing and making odd motions. She believes he is signalling for her to dig under the wall and escape. She immediately tells Fritz and they form a plan. Their mother left to stay with their grandmother who is sick and away for many days. Gerta and Fritz find the place where they are supposed to dig and their daring attempt at escape begins. Getting dirty and trudging tools to their secret spot is risky and they worry about their neighbor who questions their every move with suspicion. Gerta's friend, Anna, lost her brother while attempting to escape and Anna is being told to stay away from Gerta.

Danger lurks around every corner, movements are monitored closely and no one is to be trusted. Hunger sets in, exhaustion causes mistakes and their mother has to buy into their plan. Digging a tunnel is no easy task and their time is running out.

For readers pulled toward gripping historical stories with a backdrop of truth, this book is for you. To know this is a real time period is chilling. Nielsen is the author of The False Prince, and an earlier book review is available.