The Porcelain Maker is a dual timeline novel about a couple kept apart in Germany during World War II and a woman in 1993 who follows a trail of porcelain figurines to find out the identity of her birth father. 

In 1993 Clara Vogel has been searching for figurines marked as “Allach Porcelain”. She knows they are connected to her birth father but doesn’t know his name as her mother kept his identity secret until her death. Along with her adult daughter (Lotte) Clara will follow a series of clues back to Dachau, Germany.

The reader also follows the tragic love story of Bettina, a talented German artist and Max, an Austrian Jew and architect from 1925 to 1941. Their romance is set in the midst of the rise of antisemitism in Germany and they can’t marry and live in poverty and constant fear of being turned in by their neighbors. When the worst happens and Max is sent to a labor camp Bettina will go to great lengths to protect both Max and their future family. 

Like many novels that tell a story about this dark time in world history The Porcelain Maker shows a couple devoted to each other and their art stuck in a regime that had no respect for love or free expression. I appreciated everything I learned about how art was quickly politicized with the modern styles (like what Bettina created) on the outs and anything that glorified the “Germanic spirit” the new ideal. There are plenty of people to hate in The Porcelain Maker but also plenty that tried to fight for what was right and I thought the author did an excellent job of showing the various reactions by German citizens to what was happening around them. 

Although this is not a particularly fast- paced or light in tone novel  I think readers will appreciate Max and Bettina’s devotion, Clara’s determined search and what she and Lotte are able to create out their family history.