Venus, Vanishing: A Novel

by Rebecca Birrell

A blisteringly passionate and page-turning story of desire, art, and the stories lost to the darkness of history – for readers of Sarah Waters, Yael van der Wouden, and Alice Winn.

Berlin, 1928. Hannah is new to the pleasures and freedoms of the city. An artist, a runaway, she is building a new life, loving without boundaries and sketching with a cutting edge.

But the party is ending. Hannah begins a recklessly consuming affair with a powerful man’s wife and it soon threatens to do more than ruin both of their reputations. People are disappearing. The shadows of something unspeakable are growing darker. Her art could be the thing that secures her survival – or will deny her any chance of escape.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Queer, LGBT, Fiction, Historical, Lesbian, Adult

352 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication October 27, 2026

About the author

Rebecca Birrell grew up in Southport, and currently lives in Cambridge. She studied English Literature at UCL, followed by Women’s Studies at the University of Oxford. She has occupied curatorial positions at the Jewish Museum London, the Department of Prints and Drawing at the British Museum and at the Charleston Trust. In 2018 she undertook a fellowship at the Yale Centre for British Art. She recently completed her PhD at the Edinburgh College of Art. For the next year she will be Assistant Keeper of Paintings, Prints and Drawings at the Fitzwilliam Museum.

Reviews

[Ceecee · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1927, we find Jewish Hannah Sherman to be a reluctant seamstress in her parents workshop on Grenadierstrasse, Berlin. This is not the life she wants, indeed, she wants to be an artist and so she slips away to find a new life but her freedom comes at a cost. As her finances become strained like many others by 1928, she seeks out a former customer of her parents, Elke Grese, who she has always admired and she resumes her seamstress duties for her. She becomes obsessed with her patron, who enables her passion to be an artist. However, dark days are ahead and Hannah will need all her resources in order to survive.

This is a beautifully written and exceptionally well researched historical novel, combining the themes of art, politics, sexuality, friendship and love which is set in a changing Berlin. There’s a fantastic sense of place, Berlin before 1932 alongside the rise of the Nazi party and the emergence of a New Germany and what that means to Hannah, her partner Saul and her friend Charlotte. There’s increasing dread of the dawning of a new reality and what that may cost them
In more ways than one. The dynamics between them all are fascinating and constantly in flux, particularly those in relation to Elke. All the characters are portrayed with clarity.

The art element is excellent with Hannah and her paintings of Venus rising and then vanishing. This is combined with growing attitudes to artists that are seen by the Third Reich as degenerate. The Berlin of before is vibrant, alive, colourful and very well described and contrasts darkly with the growing oppression and lack of freedom of expression, as well as attitudes towards bisexuality.

There’s palpable pain in the writing, the losses, the betrayals and the need for bravery in order to live. It becomes very emotional and the authors afterword is like a knife to the heart.

Overall, this is a well paced novel which is meticulously researched and I like the angle it takes. I find it a fascinating read.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Pan Macmillan, Picador for the much appreciated only copy in return for an honest review.

[cyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review. This book was interesting to read but I feel like it lulled at some points. The storyline was a little bit repetitive and the book felt longer than it needed to be. The historical aspect of this was super interesting to me and i am glad the ending focused more so on that. I think this book spent too much time focusing on little events and then would reserve only one sentence for huge plot points leaving the book feeling a bit disjointed. Overall I did enjoy it but this book is definitely not for anyone who wants something fast paced.

[Leonie · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️3/4 (4.75 stars)

Honestly, this was such a great book!! I’m speechless
To start off, the research that went into this is evident from the first page. As readers, we start in 1927 where Hannah Sherman works as a seammistress in her parents shop. However, this isn’t the life she wants to lead...Hannah wants to become an artist and as fate has it, she eventually leaves her parents shop in order to be free and follow her dreams. We follow Hannah as she works her way through her new life, as she makes friends and lovers and eventually becomes enarmoured with an older women Elke (who was once also a customer of hers). Elke, however, isn’t who she seems she is and though the two connect really well. It becomes quite evident that Hannah forgives Elke far more than she should.
The novel depicts the setting (late 1920s leading up to ww1) soo extremly well and as someone who really enjoys well researched novels, this was quite the catch for me. Besides that, I really liked how the author portayed the propaganda and how, as a reader, the tension and uneasiness could practically be felt through the book. Moreover, I really adored Hannah as a character, I loved how she was flawed, made mistakes but eventually grew on them. I also really liked how her relationship to both Charlotte and Saul were depicted and also how her relationship with Elke (as well as the ups and downs) was depicted.
As I said, the novel really shines through it’s atmosphere as well as the general storybuilding and I would dare say, even through its storytelling. This is such an emotionally layered story which made me tear up, gasp but also smile like a fool quite a few times. The writing is also so, so good. I don’t even want to count how many times I dreaded that I was slowly coming to the end while reading this.
Overall, I can only say that I really recomment reading this! Especially if you’re a fan of well researched historical fiction and if you also enjoy a good character as well as story building.

Thank you SO much to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in ecchange for an honest and voluntarily given review ♡

[Theresa Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Venus, Vanishing offers readers a view into an aspect of Nazi propaganda, in the years leading up to the second world war, that I knew very little about. It specifically explores the theft of art created by Jewish women and its subsequent modification into German nationalist pieces that could be used as propaganda to promote the ideals of the Nazi state. The original artists not only had their work stolen and modified into pieces that promoted the extinguishing of their race, but they were also erased as artists, with the creation of these works then being attributed to German men, who didn’t even exist.

‘Most work by artists murdered by the regime was lost or destroyed, with a small fraction entering museum stores and private collections, hidden from public view.’

Through Hannah’s emancipation from her family, Rebecca Birrell creates this world in which Jewish artists, performers, and academics all intermingled in a bohemian lifestyle of creative expression and free love. She writes about desire and longing, intimacy and love, with such a beautiful fluency. Likewise, she conveys the dread and fear, as life began to change, and the Nazi regime asserted itself and made its intentions clear and all encompassing.

‘I was afraid, and my fear had become buoyant and persistent, it no longer subsided with sleep or reassurance as it had before.’

Theft and erasure are the key themes of this novel, and it explores them deeply and with great emotion. In the author note at the end, Rebecca Birrell expressed that she had ‘hoped to write a novel primarily about Jewish life, not Jewish death’, and I think she has achieved that. This novel serves as a counter-narrative to what is usually represented in contemporarily written historical fiction. It’s a beautifully written story, recommended to fans of literary history fiction and lovers of art history.

Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.

4.5 ⭐️

[Lindsay Payne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I devoured this. The research that has gone into this is evident. I am eager to read it again, but alas, I have already promised my proof copy to somebody I hope will enjoy it as much as I did.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tender and profound novel that will stick with you

[Kate Connell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story, a heart wrenching yet hopeful (bisexual) historical fiction tale of a Jewish artist in Berlin during the rise of the Nazis.

It’s 1928 in Berlin and Hannah has run away from home to avoid an unwanted marriage. She is building a new life for herself, devoting time to her art and falling in love. An old client from her time working as a seamstress with her mother admires her art and commissions further work from her. She becomes enamored with the woman, to the annoyance of her lovers Charlotte and Saul. But as Hannah’s time with Elke becomes more charged, she forgives more than she should, including Elke altering her paintings and displaying them under a false name. As Elke’s powerful position in the changing landscape of their country becomes clear, Hannah must take steps to ensure her safety, and the safety of the owe she loves.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of this novel.

[Cait · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hope this book is big

[Avery]

Dnf

[Eavan]

Just got this in the mail thanks to a LibraryThing giveaway... Thank you and yippee!

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is so many things: a heart-wrenching portrait of queer life in Berlin amidst the rise of fascism, a story of lesbian obsession and longing, a deeply researched history of German and Jewish art, a beautifully written tale of Jewish resilience. This made me want to pick up the author’s other book, and I rarely have the urge to read nonfiction. Highly recommend Venus, Vanishing.

[Jackie]

A sobering fictional historical perspective of a young woman leading up to Hitler’s atrocities. In 1928, Hannah Sherman leaves home to continue her passion for art even though she needs to work as a seamstress to live. Her mother was arranging marriage for her and it did not suit her zest and thirst for a different lifestyle.

Here in Berlin, the city life beckons her to engage in all sorts of pursuits…clubs, friends, lovers, and more importantly the immersion into the art form that she loves. A wealthy benefactor supports her while she creates portraits that are exceptional. The benefactor, however, has a devious plan to display her work which gives her no credit.

With good friend (and later husband), Saul they plot revenge which can only mean danger in a world controlled by Hitler and his henchmen. Increasingly dangerous, yet defying the odds, they take risks. Now, survival is not guaranteed. Choices must be made which will affect their lives.

Venus, Vanishing: A Novel is a heartbreaking truth about the evils of one man. Hannah is a composite of many female artists whose work was destroyed during a reign of terror. Admittedly, the story is slow to start, but once engaged it is a testament to strength, survival, and passion.

Includes Historical Notes, List of Artwork, and (forthcoming) Acknowledgements.

4 1/2 stars.

Thank you to LibraryThing Early Reviewers, Henry Holt and Company, and Rebecca Burrell for this ARC

[Sarah Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review: Venus, Vanishing: A Novel by Rebecca Birrell

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.02 out of 5 stars)

Disclaimer: I received a free advance review copy (ARC) of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts, critiques, and analyses presented below are entirely my own.

Full review available here: https://prairiefoxreads.blogspot.com/...

Publication and Context

Title: Venus, Vanishing: A Novel
Author: Rebecca Birrell
Expected Publication Date: October 27, 2026
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Page Count: 352 pages
Format: Softcover (ASIN: 1250457238 / ISBN: 9781250457233)
Genres: Historical Fiction / Queer / LGBT / Lesbian / Adult

Contextual Backdrop:
Slated for release in late October 2026, Venus, Vanishing is positioned as a blisteringly passionate entry into queer historical fiction. Drawing direct comparative nods to celebrated authors of the genre like Sarah Waters, Yael van der Wouden, and Alice Winn, Rebecca Birrell’s novel centers on the intersection of marginalized identities, art, and the oppressive march of history.
Purpose and Themes of the Work

The novel explores the fragile, fleeting nature of freedom and the stories that are eventually lost to the darkness of history. It serves as an examination of desire and art functioning under the shadow of encroaching totalitarianism. The core tension relies on the juxtaposition of boundless personal liberation against the looming, unspeakable threat of an ending era.
Summary of the Work

The story opens in Berlin in the year 1928. The protagonist, Hannah, is a runaway and an artist who is newly discovering the legendary pleasures and freedoms of the city. She sets about building a new life for herself, sketching with a cutting edge and loving without boundaries.

However, the vibrant, permissive atmosphere of the city is on borrowed time—the party is ending. Amidst this shifting climate, Hannah embarks on a recklessly consuming affair with the wife of a powerful man. This illicit romance quickly threatens to do far more than just ruin their social reputations. As the shadows of something unspeakable grow darker and people in the city begin to disappear, Hannah finds herself trapped in a high-stakes environment. Ultimately, her very survival becomes inextricably linked to her art, which will either serve as her means of escape or the very thing that denies it.
Analysis and Evaluation
Format, Pacing, and Structure

At 352 pages, the book is a page-turning experience. The pacing accelerates in tandem with the historical timeline—moving from the intoxicating, leisurely exploration of 1928 Berlin to a tense, suspenseful fight for survival as the societal walls close in.
Subjects and Voices

Birrell tackles the famous decadence and subsequent collapse of Weimar-era Berlin through a distinctly queer, female lens. Hannah’s perspective as a young, boundary-pushing artist provides a frontline view of the cultural zenith of the city, right before the encroaching political darkness begins actively erasing individuals like her.
Strengths and Limitations

Strengths: The book successfully delivers a high-stakes, atmospheric historical thriller. The blend of a dangerous, consuming lesbian romance with the palpable dread of late-1920s Germany offers a compelling, tension-filled hook.
Limitations: Without addressing the specific prose, novels dealing with the erasure of marginalized people during this specific historical period carry an inherent heaviness. Readers should expect a narrative where the romantic and artistic triumphs are heavily shadowed by historical dread.
Suitability and Audience Guidance

Content Considerations: Contains mature adult themes, illicit affairs, and the intense psychological and physical threats associated with the historical realities of late-1920s/early-1930s Berlin (including the disappearance of citizens).
Target Audience: Readers of adult historical fiction, particularly those drawn to LGBTQ+ narratives, art history, and suspenseful stories set during periods of immense political upheaval.

Conclusion and Verdict

Venus, Vanishing shapes up to be a gripping, passionate exploration of love and survival in a world on the brink of collapse. Rebecca Birrell effectively uses the vibrant, doomed setting of 1928 Berlin to tell a story about the vital, sometimes dangerous nature of art and queer desire. For readers who appreciate atmospheric, high-stakes historical fiction where the personal and political violently collide, this October 2026 release is well worth adding to your radar.
Supplementary Elements: Reading Companions
What to Read Next

For readers who enjoy the stylistic comparisons and themes highlighted in Venus, Vanishing:

Tipping the Velvet (or Fingersmith) by Sarah Waters – A must-read for fans of passionate, brilliantly plotted lesbian historical fiction.
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden – Noted as a comparison title, this novel also deals heavily with buried histories, hidden desires, and the echoes of mid-century European trauma.
In Memoriam by Alice Winn – Another comparative title that beautifully and tragically explores forbidden queer love against the backdrop of devastating early 20th-century history.

Rating: ★★★★ 4.02 / 5

- Prairie Fox 🦊📖

[sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Rebecca Birrell, Pan Macmillan | Picador and NetGalley for the chance to read and review this book. I loved it!!!!
*Venus, Vanishing* is one of those historical novels that completely transports you to another time and place. Rebecca Birrell's debut is rich, immersive, beautifully written, and emotionally devastating in all the right ways. Combining queer love, art, ambition, and the looming threat of political upheaval, this is a novel that feels both deeply personal and heartbreakingly relevant. By the time I reached the final pages, I was completely invested in Hannah's story and reluctant to leave her world behind.

Set in Berlin in 1928, the novel captures a city at a fascinating crossroads. Through Hannah's eyes, we experience the intoxicating freedoms of the Weimar Republic—a vibrant artistic and cultural landscape where creativity flourishes and people are pushing against traditional boundaries. Hannah herself is a wonderful protagonist: young, talented, determined, and eager to build a life on her own terms after running away to the city. Watching her navigate Berlin's art scene, discover her own voice as an artist, and begin to understand who she wants to be was one of my favourite aspects of the novel.

The relationship between Hannah and Elke is at the emotional heart of the story. Their affair is passionate, complicated, and impossible to forget. Elke is a fascinating character in her own right—elegant, powerful, and seemingly untouchable, yet carrying vulnerabilities beneath the surface. The chemistry between the two women is electric, but what impressed me most was the emotional depth Birrell brings to their connection. This isn't simply a romance; it's a relationship that challenges both women, shapes their identities, and forces them to confront difficult truths about themselves and the world around them.

One of the book's greatest strengths is how seamlessly it balances the personal with the historical. While Hannah's love story and artistic ambitions drive the narrative, the growing political tension is always present in the background. Readers know what is coming, and Birrell expertly uses that knowledge to create a sense of creeping dread. As the novel progresses, Berlin's atmosphere gradually changes. The freedoms that once seemed limitless begin to narrow, people start disappearing, and the threat of fascism becomes impossible to ignore. The contrast between the city's dazzling cultural life and the darkness gathering beneath it is handled brilliantly.

I was particularly fascinated by the novel's exploration of art. Birrell asks important questions about what art can accomplish during times of crisis. Can it preserve forgotten stories? Can it resist oppression? Can it help people survive? Hannah's artistic journey becomes deeply intertwined with the political realities around her, and the novel's reflections on creativity, memory, and legacy add tremendous depth to the story.

The writing itself is stunning. Birrell's prose is elegant and evocative without ever feeling inaccessible. Her descriptions of Berlin's galleries, clubs, streets, and hidden corners are so vivid that I often felt as though I were walking alongside Hannah. The emotional scenes are equally powerful, written with sensitivity and restraint that make them hit even harder.

I also appreciated how the novel shines a light on stories that history has often overlooked, particularly queer lives and relationships during this turbulent period. There is a strong sense throughout the book of people trying to create beauty, love, and meaning in a world that is becoming increasingly hostile to their existence. That tension gives the novel much of its emotional power.

If I have one minor criticism, it's that some sections move at a more deliberate pace, particularly when the focus shifts heavily toward artistic circles and discussions. However, those moments also contribute to the rich atmosphere and thematic depth of the novel, and they never diminished my overall enjoyment.

Ultimately, *Venus, Vanishing* is a remarkable debut—part love story, part historical portrait, and part meditation on art, memory, and survival. It's a novel about passion and loss, about the stories that history remembers and the ones it tries to erase. Rebecca Birrell has crafted something both intimate and epic, and I found myself thinking about Hannah, Elke, and their world long after I turned the final page.

A beautifully researched, gorgeously written, and emotionally resonant novel that deserves a wide audience. I can't wait to see what Rebecca Birrell writes next.

⭐ 4.5 stars

[Paul Wagenbreth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zadie Smith’s recent provocative piece in The New York Review of Books in which she remarks on the unfashionability of the notion of art for art’s sake is not without pertinence to a discussion of Rebecca Birrell’s aesthetically rigorous “Venus, Vanishing,” which makes its artistic sensibilities smoother sailing for the lay reader by situating its narrative in the fictionally fertile milieu of ’30s Germany, where its protagonist, Hannah Schmidt, has left her mother’s house to try to make her artistic mark in the wider world.
An aspiring painter as well as a Jew, she takes up residence in an apartment where she comes into contact with an assorted lot including the landlady, Olga, who in short order shows her true colors when Hannah comes upon her reading in a biased newspaper that “the “Jew is the cause and the beneficiary of our misery;” a fellow lodger and art appreciator, Maria, with whom Hannah fast becomes inseparable; a couple of other art appreciators and practitioners with whom she will become physically intimate, Charlotte, a dancer, and Saul, a museum employee who will later become her husband; and, in a relationship upon which much of the novel’s later developments will turn, an older, well-appointed sophisticate, Elke, with whom Hannah will also become intimate and who commissions Hannah to paint nudes of her as well as of some other women in her orbit not shy about making known their sentiments about Jews (“that’s how Jews have seized so much power,” one says, “they’re fearless in the way animals are”).
Uncomfortable enough the women are, though, about disrobing in front of Hannah that Elke hatches a plan whereby they will model only their heads, which Hannah will then graphically transpose atop poses of Elke’s nude body, and, in a concession to the artistic prejudices of the day, a fiction is also concocted by Elke and Hannah in which the women are led to believe that the portraits are being painted not by a woman but a male.
Issues of artistic autonomy and genuineness such stratagems make for in the vein of a couple of other recent novels also of artistic stripe, Nell Stevens’ “The Original” or Lucy Steeds’ “The Artist.” And all played out, as I say, against the backdrop of the ascendance of the Third Reich, whose excesses are presented only tangentially in the manner of “The Remains of the Day,” or, perhaps more appositively, given Charlotte’s dance aspirations, the movie “Cabaret,” in which the film cuts away only briefly to scenes of Nazi thuggery which are unnervingly similar to the strong-handedness shown by Trump when he tells police not to be too gentle with disrupters at his rallies or, in an even more egregious instance of brutality by the administration, protesters are out and out killed in Minneapolis.
No shining models of artistic or humanitarian sensibility, at any rate, Trump and his MAGA faithful or the Nazi officials of Birrell’s novel, though the novel can be frustratingly obscure about Nazi sentiments toward art, with Elke’s husband, for instance, a Nazi adherent, rueing at one point that he “couldn’t name a single artist in Germany at present who has any interest in beauty.”
Indeed, if I have a complaint with the novel, it’s that it can be opaque enough at times about exactly what’s being suggested about art that I wasn’t always sure I was following. Still, if you’re an art appreciator or practitioner and given at all to serious reflection about art, you’ll not want to let Birrell’s novel slip under your radar.

[Steve Cavill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Venus, Vanishing by Rebecca Birrell is a beautifully written, deeply atmospheric, and meticulously researched historical novel that explores art, identity, love, and survival in the fading glow of Weimar Berlin as the shadow of Nazism rises.

The story follows Hannah Sherman, a young Jewish woman who flees an arranged marriage and the constraints of her former life to pursue her dream of becoming an artist in late-1920s Berlin. The city initially offers everything she craves: creative freedom, intellectual ferment, sexual liberation, and a vibrant circle of artists, dancers, and free thinkers. Through her work, Hannah becomes entangled with the imperious and charismatic Elke—a wealthy patron whose influence advances her career but draws her into a passionate, complex, and increasingly dangerous affair. Surrounding them are loyal friends like the steadfast Saul and vibrant Charlotte, who anchor Hannah amid the gathering storm.

Birrell masterfully captures the transition from the raucous, boundary-pushing energy of Weimar Berlin—marked by queer subcultures, avant-garde expression, and bohemian nightlife—to the slow, insidious creep of fascism. Economic instability, rising nationalism, anti-Semitic rhetoric, and the normalization of persecution gradually transform ordinary lives. Jewish and queer spaces are shuttered, artists are targeted as “degenerate,” and Hannah watches her own work stolen, altered, and repurposed for propaganda. The novel is particularly powerful in depicting the erasure of contributions by Jewish and queer artists, showing how the regime sought not only to persecute people but to rewrite cultural history itself.

At its heart, Venus, Vanishing is a story of artistic ambition and resilience in an emergency. Hannah is a compelling protagonist—ambitious, passionate, flawed, and determined to preserve her voice as the world turns against her. Elke stands out as one of the most fascinating characters: calculating yet vulnerable, embodying the tension between privilege and peril. Birrell’s prose is lyrical and intoxicating, rich with sensual detail and emotional depth, making the reader feel the vibrant pulse of Berlin before the suffocating dread sets in.

While the middle sections occasionally linger on artistic and romantic entanglements, slowing the momentum slightly under the weight of dense, introspective prose, the emotional payoff and thematic resonance more than compensate. The novel serves as both a celebration of creativity and a haunting reminder of how easily lives, voices, and works of art can be lost to history.

Venus, Vanishing is an intelligent, moving, and gorgeously rendered work of historical fiction—perfect for fans of Maggie O’Farrell or stories that blend queer intimacy, art, and politics. It’s a poignant act of restoration for stories nearly erased by history and a compelling exploration of what it means to create and love when the world is closing in. Highly recommended.

Thank you to the publisher for providing an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Denis Wheller · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1928 Berlin, Hannah Sharman hopes to become a professional Artist, as long as she’s known as Helga Schmidt, an Aryan name not a Jewish one. Prejudice is ever present, but not an issue most of the time. It is the height of the Weimar Republic, a period of decadence and louche behaviour overlying economic chaos, a place with a thriving nightlife, a creative bohemia. Hannah’s day job is as a seamstress and clothes launderer, her leisure is exploring art galleries analysing techniques, or hanging out in down market nightclubs. Through these three activities she meets three people who will shape the rest of her life: Charlotte, an exotic dancer who becomes her lover; Saul, a bisexual museum based academic researcher who becomes her lover; Elke, a wealthy society woman - wife of a prominent civil servant – who needs her clothing services and becomes her lover. All of them encourage her in her artistic endeavours, but it is Elke who commissions and pays for her work, starting with a full length nude portrait of herself. Financially and socially, Hannah is doing well, but politically things are changing with the rise of National Socialism under its charismatic leader, Adolf Hitler, newly elected as Chancellor. Jews are being stigmatised, and scapegoated; Art is becoming a tool for propaganda; Performative art is being supressed. Hannah’s paintings are made to appear as advocates for the Feurer’s image of German life and relabelled as being by a male of impeccable German heritage – a totally fictious person created by Elke. Hannah, Saul and Charlotte are in serious danger.
This is a well-designed and exceptionally well written historical novel. It is not the sort of book I usually read and review, but the publisher gifted me a copy and I’m glad I was given the opportunity. It reminded me very strongly of “Goodbye To Berlin”, Christopher Isherwood’s 1939 classic, the atmosphere, the invidious way the culture changes, although Isherwood’s book is semi-autobiographical whereas this is a work of fiction, with all the literary trappings that come from that. Although I am different in every way from Hannah, it was very easy to empathise with her, a sign, I think, of the quality of the writing. Although sex is a central feature of the characters’ personae, it is not blatant or particularly erotic, quite gentile really. The pace is good, if a bit slow in the middle, picking up as circumstances become desperate in 1942, as the myth of Germany’s invincible power begins to unravel. There is an extensive Afterword illustrating the reality behind the story.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

[Cate Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, this was amazing.

I was handed this book by somebody and told to read it because it’s very Safekeep energy. And man, did I love this! We follow Hannah, a Jewish artist living in Berlin during the height of Weimar Germany and her infatuation with Frau Elke Grese as she paints her rights away.

It’s a hopeful story, despite there being a very melancholic tone and as people living in the 21st century, we are very well aware of what happens in Germany at this time. Birrell does an absolute fantastic job at managing the sociopolitical climate, creating a sense of foreboding as, despite the joy and success Hannah experiences with her paintings, there is something creeping just under the surface - to me, that’s where ‘The Safekeep’ comparison lives.

I went into this expecting ‘The Safekeep’ 2.0 and was so glad to find that I was wrong to expect that. This is its own story (of course), one that doesn’t necessarily revolve around Hannah’s love but her obsession. Her relationships with Saul and Charlotte are beautiful and comforting but her fixation with Elke is morbid and fascinating. Birrell portrays so beautifully the strength of what German Jews stood for in a time when their country was murdering them in cold blood, dismissing their creations and turning them out like vermin. I feel I could say more about how important this book is but, in fear of not explaining myself correctly, just read the book.

Another thing I loved was the ease of the writing. I barely had to reread anything during this novel, it flowed very easily with a modern yet classic style to Hannah’s internal monologue and I found myself flying through the pages. The book slips into the 3rd person in the final parts which is where I struggled with my focus but otherwise, it was an incredibly enjoyable read. The characters in Hannah’s life were so well fleshed out, with a standout being Elke, who was like some kind of drug that you hated but constantly returned to.

Hannah herself was ambiguous. Her internal monologue painted the world in our minds, with minute details being highlighted (like the true artist she is) and it was very interesting how often her narrative was incredibly unreliable. Despite being inside her head, I found I knew very little about her at points.

Truly a fantastic novel, careful curated and beautifully executed - I was totally hooked from the start! Thank you to Picador for my proof of this gorgeous book, it’s out this July!

[Barclay Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't give 5 star reviews willy nilly, but I feel like 5 stars were warranted by this book. It was clearly written by an art historian (I learned a lot!), yet the prose was wonderful and evocative and stirring. I felt carried along by the book, it was almost effortless to read it. I read the first half in one sitting and the second half in two long gulps. There's a lot of sex in this book, which is a thing to be aware of, if that bothers you (or you like it); queer sex, straight sex, and, well, other. Not to spoil anything.

Within the past few months, I happen to have read a couple other very closely related books. Most resonant with Venus, Vanishing was Crooked Cross, which was set in the same time frame, set in Bavaria, but written (in 1933!) from the perspective of a gentile German woman engaged to marry a Jewish man. The contrast in the emotional reactions depicted in this versus Venus, Vanishing was interesting. In Crooked Cross, we chiefly see careful acquiescence and quiet dread on the part of the protagonist's fiancé and his father. In Venus, Vanishing we see much stronger feelings and reactions described: Admonishing loved ones to stay home as riots and pogroms erupt. Waiting until too late to try to leave the country; desperate visits in vain to consulates trying to get visas to escape. And worst of all, the requirement to separate from a spouse to travel separately to avoid detection. Denial was a common thread through both books.

The other related book was Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto. Denial was no longer on display in the events described. This book had the same personal passion that Venus, Vanishing had, with similar, deeply moving, afterwords listing folks who were murdered in Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, and other death camps. If you enjoyed Venus, Vanishing, then these other two books will possibly appeal to you as well.

I received a review copy of this novel from a giveaway on LibraryThing.com.

[Andrea Hulme · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an enthralling and engrossing novel that brought to life an element of history that I wasn't fully aware. The story of Jewish female artists and their art that was lost during the Nazi regime was brought to life on the page in this mesmerising, emotional and stunning book. The amount of research that must have gone into this book was wonderful and the notes at the back of the book that shone a light on the number of Jewish artists who were affected is astounding. I learned so much about the history of Art and the way that this was used and distorted during this awful time in history.

The book is set in Berlin in the late 1920s and 1930s as the new Chancellor and Nazi regime come into power. We meet Hannah, a talented seamstress working for her parents. When her parent's try to arrange for Hannah to be married and to conform to a lift of domestic boredom, Hannah takes matters into her own hands and runs away to follow her dreams to be become an artist.

We then follow Hannah as her life changes completely, through the people she meets and the adventures she has before the power of the Third Reich really takes hold. One of the people who comes into Hannah's life is Elke, a wealthy woman who soon becomes her patron, enabling Hannah to live her dream as an artist but at what cost? The relationship between the two women, who embark on an affair is so beautifully written. You can sense the desire between, it is radiant and alluring.

Hannah is a wonderful character and easy to root for. I wanted her to live her dreams of becoming an artist and succeed. The relationships that she builds are intriguing as they are woven into the story. It is compelling and captivating to follow her story, right through to the appalling treatment of her as a Jewish female artist and then as a Jewish citizen.

A wonderful and important novel. The writing style is easy to follow. The novel is deeply moving and beautifully executed, but also a story of hope and ambition.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this fabulous book.

[Annette Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Venus, Vanishing by Rebecca Birrell is set in Germany in the 1920s and 30s , a period of immense social change. We follow Hannah, a young Jewish woman newly arrived to Berlin and keen to find her place as an artist in the bohemian city, even if it means shedding her past, her heritage and her religion. Hannah embraces her new life vigorously, embarking on affairs with Charlotte, a dancer, and Saul ,a bisexual museum curator who encourages her in her artistic endeavours. This is a dangerous time to be a Jewish woman however and so Hannah becomes Helga, and poses as the wife of an artist despite being the one doing the painting. She is delighted to find a patron in Elke ,a rich society woman married to a powerful art collector, but soon becomes enmeshed in an affair with her, with potentially disastrous and deadly consequences. As Hitler's popularity begins to rise Hannah, or Helga as she is now known, is distraught to find that her beloved art is being corrupted and used as propaganda to fuel a campaign against the Jewish population, while also living in fear that the truth of her identity will be revealed.
This was a very compelling character driven story with an excellent sense of time and place, I could really feel the sense of impending disaster as the book moved from the 1920s into the 30's and the shadow of the Nazis loomed ever larger, a stark contrast to the earlier part of the book which while doing an excellent job of depicting the financial difficulties the German people faced at that time also showed a city filled with life and art, culture and joy. As I learned after reading the author is an art historian and she has used this background to create a unique perspective in a crowded market.
I read an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the advance review copy of Venus, Vanishing by Rebecca Birrell.

What initially drew me to this book was the premise: a queer Jewish artist navigating life in 1930s Berlin. The historical setting was clearly well researched, and the depiction of Berlin’s queer artistic community before the rise of Nazi power was easily the strongest aspect of the novel.

Unfortunately, the story itself didn’t quite work for me. The first half felt very slow, with little forward momentum. Much of the narrative focused on longing, artistic angst, and self-destructive behavior, which made it difficult for me to fully connect with the characters or become invested in where the story was heading.

The main character was especially challenging for me to engage with. She repeatedly made impulsive choices that hurt both herself and those around her, and while I understand that these flaws were intentional, they made it difficult to emotionally connect with her journey. Her fixation on her patron had the potential to be compelling, but instead it left me feeling more uncomfortable than invested.

The novel did pick up in the second half, and I found myself more interested once the larger historical events began to take center stage. However, there was an underlying sense of inevitability and futility that kept me from becoming fully immersed.

Overall, while this wasn’t a perfect fit for my reading tastes, I did appreciate the vivid historical setting and the attention given to a fascinating and often overlooked period of history. If you enjoy literary historical fiction with flawed characters and a strong sense of time and place, this may work better for you than it did for me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️½

[Noelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars.

Venus, Vanishing is a study in stellar prose. As a stickler for writing style, I am always on the lookout for more authors who know exactly how to style their writing to their story and Rebecca Birrell is the perfect example of that.

That being said, the story itself wasn't as impressive as Birrell's prose. Although I was never bored, there were enough lulls that my attention wavered from time to time. Venus, Vanishing wasn't a book that gave me the urge to constantly pick it back up, but once I did pick it up again I found myself invested in the goings on. It was an "out of sight, out of mind" situation.

It's obvious that Birrell knows her art history; that comes through very clearly in the story. I was fascinated by the dialogue of art pieces and art styles that I previously knew nothing about. This is where the strength of the story lies. Where her writing failed me a little was in the repetition of situations and relationships, the protagonist making the same mistakes again and again, and the occasional major event being described within a single sentence rather than being fleshed out.

There is no doubt that Venus, Vanishing tells an important story but it was just flawed enough that it didn't impact me in the way I was hoping. That may also be due to the slightly inaccurate blurb in which we are told that, "Hannah begins a recklessly consuming affair with a powerful man’s wife and it soon threatens to do more than ruin both of their reputations." If I hadn't read the blurb before reading, I may have felt differently about the outcome. Either way, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys atypical (and sapphic) historical fiction by a passionately knowledgeable author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co. for an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Juno ✦ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for providing ARC access!

Hannah is a seamstress with lofty dreams of art who runs away from home in 1930s Germany. She's down on her luck, alternating between flings at sapphic nightclubs to taking on less-than-glamorous cleaning and mending work until a wealthy client of hers offer what she needs most: generous patronage and perhaps the foot-in-the-door needed to break into the lofty art world.

For readers who love doomed-by-the-narrative relationships, this is the book for you. If you don't mind really delving into the characters' psyches and motives, wallowing in their deepest headspaces and feeling your heart getting wrenched out time and time again, Birrell paints a haunting mix of ambition, sex, politics, and life within her novel. The art historical references were such a joy to see, and though it takes a bit for the novel to really pick up, by the time I had finished, it was a work that had moved me deeply.

As radical as it was for Hannah to be sapphic during that time period and to also participate in a polyamorous relationship, I feel like I struggle to fully comprehend some of the aspects of her relationship with Elke. Birrell intends for it to be this emotional, turbulent bond that they share, but I found myself unable to really "buy" it for all intents and purposes—their interactions were interesting, don't get me wrong, but for something marketed as similar to The Safekeep and described as a "heady and perilous affair," it didn't feel substantial enough on the romantic sense for me to walk away having bought into the complex tragedy of it.

Overall, it was a beautiful book - I think I would have preferred it to be a little bit more fast-paced.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Venus Vanishing’ is an incredibly interesting part-fictionalised account of how the Nazis used art as propaganda in the decade culminating in the Second World War.

Would-be artist Hannah turns her back on the idea of traditional Jewish married life and leaves home to find lodgings in Berlin where she makes money as a seamstress whilst practising her art. Encouraged by her lover, museum curator Saul, she begins to paint and it is clear she has real talent. Hannah also has an affair with Charlotte, a nightclub dancer, and is sought out by the wealthy Elke who knows her as a meticulous mender of clothes. Soon Elke becomes Hannah’s patron. Everything is going well in Hannah’s bid to be an independent young woman.

However, it becomes increasingly clear that all Jewish people are at risk on the appointment of the new chancellor, Adolf Hitler. Hannah has been Hannah Schmidt rather than Sherman for some time but her paintings are presented for exhibition by Elke and her husband under a male ‘Aryan’ identity. This couple hold all the power because, of course, Elke, arch manipulator, is well aware of Hannah’s origins. Now it is a matter of Hannah and Saul’s survival.

‘Venus Vanishing’ becomes an increasingly interesting read and certainly educated me on this area of Nazi propaganda. However, it is not just Rebecca Birrell’s art history expertise that makes this an engrossing novel. She paints a vivid picture of changing Berlin: hardships, mounting pressures and abject terror suffered by its Jewish inhabitants. A thought-provoking conclusion too.

My thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan Picador for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Hannah’s story. Set in Berlin starting in 1928 and ending with an epilogue after the end of WWII. When Hannah Sharman’s mother arranged a marriage for her Hannah leaves her Jewish family and changes her name to Hannah Schmidt. Her dream is to become an artist but in the meantime she’s a seamstress and takes in washing. A beautifully crafted read and an amazing debut novel, clearly meticulously researched.

Briefly, there are three people who become central to Hannah’s life over the coming years, all of whom become her lovers. Charlotte her housemate and a nightclub dancer, Saul an academic researcher working in a museum and Elke her financially generous patron but a woman who insists on saying what Hannah paints, starting with nudes of herself. Hannah accepts this as she is smitten with Elke. But Elke has her own agenda and with her husband she passes off Hannah’s work, with some alterations, as that of a male fictitious artist. But the political climate is changing under Chancellor Adolf Hitler and the Jewish community are his first target.

This is a slow paced, emotional and powerful read. Rich and encompassing in its descriptions of art appreciation and the artistic process and harrowing over the dark and dangerous side of living in Berlin during the 1930s. I wanted Hannah to open her eyes and see that Elke was selfish in her needs and demands and that there was someone else who truly loved her. A wonderful historical fiction novel with themes of sexuality, art, politics and friendship. Lovely read with an ending that left me wanting just a little more. Fascinating read.

[Aoife · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was really curious to see what Venus, Vanishing would be like and be about while set during 1930's Berlin.

I really liked Hannah as a character and her vigour to continue pursuing her career as a artist while posing as Helga Schmidt, an Aryan name not as her Jewish heritage. Hannah wants to become a professional artist and she hopes she can become one when she befriends and gets very close to a woman called Elke, a very wealthy woman in high society, and of course German. She paints nude portraits of her and of other woman typically. When she wants to become known as a professional artist, Elke convinces Hannah to present her work under the alias of a male German identity. Hannah now understands that her work is no longer her own and her Jewish identity (as is for all) is being erased because of the the appointment of the new chancellor, Adolf Hitler.

I really enjoyed reading Venus, Vanishing and how Hannah interacted with her friends, especially as time goes on. I was intrigued by Hannah's relationship with Elke and the power play at play from Elke. I feel that Rebecca really got the timeline for Venus, Vanishing perfect for a novel set in Nazi Germany and captured the poignancy, fear, curiosity and terror during that time in history. I like how female artists were acknowledged and remembered in the novel. I flew through this book, was gripped and would highly recommend. Thank you to Rebecca Birrell, Picador and NetGalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Dieuwke · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the stars for this book.

Berlin, 1927. Jewish seamstress Hannah Sherman is not living the life she wants, working at her parents' workshop and being pushed to consider insipid suitors for marriage. She runs away, takes a new name, and strives to become an artist.

One of her former clients, Elke Grese, comes back into her life and through ways I won't reveal (read the book, I beg of you) she becomes instrumental for surviving as an artist. Or has Hannah sold her soul to the devil?

Venus, Vanishing is an incredibly well-written, and well-researched, novel, painting a picture (pun intended) of life in Berlin, artist life in Berlin, and most specifically Jewish artist life in Berlin before and during the rise to power of Hitler and his Nazis.

I loved the book, and can't recommend it enough - the place/time/setting is so vivid and evocative I felt like I was there. Of course we know more now, and this allows us to know what (historical) events are happening in the background of this story. The characters are complex, and intriguing. "Nothing is what it seems to be at first sight" is found anywhere and everywhere in the book (something to remember when you read it) and isn't art just that?

The afterword should NOT be forgotten. It is chilling, and impressive and kudos to the author who succeeded in her wish to "write a novel primarily about Jewish life, not Jewish death".

I received a copy from NetGalley in return for my honest opinion.
This edition is out on October 27, (there's one with a yellow cover that's out July 16)

[Jenni Ogden · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning historical novel set in Berlin as the Nazi regime becomes ever more menacing. The protagonist, Hannah, works as a seamstress and clothes launderer for the well-heeled, but her passion is Art. In the late 1920s and early thirties Berlin has a thriving nightlife and Hannah, who does not advertise her Jewish heritage, is encouraged to join in by Maria, the other woman boarder in the ‘respectable’ house of Olga, the landlady. Over the course of the novel the three women form a strange alliance, but it is prostitute Charlotte and bisexual Saul who become Hannah’s lovers, Saul also her art mentor. As Hannah’s own art becomes more all-consuming, she is commissioned by her wealthy client Elke, whose clothes she has been making for some time, to paint a nude of Elke, followed by other nudes. Hannah and Elke soon become lovers, with Elke more often the receiver and Hannah the giver. As the Third Reich takes more power and Jewish people start vanishing, Hannah’s visits to Elke’s home where she lives with her Nazi husband become increasingly precarious, and Elke’s betrayal of Hannah as an artist turns her world inside out.

The research that seamlessly fills this novel raises it from wonderful to superb, and by the end I had learned much about the history of Art and its use and abuse by the Third Reich, but at the cost of being heartbroken for Charlotte, Hannah and Saul. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an advance digital review copy.

[Talya · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was beautiful. I love historical fiction, but this felt like more. It was so well researched that, as a reader, I felt like I was there with Hannah in late 1920s - early 1930s Germany. The art was described so vividly. Through Hannah, trying to survive as a seamstress while navigating Berlin’s art scene as a poor Jewish girl, we get such an intimate look at her world.
We follow her relationships and her growth as a painter, all while that tense, looming backdrop of the rising Third Reich continues to build. You can feel it underneath everything as Hannah grows into herself, both as an artist and as an adult. Her relationships with the other characters feel real and flawed, and you see them change and deepen over time. The character development and storytelling are beautiful, and the prose is atmospheric.
I felt so many emotions reading this. There’s something especially painful about watching someone’s work be claimed by another person, especially given the historical context and the presence of such deep evil. Everyone in the story is flawed and makes mistakes, which made them feel real.
Hannah’s relationships with Saul, Elke, and Charlotte were complex and there were times I wanted to scream at Hannah. This is a story of resilience in the face of rising Nazi Germany, and it stayed with me. I was absolutely brokenhearted by the end.