A package sent from West Berlin in 1988 draws New York art curator Daniel Singer into a family history shaped by war, persecution, concealed identities, and decisions made more than four decades earlier. In Between These Walls, Michael Newman connects the final days of World War II with the unresolved questions of a later generation, following one American family and two German families through the Holocaust, the founding of Israel, and conflicts that continue to influence Daniel’s search for the truth. Rooted in the author’s family history and visits to locations central to the novel, the story examines what happens when secrets preserved for survival can no longer remain hidden.
Between These Walls
A Gripping Journey Through History's Darkest Corridors
by Michael Newman
Genre: Historical, 20th Century, World War II & Holocaust
Date Published: March 26, 2020
History often hides its deepest secrets behind closed doors and within silent walls. Some stories remain buried for decades, waiting for the right moment to emerge and demand to be told. Between These Walls is not merely a work of historical fiction, but a profound exploration of identity, survival, and the unbreakable bonds that connect generations across time and tragedy. Written by Michael Newman, this compelling narrative weaves together threads of war, persecution, and redemption into a tapestry that refuses to release its grip on the reader's heart and mind.
A Tale Woven from Three Families
In the summer of 1988, New York art curator Daniel Singer receives a mysterious package from West Berlin, sealed with security tape that will shatter everything he thought he knew about himself and his family. What begins as a simple delivery transforms into an extraordinary odyssey that spans continents and decades, pulling Daniel into a labyrinth of secrets that have been carefully guarded for over forty years.
Newman masterfully constructs a dual timeline that oscillates between May 1945 and July 1988, creating a narrative bridge across generations. In the dying days of World War II, on the American occupied side of Germany's Elbe River, US Army Medical Corps Colonel Samuel Singer stumbles upon the shot-up wreck of a smoldering SS staff car. Inside: a badly injured driver, a dead German Army officer carrying the ID of a Nazi war criminal, and a young blonde woman, also dead in the back seat. This haunting discovery sets in motion a chain of events that will echo across four decades.
The story sweeps across the battlefields of World War I, through the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust, into the founding of Israel, and through three Middle East wars. Each historical moment is rendered with meticulous attention to detail and emotional authenticity.
The involvement of the Mossad, Israel's legendary intelligence agency, adds layers of intrigue and suspense to Daniel's quest. As he uncovers shocking truths about his heritage, Daniel must navigate a treacherous landscape where the past and present collide, where old wounds remain fresh, and where the consequences of long-buried secrets threaten to destroy everything he holds dear. Following one American family and two German families, Newman crafts a narrative that explores not just acts of evil and callous indifference but also acts of heroism, generosity, and love in the time of Adolf Hitler's rise and eventual defeat.
A Labor of Love Rooted in Personal History
Newman's research was exhaustive and deeply personal. He traveled throughout Europe, visiting the actual locations that appear prominently in the book. He walked the streets of Berlin, discovering the stolpersteine, the engraved brass plaques embedded in the cobblestone streets marking where Jewish families lived before the Nazis deported them to their deaths in Auschwitz. He ventured to the Eagle's Nest in Berchtesgaden near Munich, Hitler's wartime summer home perched high in the Bavarian Alps. Most significantly, he visited Mauthausen concentration camp itself, where his own father had been imprisoned by the Nazis in 1944-45.
"My visits to Mauthausen, Berlin and Hitler's summer home at Eagle's Nest were the motivators for me to write Between These Walls," Newman explains.
"These places provided me with the inspiration and ideas for the plot and premise of the book. With the global rise in antisemitism, the words 'Never again' couldn't ring truer."
The book's website features a compelling gallery of images from Newman's travels, including photographs of historical documents, and the actual locations featured in the story
Discover the Truth Behind the Walls
Between These Walls is available for purchase through multiple platforms, making it accessible to readers worldwide. The novel is available in both paperback and Kindle editions.
The mystery begins with a physical object—a sealed package from West Berlin—but the questions it raises extend far beyond its contents. Daniel Singer must reconsider his identity, his relationship to Colonel Samuel Singer, and the events that joined three families during the collapse of Nazi Germany. That structure gives the historical material a direct consequence in the later timeline rather than treating the past as background information.
The novel also approaches twentieth-century history across several connected periods. Its scope moves from World War I and the rise of Adolf Hitler through the Holocaust, the end of World War II, the founding of Israel, and later Middle East conflicts. Daniel’s investigation provides the thread linking those events as he discovers how wartime choices can shape descendants who were not present when the original decisions were made.
Newman’s personal connection to the material adds another dimension to the book. His father survived imprisonment at Mauthausen, while his mother, aunt, and grandmother survived in hiding in Budapest. The author’s visits to Mauthausen, Berlin, Berchtesgaden, and other historically significant locations informed the setting and premise of the novel. That background does not make Daniel’s story autobiographical, but it explains the seriousness with which the book approaches memory, survival, and the responsibility of later generations to understand what occurred.
Between These Walls is suited to readers of multigenerational historical fiction, dual-timeline mysteries, World War II novels, and stories centered on concealed identities or family secrets. The movement between 1945 and 1988 may especially appeal to readers who enjoy watching evidence from one era gradually alter the meaning of events in another.
The book may also interest readers seeking fiction connected to the Holocaust, the aftermath of Nazi persecution, the founding of Israel, and the continuing effect of wartime trauma on later generations. The presence of military history and intelligence intrigue broadens the story beyond a private family drama, while Daniel’s search keeps the larger historical scope tied to a personal question: who is he, and why was the truth hidden from him?
Michael Newman brings an unparalleled authenticity to Between These Walls because he writes not as a distant observer of history, but as someone whose life has been indelibly shaped by it. The son of Holocaust survivors, Newman has always had a deep interest in the Second World War, not as an academic pursuit, but as a personal mission to understand and honor the experiences that defined his family's existence. He received first-hand accounts of what happened during WWII in the concentration camps, particularly Mauthausen, where his father was imprisoned.
Newman's mother, aunt, and grandmother were hidden by Righteous Gentiles in Budapest during World War II. His father fought in the Hungarian Army, dug trenches in a forced labor battalion near Stalingrad, and later endured eight terrible months at Mauthausen in Austria. In 1956, at age twelve, Newman himself became a refugee, slogging through mud and snow, dodging guard huts to escape into Austria after the crushed Hungarian uprising against the Soviets.
Years later, as a successful self-made real estate magnate and founder of InterRent, a real estate investment trust on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Newman could have allowed his professional achievements to define him. Instead, he chose to honor his heritage by telling a story that needed to be told. He has since taken his wife, three children, and one granddaughter on trips to Mauthausen, ensuring that the next generation never forgets.
During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, concerned over what he perceived as one-sided news coverage against Israel, he had the opportunity to travel, surreptitiously, to Israel. Using a connection with an Israeli intelligence colonel, Newman spent a week in the war zone, visiting bomb shelters, air raid command centers, and troops in the field. This experience became a model for a character in his book who helped Israel fight for independence in 1948.
"I am not a religious person, but I do identify myself with what happened during the Holocaust and I am very much a Zionist and support the founding of Israel," Newman says.
This conviction breathes through every page of Between These Walls, giving the novel an emotional authenticity that resonates with readers across all backgrounds.
Today, Newman lives on Toronto's waterfront with his wife, Dixie, and their Morkie, Mia. Surrounded by five children and eleven grandchildren, he has transformed the pain of his family's past into a gift for future generations. Writing books, as Newman admits, is "a career change I wasn't expecting to make at this stage of life. It's been gratifying for the ego." He is currently working on a sequel with the working title A Daughter's Revenge, and has hired a screenwriter on spec to craft a six-part series based on his first book.
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Between These Walls places a family mystery inside a much larger historical reckoning. Daniel Singer’s package from West Berlin forces him to confront the possibility that the identity he inherited was constructed from wartime secrecy, while the 1945 timeline reveals why silence may once have seemed necessary. Michael Newman uses that connection between personal discovery and documented history to examine how survival decisions continue to affect people born long after the immediate danger has passed.
For readers interested in historical fiction that asks later generations to confront what earlier generations endured, concealed, or sacrificed, Daniel’s search offers a story in which opening one package also means opening a past that can no longer remain behind closed walls.
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