The Lilac People

By: Milo Todd

Narrated by: Max Meyers

For fans of All the Light We Cannot See and In Memoriam, a moving and deeply humane story about a trans man who must relinquish the freedoms of prewar Berlin to survive first the Nazis then the Allies while protecting the ones he loves

In 1932 Berlin, Bertie, a trans man, and his friends spend carefree nights at the Eldorado Club, the epicenter of Berlin’s thriving queer community. An employee of the renowned Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld at the Institute of Sexual Science, Bertie works to improve queer rights in Germany and beyond, but everything changes when Hitler rises to power. The institute is raided, the Eldorado is shuttered, and queer people are rounded up. Bertie barely escapes with his girlfriend, Sofie, to a nearby farm. There they take on the identities of an elderly couple and live for more than a decade in isolation.

In the final days of the war, with their freedom in sight, Bertie and Sofie find a young trans man collapsed on their property, still dressed in Holocaust prison clothes. They vow to protect him—not from the Nazis, but from the Allied forces who are arresting queer prisoners while liberating the rest of the country. Ironically, as the Allies’ vise grip closes on Bertie and his family, their only salvation becomes fleeing to the United States.

Brimming with hope, resilience, and the enduring power of community, The Lilac People tells an extraordinary story inspired by real events and recovers an occluded moment of trans history.

©2025 Milo Todd (P)2025 Dreamscape Media

Missing Info

Idk how to report this to Amazon/Audible. But at the end of chapter 24 there has to be missing info. I assume Karl fell overboard during the cigarette Bert shared with the Nazi but it cuts off and goes to the next chapter and you can tell by context something is missing - the refer to “the incident”.

Rich historical fiction with lovable characters that draw you in

I found “The Lilac People” both riveting and moving. With a strong focus on setting, it brought the joyous nightlife scene of 1930’s Berlin to life for me, while highlighting the horrors of the rise of Nazi Germany and its effects on the lives of everyday Berliners. This is a must read for anyone interested in the nature of fascism and the way it can take root in democracies, always going after the most vulnerable first. Set in a time in Berlin when the LGBTQ community were making some gains—however slight—The Lilac People” is a very timely read in light of current events. It serves as a warning and as a beacon of hope, while managing to be a page-turner of a suspense novel!

Great story but narration intolerable for me

I have obtained this book on Kindle. I cannot cope with the overly dramatic slow narration which rises and falls and difficult to hear when it falls. I should have stuck with my gut reaction when I listened to the sample.