The Most Dazzling Girl in Berlin

On her eighteenth birthday, Hilde leaves the orphanage where she has grown up and tries to build a life in Berlin. Finding work proves difficult until she discovers Café Lila, a queer cabaret whose performers and patrons offer an unfamiliar sense of possibility. Rosa, a waitress and singer, helps her settle in, and Hilde begins finding both her own voice and feelings she has not previously been able to name. Beyond the café, political unrest, antisemitism and hostility toward queer people are intensifying. Told in verse, this historical novel follows a young woman discovering love and community while the city around her becomes increasingly dangerous for the people who have welcomed her.