The Woman in the Spotlight: A gripping and dazzling historical novel set in 1930s Berlin from the bestselling...

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J.R. Lonie

The Woman in the Spotlight

Name: The Woman in the Spotlight
Price: 34.99 AUD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9781460767535

A gripping and dazzling historical novel set in 1930s Berlin from the bestselling author of...

J.R. Lonie

$34.99

Paperback

In stock
Ready to ship

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English

HARPER360
01 February 2026

Fiction & Literature; Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945); Second World War fiction; Historical romance; Historical fiction

When everyone is watching, survival will be her greatest performance ... A gripping, utterly absorbing novel about survival and art as defiance on the 1930s Berlin stage, from the bestselling author of The Woman from Saint Germain

Berlin 1932: With Germany in chaos, Monika

Varády, a young Bavarian actress, arrives in the capital with high hopes - to one day, just maybe, be a great star of the stage and screen.

But with the rise to power of Hitler and his brutal Nazi

regime, the theatre scene falls under the control of Propaganda Minister

Joseph Goebbels, becoming a minefield of political machinations that Monika,

in love with a Bolshevik Jewish actor, must now navigate. As her star rises

from the smoky bars of the demi-monde to the city's prestigious stages, most

dangerous of all is Goebbels himself who takes a more-than-artistic interest

in her.

While staying true to her beliefs and to those she loves, Monika must employ all the skills of her craft to outwit Goebbels and with her close friends, to resist the regime's attempts to rewrite German theatre and culture, by hiding in plain sight - even in the glare of the spotlight.

PRAISE

'A rich, slow-burn thriller that grips the heart and shakes the soul' BLANCHE D'ALPUGET

'Monika Várady is a poster girl for our own troubling decade, as much as her own ... The very inspiration we need' LUKE DEVENISH, author of The Heart of the Ritz

'Immediately absorbing ... A unique perspective on artists who remained in Germany as a totalitarian state closed in around them, featuring sensational, unforgettable characters' BOOKS+PUBLISHING

By: J.R. Lonie
Imprint: HARPER360
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 154mm, Spine: 28mm
Weight: 449g
ISBN: 9781460767535
ISBN 10: 1460767535
Pages: 448
Publication Date: 01 February 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

J.R. Lonie is a screenwriter, author and playwright. His novel The Woman from Saint Germain was published in 2019, and his three novellas, Acts of Love, was published in 1996. Other short stories have been published in various anthologies. His screenwriting credits include co-writing the feature Kokoda, (directed by Alister Grierson) and A Place to Call Home, and work as a script editor includes Japanese Story, Beneath Clouds, Dogwatch and No Man's Land. John has had plays produced by State Theatre Company of SA, NIDA and St. Martin's Theatre among others. John was Co-Head of Scriptwriting at AFTRS from 2000 to 2008. He lives in Sydney.