Books / Peter Morris
Bristol author Peter Morris publishes second novel: a Cold War thriller set in 1970s Berlin
Following his 2023 debut, the dystopian No Repeat of Yesterday, Bristol author Peter Morris has turned his attention to 1970s Berlin, where his second novel Both Sides Now is set.
The Cold War thriller is set in the once divided city, where Morris spent some time as a student.
“Reflecting on my time in Berlin”, he recounts, “it dawned on me that in many ways the day-to-day situation there was so preposterous that the entire scenario might have been dismissed as too far-fetched, had it not actually happened.”
When studying at the Free University of Berlin (in the West), Morris was warned of the potential dangers of attempting to conduct research in the East of the city.
Many years later, this became the impetus for writing the book. “I began to wonder how matters might have unfolded if a bolder student than myself had taken himself unannounced into the Environment Ministry in the communist East and tried to arrange an interview with a press secretary or a junior minister”, he admits. “The novel is an exercise in ‘What if?’, played out to the extreme.”
Peter Morris’ wife Suzanne playing the role of a less than inconspicuous spy in Treptower Park, Berlin
For Morris, the story has a particular resonance with contemporary geopolitics. “We are living in a world which seems to be again dividing itself into hostile blocs after many years of something approaching peace”, he says.
“Revisiting Cold War Berlin allowed me to explore the impact on human beings of the creation of such power structures and to consider what unites as well as divides the ordinary people living on either side of the dotted lines.”
Peter Morris, Both Sides Now – photo: courtesy of the author
The narrative centres on the characters of Ella Wolfman, a German ice hockey player, and Jack Gilmore, a British student – both of whom, in the author’s words, “fall foul of the Stasi”.
When visiting Berlin to publicise the book, Morris was moved to file an official request to the German government for the release of his own Stasi file.
Peter Morris signing a copy of Both Sides Now for the library of the Immanuel Kant school in Berlin, which provides the location for the very first scene in the novel
“Whilst living in West Berlin I visited the eastern half of the city several times without giving too much thought as to whether I had been the subject of any form of surveillance”, he explains.
“That changed following a curious encounter with three East Germans during a trip to communist Poland in 1979. I and my two West German companions had strayed from the prescribed list of official sites and had engaged in a bit of wild camping beside a secluded lake.
Peter Morris at the launch of Both Sides Now – photo: courtesy of the author
“One evening three GDR citizens turned up and quizzed us about our surprising presence at the remote lakeside and about our plans for the remainder of our trip. Enquiries complete, they ghosted themselves out of our holiday.
“I have often wondered exactly what was reported about the three westerners in the clapped-out 2CV and whether any further surveillance was deemed necessary. Hopefully I will now get to find out.”
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Peter Morris: Both Sides Now (Conrad Press) is available now. For more about the author, follow @petermorris2001.
All photos: Peter Morris
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