Restitution by Tamar Shapiro

Restitution

Tamar Shapiro

Regal House Publishing (2025)

978-1-64603-619-6

Reviewed by Jordan Waterwash for Reader Views (01/2026)

https://readerviews.com/reviews/restitution-shapiro/

5/5

When I picked up Restitution by Tamar Shapiro, I wasn’t sure what I was expecting. I quickly realized, though, that this would be one of the most well-rounded historical literary fiction novels I’ve read in quite some time. Literary fiction can teeter into the frustratingly ambiguous if it isn’t careful, but Restitution leaves the reader feeling like they understand the world they stepped into on a visceral level. By the end, we truly feel like we know the characters, the history, and the complexities in how those two elements converge.

More than anything, Restitution is a novel about family and memory. The main character, Kate, and her brother, Martin, search for answers to questions they didn’t even know they had. Her and Martin’s strained relationship colors every aspect of Kate’s connection to her family’s history, starting all the way back to their childhood when their father left to recover from his alcohol addiction. Martin blamed their mother, a strict German-born woman named Lena, and Kate tried to forget it happened at all. The root of their disagreements certainly stemmed from their father’s departure and their reactions to it.

The book takes place just after the Berlin Wall came down and covers the years leading up to its creation and its downfall. The family was directly impacted by the political shifts in Germany, so much so that secrets festered between every generation. When the wall finally came down, Kate and Martin made it their mission to seek out the truth.

What I enjoyed most about Restitution was its clear love for Germany, its history, and the people who lived there. Germany’s past is nothing if not complicated, and this book does not shy away from those complications. Every character felt like a real person who lived through extremely difficult circumstances, making them not only interesting but incredibly sympathetic. I found Lena especially intriguing; who she was in America and who she was in Germany were at odds the whole time, and both aided in her deep attachment to her family’s past. Though she did not want to dig into the past the same way her children did, I could tell she cared about it more than anything.

Tamar Shapiro did a wonderful job with this novel, and I hope to read more work from her in the future. I’m sure Restitution is the first of many successes. For those who are interested in German history, family narratives, and solid writing, Restitution will be a welcome addition to the bookshelf.