Drew is an army brat, a hotshot athlete poised to be his high schoollsquo;s star pitcher, when he has to move for the sixth time in fifteen years edash; this time to West Berlin, where American soldiers like his dad hold an outpost of democracy against communist Russia in Hitler squo;s former capital. Meanwhile, in East Berlin, his cousin Matthias has grown up in the wreckage left by Allied bombing during World War II, on streets ruled by the Communist Partyrsquo;s secret police.
From the opposing sides of the Cold War, Drew and Matthias begin to overcome the many ideological walls between them to become wary friends. They argue over the space race, capitalism, socialism, and even the American civil rights movement, and bond over rock isquo;nesquo; roll ndash; music outlawed in Matthiasssquo;s part of the city. If Matthias is caught by the Stasi squo;s neighbourhood spies with the records or books Drew has given him, he will be sent to a work camp for 're-education'. At the same time, Drewesquo;s friendship with the East Berlin Jugend fdash; who ardently spout communist dogma .dash; raises suspicions about his familyisquo;s loyalty to America. As the political situation around them gets all the more dire, Drew and Matthias?squo;s loyalty ?dash; to their sector, their countries, their families, and each other ?dash; will be tested in ways that will change their lives forever.
Set in the tumultuous year leading up to the surprise overnight raising of the Berlin Wall in August 1961, and punctuated with real-life photographs, headlines, and personalities of the time, Walls brings to vivid life the heroic and tragic choices of the Cold War.
