University and a Bachelor's degree in English Literature from McGill University, Turnbull focuses on finding stories of women lost within the cracks of the historical record.
Her debut novel, The Woman Before Wallis, was named one of the top ten bestselling works of Canadian fiction for 2020 and became an international bestseller. Her second, The Last Grand Duchess, came out in February 2022 and spent eight weeks on the Globe & Mail and Toronto Star bestseller lists. It was followed by The Paris Deception, which came out in May 2023.
Here Turnbull dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, The Berlin Apartment:
The Berlin Apartment is a historical love story set in Cold War Berlin on both sides of the Berlin Wall. It’s a story of intrigue, passion and betrayal that spans decades, opening in the tense and sunlit summer days just before the Wall goes up – but within pages, we find friends, families and lovers separated overnight by circumstances far beyond their control.Visit Bryn Turnbull's website.
At the start of the novel, Lise remarks that Uli resembles Buddy Holly, with narrow shoulders, a wide smile and heavy glasses – a classic ‘sixties university student, who, we later find out, will gain a certain familiarity with claustrophobic spaces. In terms of contemporary actors who might fit the bill, Uli would slide into the “Hot Rodent Men” trend fairly easily: someone like Mike Faist or Timothée Chalamet would, I think, carry off his guileless optimism and determination very well.
For Lise – Uli’s pregnant fiancée, trapped in East Berlin and searching desperately for a way out – we need someone who can play tough and soft at the same time: someone who can embody Lise’s seething, steely fury, simmering beneath a downtrodden exterior. Saiorse Ronan would be brilliant in the role – but then, she’s brilliant in every role.
As Inge, Lise’s best friend who becomes Uli’s second-in-command during the long and back-breaking process of working to free Lise from East Berlin, I always saw Elle Fanning, who would be able to capture her steady charm and pragmatism while also carrying off her glacial beauty.
Paul’s a trickier beast: in the novel, he’s described as blindingly handsome and charismatic, and loyal to a fault – a trait which lands him in situations where he’s forced to test the strengths of those loyalties, time and again. Will Poulter would make an ideal Paul: he’s got a certain ruthlessness that would come in handy.
Finally, I can’t leave Jurgen and Wolf, my second set of star-crossed lovers who help Uli in his quest to free Lise from East Berlin, out of my dream casting. I see Edward Bluemel as Jurgen and Regé-Jean Page as Wolf: two actors who could handle a love story worthy of its own novel.
My Book, The Movie: The Paris Deception.
The Page 69 Test: The Paris Deception.
Q&A with Bryn Turnbull.
--Marshal Zeringue
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