Under the Same Stars

by Libba Bray
read by January LaVoy, Jeremy Carlisle Parker, and Major Curda

Review posted July 24, 2025.
Macmillan Young Listeners, 2025. 16 hours, 31 minutes.
Review written June 10, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Under the Same Stars is a skillfully crafted historical novel about resistors in three time periods - 1941 Germany resistance, 1980s divided Berlin punk bands, and the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement. As the three stories progress, we learn that the stories are intertwined and there are returning characters.

One of those returning characters shows up early - the Bridegroom's Oak, a tree in the forest outside Kleinwald Germany known for its magical matchmaking powers. We've also got a fairy tale about the tree, with forest magic woven through the tales.

Dear friends Sophie and Hanna start out by sending their own letters through the tree - which makes a cover for later using the tree to pass along forged documents to rescue people from Nazi Germany.

In 1980s West Berlin, Jenny, the young daughter of a diplomat isn't at all happy about spending her summer away from her friends in Dallas. But when taking pictures of the city, she meets some punks and starts playing with their all-girl band, behind her parents' back. And then she starts falling in love with her band mate, which would also horrify her parents. This girl is originally from East Berlin, and Jenny learns that the band's music is an act of resistance.

And then in 2020, Miles is in isolation while one of his mothers got stuck overseas and the other is working around the clock in a New York City hospital. When his friend Chloe - who hadn't been speaking to him - gets in touch, he starts working on the mystery of her grandmother's partial story about a magical tree. Thinking about resistance helps him break out of isolation when the Black Lives Matter protests start up.

As usual, my summary doesn't convey how well these stories are interwoven and the strong message that resistance is a loving and hopeful act. It's something you do not for yourself, but because you have hope of a better world. It also conveys the message that the need for resistance is unfortunately very common.

I wish that message weren't as timely as it is.

Even without the powerful message, this is a set of three gripping stories of folks who put their lives on the line.