Really enjoyed this book set around the Jewish community, a story of heartbreak and family, lovely characters and the setting was good as well

The Children's Dream by Roberta Kagan is the first book in the new The Auschwitz Twins Series This book starts in 1935 in Poland in a small Jewish Shtetl (Village). where Naomi and Herschel Aizenberg live, They have three daughters Shoshana, who is twelve and five-year-old twins Blume and Perle. This book leads up to WWII,
the both suffer from nightmares that foreshadow the coming Nazi invasion.

This book is beautifully written from the beginning till the end and had me hooked from the very first few pages.

I highly recommend this book

Big thank you to NetGalley and The Book Whisperer for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

An incredible blend of history, family drama, romance and the mystical. The author has shown respect to the subject matter through clearly careful research and I think this is important when presenting fictional versions of this aspect of our history.

Typical Roberta Kagan book. East to read. Full of history and I will be happy to read the follow up. Thank you for the opportunity to read a book by one of my favorite authors.

The Children’s Dream by Roberta Kagan

This is Roberta Kagan’s first book in the Auschwitz Twins Series. This book gives us the background of Naomi and Herschel Aizenberg. The book starts in 1935, they live in Poland in a small Jewish Shtetl (Village). They have three daughters Shoshana, who is twelve and five-year-old twins Perle and Blume.

Naomi and Perle both have the gift of seeing the future in their dreams and they keep having recurring dreams about soldiers dressed in black and a red and white flag with a black spider on it but they have no idea what the dreams mean.

The book ends with the Nazis marching in to Poland as WWII begins.

I can not wait for the next part in the series!

I would like to thank Net Galley and The Book Whisperer for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

I have already reviewed this book but it says I haven’t. So going to try again. I enjoyed this book. I love historic books especially WWII. we should never forget this part of history. The author did a wonderful job describing this part of history.

I thought this book was going to be more about what the twins go through during the Nazi takeover. Though that will all be in the second book. This book is mostly about Naomi, her family, her growing up and getting married and her relationship with Eli. It's all just story building which ends with the actual start of the Nazi invasion. It's a quick read but I was expecting more than just the building of the story.

The Children's Dream by Roberta Kagan is a truly well-told story and hooked me from the first page to the last. Kagan crafted rich characters and described vivid settings and scenes. It left me very sad reading how trapped Naomi felt in her marriage, and it got difficult to read toward the end, knowing that these scenarios happened when the Nazis stormed towns and gathered people. The story left me a bit unsettled thinking of that time in history. It was interesting to read about the various Jewish traditions, however.

I would definitely recommend this book and this author. I look forward to reading more from Roberta Kagan.

#TheChildrensDream #NetGalley

The first page is a glimpse into the future and the rest of book builds up to that future. Twin sisters run in the family and the older twin has dreams that show the future. This book is part of a series and it does a wonderful job of setting the stage for future books. It is not a WWII book, but a book about the family in the 17 years leading up to WWII. I was very intrigued with the Jewish customs as I’m not familiar with them. It is a story of love and family obligations and how they do not always point you in the same direction. I can’t wait to read more books in this series.

A well written novel. Roberta Kagan has a way of writing that makes you feel you are right there with the characters. A heart breaking story of pre WWII, love, and all the other feelings that go along with her novels. Hope there will be a follow up book

Set in an Orthodox Jewish community in 1930s Warsaw, this book features a mother, Naomi and her daughter Pearle, who have terrible dreams that are actually premonitions. During the lead up to WWII, the both suffer from nightmares that foreshadow the coming Nazi invasion.

This poignant book provides an extensive look into life in the sheltered Jewish communities in Poland and their customs. You can tell how much research the author conducted while writing this book, and the details of the holidays they celebrate are especially fascinating. The characters often make poor choices, and I exclaimed out loud in frustration with them on more than one occasion. The book ends with a cliff hanger and leaves the reader eager to find out what happens in the sequel.

Many thanks to The Book Whisperer and Net Galley for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

.<I absolutely loved this book, it was extremely breathtaking.. I liked above all that in the closed community no one, Neos even the men, were abreast of world event, so no body was expecting what happened lager, I ma looking forward to the sequel. I highely recommend it.

Based on a true story.
In the days before the 2nd world war, Jewish fathers chose their daughter’s husband, if they were poor, like the Aizenberg family they looked for a rich husband and if their daughters were pretty and had a decent figure they were generally successful. In this story the bride Naomi…..married Herschel, a successful businessman, but a cold soul. Naomi was in love with a different man Eli, a poor scholar. It interfered with her marriage, but her husband was unaware of her affair, she obeyed him.

I found it very repetitive, especially with Naomi and her love for Eli. Also how cold her husband Herschel was and how he worked with a woman who adored him.

The dreams/nightmares almost seemed to be in the background despite the title. Naomi and one of her twins had frightening dreams, Herschel laughed, but Naomi was very scared as she believed these dreams would come true.

I give it a 3.1/2. The characters are well developed, and the story ends with a cliff hanger so I will certainly read part 2.

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC in return for an honest review. I have very mixed opinions about this book. On one hand, I LOVED the Orthodox representation. And how much Chanukah played into this book. But, I felt the writing was clunky and I never felt like the characters had substance. I also do not know what the target audience would be. But, overall, not bad!

Another great WWII story about dreams with a family in Warsaw. I can’t get enough WWII stories. This is the first in a series and I look foto the next book!

Roberta has done it again!! I can't wait until the next book comes out. Naomi is the main mother in the book. She loves Eli but is married time Herschel. They live in Poland. Both Naomi and one of her twins have dreams, that they can see in the future. They both have had dreams about Nazi's, although they don't know what they are. . . yet.

Book # 1 in the Auschwitz Twins series

A strong feeling that something is about to happen “premonition” is the theme Ms. Kagan’s has penned in this latest. More fitting in my opinion would be “forbidden loves” since 90% of this story hovers around the unfaithfulness of the people involved. Having said this, whether I am right or wrong, the decision is up to you.

In a few words:

“The Children’s Dream” is a heart-breaking and gripping work of fiction that could possibly have happened.

Poland in the late 1030’s, the action set in an ultra-religious Jewish neighborhood.

Sleepless and restless nights both Naomi and her daughter Perle believe dreams are glimpses into the future they both have nightmares about smokestacks, creepy doctors and strange flags invading their little village. Is this a premonition of what is to come.....

Meanwhile Naomi is unhappy with her arranged marriage to Hershel and life is a living hell with him. When an old acquaintance happens to show up and steal her heart away, soon a scandalous secret love affair begins. Maybe she was not the only one having a secret to hide...

My thoughts:

Does arrange marriage succeed more than finding the love of your life: definitely not in this story. Most of the book covers the secret rendezvous between Naomi and Eli, the love of her life. Contrary to her husband Eli is considerate, charming and attentive while Hershel is strict and rule his house with an iron fist. No wonder eyes roamed...and other things too..... Naomi trysts with Eli go on for years till the day it all comes apart.... what a surprise when Hershel reveals secrets of his own... I did not see this coming, but I am not surprised.

The pacing is slow and steady and every word is written with compassion: sorrow, despair, love and torment come out strong. Naomi sister Mariam, her three daughters: Shoshana, Perle and Bluma play interesting roles so does the many characters that populated this sad novel.

The book ends when the Nazi pushes in and all Jews are rounded up including the Hershel’s family. Of course this ending opens the door for a sequel I await impatiently.

I love Roberta Kagan‘s books. I think she is a terrific writer. However this book was a big disappointment. I think it was filled with a lot of fluff. It did give you a little insight into orthodox Jewish living in Poland from 1935 to 1939. It was a sad love story.

I really struggled with this book for multiple reasons. The storyline was nice and I enjoyed the different interactions we witnessed, but the entire time I felt like something was "off" and couldn't quite place. The language felt very stiff and formal and I finally realized it was very monotone. None of the conversations, especially those between sisters or between mother and daughter, actually felt conversational. It felt like they were reading a script. I also struggled with the synopsis and what the story was actually about. From the synopsis I expected the story to begin with the children's dream and then would move onto the typical WWII historical fiction i.e. Nazis invade, the Jewish families are taken to camps or ghettos, but that's not how the book played out. I don't want to leave spoilers so I won't discuss it too far, but I feel like the synopsis was very misleading. The book read more like a sad romance novel than a historical fiction.

I did enjoy the traditional language that was used and learning more about Jewish customs and the difference between Secular Jews and more traditional Jews. I do think I would be willing to give the second in the series a chance just because I believe there is so much potential for a historical fiction regarding twins and Dr Mengele's experiments. I think the premise is really good, but it fell a little flat to me.

The Premonition

In a Jewish neighborhood in Poland the Aizenberg family lives with Herschel, his wife Naomi and their three girls Shoshana, Perle and Bluma. Perle and Bluma are twins and Shoshana is the eldest daughter.

Naomi has dreams that are premonitions of things to come, it runs in her family. Twins run in her family and only one twin has the dreams. When she has a recurring dream of soldiers with a red flag with a spider in the middle she is frightened. Herschel, her husband, does not believe in premonitions her tells her it is only a nightmare. When her daughter Perle begins having dreams about smoke stacks , creepy doctors and a red flag with a spider in the middle, Naomi is really worried that something is not right, something bad is coming.

Naomi has a terrible secret she is hiding from her husband, she has a secret love Eli. They meet in secret until her parents pass away and she is certain that God is punishing her for her disobedience. She does not love Herschel, he was an arranged marriage by her father. She love Eli, but she knows she must let him go. Herschel has secrets of his own. Can the two of them forgive each other and save their marriage?

No one in the Village suspects that in the near future Naomi's dreams will come true and that the Nazi's with the red flags with the spider in the middle will be marching down their streets.

This book had so much about the customs of the Jewish people and Hanukkah. I was interested in the food and the celebration. In fact, I was interested in all the food listed in the book and looked some of it up on Google to find out what it was.

It is also a story of communication or rather the lack of in a marriage. The strong husband is the boss and wife does what he says type of marriage. It is a story of the love between Naomi and her twin sister Miriam.

The process of an arranged marriage is discussed and whom is a suitable match and why. I found it quite interesting that the girls and the boys were not allowed to talk to each other before marriage was arranged.

This was a good first book of the series. I eagerly await the next book.

Thanks to Roberta Kagan for writing another great book, to The Book Whisperer for publishing it and to NetGalley for making it available to me.