Michal and Taavi’s story continues as they rediscover their love and grow their family. Life is good, but grows more difficult as Nazi Germany’s distrust and hatred of Jews overtakes the country. Their 2 daughters are growing up, and Michal and Taavi will do anything to keep them safe. When Taavi’s daughter Alina’s fiancée is slaughtered right outside their house, everything drastically changes in an instant. The family is splintered, and all are separated. W

Now Alina is an adult, and she makes it to America, where life continues to be difficult for her. She marries an abusive man, then realizes she needs to make her own future. Her choices are unpleasant, but make her wealthy. But at what cost?

Kagan gives her readers a terrifying glimpse of the reality of being a Jew in Nazi Germany. What happens to Michal and Taavi? Heartbreaking, realistic, and cruel, this is a story that grips you to the end.

A Family Shattered.

I love all the characters and the love, betrayal and sacrifice which carries on in book 2. This book is the suspense and emotions of how much the family members will endure to survive for love in the hope to see each other again. It is an immensely powerful and beautifully written book as the story of Taavi and Michal incarceration and their two children who have no idea what has happened to their parents where they are and move in with their parent's friends as the war rages. A very engaging and emotional book and I cannot wait for the next book in this series by Roberta Kagan. Thanks to NetGalley and to the publishers of this book for giving me a free advance copy of the book to preview and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

A Family Shattered by Roberta Kagan is the second book in the series Michal's Destiny. I just finished reading Michal's Destiny and since the book left me with so many unanswered questions, I felt I needed to read this one right to see what happened next. The book is more or less a continuation of Michal's and Tavvi's life during the Nazi regime in Germany. Being German Jews, the family's lives were in danger and they needed to do what they can to survive, Their daughter Alina was able to escape to America. She wound up marring twice, one resulting in death and the other was abusive. It goes into detail of how she was able to support herself after leaving her abusive husband and bring up her son Joseph alone. She has no idea what happened to her mother and father who were still in Germany, her sister Glide who was sent on one of the first transports to Britian, or their family's closest friends Lotti and Levi.

This book did not hold my interest as much as the first one. I felt that it was very wordy and found myself skipping sections that kept going on. It did eventually tell us what happened to the original characters Michal, Tavvi, Lotti and Levi during this terrible time in history, but those parts were brief. This book, as well as the first, did not have a finite ending, letting us know that there is more to come.

I would like to thank Net Galley for giving me the opportunity to read this pre-release.

I loved this book. Very much different than her previous books whereby the author explores a family dealing with the war when they escape to America. Great characters and wonderful storyline. One thing I love about her books is I learn something new about the war and the people who experienced it first hand. I am excited for the next book. One of my favorite authors! Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book left me completely devastated and hopeless I nearly cried at work. That's on me for reading a series about the Holocaust right now of all times. Like with the first book, it was mostly tell and little show with the characters emotions and actions, and there did seem to be inconsistencies with the timings. The whole thing was crazy fast paced - it covered the majority of the Holocaust (1938-1945) in under 300 pages so it did make it hard to connect BUT I was so gripped the whole time anyway and now I think I have to finish the series because I haveeee to find out if the sisters are reunited (they'd better be).
Review also on goodreads & storygraph.

A Family Shattered by Roberta Kagan

I enjoyed reading book two of Roberta Kagan’s serious Michal’s Destiny.

In this book we find out what happens to Michal, Taavi, Alina, Lotti and Lev during the war. I hope book three will let us know what happens to Gilde after she left for England on the children’s Transports in 1938 as we didn’t in this book.

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

WWII is one of my favorite genres to read. I became invested in the characters of the book; their lives were messy, convoluted, and much love was shared. The characters were flawed and easy to relate to.

Thanks net galley for the second boom in this series, I read the first one and hope I get the opportunity to read the third book.
It’s Berlin 1938 the Nazis are in control of the country, and all Jews were in danger of their lives.
Michal and Tavvi after a separation were back together with their two daughters, but life was changing in Berlin.
Tavvi had been arrested after the night of the Kristallnacht, and Michal left her daughters to find out where he was.
Not knowing what was going to happen to her and her family.
Life from then on was horrendous for Michal her husband and her two daughters, and for every Jew living in Berlin.

I will preface this by saying that WW2 historical fiction is one of my favourite genres and I’ve read many books that I’ve loved. Unfortunately, this was not one of them.

The story itself had potential. It really did show the terrible struggles faced by people, particularly Jewish people, during WW2. However, I felt the ending of the book was a bit abrupt and we never got to know the outcome for a few of the characters in the book.

I did not enjoy the writing style at all. The sentences felt choppy. There was also too much repetition for me. For example, you’d learn something about a character in one chapter and then in the next chapter about that same character that same fact would be said again. It felt redundant to me and took away from the experience. I much prefer a show don’t tell type of reading experience.

Thank you to Netgalley and book whisperer for this book arc. A family shattered is an intense and emotional story. I am glad to have had the opportunity to have this book as my arc. It’s the sequel to a book I didn’t know about but I like this one.

Thank you so much Netgalley for the chance to have this arc and thank you book whisperer.

Reading a novel written by Roberta Kagan is akin to experiencing yourself in the situations. The gritty reality is astounding in this novel - particularly the depiction of the brutality of the female guards in the all female concentration camp at Ravensbruck. This novel is the continuation of the story that began with Michal’s Destiny and is overwhelming in its depiction of families being separated without any reason other than their religion.. The book is a part of our history and should be read by all and I thank NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

Kristallnacht

Taavi and Michal finally found their way back together, and they now have a good life. Taavi and Lev own a furniture shop and have a good business. Michal and Taavi now have two daughters, Alina and Gilda. Everything is going good for them until the fatal night of Kristallnacht when all their lives were changed forever.

During Kristallnacht Taavi was arrested for trying to help Alina’s boyfriend when he was attacked by Hitler youth. Michal went to the police station to find out where Taavi was and try to get him home. Neither of them returned home.

Alina and Gilda went to live with Lev and Lotti until their parents returned. No one knew what had happened to Michal and Taavi.

This is book two in the series. It tells the story of Taavi, Michal, Alina and Gilda after Kristallnacht. It is a sad story. It also tells the story of Lev and Lotti and her brother Johan.

The story brings to life how horribly the Nazi’s treated the Jewish people. It tells of the horrors of the concentration camps and of the treatment of those gentiles that were married to Jewish people.

It is a story of courage and of survival. A story of mistakes, and of redemption for the mistakes. A story of life during one of the most difficult times in history and how two families worked to survive, although some did not.

You will need a few tissues to read this one, tears will fall as you read of the horrors inflicted on a group of people for no reason other than their religion, or their perceived differences to the Nazi’s.

It is a good story and you will be glad you read it. I recommend this story and I can’t wait for book 3 in the series.

I received a copy for free. The review and the words are my own.

An intense and riveting sequel to Michal’s Destiny that no one will want to put down. I don’t see that Alina did anything shameful in doing what she could to give her son a good life with women who consented and were well treated and well paid.