I love a good historical fiction and this one did not disappoint. I really enjoyed reading this. The pacing was good and I loved the characters and descriptions of what life was like back then. I'm glad Michal and Taavi found each other again. I was okay with the cliffhanger and look forward to the next book!

I was very happy to read this book and love the new updated cover! It really captures some of what Kristallnacht must have looked like. The series of 4 books has been published previously with this one first coming out in 2016. This may be an updated version but I don't know that for sure. I do know that it kept me reading whenever I had a chance. The author didn't hide the horrors of what was happening to the Jewish people from pogroms in Siberia to Kristallnacht in Berlin. I could feel the helplessness of the people who really had nowhere to turn. The descriptions of life in Berlin with spiraling inflation and difficulty finding food were heartbreaking. Despite this, I felt the author kept this on a level that even young adults could appreciate. The focus is on Michal, a young innocent Jewish women who as the novel begins is waiting to marry a man she has never met. The challenges she faced in the coming years were huge, and need to be read to be understood. I would be interested in reading more in the series as not all threads in the story are finished here.

Many thanks to #NetGalley and #BookWhisperer for allowing me to read an advance copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.

“Michal’s Destiny” by Roberta Kagan is a re-issued book - and part one of a four part series. I’ve read a number of Ms. Kagan’s series before and this one follows the same formula. It’s not a bad formula, but I’ve gotten used to her books ending on cliffhangers - so that wasn’t a surprise to me (unlike other reviewers). In this book, we meet Michal, a girl getting married to a man she doesn’t know, while her heart is with another man (this is an expected theme in a number of Ms. Kagan’s series). Cossacks appear, murdering her husband and the love of her life appears. They run off together and decide to leave Siberia for Germany “where we’ll be safer.” Granted in 1919, that was the safe bet - but anyone who knows about Berlin, Germany during the 1930s, well, America would’ve been a safer bet. Things happen - some good, some bad, some nice, some horrible. My biggest issue with Ms. Kagan’s books are her lack of character development - the writing is rather simplistic and the characters decide things rather quickly (such as our MFC deciding that she’d take her estranged husband back and both of them deciding “we’re in love, sure, things will work out this time.”). I’m not sure I’ll continue with this series as, to be honest, I figure that the next few books will be rather similar to her previous WWII series. However, Ms. Kagan’s books are pretty easy to read - with historical bits tossed in, so if that’s your jam, please don’t let this review discourage you from picking up this book and reading the series.

Learning to Survive

Michal is a dutiful Jewish girl living in a small village in Russia. She marries the man her father arranges for her and thinks she will have a happy life in the village. That is before the Cossacks come and murder her husband when they attack the village.

The Jewish boy Taavi, that has been flirting with her while she was married, saves her she feels like she has no other choice but to marry him and travel to Berlin where he can get a job. With no family left she feels completely alone.

In the years that follow Michal leaves Taavi because she cannot be with him as a wife because of the damage the Cossack caused to her. She than has to learn to survive on her own in the large city of Berlin.

As they go their separate ways Michal becomes a strong woman surviving on her own in Berlin. She never forgets Taavi and wishes things could be different and that they could be together. Taavi never forgets Michal and doesn’t understand why she left. Will they find their way back to each other?

Just as life gets a little easier and looks better for Michal, Adolf Hitler rises and things start getting really bad for the Jewish people in Berlin. Can she survive the Nazi’s.

A great first book to a brand-new series. I can’t wait for the next book.

Another absolutely amazing and heart-rending story by Roberta Kagan! I love the descriptions of what life was like in the Weimar Republic, and I’m so glad Michal and Taavi found each other, I can’t wait for the next part!