Promised Land

July 1, 2018

Two brothers are separated by war when 14-year-old Peter is sent to America to escape the growing Nazi threat, and his younger sibling Arie stays behind in Germany and is sent to Auschwitz with their family. Only Arie survives. Then, in 1950 in Tel Aviv, both young men meet and fall in love with Tamara, a Jewish refugee from Cairo, Egypt. Peter, now working for Israel's intelligence agency, the Mossad, goes on a covert mission and Arie gets the girl. Over the next two decades as the young Jewish state faces increasing challenges, the brothers take different paths. Peter heads some of Israel's top espionage operations, while Arie becomes one of the country's wealthiest men. Award-winning journalist and novelist Fletcher (The War Reporter) crafts a compelling historical novel that is sexy, suspenseful, and successfully mixes humor and high drama. Although the cast of characters is large, their names serve as chapter titles to help readers follow each twist and turn of this epic story. A lovely surprise at the end makes the whole book worthwhile, as if it wasn't already fascinating enough. VERDICT Engrossing for historical fiction fans, especially those drawn to the dramatic events of the mid-20th century.--Joel Shoemaker, Illinois Prairie Dist. P.L., Metamora

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2018
Two German Jewish brothers who lost their family in the Holocaust are driven apart by their love of the same woman in the fledgling state of Israel.Peter, the older brother, who was sent to America at age 14 to escape the Nazis, earned a Silver Star with the U.S. Army during World War II and was drafted by the OSS, becoming a top undercover intelligence agent for Mossad. His sibling, Arie, who survived the German death camp to which he was sent through his SS-pleasing ability to batter fellow Jews in the boxing ring, becomes fabulously rich in Tel Aviv as a cutthroat builder. The brothers grow apart after the unscrupulous Arie woos and marries Tamara, a beautiful Jewish refugee from Cairo, with whom Peter had a brief but meaningful affair, while Peter is away on a mission. Peter marries Diana, a British journalist he recruits as an operative for Reuven Shiloah, first director of Mossad. But he's haunted by the loss of Tamara, and Tamara, who is mistreated by Arie, never gets over Peter. Fletcher, one-time Tel Aviv bureau chief for NBC, knows his Middle East history and does a good job of charting complicated international politics and Israel's secret campaign against Nazi war criminals. As entertaining as the book is, though, it fails to delve deeply enough into the characters to make their stories matter as much as what is going on around them. And the story of the brothers too often succumbs to soap opera.This postwar epic, the first novel in a planned trilogy, isn't as gripping as Fletcher's The List (2011), about the lingering effects of WWII on London Jews. But it's a solid piece of storytelling.

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Starred review from September 1, 2018
This historical family saga, first of a planned trilogy, invites inevitable comparison with Leon Uris' Exodus, the action picking up in 1950, directly after the historical events Uris depicts. Fletcher, however, focuses more on characters than on Israel's history as the protagonists' personal perspectives bring the interwar period (between WWII and the Six-Day War) to life. Brothers Peter and Arie, in love with the same woman, can be seen to represent Israel's political, religious, and social entities vying for dominance. Holocaust survivor Arie is a keenly competitive businessman with questionable morality, and family man Peter, a Mossad agent, battles conflicted motivations. Israel's struggles shape their lives: revenge, distrust, prejudice, and resentment that sometimes quell hope and their fighting spirit. Readers unfamiliar with Israeli and Palestinian history may struggle with factions, battles, and names, but the author's focus on the characters keeps the action alive for those who love a good family saga. Fletcher, well known for his National Jewish Book Award-winning Walking Israel (2010), and for his character-driven novels, including Jacob's Oath (2013), knows his subject and dramatizes it to great effect. Another compelling story of Jewish brothers caught in wartime conflict, Julie Orringer's The Invisible Bridge (2010), might also appeal to Fletcher's readers. Those interested in the same period, seen from a Palestinian perspective, might like Susan Abulhawa's Mornings in Jenin (2010).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)