Historical
Three young artists in 1930s Germany are torn apart by love, ideology, and war. Years later, haunted by trauma and bound by memory, they reunite at an art exhibition, where past betrayals and enduring connections collide in a final reckoning of conscience, identity, and redemption.
Families at War is a sweeping tale of love, loyalty, and the brutal legacy of war.
In 1930s Friedrichshafen, a shared passion for art binds English-Jewish Judith, idealistic Matthias, and zealous Hinrich, until Nazi ideology tears them apart. As WWII ignites, Judith returns to England to serve as a wartime nurse.
Matthias, haunted by his love for Judith, fights on the Eastern Front, battling not just enemies but his own conscience. Meanwhile, Hinrich descends into darkness as a sadistic SS officer. Their families, too, are drawn into the maelstrom — some resisting, others complicit. Years later, an art exhibition reunites the trio, each scarred by the past.
Now artists, Judith and Matthias must confront the memories that shaped them, while Hinrich reappears in a guise both familiar and changed. Moving and unflinching, this is a story of shattered innocence, the enduring power of memory, and art’s ability to redeem or destroy.
Here's what readers have to say about this book....
A gripping account combining fact and fiction during war times; giving insight into personal experiences regarding the entanglements of envy, friendship, love, and hate. Reconciliation? At what cost if at all?
A graphic, engrossing, and thought-provoking story of love, jealousy, and hatred, centred around an English Jewess and her German school mates, set against the turbulent backdrop of Nazi Germany, world war two and its aftermath. Highly recommended.
With Families at War, Joe Kennedy succeeds in a fascinating debate of one of the darkest chapters in German and European history, as told through the interwoven fates of three families: an English-Jewish family, an honest German family, and a Nazi family. A rousing and deeply haunting tale—one that is indeed well worth reading.
A frank, captivating story of romance set against the backdrop of the second world war with an intriguing and intertwined plot. A good read.
