When The World Was Broken: A Haunting and True Holocaust Novel

Berlin, 1938. The windows are shattered. The synagogues burn. And time is running out.In Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler, Jewish families are stripped of their livelihoods, their rights, and finally their safety. After years of hoping the madness would pass, Lina’s cousins realize the truth: if they do not leave now, they may never leave at all.Across the Atlantic, in quiet Connecticut, Lina and her husband Ben are rebuilding their lives after the Great Depression. Then a letter arrives from Berlin—a plea for help that will upend everything.Lina has never met these three proud German cousins. Yet she is suddenly thrust into a perilous mission: navigate quotas, affidavits, mounting bureaucracy, and tightening borders to rescue family members trapped in the tightening grip of the Third Reich.Based on real letters exchanged between Lina, her cousins, and others desperate to intervene, When the World was Broken brings to life:The daily realities of Jewish life in Berlin from 1933–1942The escalating terror following KristallnachtThe moral paralysis and political barriers surrounding emigrationThe fragile hope of refugees seeking safe harborThe courage of ordinary individuals attempting extraordinary actsFor readers of World War II historical fiction, Jewish refugee narratives, and stories of emigration from Nazi Germany, this novel offers suspense, authenticity, and deeply human stakes on both sides of the Atlantic.When history fractures the world, who will risk everything to mend it? Read more