The Harvest — Meyer Levin

The family saga that began in The Settlers continues through WWII and the creation of Israel in a novel that “follows history's beat closely and knowingly” (Kirkus Reviews).

When the Chaimovitch family fled the Russian pogroms at the turn of the twentieth century, they hoped their family could flourish in Eretz Yisroel, the land of their ancestors. Twenty years later, they are thriving in Palestine and sending their youngest son Mati off to attend an American college. But the difficulties of their old lives in Russia are harder to shake than they thought.

With the rumblings of World War II comes anti-Jewish violence reminiscent of the pogroms they once fled. And that violence claims the life of Mati's younger brother. When Mati returns home to help his family deal with the sudden tragedy, he brings his new Jewish American bride Dena. Bridging the generations, the Chaimovitch family will confront unimaginable horrors as they work toward the triumphs and trials that created the Jewish state of Israel.

“The culmination of a prodigiously productive and important career.” -- Norman Mailer