What Divides Us

The Kilteegan Bridge Story, Book 2

By: Jean Grainger

Narrated by: Siobhan Waring

Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

Kilteegan Bridge, Ireland 1963.

On the face of it, life is idyllic for Eli and Lena Kogan. Living in their beautiful house in the Irish countryside, their children are growing up happy and safe surrounded by a loving community. So when a letter arrives one day threatening to shatter their peaceful and prosperous world, Lena and Eli have no option but face the dark reality of their situation. How best to do that, is something that drives a wedge between them.

As a Jewish child, escaped from Germany in 1939, Eli is all for letting those dark days where they belong, for him, there’s no future in the past.

But for Lena, it’s different. She knows that the only way she can move her family forward in peace is to first go back, and there is only one man who knows the whole truth. From rural Ireland to wartime France, What Divides us, tells a tale of loyalty and love, resentment and revenge, that has far reaching consequences for the Kogan family, the unravelling of which might just destroy their future.

©2022 Gold Harp Media (P)2023 Jean Grainger

Loved

Such a wonderful series. The narrator was wonderful and the story engaging. I loved all of the characters !

Another great book

I really enjoy listening to Ms. Waring when she narrates Mrs. Grainger’s novels. The voices are excellent and I find myself getting wrapped up in the characters. I was so sad for What Divides Us to end. I hope the series continues.

Wonderful story

Absolutely love listening to this story. The plot and narration are just lovely. Looking for more!

I am loving this series

Great story line; excellent narrator; the characters are genuine and no foul language! Finally, a series I can really get into. Thank you Jean Grainger and Ms. Waring!

I cannot put this series down!

What a wonderful, second book and a marvelous series! Cannot wait to start number three... More Harm Than Good!

What Divides Us

Wonderful story - very exciting in the near end. Hopefully Malachi stays inAmerica and does cause trouble forLena and Eli.

Another delightful series from Jean Grainger

I listened to Trouble with Secrets and What Divides Us on a long drive. Siobhan’s voice and narration are calming and Jean’s story and characters are believable and engaging. It made what would have been a long boring drive go quickly without speeding!

Series is so engaging!

Really enjoying these books. Narrator is lovely too. Hope to read more from this author and narrator.

EVERY BIT AS GOOD AS THE 1ST BOOK IN THE SERIES!

This story focused a lot on Lena and Eli and their life with their three children, all living on their family farm, which includes a large house their oldest child Emmett has inherited from his rich biological father Malachi.

Malachi doesn’t know that the huge house and wealth he inherited from his father, a former Nazi, was earned from the suffering of Jews during WWII. Malachi’s father was a horrible, manipulating man who enjoyed causing maximum pain for whomever he could, including his son. The lies he told Malachi about Lena is the reason he left for school and never knew Lena was pregnant with their son Emmett.

Not long after Emmett was born, realizing how much she loved Eli, she and Eli got married and Eli raised Emmett as his own son. Eli is a German Jew who lost every member of his family to the Nazis except his mother and an uncle. He NEVER talks about his horrible experiences growing up, preferring to look ahead and count the many blessings he has — Lena, their three children, his medical practice, their health, the beautiful home they live in and their farm.

Life is idyllic until a letter arrives in the mail from a law firm saying the former Nazi who was the caretaker for Malachi’s father has inherited the house and he wants it — he’s giving the Kogen family 30-days to move out. This man is the same man that Lena knows killed her father, and she is not about to give up her son’s inheritance to him.

Lena (and then Eli) will travel from Ireland to France to confront this man and to get back what belongs to them.

While Lena and Eli are away, Malachi has been invited to the farm by Lena’s mother Maria. During lunch, the children, including Emmett, start questioning why no one in the family EXCEPT Emmett look so much like Malachi. Lena’s brother Jack tries to do damage control by getting all the kids outside before dessert, but this upsets Grandma Maria, who is on the verge of another mental breakdown over the edge.

Jack sends the kids over to the lady on the next farm to stay for the rest of the afternoon. It isn’t until much later that Emmett is missing…and Malachi is gone too.

My only complaint about this book (the same complaint as I had with the first book is that the book is about four hours TOO SHORT)! I WANT MORE!!!

In this book, I also didn’t like how Emmett, a 7 or 8 year-old boy was so full of himself, disobeys his parents and how at such a young age he believes he’s above everyone else. It doesn’t help that Malachi is being so immature and putting Emmett in the middle between himself and Lena and Eli, the man who has raised him from the very beginning and is the only dad he’s ever known. There were a few times in the book I actually found myself thinking that Malachi needed a good telling off before I remembered he’s a fictional character.

As always, Ms. Grainger’s writing and Ms. Siobhan Waring’s narration are absolute perfection!

I cannot WAIT to start book three, “More Harm than Good”!

Quite Enjoyable!

This was a satisfying Book 2 of the O'Sullivan family. It continued to explore mental illness, adoptive relationships, prejudice, war crimes, and heritage. Yet these topics are wrapped in a blanket of gentleness and love of family. This story also deepened my understanding of living in the Holocaust era by personalizing Eli's story. I really enjoyed it! Now, on to Book 3!