Guide to Jewish Literature - March/April 2024

This critically-acclaimed bestseller presents the captivating story of Clara Prinz, a remarkable woman forced to leave her native Berlin in 1939. As Clara traveled alone on a voyage into the unknown, she turned to memories of her adolescence during La Belle Époque – the Beautiful Era filled with optimism and cultural transformation at the dawn of the twentieth century. Through Clara’s chance encounters with notable personalities of the period, Clara’s Secretweaves an unforgettable tapestry of personal and historic events. Clara’s Secret is ultimately a compelling story of the advancement of humankind and the survival of its decline.  

From the opening vignette in which a photograph is a silent witness to history to the powerful coda “Miracles,” a novella set against the vibrant panorama of the Yiddish theater in America, the fifteen memorable narratives in The Girls of Jerusalem and Other Stories span continents and eras as they chronicle love and loss, piety and heresy, mysticism and rationality to reinterpret ancient tropes of exile, dislocation, and profound change, revealing a new understanding of Jewish history and memory. “Luminous tales of exile and loss that bequeath new life” Kirkus Reviews (starred review). A best book of the year selection.

A cousin of Henrietta Szold, Bernardine Szold Fritz arrived in Shanghai in 1929 to marry her fourth husband. Lonely and across the world from her teenage daughter, Bernardine started a salon in her home that became the center of the Shanghai arts scene. “Everyone who was anyone visiting Shanghai stopped in at Bernadine’s, from Hollywood stars to European intellectuals and Mexican artists. Few other individuals did so much to forge Shanghai’s unique east-west cultural mélange of the interwar years.” – Paul French, author of New York Times bestselling Midnight in Peking.

When Arden’s Uncle Eli asks her to look after his African gray parrot, Ludwig, while he’s out of town, she is not pleased. Parrots bite. But soon Ludwig proves himself to be not only unusually smart (did he just solve that math equation?) but incredibly loyal, as he helps Arden deal with a bully who’s been standing in her way.

A talented tween probes her Jewish family’s history in this sonorous tale, contemplating the generational trauma caused by the Holocaust. Rosie is a prodigy whose synesthesia allows her to see music as colors. Her mom is pushing her to become a concert violinist, but Rosie wants a more “normal” life. Rosie is excited to meet a girl her age while spending time at her grandparents’ home. The girl is familiar, and Rosie pieces it together: somehow, this girl is her mother, when she was twelve. This glitch in time gives Rosie new insight into her family and herself.

Jared Leiman and Caroline Weiss were high school sweethearts, but their post-college lives took them in different directions. Jared became a big-time entertainment lawyer in L.A., while Caroline stayed home to care for her sick mother. Now Caroline is free to follow her dreams, while Jared inherited custody of his baby niece. Will these opposites get a second chance at forever?

National Jewish Book Award winner Norman H. Finkelstein and Sydney Taylor Award winner Vesper Stamper have teamed up to tell the story of Abraham Cahan, the founder and longtime editor of the Yiddish language newspaper the Forverts (the Forward), which was one of the largest newspapers in the United States.

Set between the World Wars, this suspenseful family saga, love story, and gangster tale brings to life the Feinsteins, a family forged in tragedy and hope, struggling to attain their dreams in Brooklyn’s teeming streets. The beautifully written and tender descriptions of Ben, Golda, Morty and Sylvia living amid the Jewish and Italian gangsters who ruled New York in the 1920s and 1930s are realistic and captivating. Like Kraut’s acclaimed first novel, How to Make a Life, this page-turner is well researched and a great book club read, perfect for holiday gift giving. Author will Zoom with book clubs. 

Kill Brothers is a pulse-pounding, cold case thriller that delivers page-turning twists and turns, weaving together historical fiction (World War II) and modern-day DNA analysis. Will NYPD’s Detective Mills murder investigation link him back to Greta Weber’s shocking secret of nearly a century before? From the 1920s Germany to 2018 in Brooklyn, Kill Brothers will keep readers racing through the pages until its mind-bending conclusion.  

Dr. Larry S. Milner, an authority on Infanticide, asks: will abortion-right reversals (Roe v. Wade) lead to infanticide?  In his book, Hardness of Heart – Hardness of Life: The Stain of Human Infanticide, he investigates why infanticide has been present in every form of human society throughout history, to understand how the loss of these rights will affect Americans as well.

Suburbia—the quintessential quagmire of coexistence. Lila, a nurse’s aide, and her teenage son Dante, find solace in unlikely companions— a group of Mahjong-playing octogenarians. There’s Thea who struggles with Alzheimer’s, and her husband, Joseph; Mali, a lonely Holocaust survivor; recently widowed Frank; and the persnickety Gladys, whom Mali disliked from the moment they met. When Brian, a duplicitous neighbor, and Dante’s friends join the mix, all their lives take surprising turns that raise questions about the concepts of family, loyalty, and love. “… lingers long after you’ve turned the last page.” —Gail Lehrman, Across Seward Park.

In October 2023, The Jewish Publication Society released The JPS Tanakh: Gender-Sensitive Edition, the first major update of our iconic Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) translation in nearly four decades. The first Jewish gender-sensitive translation of the full Hebrew Bible, this new edition goes through the Tanakh word by word, line by line, verse by verse to offer gender-inclusive renderings where appropriate and gendered ones when called for historically and linguistically.

A Jewish-themed, contemporary romance inspired by real women, each trying to balance family obligations with personal dreams. Maya is a young mother and member of a kibbutz in northern Israel; Sofia is a feisty and fearless Ukrainian immigrant trying to make it big in New York City. What do these two unsung heroines have in common? Big dreams, daunting responsibilities, and a passion for the stage. This story comes together, overflowing with family, love, sacrifice, loyalty, and lots of blind courage. A heartfelt story for all women everywhere.

The new book by the award-winning author of several acclaimed titles on Jewish cuisine discusses exhibitions of Jewish culinary culture in museums around the world. Gain an overview of the cultural history of ‘foodism’ and the role of cuisine in Jewish identity.

Raizi and the Passover Plans takes place during the week before Passover when the whacky Rosenberg family, who live in a small town near Jerusalem in 2001, prepares for the holiday. Raizi, Lili, Rikki and Shmuel add to the humorous tension as their yoga teacher Mom and rabbi Dad try to keep all the breadcrumbs out of the house.  And then, just when everything seems to be under control, Grandpa shows up with his new girlfriend, and things really get complicated. During this year’s visit, Grandpa reveals an amazing secret that gives new meaning to “making plans.”