Lolita at Leonard’s of Great Neck and Other Stories from the Before Times
By Shira Dicker

 

In this debut collection of stories, Shira Dicker, a self-described daughter of the first wave of feminism, portrays bold Jewish women in a New York world that is post-Vietnam war and pre-pandemic. She writes energetically, capturing a time and place so well, not with nostalgia but with clarity, compassion and humor. Dicker gets the details just right, like the maraschino cherry-topped whiskey sours at the catering hall named in the title.

To & Fro By Leah Hager Cohen (Bellevue Literary Press)

 

Leah Hager Cohen’s latest is an intriguing and beautiful novel of two intersecting worlds. The two separate stories follow the interior lives of Ani and Annamae, both unusual and soulful young women searching for understanding of themselves and the world. Opening the book from one side, “To,” gives readers Ani’s story; turning it around and flipping it over gives readers “Fro,” Annamae’s tale. This is a novel of questions, philosophical insights, Talmudic stories and the longing for connection.

The Safekeep By Yael van der Wouden (Avid Reader Press)

Set in the Netherlands in 1961, when traces of the Holocaust and World War II persist, this debut novel follows two very different women whose paths cross in a house in the Dutch countryside. One lives by herself and experiences a loneliness “that arrived without the prospect of leaving.” The other is vivacious, like “a bee stuck in a room with all the windows shut.” Dutch Israeli author Yael van der Wouden spins a compelling and suspenseful tale that explores concepts of home, love and history.

Journey Through the Spanish Civil War: Dispatches of a Yiddish War Reporter
By S.L. Shneiderman. Translated by Deborah A. Green (White Goat Press)

Polish-born journalist Shmuel Leib Shneiderman arrived in Spain in 1936 at the start of the Spanish Civil War. He was the first Jewish war correspondent in Spain (and likely the premier Yiddish war correspondent anywhere). First published in Yiddish in 1938, this account, now in English, is rich with color and analysis, filled with voices of peasants, workers, officials and members of the International Brigade, such as a Jewish tailor from Paris fighting on the barricades. Shneiderman’s wife, Eileen, was his editor and researcher throughout his career. Included are photos by her brother, pioneering photojournalist David “Chim” Seymour.

On Bette Midler: An Opinionated Guide By Kevin Winkler (Oxford)

A curator and archivist at the New York Public Library, former professional dancer and author of books on theater, Kevin Winkler is also an unabashed fan of Bette Midler, the Divine Miss M, who was born in Honolulu to transplanted New Jerseyites and named for Bette Davis. She moved to New York City in 1965 and worked as a typist, hatcheck girl and go-go dancer before getting her first breaks in theater. This extensively researched book for both fellow fans and theater lovers covers the trajectory of her singular career across the performing arts as well as her Jewish, feminist and environmental sensibilities.

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Sandee Brawarsky is a longtime columnist in the Jewish book world as well as an award-winning journalist, editor and author of several books, most recently of 212 Views of Central Park: Experiencing New York City’s Jewel From Every Angle.