Guide to Jewish Literature - September/October 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 Secret weaves 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.

The powerful new novel from the National Jewish Book Award Finalist author of Winter Blessings. With a secret society, magical chicken soup, and a young girl who is wise beyond her years.… When Rachel Cohen’s village teeters on the brink, she and The Council of Wise Women must cook up a plan. Between family breakdowns, the threat of famine, and the challenges of a beloved community, how much meddling is too much?  “Abrahmson’s prose savvily mixes the homey and the surreal… He’s a master” — Publishers Weekly. A spellbinding tale of love, loss, independence, reconciliation, and the power of women.

Babi Yar was not an Indian Mystic and the Einzatzgruppen a German Pop Group, but rather the prelude to Auschwitz. Two young lovers, Yakov Levin and Katya Luvshenko, living at the edge of the Babi Yar ravine in Kyiv, witness the murder of 35,000 Jews in September 29, 1941, from the hidden love-nest they had previously built there.  The forgotten war against the Jews in Ukraine in 1941-2 is finally brought to light. One hundred years of horrifying and unbelievable events right up to Putin’s present-day invasion, are captured here in this spellbinding novel of love, war and the Holocaust.   

A Brazilian journalist’s investigation unearths the story of a network of people responsible for hiding Josef Mengele, better known as “The Angel of Death,” the infamous Nazi doctor who fled to South America and escaped justice for over thirty years. Read the international sensation already translated into nine languages!

This modern and whimsical Jewish-themed board book is the first of its kind incorporating both Jewish traditions and Jewish culture. Author and artist Suzy Ultman melds her own Jewish upbringing with her current trend-setting aesthetic to create a gorgeous, appealing, and simple book that will validate Jewish readers, and inform and entertain Jews and non-Jews alike.

This lyrical and very personal text from beloved author Ruth Spiro, with breathtaking and imaginative illustrations from Victoria Tentler-Krylov, explores the Jewish concept of tikkun olam, or taking part to repair the world. It’s sure to inspire young readers to nurture their own small spark, taking action today that will change the world tomorrow.

A smart and powerful story set in the Orthodox Jewish community about what it means to fit in, break out, and find your own way, by the award-winning author of The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen.

South of My Dreams follows the adventures and misadventures of Fania who always dreamed of making it big in New York City. Growing up in 1970s Italy, she felt constrained by a stale environment and culture hostile to women’s independence. In pursuit of her childhood fantasy, she flees to New York where she thinks her American dream awaits. Instead, her American nightmare begins. Entertaining, original, and poetic, this memoir will resonate with those who fight for what they want and refuse to abandon their dreams.

New from CCAR Press, Enter These Gates is a High Holy Day companion for our times, with over one hundred new poems, prayers, and meditations for Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. Poet-liturgist Alden Solovy blends today’s struggles and joys with classic themes, layering a contemporary voice into beloved motifs.

A musical story celebrating the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren. This book features fresh lyrics and a toe-tapping melody. The colorful illustrations mirror the joy of this special bond. Use the QR code printed inside the book to download the song. Prepare to make memories to last a lifetime—listening, reading and singing together!

Felice and Ira Zaslow’s love story spanned almost four decades, from the beaches of Far Rockaway to a comfortable suburban existence on the south shore of Long Island. Then came the morning of September 11, 2001. Through the days, weeks, and months that followed, Felice had to find her way through unfathomable trauma, on a path she had to forge herself, seeking guidance and role models along the way. This remarkable and inspiring memoir puts a very personal face on a national tragedy, facing down the darkness by looking for the light that is always present.

In this young adult edition of the bestselling, award-winning memoir The Choice, Holocaust survivor and renowned psychologist Dr. Edith Eger shares her harrowing experiences and gives readers the gift of hope and strength. Through it all, Edie recognized her choice: she can’t change the past, but she can choose how to live and even to love again.

The unforgettable, heart-breaking true story of a mother who survived Auschwitz and fought to be reunited with her daughter once again. Written immediately in the months after the war, Auschwitz – A Mother’s Story tells Rosa de Winter-Levy’s unique and heartbreaking personal story – from the atrocities of the camp to her journey out of hell. Powerful and affecting, it is the testimony of a mother, and the pain she will endure for the chance to hold her child again.