My father, a WW2 buff, recommended this book to me very highly. I was equally entranced. The story beckoned and pulled me in completely. I never really knew the plight of the Jews in Hungary during WW2, so this broadened my historical knowledge while capturing my heart and imagination.
Paris, 1937. Andras Levi, an architecture student, has arrived from Budapest with a scholarship, a single suitcase, and a mysterious letter he has promised to deliver to Clara Morgenstern a young widow living in the city. When Andras meets Clara he is drawn deeply into her extraordinary and secret life, just as Europe's unfolding tragedy sends them both into a state of terrifying uncertainty.
From a remote Hungarian village to the grand opera houses of Budapest and Paris, from the despair of Carpathian winter to an unimaginable life in forced labour camps and…
Barbara Kingsolver - what else do I need to know? I've loved all her books. I hadn't been paying attention when Demon Copperhead came out, and it wasn't until I began reading that the David Copperfield-retelling aspect occurred to me. Demon had me from the first sentence and I couldn't stop. Heartbreaking, beautifully written.
Demon's story begins with his traumatic birth to a single mother in a single-wide trailer, looking 'like a little blue prizefighter.' For the life ahead of him he would need all of that fighting spirit, along with buckets of charm, a quick wit, and some unexpected talents, legal and otherwise.
In the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, poverty isn't an idea, it's as natural as the grass grows. For a generation growing up in this world, at the heart of the modern opioid crisis, addiction isn't an abstraction, it's neighbours, parents, and friends. 'Family' could mean love, or reluctant foster…
The Tsimbalist by Sasha Margolis is a hidden charm and didn't get near enough attention when it was published. It's not the tightest storytelling I've ever read, but it's a gem of a book about the relationships between the Jewish and Gentile communities in Russia in the late 1800s. I felt completely immersed in the community and felt the bonds the residents forged with each other, for good and bad ends. My great-grandfather was Jewish and lived in Russia during this time, so it was that much more poignant for me.
At once a thrilling whodunnit, a maddening romance, and an invigorating plunge into history, The Tsimbalist is a tale of Jews and Russians, depicting their complicated friendships, their dangerous enmities, and their illicit loves, all seen through the eyes of Avrom, a barber, musician, all-around mensch, and born detective. The year is 1871. The inhabitants of Balativke live in delicate balance – until a young Russian aristocrat is found murdered near the home of Koppel, a poor Jew. With the police unable to unravel the mystery of the aristocrat's murder, and blame falling upon Koppel amid a rising tide of…
In 1930s Brooklyn, in the depths of the Great Depression, a deli-man’s son dreams of making it big in Hollywood. A mobster’s daughter fantasizes about a life in service to the unfortunate. When their worlds collide, they’re tempted by an unlikely and forbidden romance that could put both their lives in danger. [The sequel, Boychik: Take Two, will be publishing in early 2026]
