Book description
Alice Stein, a young graduate student living in a vivid and chaotic late-90s East Village, loses her father and grandmother in a single year. In the process of cleaning out her grandmother's Brooklyn apartment, she begins to unlock a family secret. Accompanied by her precocious downstairs neighbour, a twelve-year-old girl…
Why read it?
1 author picked A Joy to Be Hidden as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Freedman explores all the themes I love and write about in my own work: long-buried family secrets, inherited trauma, and the lasting effects of being displaced.
I related to the protagonist’s search for identity while uncovering her family secrets, something I only began doing in my late 40s. To my surprise, I discovered I was not alone. And that is why we read: to know we are not alone.
From Gina's list on the immigrant experience and its aftermath.
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