Book description
A dazzling Sephardic multigenerational saga that moves from Istanbul to Barcelona, Havana, and New York, exploring displacement, endurance, and family as home.
A kaleidoscopic portrait of one family's displacement across four countries, Kantika―“song” in Ladino―follows the joys and losses of Rebecca Cohen, feisty daughter of the Sephardic elite of early…
Why read it?
1 author picked Kantika as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Given the heroic women I portray in Irena’s Gift, I am naturally drawn to stories of resilient women who challenge conventions to reinvent themselves and thrive in new countries. In Kantika, through exquisite prose, Elizabeth Graver transports readers from the vibrant streets of Constantinople to the bustling avenues of Barcelona–where characters based on her own Sephardic family are exiled after losing everything–to Havana and then New York.
Its glorious cover is an apt description of the kaleidoscope of cultures and places this story allows us to inhabit. Graver's lyrical writing breathes life into each city as if it…
From Karen's list on war & displacement affects families.
If you love Kantika...
Aggressor
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
Want books like Kantika?
Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 70 books like Kantika.
Share your top 3 reads of 2025!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,210
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like Kantika, you might also like...
Old Man Country
This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.
In these and other intimate conversations, the book…
Lane and the Inventor
A grumpy-sunshine, slow-burn, sweet-and-steamy romance set in wild and beautiful small-town Colorado. Lane Gravers is a wanderer, adventurer, yoga instructor, and social butterfly when she meets reserved, quiet, pensive Logan Hickory, a loner inventor with a painful past.
Dive into this small-town, steamy romance between two opposites who find love…
