B Reviews / Book Reviewsfamily relationships / Historical / Jewish characters / Jewish-faith / Poland / war / World War IIComments Off on REVIEW: We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter
An extraordinary, propulsive novel based on the true story of a family of Polish Jews who are separated at the start of the Second World War, determined to survive—and to reunite It is the spring of 1939 and three generations of the Kurc family are doing their best to live ... more >
B Reviews / Book Reviews20th century / Biography / epistolary novel / Historical / illness / Jewish-faith / Sweden / World War II5 Comments
In this improbably joyous novel about two recovering concentration camp survivors, love is the best medicine. July 1945. Miklos is a twenty-five-year-old Hungarian who has survived the camps and has been brought to Sweden to convalesce. His doctor has just given him a death sentence — his lungs are filled ... more >
B ReviewsAmerican historical / djinn / Fantasy / Historical / Jewish-faith / New York City / opposites attract10 Comments
In The Golem and the Jinni, a chance meeting between mythical beings takes readers on a dazzling journey through cultures in turn-of-the-century New York. Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life to by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic and dies at ... more >
D Reviews16th-century / European-Historical / Historical / Jewish-faith / midwife4 Comments
The Imperial Harem, Constantinople, 1578. Hannah and Isaac Levi, Venetians in exile, have overcome unfathomable obstacles to begin life anew in the Ottoman Empire. He works in the growing silk trade, and she, the best midwife in the capital, tends to the hundreds of women in Sultan Murat III’s lively ... more >
B Reviews15th century / European-Historical / Historical / Jewish-faith / religion / Spain6 Comments
A sweeping story of 1492 Spain, exploring how what we know about the world shapes our map of life 1492. During the waning decades of Spain’s golden age, Christian religious fervor culminated in the expulsion of all Jews and Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula. THE MAPMAKER’S DAUGHTER tells the story ... more >
DNF Reviews / Featured1930s / Berlin-Germany / China / Historical / Jewish-faith / multicultural10 Comments
“Peilin is betrothed to Kwan Yao, the only son of a wealthy pearl farmer. However months before their wedding, Yao is killed by the Japanese in the Nanjing Massacre. The Kwans insist on proceeding with the wedding and the beautiful Peilin is married to a ghost husband. When an uncle ... more >