Books Set in North America, Cuba

Hotel Cuba, by Aaron Hamburger

Read: July 26, 2024

3.5 Stars

Books Set in Europe and Asia; Poland and Israel

Once We Were Home, by Jennifer Rosner (2023)

Read: July 15, 2024

4 Stars

Books Set in South America, Argentina

Stranger in the Desert, by Jordan Salama (2024)

The author, Jordan Salama, seeks to learn more about his family history after finding a notebook his grandfather had compiled called Historia Antigua.  Although living in New York, Jordan’s family roots were Sephardic, Syrian, and Argentinian, which in South American were referred to as turco.  Turco referred to the fact that many people immigrated to South America pre-World War I when much of the middle east was under Ottoman control.

Jordan knew that his father’s family had immigrated to Argentina in the 1920s and that his great-grandfather was a traveling salesman.  Many first-generation immigrants to Argentina during this period became traveling salesmen.  The local population in the more remote areas of Argentina relied on the salesmen to bring them supplies.

So, Jordan traveled to Argentina to search for traces of his family.  His grandfather still had family and a few contacts in Buenos Aires, so Jordan started his trek there.  After spending time with his extended family in Buenos Aires, Jordan set out for the Andes hoping to follow the trail of his great-grandfather.  He meets many people along the way and as he goes, he realized what a melting pot his Sephardic Jewish background blends in, and is influenced by, the surrounding cultures.

I loved reading about Jordan’s travels and the people he met along his search.

Read: July 9, 2024

5 Stars