Books Set in North America (New Hampshire); Europe (Vienna); and Asia (Israel)

Queen Esther, by John Irving (2025)

John Irving is a very quirky author.  While the title seems to refer to Esther, a Jewish orphan, adopted as a young teen to be a nanny to the daughter of the Winslow family, much of the book actually focuses on her son, Jimmy.  Esther was born in Vienna, Austria in 1905.  Soon after her birth, her family immigrated to the United States to escape the growing antisemitism.  Sadly, antisemitism was prevalent in the United States as well, and Esther's mother was murdered antisemites in Maine.  (Her father had died en route to the United States.)

The Winslows of New Hampshire provide Esther with a loving, but non-Jewish, family.  She grew up knowing of her Jewish background and values.  She is determined not to marry, but does agree to be the birth mother to Jimmy, who will be raised by Honor Winslow.  Esther longs to find her Jewish roots and becomes like the biblical Queen Esther and work to protect the Jews post-World War II.  Her life becomes mysterious and her Winslow family believes she has ties to Israel's Mossad.

Esther's son is curious about his birth mother and her ties to Judaism.  He also is determined to become a writer, so travels to Vienna, the place of his mother's birth.  At this point, the novel takes a turn and we meet all the quirky characters that are Irving's signature.

Irving's descriptions of live in New Hampshire are so New England.  His take on the formation of Israel are also so vivid and factual.  As he describes walking down the streets of Jerusalem, I felt as though I, too, were walking with Jimmy.  As Jimmy meets people, he has the opportunity to determine his own life course ~ is he the child of Esther, or of Honor?

I enjoyed the beginning and the ending of this novel, but got bogged down my much of the middle of the book.

3 Stars

Read: January 27, 2026

Books Set in North America, Massena, New York, United States

The Accusation: Blood Libel in an American Town, by Edward Berenson (2019)

Read:  June 8, 2025

3 Stars

Books Set in Europe and North America: Germany and Alabama, United States

The German Wife, by Kelly Rimmer (2022)

Read:  August 28, 2022

4 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States: New York, New York

Snow in August, by Pete Hamill (1997)

Read: August 21, 2022

5 Stars

Books Set in the World

People Love Dead Jews, by Dara Horn (2021)

 

I first heard of this book through Dara Horn’s podcast of the same name.  After listening to the podcasts, I knew I wanted to read the book.  I know of Dara Horn mostly through her novels.  This book is not a work of fiction.  Instead, it is a collection of 12 well-researched essays of how Jews are represented throughout history, how museums are built to honor Jewish heritage, just so long as evidence of live Jews is not present.  At the Anne Frank House, for example, a young Jewish worker was informed that he could not wear his kippah.

 

Horn recounts how she visited the city of Harbin, China, a city that was built primarily when the Russians sent their Jews there.  For a brief period in the 1930s, the city was a haven for Russian Jews.  Then the War broke out.  The Jews were either forced to leave or were slaughtered.  Today, there is a new “memorial” honoring the Jewish citizens of this city.

 

Horn explores antisemitism in the United States and the world in this book.  It is both disturbing and thought provoking.

 

Read: January 2022

 

4 Stars

Books Set in North America: the United States

How to Fight Anti-Semitism, by Bari Weiss (2019)

 

Antisemitism is on the rise in the United States.  In this book, journalist Bari Weiss provides a brief history of antisemitism in the Western world and how it has manifested itself throughout the years.  Antisemitism has many faces.   It displays itself very differently depending on one’s political bent.  Some displays of antisemitism are obvious and violent.  Other displays are more subtle.  I found the first part of this book to be all over the map, as the author wanted to include so much.

 

The last chapter of the book was the most informative and provided tools that American Jews must use to combat antisemitism.

 

Read:  July 17, 2021

 

3 Stars

 

Books Set in Europe: Austria

The Conversion, by Aharon Appelfeld (1998)

 

In the years before World War II, Karl Hübner was living in a small town in Austria.  He worked in the municipal office, but, because he was a Jew, knew that he wouldn’t be able to rise any higher in his job.  He, thus, converted to Christianity solely to advance his career.  Prior to his decision to convert, he had visions of his mother telling him that it would be okay to convert for job advancement.  Most of his close classmates from school had already converted, thus he was simply taking steps to conform to the norms of his town and for social acceptance.

 

Karl, now a Christian, does, indeed get the promotion.  He is surprised to learn, however, that the promotion did not bring him the happiness that he envisioned.  Karl and his school friends learn that conversion to Christianity does not social acceptance in a country that fears Jews.  They are often reminded that the conversion did not truly make them non-Jews.  Although Karl was brought up in a secular Jewish home, he did absorb its values.  He has a strong moral code and stands up for injustice.  When he sees Jews being mocked and abused, he calls out the abusers.

 

Karl lives with his housekeeper, Gloria.  It was not clear to me whether or not Gloria was Jewish, but she maintains the Jewish rituals and traditions that she learned from Karl’s mother.  She observes the High Holidays each year, which at first surprised the newly converted Karl.

 

Spoiler alert:  As antisemitism increases in their Austrian town, Karl decides to return to the home of his parents.  He resigned his job, sold his house and traveled to Rosow.  Sadly, antisemitism is everywhere.  Although Karl and Gloria were initially very happy in their new location, the local peasants ultimately burn down their house with them in it.

 

Read:  June 6, 2021 (First Read: March 16, 2008)

 

3 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States, Atlanta, Georgia

In the Neighborhood of True, by Susan Kaplan Carlton (2019)

In the Neighborhood of True is a coming-of-age novel set in 1958 Atlanta, Georgia.  Ruth Robb’s father recently died, so her mother packs Ruth, her sister Nattie, and they move from New York City to Atlanta, Georgia to live in her grandparent’s guest house.  Ruth’s mother grew up in Atlanta society and was Queen of the Magnolia Ball, as well as a handful of other balls.  Ruth’s grandmother, Fontaine, is all set to send her granddaughters into the debutante season.

Atlanta society is white and Protestant.  Ruth’s late father was Jewish and Ruth’s mother converted.  Ruth and her sister have been raised Jewish.  This would be a stumbling block to enter Atlanta society.  Ruth and her sister attend the private school, Covenant, that was established after the ruling in Brown v. Education, so it wasn’t subject to integration.

Ruth quickly falls in the popular girls and learns Southern etiquette from the little pink pamphlet her grandmother has given her.  She decides to keep the fact that she is Jewish a secret so she can be accepted with her new friends.  She also falls hard for Davis Jefferson, the handsome young classmate.  He is attracted to her, too.

Ruth and her mother come to an agreement, that Ruth can go to school dances provided she attend Shabbos services on Saturday mornings.  The rabbi at the local synagogue is pushing for civil rights.  Ruth is walking a fine line between her religious upbring and her desire to fit in with her classmates.

Ruth is aware of the violence towards Blacks and learns about the lynching of Leo Frank in the early 1900s.  As the story leads to an act of violent antisemitism, Ruth is faced with a moral dilemma.

This story was based on an actual act of antisemitism that occurred in October 1958 in Atlanta, Georgia.  Although 60 years have lapsed since, antisemitism is on the rise.  Many synagogues in the South have police protection during Friday and Saturday services.  The attitudes and events of this novel could conceivably occur today.

Read: May 26, 2021

5 Stars

Books Set in North America; United States; New York City

Not Our Kind, by Kitty Zeldis (2018)

Not Our Kind is a novel set in the late 1940s in New York City.  Young Eleanor Markowitz was in between jobs when the cab she literally bumped into Patricia Bellamy (their cabs crashed).  Eleanor had left her teaching job and was running late for an interview when the accident happened.  As fate would have it, Patricia had a 13-year old daughter, Margaux, who was recovering from polio and had just lost her tutor.  Margaux formed an instant bond with Eleanor.  Despite her misgivings, wealthy and WASPy Patricia decided to hire Eleanor, provided her friends don’t learn that Eleanor is Jewish.

The book started out with a bang, but lost steam as I continued reading.  I thought it was too cliche.  I got a feel for Eleanor and Margaux, but the other characters were too flat.  Eleanor met and was attracted to Tom, Patricia’s brother.  He was a rich playboy who had seduced at least one of Patricia’s friends in the past.  He still had a bohemian-life style.  What did Eleanor see in Tom?  The anti-Semitism was not really a main theme, other than making a point that Eleanor had to change her name from Moskowitz to Moss to get a job.  Neither she nor her mother, a hat maker, were especially observant.  Eleanor had, however, observed some of the Jewish rituals when her father was alive.  She had no problems eating shellfish and lobster in the beginning of the book, but later the point was made when treyfe was served at a party.  It was a fast and easy read, but not memorable.

Read:  December 9, 2020

3 Stars

Books Set in North America; United States; New England; Massachusetts and Vermont

The Inn at Lake Devine, by Elinor Lipman (1998) is a delightful little romantic comic novel.

We first meet Natalie Marx, the heroine of The Inn as Lake Devine, as a young girl, who lives in a tight-knit Jewish family in Newton, Massachusetts.  The year is the early 1960s.  While exploring a resort for a summer vacation, her mother writes a letter of inquiry to the Inn at Lake Devine, which is situated on a beautiful lake in scenic Vermont. Ingrid Berry, the owner and manager of the Inn, writes back stating that the clientele at the Inn is for gentiles.  This seems to be Natalie’s first experience with anti-Semitism.  It also convinces her that she absolutely must find out what is so great about this particular Inn.

Soon after this event, the Civil Rights Act became the law.  Young Natalie began a campaign to flood the Berry’s letters reminding them that they could no longer restrict their clientele to only gentiles.

Later, while at summer camp, Natalie meets Robin Fife, whose family just happens to vacation at the Inn at Lake Devine each summer.  Natalie befriends Robin, even though she finds Robin a bit dull.  She devises a scheme to get herself invited to go to the Inn with Fife family for a week’s vacation.

Flash-forward 10 years.  Natalie is now a professional chef who is between jobs.  Natalie and Robin have more-or-less lost track of each other when Natalie learns that Robin is working in Boston at the Pappagallo store on Newbury Street in Boston.  (How well I remember this store!)  Natalie learns that Robin is engaged to marry Nelson Berry, son of the infamous Inn at Lake Devine.  Robin insists that Natalie attend her upcoming nuptials, which will be held at … (wait for it) the Inn!

Natalie returns to the Inn for the wedding and, on the way to the event, Robin is killed in a tragic car accident.  With family gathered for the wedding, the family decides to hold the funeral there instead.  Natalie stays for the week, cooking for the grieving families where she befriends Kris Berry, the groom’s younger brother.

She hopes that her budding friendship with Kris will develop into something more.  Her parents aren’t thrilled with her involvement with Kris because not only is he not Jewish, but at least 1 member of his family is anti-Semitic.  They fail to give Natalie messages and letters from Kris.

Ultimately, Kris and Natalie get together and go off to a resort in the Catskills with Nelson and his college friend Linette.  Linette’s family runs a kosher resort in the Catskills and she is engaged to a rabbinical student.  She and Nelson, however, renew their friendship as Natalie and Kris’s relationship blooms.

I liked this book, however, the ending was a little too trite.  Nelson quickly became involved with Linette so soon after Robin’s death.  This seemed very callous.

There is a brief, but interesting, #MeToo incident between Natalie and her influential boss.  He tacitly promises to provide her with job opportunities in exchange for sexual favors.  Natalie declines his “offer”, but this passage was written 20 years before such actions were even remotely being taken seriously by the public at large.

Read: February 26, 2020

4 Stars