Jewish Book Club August-December 2023

August 8: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

by Gabrielle Zevin

In her contemporary best-selling novel about the video game industry. Zevin’s main characters: Sam, Sadie, and Marx, experience memorable joys and sorrows during more than a twenty year period of their respective lives. The dramatic plot is filled with information about the ins and outs of what is involved in creating, producing and selling video games. The main action takes place on both the East and West Coasts, although there is international travel, too.

October 10: The Hyena Murders

by Ellen Frankel

Book Two of Frankel's Jerusalem Mysteries Series provides details on the complicated societal role Ethiopian Jews have played in Israel. A prominent Ethiopian politician’s family is targeted and Israeli intelligence officer Maya Rimon is determined to find the killer as well as the motivation for the violence.

December 12: My Mother's Secret

by Alina Adams

Lena’s dying father’s last words remain a puzzle she is eager to solve. She asks her mother who a man called Aaron Kramer is and a story unfolds about the misguided Soviet plan to build a homeland for Jews in Birobidzhan near the Trans-Siberian Railway bordering China. Adams’ novel is filled with insights and irony about Soviet actions to relocate Jews to an “autonomous region.” The author and her family emigrated from Odessa to the United States in 1976.

September 12:

Once We Were Home

by Jennifer Rosner

A work of fiction based on true stories of World War Two children whose identity was hidden in order for them to survive, Rosner’s novel focuses on four children from three families, all of whom eventually come to Israel. In her lyrical and moving writing style, Rosner examines how these refugees’ lives and identities continued to be affected by wartime experiences.

November 14: The Island of Extraordinary Captives

by Simon Parkin

The subtitle of this non-fiction work says it all: A Painter, a Poet, an Heiress, and a Spy in a World War II British Internment Camp. Parkin concentrates on the plight of Peter Fleischmann, a German-born Kindertransport young budding artist. Parkin, a journalist, forcefully documents that real life can have more twists and turns than fiction.

The Jewish Book Club is a great way for book lovers to enjoy getting to know each other through lively discussion about great books with Jewish and literary value The book club meets on Zoom, and occasionally in person, at 12:00pm on the second Tuesday of each month.

If you would like to take part, please email IHC librarian

Evelyn Pockrass