Guide to Jewish Literature - January/February 2026

This critically acclaimed bestseller presents the captivating story of Clara Prinz, a remarkable woman forced to leave her native Berlin in 1939. As Clara traveled alone on a voyage into the unknown, she turned to memories of her adolescence during La Belle Époque – the Beautiful Era filled with optimism and cultural transformation at the dawn of the twentieth century. Through Clara’s chance encounters with notable personalities of the period, Clara’s Secret weaves an unforgettable tapestry of personal and historic events. Clara’s Secret is ultimately a compelling story of the advancement of humankind and the survival of its decline. 

The Hebrew word “Chai” means life. In Chai on Life, author Lorie Kleiner Eckert offers a “High on Life” with a Jewish twist. This heartfelt collection of 36 essays explores self-acceptance, family dynamics, aging , and gratitude with profound vulnerability. Enriched with 40 of the author’s original illustrations , the book is a “joyous, uplifting, and honest handbook for life”. It soothes and offers advice “in the spirit of…Morrie Schwartz’s, work,” says his son, Rob Schwartz.

From the opening vignette in which a photograph is a silent witness to history to the powerful coda “Miracles,” a novella set against the vibrant panorama of the Yiddish theater in America, the fifteen memorable narratives in The Girls of Jerusalem and Other Stories span continents and eras as they chronicle love and loss, piety and heresy, mysticism and rationality to reinterpret ancient tropes of exile, dislocation, and profound change, revealing a new understanding of Jewish history and memory. “Luminous tales of exile and loss that bequeath new life” Kirkus Reviews (starred review). A best book of the year selection.

Felice and Ira Zaslow’s love story spanned almost four decades, from the beaches of Far Rockaway to a comfortable suburban existence on the south shore of Long Island. Then came the morning of September 11, 2001. Through the days, weeks, and months that followed, Felice had to find her way through unfathomable trauma, on a path she had to forge herself, seeking guidance and role models along the way. This remarkable and inspiring memoir puts a very personal face on a national tragedy, facing down the darkness by looking for the light that is always present.

This modern and whimsical Jewish-themed board book series is the first of its kind to incorporate both Jewish traditions and Jewish culture, offering a truly representative and current depiction of Judaism. How Do You Jew? introduces readers to Jewish traditions from around the world, validating the varied experiences of Jewish readers and celebrating the global Jewish community.

An imagined memoir about the author’s aunt Claire LeBrint Metzger, born in 1914. In 1994, the 80-year-old fictional narrator Claire writes this memoir. Claire’s Russian immigrant parents wanted her to marry a Nice Jewish Man and have children. Claire wanted romance, adventures, a writing career. Against the backdrop of the Depression, the Spanish Civil War, World War II, the rise of Communism, and post war America, Claire’s life takes many twists and turns. At age 53 she marries a Nice Jewish Man. In her 60s she finally achieves her life-long dream and becomes a newspaper reporter and feature writer.

Ready for your next book boyfriend? Can opposites attract when tradition stands in the way? Cuddle up with this contemporary romance of matchmaking gone wrong, blending the “hot-rabbi vibe” of Nobody Wants this with the “small-town charm” of The Gilmore Girls.

Triple Crown is the only triple heroic crown of sonnets in the English language. The highly structured and interwoven poems deal with three aspects of reality as seen through the lens of scripture: the universal, the societal, and the personal. The first cycle of sonnets has a universal theme, the retelling of the story of Creation. The second cycle describes the conflicts of the kings of ancient Israel in the early days of its national existence. In the final cycle, Job describes his suffering, and rails against a world which appears to be devoid of justice.