Guide to Jewish Literature - July/August 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.

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.

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.

Operation Texas is a page-turning thriller that unveils the clandestine effort on behalf of Lyndon Baines Johnson to secure visas for Polish Jews on the eve on the Nazi invasion. Multi-lingual, Jewish, Texas-born Rosalind Fisher is handed the nearly impossible job of easing the visas through the US Embassy in Warsaw while also dealing with German spies. She must ensure the safety of LBJ’s good friend, Jim Novy, also Jewish, as he travels through Poland visiting family. Reviews say Anita “has struck gold again” after her novel, Helen by Anita Mishook.

Already a Sunday Times bestseller in the UK, in Miracle, the last survivors of the Holocaust tell their stories. Experience the raw emotion, struggle for survival, and enduring power of faith amidst unimaginable cruelty. The boys in this book—who survived concentration camps, death marches, and constant dehumanization—rebuilt their families and became living testaments to hope. Once their voices fade away, denial and disinformation will have opportunity to flourish. These boys speak for their generation, to a world that must be reminded of the truth they represent. “The story is so extraordinary it defies belief.” —The Jewish Weekly.

Freya the Deer shimmers with lyrical prose, following neurodivergent Freya Rubenstein (animal lover, vegan, spiritual seeker) to a college in the woods. There she discovers obsessive love and an ethical quandary when her soulmate veers toward radical violence. “A socially-conscious fairytale, Richman’s poignant and sometimes heartbreaking coming-of-age novel is a testament to the limitless boundaries of love.” – Zeeva Bukai, author of The Anatomy of Exile.

A ‘neurospicy’ young woman, Cece, filled with wanderlust, visits the mystical city of Sefat; the Catskills in their heyday; and settles in Los Angeles, her beloved hometown. Alas, she meets and marries a New York ‘big city’ young man, and believes their marriage is doomed when each of their three therapists mysteriously dies, one after another! A spiritual and romantic odyssey of the ever-wondering, ever-wandering Jew.  A great book club read! See website for upcoming events!