As a queer author and someone with half a degree in medieval history, when I saw the announcement of Natasha Siegel’s debut historical fiction, I immediately knew that I needed to read Solomon’s Crown as soon as I could. I had amazingly high hopes for this book from the description—a retelling of the relationship between the newly-crowned King Philip of France and Richard, Duke of Aquitaine, later to be the King of England. While in dispute by historians, some have taken the fact that the two men were reported to have been “sleeping in the same bed” to be evidence of a queer relationship. Siegel reimagines the story of Philip and Richard as one of fear and loathing and love, and uses her versions of these historical figures to tell a timeless story.
As a reader, I was drawn to the book’s premise and setting, but fully enraptured by its careful exploration of the ways in which duty and devotion can lead to heart-wrenching conflicts. Philip, in particular, deals with anxiety about what his position as King of France, and Richard’s future ascension to the throne, means for their nascent relationship. He worries about whether to give in to the growing love he shares with Richard and risk one day finding himself on the opposite side of a battlefield, or protect himself from that future pain by refusing to acknowledge the feelings between them. This is just one notable element of a story full of complex, believable, fully alive characters. (A special mention goes to Isabella, Philip’s wife, whose gentle acceptance of her husband’s sexuality—and urging for him to embrace happiness—brought me at many points to tears.)
As Siegel writes in her author’s note, this is not a historically accurate novel, but in reading it, I felt as though it were. The background of twelfth-century Europe is vividly and beautifully rendered, from sweeping descriptions of the cities of London and Paris and the castles that Philip and Richard haunt, to the smallest details of the flora and fauna they encounter (a sprig of rosemary and an elm tree are described and utilized to outstanding effect). The descriptions of war and battle were tense and gritty, and the tension of the plot continues to build until the book becomes unputdownable. The writing is unbearably gorgeous, stark at some points and achingly descriptive at others, with line after line that I will remember for years to come.
As a reader, I felt as though a part of me will remain buried with this book, as Richard dreaded his heart would be separated from his body when he died. But in this case, I am so glad to have left a part of myself with this story, because it is worth dwelling on—and with—for a lifetime. I am crossing my fingers for a sequel, and am greatly looking forward to anything else that Siegel will publish in the future.
Laura R. Samotin is an author of fantasy grounded in Jewish myth, mysticism, and her Eastern European Jewish heritage. Her debut novel, THE SINS ON THEIR BONES, will be released by Random House CA in Summer 2024. When she’s not writing, she is using her PhD in political science to do research, and a full-time cat servant.
As someone who has struggled with self confidence about my physical appearance for a fair portion of my life, I opened Marilyn Simon Rothstein’s novel, Crazy To Leave You, with a cautious optimism. I wondered if a story about a plus sized woman left at the altar and struggling to cope could actually come off as entertaining as the book jacket suggested. And if so, how would this magic be achieved?
In the opening pages the main character, Lauren, is dumped via phone call just as she is about to walk down the Synagogue aisle. As the story unfolds, I learned that Lauren dieted like a mad woman to fit into her wedding dress and that at age forty-one she views this relationship as her last opportunity to have the family she has always dreamed about. This is described in such vivid detail that I was left unsure as to whether she regretted the loss of her spouse, a man-child that doesn’t even have the decency to break up with her in person and whose parents are insanely controlling and enabling, or simply the loss of that ideal future. Turns out, it’s a little of both.
Lauren is actually very well placed in her career in advertising, but all her accomplishments are overlooked by her fatphobic parents who cannot seem to focus on anything but her weight. Meanwhile, her ex-fiance is just as much a putz as we all suspected, a fact her entire family is quick to point out. As Lauren struggles to recover from the devastation she is surprised by her sister Margot – an overweight actress who moves in uninvited to Lauren’s apartment. Together with their third sister Stephanie – the “perfect” one -and the company chauffeur Margot and Lauren reconfigure their value systems. Lauren forces Margot to deal with her health issues and in turn, learns how to demand the respect she reserves from both her family and her boss.
This could have gone the route of a traditional romance – the broken hearted career girl finding solace in the arms of the company driver – but thankfully it did not. I would have enjoyed such a story far less because I would keep worrying about Lauren never learning to find the affirmation she needs from within herself. Instead, this is more a story about self discovery and forging new paths when all seems lost. With a little romance on the side.
Simon Rothstein’s sense of humor is unique. You are either going to love it or hate it, and if you’ve read any of her previous work you should know by now which camp you fall into. However, there are certain aspects of this book that readers should know before heading in. Lauren’s mother is extremely fatphobic. She will remind you of that person in your life – everyone has one – who always manages to find your scabs and pick at them in the guise of helping you. Lauren’s dieting and bingeing are on full display and readers with an eating disorder should be forewarned that there is graphic bingeing and fad diets galore in these pages. Furthermore, Margot and her health struggles are depicted with a fair amount of comedy. Again, you are either going to love that or hate it.
This is not the book for someone who cannot stand to read about family trauma, fatphobia or health conditions like type two diabetes. It is also not for someone looking for a swoony romance. This is, instead, exactly what the flap cover promised – a book that strives to be humorous and entertaining even when dealing with serious topics.
The reviewer received an e copy of the book from the author in the hopes that she might review it.
E Broderick is a writer and speculative fiction enthusiast. When not writing she enjoys epic games of trivial pursuit and baking. She currently lives in the U.S. but is eagerly awaiting the day a sentient spaceship offers to take her traveling around the galaxy.
Passover prep is exhausting. Cleaning, cooking, finally fishing the potato chip wrappers out of the backseat of the car. All these tasks pile up on my to do list and some days, the only thing pulling me through is the knowledge that I can finally rest on seder night and enjoy a beautiful holiday. It’s a labor of love, but this year I’d like to make a suggestion for anyone looking to unwind at the end of the day: get yourself some Passover romance.
Two Nights To Forever by Rebecca Crowley is a book that does the unthinkable. It makes an investment banker likable. Eve Klein is not your typical buy and burn banker. She has chosen to move back to her hometown in Orchard Hill and work for a female dominated firm rather than signing up for a fast track career at a NY company. Like many of her finance counterparts, Eve loves the thrill of a tough bargain, of sealing an acquisition, and working a board room. What sets her apart are her methods of operation once the contract is signed. Rather than selling off assets and cannibalizing the companies they purchase, Eve’s firm specializes in rehabilitating acquisitions. They attempt to retain the character of the business while helping it find a way back to profitability.
That is why she’s so excited about buying out Keller and Sons, a local family run business that manufactures luxury watches. Eve has always admired their craftsmanship, but she never though this company, that has been passed down from father to son for several generations, would be on the market for a private equity buy out. She’s sure her approach to keeping companies largely intact will mean she is the selected buyer. The only obstacle in her path is Saul Keller.
Saul chose to leave the family business and enter the world finance because he wanted more freedom. When his brother runs the company into the ground, Saul is forced to return and mitigate the damage. He doesn’t want the company employees to lose their jobs or for the legacy built by his Holocaust survivor grandfather to be sold off for spare parts. Eve and her offer represent an alternative to those disasters, but there’s one catch – Saul would have to accept the removal of his brother as CEO, a move which could tear the family apart. For Evie this non negotiable. Even Saul acknowledges that the only way to save the business is to have someone making intelligent decisions at the helm. That doesn’t make it any less of a stalemate.
As negotiations proceed, Eve and Saul find themselves spending more and more time together and the mutual attraction is hard to deny. But Eve’s got a lot on her plate. She is adopted and recently met up with her birth mother who has invited her over for the Seder. She happily agreed at the time, but panic settles in as she worries she won’t be what her birth mother expects. Her family has raised her Jewish, but their practice is vastly different than those of her birth mother. When Saul finds out, he offers to run through a mock Seder with Eve and attend the Seder with her. Plus her invites her to attend a Seder at his friends house.
Now for those who don’t know – there’s a fair bit of wine consumed at the Seder. Spending that much time together has loosened the inhibitions of this pair. Toss in Saul’s friends teasing, and the rest is practically a foregone conclusion. Eve and Saul finally give in and explore the romance angle of their relationship, promising to keep the business aspects separate.
Obviously that’s impossible. And the conflict that arises because of this arrangement is compulsively readable because the seeds for it were planted right on the very first page. Eve and Saul have to sort out not only their feelings for each but also their complicated family dynamics – Eve’s adoption and Saul’s responsibilities towards his brother and the business that has always felt like a snare holding him back.
No matter what type of Seder your family participates in, or if you don’t formally celebrate at all, this is a great book to help get you in the mindset of Passover. For those who prefer to know their romance steam levels before committing – there is sex on the page, but it isn’t the focus of the book. This is a book about family and finding ones place in it. A perfect match for Passover.
The reviewer received a free e copy of this book from the author who kindly offered one in the hopes of an honest review.
E Broderick is a writer and speculative fiction enthusiast. When not writing she enjoys epic games of trivial pursuit and baking. She currently lives in the U.S. but is eagerly awaiting the day a sentient spaceship offers to take her traveling around the galaxy.
One of the most significant happenings this winter for people even peripherally involved in publishing – be they agents, writers, editors, Instagrammers or book bloggers – was the Harper Collins Union strike. It was inspiring to see these workers unite to demand the pay and working conditions they deserve, but it was also a very confusing time to be a book reviewer. As a writer, my role in all this was simple. Don’t submit books to Harper Collins and related imprints. As a blogger, the waters were more murky. Harper Collins imprints still released books as scheduled. Per the union, writers were allowed to promo their own books. The union also specifically asked that readers not boycott as this would harm writers. A link was made available through their bookshop so that purchases would send some money to support the union workers. However, they asked bloggers and reviewers to withhold reviews of these books and they included hobbyists in this as well as trade reviews.
There was a huge kerfuffle amongst reviewers who really wanted to support the union and had to find a way to meet this request. Many of us had solicited arcs before the strike and made commitments we now had to break. There was also a brief moment in time where it was unclear that content from related imprints like Carina Press and Harlequin was also restricted, as there was an erroneous communication released saying it was OK to review those books. Some bloggers accidentally posted reviews from those imprints. Finding out they inadvertently broke the strike request was horrifying. We all wanted to do the right thing by the union, and the panic was high that we would make a misstep. Therefore, many chose to chuck Harper arcs and reader copies unread. People dumped books from their NetGalley and Edelweiss dashboards because having those reviews hanging over their heads was both panic inducing and prevented them from getting arcs from other publishers. Not to mention, TBRs are huge. Nobody was willing to invest in reading a book for review without knowing when they would actually be able to review.
Throughout, the authors were tremendous. Nobody chased after us or asked bloggers to review their books. Many actively reminded us not to do so. It was a beautiful act of solidarity in the face of watching a dream they have likely worked towards for years, being affected by factors way outside their control.
I do not doubt that withholding reviews was the right thing. The union asked and it was our job to support them. But now that the dust has settled, we bloggers and tokkers and grammers, need to step up and support our creators. This includes both the authors AND the Harper employees that worked on these books and purchased them because they loved them. The blogging mindset favors the hot and the new because this translates to likes and page views and shares. Luckily, BookishlyJewish has never bought into that dogma. Focusing only on the new and believing a book is dead if its week one sales are not huge reflects some of the most toxic attitudes of the publishing industry. What it does not reflect are actual reader habits and needs.
Readers want good books. They don’t care when they were released or how many pre-orders were obtained. Which is why BookishlyJewish was founded on the principle of including both frontlist and backlist on our pages. Therefore, I think it’s high time we go back and feature some of the books released during the strike that we were unable to review at the time. Because these books are evergreen. They do not spoil like fruit. There is no time frame after which a review isn’t useful.
I’d like to start with How to Excavate A Heart by Jake Maia Arlow. If ever there were book characters that would support a strike, it is the protagonists of this queer Jewish romcom. Shani is a not-fully-out queer college freshman fleeing home and a bad break up to start an internship in DC. Unfortunately, she’s so eager to get out of her moms house and avoid talking about her relationship, their car runs right into May, the daughter of a local celebrity weatherman. Barely avoided vehicular homicide aside, these are the two most socially conscious, gentle characters I could ever hope to meet.
Shani is interning in an ichthyology lab, introducing us to the delightful world of fossil fish and the not as delightful world of the barriers marginalized individuals face in science. She also has a massive communication block as she herself does not fully realize the trauma her ex girlfriend subjected her to. Meanwhile, May, who is unaware of any of these issues, stands up for herself in a way I wish more young people did in relationships. She exhibits a quiet dignity, unwilling to be mistreated. She is not vindictive. She simply refuses to stick around for abuse and lack of honesty. When these two finally do talk, the resolution is fully in line with the socially conscious and humane character traits that we have seen them exhibit all throughout their DC adventures.
Shani and May would have joined the Harper Collins picket line in the blink of an eye. But they are fictional, and I am real, so I’m here to stand up for their values and those of their author who stood by the strike the entire time. There is no need for this heartfelt, unique, and charming book to be forgotten due to the timing of its release. In fact, this book is an emblem of why the strike was so important.
May and Shani are both Jewish. As part of the book they hang out together watching movies on Jewmas, because Christmas is not a holiday they celebrate. Yet, because the people at the publishing house most familiar with their story were striking around release, the title was accidentally changed to lump it together with Christmas stories. This huge affront to the identity of the story was quickly corrected, but the event underscores the importance of in house editors and marketers that are invested in a book and understand the authors intentions. If we want these people – we actually have to pay them! Shocking, I know.
The union win was a win for us all. Fair pay will lead to better books for readers and improved services for writers. But the work of reviewers and bloggers is only just beginning. Dig up those arcs, just as Shani digs up fossils in a very memorable dumpster scene in the book. Give these books the time they deserve. It’s the best way to support the editors and writers who invested their time in these stories.
BookishlyJewish received an e-arc of this story without strings attached because the author kindly made them available to Jewish reviewers.
E Broderick is a writer and speculative fiction enthusiast. When not writing she enjoys epic games of trivial pursuit and baking. She currently lives in the U.S. but is eagerly awaiting the day a sentient spaceship offers to take her traveling around the galaxy.
Atomic Anna by Rachel Barenbaum follows three generations of women in their struggle to deal with the burdens of the previous generationi, as well as master time travel and prevent Chernobyl. Anna Berkova, the Soviet scientist who caused the devastation, is hurtled through time to discover her estranged American daughter Molly will die in 1992. Anna devotes her life to stabilizing time travel and saving her. Meanwhile, Molly grows up as a comic book artist in 1960s Philadelphia, retelling their family saga through superheroines. The era is explored through the popular culture as well as the clash between immigrant parents and American child. After she abandons her family, the comics are all that remain to share her legacy with her daughter.
Molly’s daughter Raisa is a mathematical genius, though growing up in the 80s under the same legacy. Many small details help set the scene and bring her world to life. Jewish practice is mostly not widespread for these Jewish Soviet women, but their heritage is mostly evident in their paranoia. Anna’s grandparents were killed in a pogrom, and she studies in Germany during the Nazi era. The constant fear of the community turning against her fills her life and continues through the next generations, who are raised by her Russian best friends. Further, each section is introduced with quotes from Pirkei Avot, emphasizing the Jewish background that has shaped the women.
The story is told nonsequentially, offering mysteries about breakups and milestones before they’re all eventually, satisfyingly solved. Each section starts with the date, which helps a lot. Readers will be reminded of Kavalier and Clay with a bit of The Hours, as superhero metaphors and flashbacks surround this Jewish family’s realistic immigration to America and desperation to find safety. Eventually, Molly tells Anna the truth: “You haven’t done the hard work, dug deeper. You’re still looking outside of yourself for answers, but the answers you need are inside. They’re buried. You need to look at the mistakes you made before us.” (372). Only by facing her abandonment by her own mother, who was taken by the Soviet police, can she heal and move forward. Each generation is making the same mistakes, but each generation holds part of the puzzle to help them heal.
The emphasis in the story is on trauma rather than science, but ethics also takes center stage. The women must wonder whether rewriting the past will save more lives than it destroys and what it will do to their family and their love for one another. They wonder about killing Hitler and whether saving their ancestors would stop them from meeting. Atomic and nuclear power have great potential as weapons, but so does time travel. The comic books help explore these issues as the heroines seek revenge and hurt innocents and then learn to back down. It’s a satisfying read for fans of intergenerational women’s fiction with a touch of fantasy.
Valerie Estelle Frankel is the author of over 80 books on pop culture, including Hunting for Meaning in The Mandalorian; Inside the Captain Marvel Film; and Who Tells Your Story? History, Pop Culture, and Hidden Meanings in the Musical Phenomenon Hamilton. Her Chelm for the Holidays (2019) was a PJ Library book, and now she’s the editor of Jewish Science Fiction and Fantasy, publishing an academic series that begins with Jewish Science Fiction and Fantasy through 1945. Jews in Popular Science Fiction is the latest release. Outside academia, she published the popular overview, Discovering Jewish Science Fiction: A Look at the Jewish Influences in Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, DC, Marvel, and so Many More. Once a lecturer at San Jose State University, she now teaches at Mission College and San Jose City College and speaks often at conferences. Come explore her research at www.vefrankel.com
Purim is almost upon us, a holiday in which the Jewish people celebrate their triumph over persecution. On this special holiday, Jews across the globe will give charity, bestow gifts of food upon one another, eat a festive meal, and listen to the Book of Esther. The Book of Esther – also known as Megillat Esther – tells the story of the day, and honestly contains more plot twists than your average YA novel and calls for audience participation that most authors would sacrifice their left kidney to achieve. These special mitzvot are meant to foster community and strengthen our ties to one another. Joanne Levy’s Purim themed Middle Grade novel, The Book of Elsie, does an admirable job highlighting those values.
Elsie, who attends public school during the week and Jewish school with her Synagogue on the weekend, is most looking forward to the Purim custom of dressing in costume. One of her Dad’s is helping her create a Queen Esther costume that is sure to rock the annual Synagogue Purim party. Her only regret is not being able to share the event with her best friend Grace, who is not Jewish.
Elsie’s perfect night is threatened when Synagogue finances reach a catastrophic level. Not only is the party threatened, the entire Synagogue building may need to be closed. However, Elsie channels her inner Queen Esther and decides to kill two birds with one stone. She proposes turning the event into a fundraiser -open to the wider community- to help with finances. If her idea pans out she will not only get attend the party with Grace, she will save the entire Synagogue just like Queen Esther saved the Jewish people.
The only person not enthused by this idea is one of Elsie’s father’s, who is worried the additional attention to the Synagogue will bring about an increase in antisemitism. He has recently suffered some homophobic indcidents and he has become wary.
Unfortunately, Elsie’s father is not wrong. We live in a time when antisemitism, and hate of marginalized groups in general, is on the rise. Discussing this topic with youngsters is becoming more and more of a harsh necessity. Elsie’s story, and that of the surrounding community, provides a solid scaffold for parents who wish to do so with their children.
Of note, the book was written with a special type of reader in mind. Although the content is thematically complex, the language and reading level required are significantly less so. Striving readers who love a good story but are frustrated when trying to decipher long books and words will find their niche here. When compared to Levy’s other book we have reviewed, Sorry For Your Loss, readers will find The Book of Elsie significantly less difficult to parse although no less rich in content.
This is a modern take on a classic tale. Elsie has two Dads, the Rabbi of her Synagogue is female, and antisemitism no longer takes the form of henchmen in triangular hats. Without giving away any spoilers, I will say that Elsie proves that triumph over antisemitism is timeless and the cure is always the same – community. As emphasized by the mitzvot of the day, we must stand together in the face of those that would destroy any minority.
Bookishly Jewish received a free e arc from the author in exchange for an honest review
E Broderick is a writer and speculative fiction enthusiast. When not writing she enjoys epic games of trivial pursuit and baking. She currently lives in the U.S. but is eagerly awaiting the day a sentient spaceship offers to take her traveling around the galaxy.
Mandelbrot the Magnificent by Liz Ziemska offers a magical pseudo-biography of Benoit B. Mandelbrot as he explores deep mathematics in forties’ France as a child and discovers the Mandelbrot set. It’s first-person, poignant, relatable, and reasonably historically accurate, as well as a light pleasant read.
Mandelbrot, originator of the term “fractal,” died in 2010 at age 85. He contributed greatly to geometry, dynamical systems, information theory, and modern finance. Historically, he and his brother survived with fake IDs in the town of Tulle and even continued their studies.
Most of the story is traditional Holocaust fiction, as the small family huddles together, experiencing moments of increasing cruelty and deprivation, considering whether to stay or flee. His uncle Szolem, a mathematician who recognizes his genius, is his mentor. Offered a position in Texas, however, he flees, insisting he must think of his son.
Here the story grows mystical, as Mandelbrot seeks an escape within mathematics. Formulas and diagrams fill the small work, showing his thought process, even as he explores his conflicted allegiances: Is God a mathematician or is the world filled with randomness?
The young protagonist is even more troubled when his mother urges him not to excel on exams and stand out. As this complicates his quest towards genius, Benoit starts to employ his understanding of the mathematical structures in his favorite text, The Book of Monsters, to incorporate rabbinic teachings. He learns about the Sephirot and blends his knowledge of kabbalah with math, using this blend as a lens to explore the workings of the universe. Here, the story briefly dips into gentle, subtle fantasy. The mathematical formulas of the Cantor dust, Koch snowflake, and Sierpiński triangle all lead him towards a non-integer Hausdorff dimension, as a possible escape. As the Nazis draw closer, he struggles to use this new dimension to save his loved ones.
His achievement and limited participation in the war fit well with his age, and the subtlety of the magic makes this highly believable. The frame story, in which the narrator is elderly, is less helpful to the plot or clear about the real person’s historical achievements. This last might have been presented more strongly, including with a resource list. Still, in the context of Jewish fantasy and novellas, this one is delightful in its presentation of an unusual character with a highly unusual fantasy element. The love of math and logic here is plain.
Valerie Estelle Frankel is the author of over 80 books on pop culture, including Hunting for Meaning in The Mandalorian; Inside the Captain Marvel Film; and Who Tells Your Story? History, Pop Culture, and Hidden Meanings in the Musical Phenomenon Hamilton. Her Chelm for the Holidays (2019) was a PJ Library book, and now she’s the editor of Jewish Science Fiction and Fantasy, publishing an academic series that begins with Jewish Science Fiction and Fantasy through 1945. Jews in Popular Science Fiction is the latest release. Outside academia, she published the popular overview, Discovering Jewish Science Fiction: A Look at the Jewish Influences in Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, DC, Marvel, and so Many More. Once a lecturer at San Jose State University, she now teaches at Mission College and San Jose City College and speaks often at conferences. Come explore her research at www.vefrankel.com
As part of BookishlyJewish I’ve received some amazing invitations to hang out with Jewish writers and illustrators. Participating in these discussions is always eye opening, as topics come up that are uniquely Jewish. This can be as wide ranging as how to disguise a sheyd’s chicken feet followed immediately by a spiritual polemic on romance novels’ third act grovels not properly representing Jewish ideas surrounding repentance. One such issue that is always raised is the feeling of “not being Jewish enough” to write Jewish characters. This is a sort of imposter syndrome about telling one’s own personal experience for fear that others will reject it because it does not match their own. It seems this fear is universal, running from the orthodox to the unaffiliated, the romance writers to the literary short story scribes. Well my friends, I have the perfect identity affirming book for you. Bonus points – it’s a romance, so you know you’re getting a happily ever after.
Written by Kelly Cain, A Kiss From the Past, follows Nichelle, a professor and devoted sorority sister, as she discovers she is adopted. Although she has never quite felt like she fits in, Nichelle has a loving relationship with her parents who cannot understand why she insists on searching for her birth family. This leads to a rift between them as she refuses to give up. Joining her on the search is Clarke, a gem and rock specialist who is helping Nichelle decode her only clue- a ring left to her by her grandmother.
Among other twists and turns, including an epic road trip that pits free spirited Nichelle against rigid, super-scheduled Clarke in some hilarious antics, Nichelle finds out from a home genetic test that she is part Jewish. She is unsure how to reconcile this with her view of herself as a black woman. A view that has already been shaken by the discovery that she is adopted. This leads to one of the most profound discussions I have ever seen in a romance novel.
Clarke, who also has a complicated ancestry, tells Nichelle that he has always known he has ancestors that were slaves as well as ancestors that were likely slave owners or at least idle participants in that system. However, he relies on his lived experience to define himself in that moment. Nichelle takes a similar journey, exploring her Jewish roots on her mothers side as well as meeting her extended black family on her fathers side in a huge meet and greet arranged by her newfound sisters. Not all her relatives are ready at first, but Nichelle manages to navigate the situation with grace.
Watching Nichelle and Clark fall for each other through this entire saga was almost secondary to the other action. The reader is left with with a certainty that this couple is going to make it, because if a relationship can survive all of these identity shaking revelations intact, that is surely a sign of a couple that will go the distance for each other.
I would suggest writers take the messages in A Kiss From the Past to heart. Clarke and Nichelle’s wisdom can help dispel our own insecurities about intersectionality and Judaism not being a monolith. If that doesn’t work for you, then have a gander at the afterword in which Cain discusses her own journey that served as inspiration for the book. You will be glued to the page. There’s room for us all in this tent, and Nichelle and Clarke are holding the doors open for you.
Note: BookishlyJewish received an e-arc of this book from the author. There were no strings attached. We asked and she said yes.
E Broderick is a writer and speculative fiction enthusiast. When not writing she enjoys epic games of trivial pursuit and baking. She currently lives in the U.S. but is eagerly awaiting the day a sentient spaceship offers to take her traveling around the galaxy.
Writers are creatures of habit. Oh sure, we wax poetic about needing inspiration to strike and whatnot, but look closer and you will find a significant portion of authors have time honored traditions that are required for their productivity. The perfectly brewed cup of tea. A favored word processing program. Only sending queries on our lucky day of the month. In this way we are not dissimilar to Ellen, protagonist of A.J. Sass’s Ellen Outside the Lines. However, unlike us warriors of the written word, Ellen is about to voluntarily step outside her comfort zone in a big way on a class trip to Spain.
Ellen, who is both neurodivergent and Jewish, is looking forward to the trip as a means to reconnect with her best friend Laurel. They have recently been drifting apart and Ellen is struggling with the disruption this brings to her regular schedule. However, right from the outset, Ellen’s plans are sent into a tail spine. An additional student, Isa, is added to the trip and Ellen finds herself both confused and fascinated as to how Isa’s they/them pronouns fit into the world she had previously thought was binary. Then, Laurel and Ellen are assigned to different groups for a scavenger hunt competition and Ellen is surprised to discover she actually enjoys her new friends.
If that wasn’t enough, the appearance of a cute girl at the hotel where Ellen is staying and the discovery that her father doesn’t share the exact same type of ritual Jewish observance as Ellen and her mother do, further complicate Ellen’s trip. It’s a lot for anyone to handle, but for Ellen it is sensory and information overload. She has to find a way to balance it all and help comes from an unexpected place – her new scavenger hunt group.
Ellen is incredibly rich thematically. Many adult length books focus on a single one of the conflicts that Ellen faces – religious differences, shifting friendships, coming out, gender identity etc. Sass manages to cram them all into a MG length book in a style that is easily digested by younger readers, all while having a fun scavenger hunt and an exploration of Catalan culture in the background.
Still, it is not all fun and games. The book does contain a forced outing – largely off page. In addition, there are characters that cannot seem to wrap their heads around Isa’s nonbinary identity and there is one exchange where the reader is allowed to draw their own conclusion about whether a classmate is knowingly taking advantage of Ellen’s neurodivergence. Plus, another classmate seems to enjoy informing Ellen that her father broke the rules of Kashrut. There’s a lot to talk about here, and I would suggest parents read the book alongside their kids so that a fruitful discussion can be had by children with questions.
Ellen is well and truly in another world – and not just because she took an overseas flight. She’s been flung into a situation that is new on so many levels and in the process of dealing with this she makes mistakes. She also figures out who she is as a person and who she wants to be. Perhaps those of us seeking to find our narrative voices should take a page from her book and try something new. It just might work out in the end.
Want more on this book? BookishlyJewish was fortunate enough to recently interview the author! You can find that conversation here.
E Broderick is a writer and speculative fiction enthusiast. When not writing she enjoys epic games of trivial pursuit and baking. She currently lives in the U.S. but is eagerly awaiting the day a sentient spaceship offers to take her traveling around the galaxy.
Every year, the Sydney Taylor Book Awards celebrates books that authentically portray the Jewish experience for children and teens. For the past few years they have also run a blog tour, helping readers get to know the authors of the selected books. BookishlyJewish was honored to participate last year and even more excited to be invited back again!
This year, we have been given the opportunity to interview A.J. Sass, author of middle grade honor book Ellen Outside the Lines. Our review of the book will be posting next week so read on and get to know the author with us!
Bookishly Jewish: Huge congratulations! How does it feel for Ellen Outside the Lines to be a Sydney Taylor Honor Book?
A.J. Sass: Thank you! It’s honestly still a bit surreal. That might be because I got up pretty early to watch the Youth Media Awards livestream (I live on the West Coast and am answering this particular question less than 24 hours after the Awards), but it’s also because I’ve discovered so many fantastic books as a result of looking through the list of past award winners, honors, and notables. Now I can also imagine people looking through this year’s list and discovering my book. It’s an incredible feeling that this honor may introduce more readers to my novel, and I’m so grateful to the STBA selection committee for their work in evaluating so many books over the past year.
BookishlyJewish: This is your second book, and the first also features a Jewish protagonist. Can you tell us a little about where your inspiration for stories comes from?
A.J. Sass: I usually have a scenario that I want to explore when I sit down to write, a question I want to answer over the course of each story (in some cases, several questions). For Ana on the Edge, the question was, ‘how might a competitive figure skater who’s just realized she’s nonbinary come out while navigating the very gendered aspects of her sport?’ For Ellen Outside the Lines, the scenario I was exploring involved an autistic teenager who is hoping a school trip to Barcelona will help her reconnect with her best friend, only to end up assigned to a group of classmates that does not include this friend. After I’ve established the heart of the story, I build out the world and how a character might react to various situations that are thrown at them. Both Ana and Ellen are Jewish and queer—and Ellen, of course, is also neurodivergent—so they approach the situations they encounter from those lenses.
But queer and neurodivergent and Jewish people are not, as a whole, a monolith. They’re shaped by factors like where they grew up and how they were raised, among other things. Ana lives in a large city and her best friend is Jewish, but Ana and her mom often don’t consistently attend their temple (this ebbs and flows depending on Ana’s training schedule and how busy her mom is working two jobs to support her athletic career). Ellen lives in a small town in Georgia and attends a school where none of the other kids are Jewish, but her mom is a cantor at their temple that the family regularly attends and her abba is an Israeli immigrant and often converses with Ellen in Hebrew. Their family also keeps kosher (at least usually, in the case of Ellen’s abba). I’m grateful I get to write stories with characters who on their face share similar identities but in reality practice and approach their faith in very different ways. I discover a lot of my inspiration comes from exploring how identities intersect and how experiences vary from person to person, something I hope to continue doing in my future projects.
BookihslyJewish: Who is the target audience for Ellen Outside the Lines? Is there something in particular you hope readers take away from the book?
A.J. Sass: Whenever I start developing a story, my hope is that a wide spectrum of readers will find it entertaining. At the time Ellen sold to my publisher, the pandemic had just started, and I was sheltering in place at home with my partner. Every evening once we were both done working, we would have dinner and watch a few episodes of The Amazing Race, a reality show that sends contestants on a race around the world. The contestants would complete challenges to move on to the next legs of the race, and during these challenges, they learn about other cultures and often must step out of their comfort zone to be successful. It wasn’t lost on me that I was writing a story that also took my characters someplace new, on a trip that would challenge many of them while they navigated an unfamiliar setting. So, in that sense, my target audience is also readers who want to transport themselves someplace different and perhaps learn something new in the process. And because Ellen is Jewish, and neurodivergent, and queer, I hope this story will resonate with readers who share some or all of Ellen’s heritage and identities.
At its heart, Ellen Outside the Lines is a story about how friendships shift during middle school. I hope readers take away that it’s natural for friendships to change or even end throughout your life, and that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s anyone’s fault. Sometimes people simply grow apart as their interests diverge, but these changes can open the door to making friends with people who fit you even better. And because we are all different, and that’s a good thing, meeting new people also gives us the opportunity to learn how others’ needs might differ from our own and allow us to better empathize with and advocate for one another. I hope readers of Ellen’s story are inspired to do both.
BookishlyJewish: What has been the response to the book now that it is out in the world?
A.J. Sass: Overwhelmingly positive! I’m so grateful to have readers reach out to me, sharing how aspects of Ellen’s story resonated with them. Many are younger readers who see themselves in Ellen or other characters like Isa, Andy, and Gibs. Some have recently come out or been diagnosed as autistic and are eager to share in what ways their experiences are similar to Ellen’s (or even ways in which they differ). There have been readers who’ve expressed appreciation over getting to see a Jewish family like Ellen’s portrayed in a story that isn’t solely focused on religion and others who were happy with the acknowledgement of Catalan culture depicted once Ellen and her classmates arrive in Barcelona. It’s been so wonderful to hear from readers, and I hope they continue to reach out.
BookishlyJewish: One particularly tricky theme in the book is Ellen’s learning that people might observe Judaism differently, even within a single family. It was very impressive to see this in a MG book. Can you talk about your decision to include this concept?
A.J. Sass: I spent a lot of time exploring different streams of Judaism after graduating from college, trying to find a temple that felt right for me. What I learned is that practices and observance levels can vary, even within the same temple communities. This was initially hard for me to accept. Like Ellen, I’m autistic, and often have a very black-and-white way of viewing things. I think I was ultimately searching for the “right” way to practice, for the “correct” way to be Jewish.
What I learned is that there really is no one way to observe your faith, no absolute correct way to be Jewish, even within the same family. Since Ellen and her abba are traveling to Spain, this mostly comes up in the way Ellen’s abba chooses not to keep strictly kosher on their trip, which causes Ellen anxiety until they have a moment to discuss the different ways they both practice their faith. This isn’t a large part of the plot, but it felt important for me to include. Seeing this depicted in a story would have been a comfort to my younger self, and I hope it provides food for thought and discussion among readers now.
BookishlyJewish: The book contains a forced outing, which our reviewer was extremely grateful that you kept largely off page. How did you decide to handle that issue in this particular way?
A.J. Sass: I touched on my sometimes rigid, black-and-white way of thinking in an earlier question. I also tend to think in a way that may make perfect sense to me but may be confusing to other people. I tend to call this my ‘autistic logic’. Ellen displays a form of this logic when it comes to her best friend, Laurel, and Laurel takes advantage of this in one scene (whether or not Laurel knowingly did so is left up to the reader to decide), with disastrous results.
Ellen is at first unwilling to share with Laurel that one of her classmates is queer because this classmate asked her to keep the information to herself. But Laurel tells Ellen that they’re best friends and best friends tell each other everything so Ellen telling her a secret technically doesn’t count as breaking her promise to keep quiet. After thinking this through, Ellen ultimately agrees with this logic and shares her classmate’s secret with Laurel—only to learn Laurel revealed it to another student who, although supportive, effectively outs the classmate in question (off the page, as your reviewer noted). The outed classmate is understandably hurt and upset with Ellen.
My goal when writing stories is to portray character experiences as authentically as I am able to, and the unfortunate reality of queer experience is that sometimes you aren’t able to come out on your own terms. That said, I wanted to minimize any trauma for readers that a forced outing might cause as much as possible, while still acknowledging that it happens. In this case, it was an unintended consequence of Ellen’s internal logic, but I also wanted to acknowledge that characters like Ellen can make mistakes, and that being neurodivergent doesn’t excuse you from responsibility when you do something wrong. Forgiveness from the party that’s been hurt also isn’t automatic. This is something that Ellen must learn during the course of the story, and I hope my portrayal felt realistic and fosters discussions among readers.
BookishlyJewish: Ellen represents a strong neurodivergent character for MG readers. Have you found publishing has opened more to this type of representation?
A.J. Sass: I like to think so. Over the past few years, I’ve seen a lot more representation of neurodivergent characters in the middle-grade space, often written by authors who are neurodivergent themselves or by authors who have done a great deal of research to ensure sensitive, nuanced portrayals of these characters. To just name a few of the books I’ve recently read and loved, there’s Planet Earth Is Blue by Nicole Panteleakos (autism rep), How To Become A Planet by Nicole Melleby (depression and anxiety), and Jude Saves The World by Ronnie Riley (ADHD – this one releases on April 18, 2023). Both of Sarah Kapit’s books, Get A Grip, Vivy Cohen! and The Many Mysteries of the Finkel Family, also contain autistic (and Jewish!) characters. My next book, Camp QUILTBAG, has a secondary character who is autistic, as well.
So, I certainly think there have been strides made and more books being published with this type of representation in the middle grade space. My hope is that this will continue and that there will be opportunities for more perspectives on neurodiversity to be shared, particularly those from queer and BIPOC authors.
BookishlyJewish: The book’s setting is almost a character in and of itself! Have you been to Spain, and did that help inspire the book?
A.J. Sass: I have been to Spain! I used to work for a company that was headquartered in Barcelona. Over the course of two years, I traveled there five times for work, spending nearly a month there on each trip. Ellen’s owl that sits on top of the hotel she and her classmates are staying at (which was beautifully depicted on the cover by illustrator Ana Hinojosa) really does exist near the Verdaguer metro station in Barcelona (although the building upon which it is perched is not a hotel, to my knowledge). I used to say a quick hello to the owl as I walked past it every day on my way to work.
Ellen’s introduction to Catalan as a culture and language was also inspired by my work trips. I studied French when I was in school, not Spanish, and I found that I was often understanding what my coworkers and the people around me were saying in some instances far better than others. In fact, sometimes it sounded like I was hearing an entirely different language from Spanish. My coworkers introduced me to Catalan, and it surprised me that I’d never learned about the language in school. It surprises Ellen, too.
So many little details like these and beyond come from my own experiences as a visitor to Barcelona. Even the idea for a study abroad trip derives from my own childhood. My Georgia middle school offered students a chance to go on a month-long trip to France and Spain during the summer between seventh and eighth grade. I didn’t end up going as a kid, but now that I’ve written Ellen’s story, it feels like I finally got the opportunity to imagine what that trip might have been like if I had.
BookishlyJewish: Isa often comes up as a fan favorite character. Why do you think readers gravitate towards them?
A.J. Sass: I like to think readers may be drawn to Isa for similar reasons as I am. Isa is a favorite of mine because they are confident in who they are and don’t mind educating others who might be unfamiliar with aspects of their identity. Marginalized people should never feel obligated to educate anyone about their identities, for the record; that involves a lot of emotional labor that no one should be expected to undertake if they don’t want to. But since Isa doesn’t mind doing this, their explanations often challenge Ellen’s very binary beliefs and help her expand her predefined categories. Additionally, Isa often approaches their explanations in a kind but gently sarcastic way when their classmates overstep (like Gibs saying that ‘they’ is a pronoun only used for groups of people or assuming Isa speaks Spanish because their last name is Martinez). I wish I’d had a friend like Isa in middle school, and perhaps readers feel the same way!
BookishlyJewish: What’s next from you? Any plans for the future you would like to share?
A.J. Sass: More stories! I have a book called Camp QUILTBAG coming out on March 21, 2023 with Algonquin Young Readers. This novel is unique for me in that I co-wrote it with another author, Nicole Melleby. It’s a dual perspective story that follows Abigail (she/her/hers) and Kai (e/em/eir) who meet at a summer camp in Minnesota for queer youth and form a pact to help each other adjust to life at camp. It’s special in that virtually every character in the story is queer and also because Kai, the character I took point on, comes from an interfaith family. Eir mom is Reform and eir dad is Lutheran, and e has never really thought about this until e meets another camper, Oren, who’s an observant Jew. It was fun to develop two characters with very different relationships to Judaism and also to lightly touch on the challenges of coming out while honoring the faith tradition in which you grew up.
Then next year, I have another middle grade novel releasing from Little, Brown Books for Young readers called Just Shy Of Ordinary, which follows academically gifted homeschooler Shai (they/them/their pronouns) who is trying to create a new normal for themself as a way to manage their anxiety by starting public school for the first time. Except, Shai immediately gets thrown for a loop when they get placed in ninth grade instead of eighth like they were expecting, which complicates their new-normal plan. The story is set in a small town in the Wisconsin North Woods and not everyone is as receptive to Shai’s genderfluid identity as Shai would like. This probably comes as no surprise, but there’s also an exploration of Judaism in this book. While Shai wasn’t raised Jewish, their mom was, and they decide to reach out to their grandparents for help researching their Jewish heritage as part of a school project. Since the book takes place at the start of the school year, I had the opportunity to introduce Shai to the High Holidays, as well as Sukkot, all of which was a joy to write. I also have a short story appearing in On All Other Nights, an anthology of Passover stories edited by Chris Baron, Joshua S. Levy, and Naomi Milliner that’s out from Abrams next year.
BookishlyJewish: We always end by asking if you have a favorite Jewish book or author you would like to recommend.
A.J. Sass: Oh, this is so hard. So many authors and books have been inspirations to me, but there are two authors in particular who I really look up to: Katherine Locke and Dahlia Adler.
I read Katherine’s book, The Girl with the Red Balloon, a few years back and was completely awestruck by it. So often, Jewish historical stories focus on the Holocaust, and those stories are absolutely important. But Katherine’s was the first novel I read that focused on Europe during a different period in history, where the ramifications of the Holocaust were still felt but it wasn’t the primary focus. More recently, their novel, This Rebel Heart, also held me spellbound. It’s set in Hungary during the 1950s and has these wonderful moments of fabulism while telling the story of a student-led revolution, told primarily from the perspective of Csilla, a teenager who survived the Holocaust years earlier. Katherine’s prose is beautiful, and they are an auto-buy author for me. I can’t wait to see what they write next.
Then Dahlia Adler’s stories have my entire heart in the contemporary space with Cool for the Summer and Home Field Advantage (I also really love her story, “Two Truths And An Oy,” in It’s A Whole Spiel: Love, Latkes, and Other Jewish Stories, an anthology of Jewish Stories which was co-edited by Katherine Locke and Laura Silverman). Dahlia has a great contemporary voice and I love how her stories blend both queer and Jewish elements. I’m excited for her next YA novel, Going Bicoastal, and I’d be remiss not to mention she’s the founder of LGBTQReads.com, a site that highlights books that have queer representation in the middle grade, YA, and adult spaces.
I cannot recommend Katherine’s and Dahlia’s books enough.
A. J. Sass (he/they) is an author whose narrative interests lie at the intersection of identity, neurodiversity, and allyship. Ana on the Edge, his debut novel, was an ALA 2021 Rainbow Book List Top 10 Title, a Bank Street College of Education Best Book of 2021, and a 2020 Booklist Editors’ Choice. He is also the author of Ellen Outside the Lines, which is a 2023 Sydney Taylor Honor Book and a 2023 Rainbow Book List Top 10 Title, was named a Best Book of 2022 by School Library Journal, a Booklist Editors’ Choice, and won a Nerdy Book Club Award. His upcoming novel, Camp QUILTBAG, is a co-written project with Nicole Melleby that releases on March 21, 2023. All three titles are Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selections. A. J. has also contributed to the This Is Our Rainbow and Allies anthologies. He grew up in the Midwestern US, came of age in the South, and currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his partner.
