The Dreidel Disaster
by: Stacey Agdern
December 5, 2024 Tule
288 pages
When I think Hanukkah books, I think Stacey Agdern. Don’t get me wrong, there were some crumbs of representation already existing, and many authors and artists fighting to increase it, but Agdern’s Friendship’s and Festivals series was when I saw Hanukkah getting acknowledged in a big way by the general reading populace. Plus, it was representation in the right way – written by an actual Jewish person who is sensitive to what out traditions actually look like. Rather than trying to fit us into a mold that works for others, those books let Jews just be Jews. Which is why I was ecstatic to hear she was releasing a new Hanukkah book for this season.
The Dreidl Disaster is the third book in the Last Girls Standing series and follows Liv, the mayor of a small New England town preparing to receive a Hanukkah sculpture from a hockey team. Unfortunately, the team representative coordinating the event has completely botched the entire thing – presenting a proposal to the town consisting of Christmas traditions thinly coated in blue for Hanukkah and clearly having no relevance to the town or Judaism. The town residents, including the non-Jewish ones, are in an uproar. Liv’s mayoral legacy as she prepares to leave office for a different position is in jeopardy. To fix this mess the hockey team sends in someone we’ve met before as part of the Friendship and Festivals series – Artur Rabinovitch, professional fixer.
Artur and Liv have a growing attraction, but there’s the whole sticky issues of their respective jobs and what is and isn’t appropriate while they coordinate the event. The Dreidl Disaster is a closed door/sweet type of romance, you are safe to read this book pretty much anywhere, but as a public figure Liv can’t even date publicly without half the town giving her the side eye. This small town vibe is always captured so well by Agdern, and I especially adore how she creates worlds that both acknowledge the complicated web of Jewish geography while also incorporating communities made of Jews and non Jews who respect each others traditions
One word of caution, I think you really should read some of the other books in the Agdern universe before jumping into this one. There were so many repeat characters and references to past events that I think you might feel like you were missing out if you didn’t know what they were referring to. This shouldn’t be a problem though, because those other books are totally worth it.
Jewish romance in particular has seen a blossoming of late. I was able to find new books for every night of Hanukkah this year! But sometimes it’s good to go back to the classics. And as is the classical Jewish blessing, may they grow and multiply to include not just Hanukkah but all of our holidays. We contain multitudes. Publishing is finally catching up and this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Note: BookishlyJewish receive an e-ARC of this book from the author