Novels with Jewish themes

[Dilbertian]

I've read most of Chaim Potok's books. Also Body of Glass by Marge Piercy, Daniel Deronda and Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret. All of which I highly recommend.

Looking for more novels with Jewish themes or Jewish protagonists. Preferably by Jewish authors (but not necessarily - Daniel Deronda was surprisingly excellent). And not necessarily religious, either.

Any recommendations?

I vaguely remember reading a novel set in a Modern Orthodox community in a southern town in the USA, but the only details I can recall are that one character (either a convert or a revert) secretly kept prawns and a treif spoon hidden in the depths of her garage freezer, and another, also new to the community, got into trouble for not phoning every relative-in-law to wish them Good Shabbos. Rings any bells?

I recently read Unorthodox Love, by Heidi Shertok. It’s a romantic comedy. I think the author is Jewish. The lead character and most of the other characters in the novel are Jewish. The lead character’s faith is an important part of the novel. I really enjoyed it. It was funny and kept me turning the page.

It may not be your genre but I really enjoyed The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. I was having CBT and the psychologist recommended it.

I've also read The Red Tent - also while having CBT! Another very good book. I loved reading the stories I already knew, but told from the woman's perspective.

Have also read The Dovekeepers. Good, though too violent for my taste.

Unorthodox Love is now in my basket.

J. David Simons - The Credit Draper,

Lynne Reid Banks ( she lived in Israel for about ten years I think)

Linda Grant - When I Lived In Modern Times. It’s one of my favourite books ever. It’s set in the last days of the Mandate for Palestine/birth of Eretz Israel. Also The Clothes On Their Backs by the same author.

A slightly different one- The Golem and the Jinni by Helen Wecker. She is Jewish, and the book has a bit more fantasy elements, as you'd expect given the title but it's about people finding their feet as new immigrants to New York at the turn of the century.

"Mr Rosenblum's list" by Natasha Solomon - a feel good book with a happy ending!

The last bathing beauty by Amy Sue Nathan

On the bus, "My lord, above, he will pay."
In the market, "I can e cabbages myself, around the corner!"
And a golf course.

Is this the book?

You probably know it, but Isaac Bashevis Singer - the Family Moskat. Really gives a flavour of Jewish life in partitioned Poland - I can imagine how life might have been for my grandparents growing up at that time.

Yes!

Then it's going in the basket. Definitely one I want to own and reread.

Another recommender of Linda Grant This time Remind me who I am again.
Long time since I read it but really enjoyed it.

I've written a novel based on the activities of the 43 Group. It's not published but I workshopped it on the Curtis Brown novel-writing course so it's not complete dreck!

If you PM me I can send you the manuscript.

Very old but Maisie Mosco Almonds and Raisins series was lovely - about Jewish immigrants at the turn of the century (I think)…integrating into the community etc!

Not a novel but a really lovely gentle memoir of a Jewish girl growing up in Glasgow between the wars : Spring Remembered by Evelyn Cowan.

I began Mr Rosenblums List and got about half way through. Felt it was a nice idea but just far too long and samey and lost interest. Would have been a great short story.

Tova Mirvis has a couple of books about Orthodox life, I think one of them is the one referenced by Dilbertian.

Books by Naomi Ragen.

I really enjoyed the series of books that begins with When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, by Judith Kerr, not sure if still in print.

Loads of Holocaust memoirs/novels of course.

I came to suggest this. It's set in Manchester so very poignant for me thinking of my relatives making similar journeys (they believed they were buying tickets to New York and ended up in Hull before making their way to Manchester).
There is also Magnolia Street by Louis Golding which is set in Manchester in a street which is mixed Jew and Gentile.

The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson is also good on what it is to be Jewish. It is also funny. My mother in law absolutely adored this book.

Disobedience by Naomi Alderman is wonderful too. It is also a film. It's about two women from a strict Orthodox community and their very different paths.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon is about Jewish cousins in New York in the 30s onwards and the comic book industry. A lot of early superheroes has Jewish roots. It's one of my favourite books and very funny as well as tender. I also like the Yiddish Policeman's Union by the same author. It imagines that instead of Israel a Jewish homeland is established in Alaska.

@DorotheaDiamond

Lots to look at, thanks! Bring more!

I forget what I have read over the years, and it's so lovely to be reminded of books I enjoyed, and often still have somewhere on my shelves. Like Judith Kerr's trilogy 😊

I particularly enjoy books where the Jewishness is integral to the story, but not the focus. Like the When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit books and also Body of Glass.

@Dilbertian I’ve just ordered Body of Glass, thank you for the recommendation, that looks right up my street.
If fantasy novels are of any interest, Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik is set in a magical/folklore influenced world with a Jewish protagonist and themes woven through an Eastern European backdrop.

I read The Marrying of Chani Kaufman by Eve Harris recently and really enjoyed it.
Another recommendation for Unorthodox Love too.

I read Almonds and Raisins many years ago when I lived in Cheetham Hill and worked in Manchester Central Library.
I worked in the Arts Library but although I'm not Jewish I absolutely loved working a shift in the Jewish and Local History library.
I think that's where my love and support for Judaism and the Jewish people really deepened.

"The Innocents" by Francesca Segal is good, contemporary set in context of a not especially frum but traditional NW London setting.

The Romance Reader by Pearl Abraham. The narrator is the oldest daughter, and oldest child, in a large orthodox Hasidic Jewish family. It’s about the gulf between her strict upbringing as the Rabbi’s daughter, all the limitations that that imposes on her, and life in the USA.