When Ida and her daughter Bessie flee a catastrophic pogrom in Ukraine for America in 1905, they believe their emigration will ensure that their children and grandchildren will be safe from harm. But choices and decisions made by one generation have ripple effects on those who come later—and in the decades that follow, family secrets, betrayals, and mistakes made in the name of love threaten the survival of the family: Bessie and Abe Weissman’s children struggle with the shattering effects of daughter Ruby’s mental illness, of Jenny’s love affair with her brother-in-law, of the disappearance of Ruby’s daughter as she flees her mother’s legacy, and of the accidental deaths of Irene’s husband and granddaughter.
A sweeping saga that follows three generations from the tenements of Brooklyn through WWII, from Woodstock to India, and from Spain to Israel, How to Make a Life is the story of a family who must learn to accept each other’s differences—or risk cutting ties with the very people who anchor their place in the world.
Genre: Historical
A sweeping saga that follows three generations from the tenements of Brooklyn through WWII, from Woodstock to India, and from Spain to Israel, How to Make a Life is the story of a family who must learn to accept each other’s differences—or risk cutting ties with the very people who anchor their place in the world.
Genre: Historical
Praise for this book
"How to Make a Life grabs by the throat and heart from page one. It parallels the gut-wrenching horrors of war and mental illness, and the extraordinary and ordinary struggles and sacrifices family makes to survive." - Patricia Dunn
"The world of richly drawn characters in How to Make a Life transported me on a compelling emotional journey. In a story that brings the 20th Century to life, the powerful need to assimilate threatens the very bonds that ground an immigrant family with a sense of identity as four generations adapt to a culture that reinvents itself with every decade." - Stephanie Lehmann
"A gutsy and poignant novel...Kraut's superb writing and deeply drawn characters, and her faithful evocation of distinct places and eras over the whole of the 20th century keep the reader grounded and engaged." - Barbara Stark-Nemon
"The world of richly drawn characters in How to Make a Life transported me on a compelling emotional journey. In a story that brings the 20th Century to life, the powerful need to assimilate threatens the very bonds that ground an immigrant family with a sense of identity as four generations adapt to a culture that reinvents itself with every decade." - Stephanie Lehmann
"A gutsy and poignant novel...Kraut's superb writing and deeply drawn characters, and her faithful evocation of distinct places and eras over the whole of the 20th century keep the reader grounded and engaged." - Barbara Stark-Nemon
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