JACQUI RODGERS, Director: Shana Tova from all at the library. The Gitlin contributes towards Jewish enlightenment,
education and enjoyment. Join now to connect to your past and find the gateway to your literary future. Let’s talk books!
THE THREE GRACES by AMANDA CRAIG. Ruth, Diana and Marta are three friends who have retired to Tuscany in their eighties. Their idyllic world is suddenly thrown into turmoil when their neighbour shoots an illegal immigrant. Ruth finds herself hosting her grandson’s ill-matched wedding to an Instagram influencer. Marta must summon her strength for a piano recital sponsored by a Russian oligarch. Though Tuscany in spring looks as ravishing as a Renaissance painting, the realities of life make it harder for this trio.
WHAT WILL SURVIVE OF US by HOWARD JACOBSON. Lily Redfern fell in love with Sam Quaid the minute she set eyes on him. Both are married but this relationship opens unexpected worlds for them. As the lovers mature so the need arises to see whether familiarity and age will ensure their love endures. Jacobson’s writing is rich in quotes and literary references. He takes the reader to the edge of desire, love and betrayal as he examines what is left of us when we strip away every layer.
COLD CREMATORIUM by JÓZSEF DEBRECZENI. Jozsef, a journalist, wrote of his descent into a warehouse of living dead. He landed up there after being placed in numerous hard labour and death camps within the German Reich. Dörnhau was a hospital labour camp for prisoners too ill to work. By the time it was liberated by the Soviet army Jozsef had survived starvation, edema and diarrhea and contracted typhus. It is an unusual book as it was written soon after the War and focuses not on death camps but on the slave labour camps in which he toiled.
THE COUNTERFEIT COUNTESS by ELIZABETH B. WHITE & JOANNA SLIWA. The story of Dr Josephine Janina Mehlberg, a Jewish mathematician who masqueraded as a Polish noblewoman during the Holocaust and saved thousands of Poles imprisoned in Majdanek. She used the identity papers of a Polish aristocrat and worked as a welfare officer while serving in the Resistance. The “Countess” persuaded officials to release Poles from the camp and delivered food, medicine and necessities to the camp.
SPINOZA by IAN BURUMA. Baruch Spinoza was a radical free thinker who led a life guided by strong moral principles despite
his disbelief in an all-seeing God. In his insightful account Buruma stresses the importance of the time, place and people who shaped Spinoza beginning with the Sephardim of Amsterdam followed by the politics of the Dutch Republic. Though he was expelled from
his Sephardic community, Buruma argues that Spinoza led a modern Jewish life.
DIARIES OF WAR by NORA KRUG. Immediately following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Nora Krug connected with a Ukrainian journalist and Russian artist. Nora was moved by their responses and their personal accounts as they experienced the war firsthand. Through her powerful graphic journalism, Nora shares these two individuals’ experiences of Russia’s war on the Ukraine. Skilfully collected, edited and illustrated by this award-winning author.
ON HER OWN by LIHI LAPID. Nina, a teenage runaway, wakes up in the unfamiliar stairwell of a Tel Aviv apartment with a torn dress. As her memory resurfaces, she realises she is running away from a crime she has witnessed. She knows she needs a place to hide and when Carmela, suffering from memory loss, thinks she is her granddaughter, Nina moves in with her. Meanwhile Nina’s mother Irina, a Russian immigrant, is frantically looking for her, and Carmela’s son wonders what has happened to his mother. A psychological read about two families looking for redemption and the bonds between strangers.
THE WAGAMAMA BRIDE by LIANE GRUNBERG WAKABAYASHI. New York Journalist Liane Grunberg fell in love with Tokyo. She married a shiatsu therapist. Their wedding was a union of Jewish and Japanese cultures. The author invites the reader into her home where Buddhist funerals, Shinto rites, Shabbat and Jewish festivals were celebrated with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Liane details her emotional journey to reach the decision that her marriage and religion could not coexist.
Jacob Gitlin Library www.gitlinlibrary.co.za
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