Staff Picks Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart

 Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart

One of my favorite recent reads describes a modern dystopia through the eyes of a young girl of Jewish and Korean descent. 

Intelligent and curious, ten-year-old Vera Bradford-Shmulkin’s observations about her father and stepmother raise concerns about her own family's stability and the state of the America in a post-democratic world. Struggling to form lasting friendships while striving for academic success, Vera questions what she's been told about her absent birth mother and forms a plan to locate her. 

Vera, or Faith is witty, insightful and equal parts charming and terrifying in its vision of a radically altered United States. 

Adult Fiction Staff Picks: The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz

 The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz

Jean Hanff Korelitz takes her time developing this complex family drama, beginning before Salo and Johanna, the parents of her main characters, have even met and shifting back and forth in time to explain the dynamics between Harrison, Lewyn, and Sally, triplets born in the early days of IVF. 

A childhood of togetherness leads the three siblings to try to go their own separate ways as teenagers despite the many entanglements that bind them. Struggling to maintain a happy facade after Salo’s infidelity, Johanna Oppenheimer arranges for a surrogate to deliver her fourth child from her remaining frozen embryo, then desperately tries to convince her children to bond with their sister Phoebe, the latecomer, and their biological quadruplet.

The Latecomer is a mesmerizing story that details the ways resentments build, secrets compound, lies unravel, and rifts grow and heal. The novel sets the stage for a dramatic confrontation and delivers it. But that’s by no means the end of the story in this modern family drama.   

At over sixteen hours, the audio version of the The Latecomer  is a great distraction on a long car ride for fans of richly detailed stories that show characters dealing with problems with no easy solutions. 

Jean Hanf Koreliz is the bestselling author of two of my favorite psychological suspense novels, the 2021 The Plot and its 2024 follow-up The Sequel. While it was hard to put down the more fast paced, plot-based psychological suspense novels The Plot and The Sequel, I can tell that the characters in The Latecomer, and their messy, relatable real-world issues will remain with me for much longer. 

Alicia Cavitt
Information Specialist

Jewish Book Month November 24 - December 24

Jewish Book Month is November 24 thru December 24. Here are a few of my favorite literary fiction books by Jewish authors. 

Naamah by Sarah Blake

In this imaginative retelling, Noah's wife Naamah swims in the ocean while mourning the victims of the Great Flood, cares for the people and creatures on the ark, talks with angels, questions her own choices and God's, and even has visions of the distant future 

Jewish Book Month November 24 - December 24

In honor of Jewish Book Month here are a few more of my favorite books by Jewish authors. 

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

Leigh Bardugo’s The Familiar is an immersive historical fantasy novel about a sassy scullion who hides her Jewish ancestory as well as her magical abilities during the Spanish Inquisition. I loved this mesmerizing and thought-provoking story.