Library Corner
Art and Adventure in a Time of War
March 10, 2025
By Robin Jacobson. Perched majestically on a rocky hilltop, the Abbey of Montecassino has kept vigil over Italy’s Liri Valley for nearly two thousand years. During the Second World War, …
Secrets and Lies
March 3, 2025
By Robin Jacobson. After Sasha Vasilyuk’s grandfather died in Donetsk, Ukraine, in 2007, her grandmother made a shocking discovery. In an old briefcase stashed under a bed, she found a …
Portrait of an Artist and his Jewish Patrons: John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers
January 21, 2025
By Robin Jacobson. As a celebrated portrait artist, John Singer Sargent had his choice of commissions at the turn of the twentieth century. The most aristocratic, glamorous, “high society” figures …
Cracking Codes and other Capers
December 18, 2024
By Robin Jacobson. At a book event in 2019, a librarian posed a fateful question. She asked the assembled authors whether they might like to collaborate with another writer one …
The Shadow of the Past
November 13, 2024
By Robin Jacobson. The shadow of the past hovers over the present in the remarkable debut novel, The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden. Shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize, the novel …
The Ships That Carried Them to America
October 10, 2024
By Robin Jacobson. It’s the stuff of family lore and American history. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, over 10 million European immigrants crossed the Atlantic Ocean to America. These included 2.5 …
The Madwoman in the Rabbi’s Attic
September 12, 2024
By Robin Jacobson. Each High Holiday season, we turn again to sacred texts in search of new insights. That makes this a fitting time for Gila Fine’s The Madwoman in the …
Israelis in America
July 15, 2024
By Robin Jacobson. For years Maya Arad has won enthusiastic praise for her fiction, even being described in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz as “the finest living author writing in Hebrew.” …
Ladino Magic
June 3, 2024
By Robin Jacobson. The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo imaginatively blends the genres of historical fiction and fantasy. This captivating novel is set in 16th century Spain, a time and place linked to the …
New on the Youth Bookshelf
May 2, 2024
By Robin Jacobson. Some adult book clubs choose one “young adult” title a year to read, simply to sample from the many excellent books in that category. This year, two …