Larry Zuckerman, author

"How do we cast off the haunts of guilt and allow for hope? How do we free ourselves of past shames to let in love? Larry Zuckerman invites us to explore such questions in his richly textured and transporting novel. . . . Beautifully written, brimming with scenic details of 1900s New York from pickets to pushcarts to singing waiters, this is a historical novel readers will relish."

                -- Jennifer Rosner, author of The Yellow Bird Sings and Once We Were Home

 

 

"In this absorbing story of Jews settling in the 'Golden Land' (New York), in the early nineteenth century, the search for freedom is revealed as more than finding a place. It is also a journey toward reconciliation with the past, with faith, with dogma; this is the ground of hope for the future. Zuckerman writes with empathy, insight, and delightful flashes of wry humour, creating characters that seem to breathe beyond the page. I loved it."

                 -- Robyn Cadwallader, author of The Anchoress and The Fire and the Rose

 

In 1909, Malka Kaminsky steals her dowry to flee Russia and an arranged marriage, arriving in New York hungry for freedom. Drawn into the hustle of the Golden Land, Malka joins a sweatshop strike and is nearly beaten by thugs, but a stranger and fellow Russian Jew, Yaakov Rogovin, rescues her. Malka doesn't thank him, refusing to acknowledge her debt, but when chance brings Yaakov to her Sabbath table, they laugh and trade warm glances—only to deny their mutual attraction. After all, they carry deep scars from Russia, where admitting to desires always led to heartache. But as they strive to become entrepreneurs—Yaakov, as a musician, and Malka, as a dressmaker—they hope that independence will show them how to live unafraid, despite the past. And they will need that lesson soon, because when Malka's fiancé arrives, determined to reclaim her, she seeks Yaakov's help, neither of them aware what fighting for their dreams will cost.