The Victory Gardens of Brooklyn

With The Victory Gardens of Brooklyn, Merrill Joan Gerber demonstrates yet again her talent for pure and natural prose that penetrates the depths of human emotion. Her new novel illuminates the lives of three generations of women belonging to a Jewish American family in New York. Arriving from Poland at the turn of the century, sisters Rachel and Rose discover their fates on New York's Lower East Side. Later, Rachel's daughters, Ava, Musetta, and Gilda, live the passionate drama of their family's destiny as two wars rage in the world around them. In peace and war, the men they love bring them both ecstasy and bitter grief. Musetta's daughters, Issa and Iris, carry the story to its poignant close as the Second World War ends. With a delicate touch yet piercing insight, Gerber explores the yearnings, loves, and struggles of women who try to adapt the Jewish rituals of the "old country" to the realities of the new world.

Author: Merrill Gerber
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Published: 11/01/2007
Pages: 416
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.24lbs
Size: 9.10h x 5.90w x 0.97d
ISBN: 9780815608929

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 09/17/2007 pg. 35
Library Journal 10/01/2007 pg. 59
Multicultural Review 06/01/2008 pg. 51

About the Author
Merrill Joan Gerber is a prize-winning novelist and short story writer. Her novel, Tbe Kingdom of Brooklyn, won the Ribalow Award from Hadassah Magazine. She teaches fiction writing at the California Institute of Technology.