With her marriage prospects getting slimmer, Amanda Cornfeld, a forty-year-old single woman, must choose from among three suitors that her mother has selected for her to consider for marriage. They all must pass a series of trials; brave her fierce dog, escape the limits of time, and give her something priceless. Which one will she choose, the unscrupulous lawyer who wants to dominate her; the artistic impresario who needs her or the unlikely blind date who rescues her from depression? Amanda is haunted by all three in her dreams. Only her will to determine her own fate leads her to her final choice. With her faithful Rottweiler by her side, she travels to strange cities and far-off shores in her quest for a mate. A gold ring, a freak fire, and an ancient water ritual are some of the barriers she encounters along the way.

The vocabulary of Judaism includes religious terms, customs, Hebrew, Aramaic and Yiddish terms, terms related to American Jewish life and the State of Israel. All are represented in this new guide, with easy to read explanation and cross-references.

Time: the late nineteenth century. Place: the city of New York, a mecca for the ambitious and the corrupt where the poor barely survive on the wages for their fourteen-hour work day. Crime is at its highest, higher than it will be in all of the city's history. Nevertheless, the burgeoning city is alive with possibilities. This is the setting for a different kind of coming-of-age story. Sixteen-year-old Rivka Lenski, a recent Russian Jewish immigrant and orphan, cannot even read or write English. Her days are spent on survival. When her coworker and friend Frieda Baum is found murdered in a house of assignation on Allen Street, Rivka pledges to find the murderer and bring justice to her friend's devastated family. Rivka's search to find her friend's killer leads Rivka deeper into the diverse and complex world of late nineteenth-century New York, a world rife with corruption, racism, and crime yet filled with colorful characters like the criminal lawyers Hummel and Howe and Mother Mandelbaum, the head of organized crime in the city. Rivka's search brings her face to face with the intertwined worlds of this New York, from the glorious mansions of Grammercy Park to the haunts of ambitious prostitutes and entertainers, into the lives of women who love each other as well as informants and pickpockets while growing stronger and more aware of a world she had never before noticed. Through her unexpected friendship with Mercy, a maid in the house where her friend Frieda died, Rivka learns how to read and write and about the cruelty of racism in her new land. In searching for a murderer, Rivka learns to become a detective and an American.

Germany 1912 and seventeen-year old Ilse Ehrenkrantz longs for a story that is different from her middle class traditional Jewish life. Fascinated by her artistic explorations of Catholic symbols, Ilse immerses herself in a world outside her family. This decision propels her into a relationship with her cousin, Georg, a spirited story teller and passionate coin collector, who abandons Judaism for a Prussian military career. Ilse’s choices set in motion a series of consequences that divide her family. Rich with details of the era, this subtle novel—part family saga, part love story—raises questions about Jewish identity, spirituality and desire. At the center are the valuable and mesmerizing coins that will draw Ilse to become The Numismatist’s Wife.

Full-Length Play | Angie Mastrantoni has a lot going for her-a job at a hip art gallery, a new apartment on the Upper West Side-but not much time or hope for relationships. Then her neighbor Seth, a divorced Orthodox Jew with a knish store on the Lower East Side, knocks on her door. The Sabbath Girl is a contemporary romantic comedy about the loneliness of big-city life and the possibility of finding love next door. (3F, 2M)

In a time when almost any gritty topic can be featured in a young adult novel, there is one subject that is avoided by writers and publishers. Faith and belief in God seldom appear in traditional form in novels for teens. The lack of such ideas in mainstream adolescent literature can be interpreted by teens to mean that these matters are not important. Yet a significant part of growing up is struggling with issues of spirituality. The underlying problem, of course, is that there are so few writers who are willing to talk to teenagers about God, even indirectly, or who themselves have the religious literacy for the task. Spirituality in Young Adult Literature: The Last Taboo tackles a subject rarely portrayed in fiction aimed at teens. In this volume, Patty Campbell examines not only realistic fiction, but young adult literature that deals with mysticism, apocalyptical end times, and even YA novels that depict the Divine Encounter. Campbell maintains that fantasy works are inherently spiritual, because the plots nearly always progress toward a showdown between good and evil. As such, the author surmises that the popularity of fantasy among teens may represent their interest in the mystical dimensions of faith and the otherworldly. In this study, Campbell examines works of fiction that express perspectives from Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism. Distinguished YA novelist Chris Crowe provides a chapter on Mormon values and Mormon YA authors and how their novels integrate those values into their books. By looking at how spirituality is represented in novels aimed at teens, this book asks what progress, if any, has been made in slaying the taboo. Although most of the books discussed in this study are recent, an appendix lists YA books from 1967 to the present that have dealt with issues of faith. A timely look at an important subject, Spirituality in Young Adult Literature will be of interest to young adult librarians, junior and senior high school teachers, and students and instructors of college courses in adolescent literature, as well as to parents of teens.

Born into a broken home, Darien started life on the wrong foot. Luckily, he finds his spirit guide in Sundeep-a friend, protector, and teacher who has been with Darien since before his birth. Darien struggles with an inner war that plunges him into addiction as he eventually approaches a point of no return. Desperate for healing, he makes a confession. Darien confronts his boss and admits to his alcoholism. Despite his hesitation in getting better, he is determined to fix his broken life. This is a journey into recovery as Darien strives to live without doubt. He slowly opens up to spiritual truths and a renewed awareness of Sundeep, who guides him to new understandings. In order to be free of addiction, Darien must face buried fears and defy his need for alcohol and drugs to mask those fears. Slowly, he discovers the healing wonders of shedding light on darkness. He transforms as he aligns his life with his true identity and fulfills his soul's purpose, even beyond this earthly realm.

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