A groundbreaking Jewish feminist short story collection.   Short story collections focusing on Jewish writers have—no surprise—typically given women authors short shrift. This new volume represents the best Jewish feminist fiction published in Lilith magazine, and does what no other collection has done before in its geographic scope, its inclusion of twenty-first-century stories, and its Jewish feminist focus. This collection showcases a wide range of stories offering variegated cultures and contexts and points of view: Persian Jews; a Biblical matriarch; an Ethiopian mother in modern Israel; suburban American teens; Eastern European academics; a sexual questioner; a Jew by choice; a new immigrant escaping her Lower East Side sweatshop; a Black Jewish marcher for justice; in Vichy France, a toddler’s mother hiding out; and more. Organized by theme, the stories in this book emphasize a breadth of content, and our hope is that in reading you’ll appreciate the liveliness of the burgeoning self-awareness brought to life in each tale, and the occasional funny, call-your-friend-and-tell-her-about-it moment. Skip around, encounter an author whose other work you may know, be enticed by a title, or an opening line. We hope you’ll find both pleasure and enlightenment—and sometimes revelation—within these pages.  

Table of Contents:
Foreword Introduction The Stories 1. TRANSITIONS The New World Esther Singer Kreitman (translated from the Yiddish by Barbara Harshav) In Every Girl’s Heart Myla Goldberg In Vegas That Year Adrienne Sharp A Wedding in Persia Gina Nahai News to Turn the World Katie Singer Sylvia’s Spoon Michelle Brafman Max’s Mom Goes to Camp Judith Zimmer My Daughter’s Boyfriends Penny Jackson Unveiling Racelle Rosett 2. INTIMACIES 1919: At the Connecticut Shore Jane Lazarre The Curiosa Section Harriet Goldman Glass Diana Spechler The Wedding Photographer’s Assistant Ilana Stanger-Ross The List of Plagues Audrey Ferber Road Kill Miryam Sivan Probabilities Elizabeth Edelglass Sound Effects Michele Ruby Take the A Train to Scotland Ellen Umansky 3. TRANSGRESSIONS Lot’s Wife Michal Lemberger Paved with Gold Beth Kanter Driving Lesson Kate Schmier Little Hen Emily Alice Katz The Proper Care of Silver Emily Franklin Boundaries Ilene Raymond Rush Face Me Elena Sigman Zhid Yona Zeldis McDonough Deep in the Valley Cherise Wolas 4. WAR La Poussette Rachel Hall The Fronds of Knives Rebecca Givens Rolland Street of the Deported Anca L. Szilágyi Facts on the Ground Ruchama King Feuerman 5. BODY AND SOUL The Lives Under the Stones Amy Bitterman Do Not Punish Us Chana Blankshteyn (translated from the Yiddish by Anita Norich) Working the Mikveh Amy Gottlieb Ironing Sarah Seltzer What Was Cut Beth Kanell Flash Flood Hila Amit (translated from the Hebrew by Ilana Kurshan) All That Remains of Etta Erica W. Jamieson The Neowise Comet Listens In Carolivia Herron 6. TO BELONG Flight Phyllis Caron Agins The Miscreants Tamar Ben-Ozer Home Zeeva Bukai The Woman Who Lost Her Names Nessa Rapoport Raised by Jews Naomi Seidman Authors and Editors Questions For Discussion Acknowledgements