🎤︎︎ New Five Books Episode: Elizabeth Graver On Lost Worlds and New Doorways

A kaleidoscopic portrait of one family’s displacement across four countries, Kantika―“song” in Ladino―follows the joys and losses of Rebecca Cohen, feisty daughter of the Sephardic elite of early 20th-century Istanbul. When the Cohens lose their wealth and are forced to move to Barcelona and start anew, Rebecca fashions a life and self from what comes her way―a failed marriage, the need to earn a living, but also passion, pleasure and motherhood. Moving from Spain to Cuba to New York for an arranged second marriage, she faces her greatest challenge―her disabled stepdaughter, Luna, whose feistiness equals her own and whose challenges pit new family against old.

Kantika was awarded a National Jewish Book Award, the Edward Lewis Wallant Award, the Julia Ward Howe Award, and the Massachusetts Book Award.

In our conversation, we’ll explore the power of witnessing erased histories, Sephardic migrations, and the way historical fiction speaks to the present moment.

Click on the graphic above to listen!

Elizabeth Graver’s Five Books

1. Enormous Changes at the Last Minute by Grace Paley

2. One Hundred Saturdays by Michael Frank

3. Beloved by Toni Morrison

4. Isola by Allegra Goodman

5. Kantika by Elizabeth Graver

What else we’re reading now:

We hope you enjoy this week’s episode! Tell us what you think at [email protected] or by replying to this email!

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