How to Make a Life
A Novel
by Florence Reiss Kraut
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Pub Date Oct 13 2020 | Archive Date Sep 30 2020
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Description
—Kirkus Reviews
When Ida and her daughter Bessie flee a catastrophic pogrom in Ukraine for America in 1905, they believe their emigration will ensure that their children and grandchildren will be safe from harm. But choices and decisions made by one generation have ripple effects on those who come later—and in the decades that follow, family secrets, betrayals, and mistakes made in the name of love threaten the survival of the family: Bessie and Abe Weissman’s children struggle with the shattering effects of daughter Ruby’s mental illness, of Jenny’s love affair with her brother-in-law, of the disappearance of Ruby’s daughter as she flees her mother’s legacy, and of the accidental deaths of Irene’s husband and granddaughter.
A sweeping saga that follows three generations from the tenements of Brooklyn through WWII, from Woodstock to India, and from Spain to Israel, How to Make a Life is the story of a family who must learn to accept each other’s differences—or risk cutting ties with the very people who anchor their place in the world.
Advance Praise
The world of richly drawn characters in How to Make a Life transported me on a compelling emotional journey. In a story that brings the 20th Century to life, the powerful need to assimilate threatens the very bonds that ground an immigrant family with a sense of identity as four generations adapt to a culture that reinvents itself with every decade.
Stephanie Lehmann, author, Astor Place Vintage.
A moving novel of four generations of an immigrant family whose characters are so real I cannot forget them.
Tessa Smith McGovern, author, London Road Linked Stories and host/producer of BookGirl TV.
Florence Kraut has written a sensitive and compelling multigenerational novel that begins with tragedy and ends with hope. Each chapter traces a family member who erases the scars of history’s indelible mark with courage, determination, faith and love. A wonderful read.
Marsha Temlock, Author, The Exile and Your Child’s Divorce: What to Expect; What You Can Do
How to Make a Life is a compelling and inspirational novel. It applauds perseverance, connection and compassion over trauma, separation and change. Details have a way of creating potency, and the beautiful descriptions in Ms. Kraut's novel brings every character alive. Her images and painterly descriptions inspired me to write about my own family. When stories inspire readers' creativity, you are in the hands of a empathic and evocative writer. I could not put this book down.
June Gould, PhD, author, The Writer in All of us, IWWG Writing Workshop Leader, consultant and Master writing teacher.
Florence Reiss Kraut’s rich, gutsy and poignant novel, How to Make a Life, is the saga of four generations of an immigrant family who begin by escaping the pogroms in Eastern Europe for a life in New York, and are then held together by the legacy of that trauma and the loyalties, ambitions, and explorations of succeeding generations. All the challenges of any real family are woven through this complex story; betrayals, mistakes, secrets, accidents, illnesses, good luck and bad. Kraut’s focus on different characters in dedicated chapters mimics for the reader the reality of how we learn about family relationships ; there are things we know about each other, and things we don’t find out until much later.. Kraut’s superb writing and deeply drawn characters, and her faithful evocation of distinct places and eras over the whole of the 20th century keep the reader grounded and engaged. Anyone who comes from a large close family will recognize the intricacy of the connections among these wonderfully varied and sometimes flawed people. Anyone who is not from such a family will be the wiser for having entered Kraut’s rendering of How to Make a Life.
Barbara Stark-Nemon, author of the award winning novels Hard Cider and Even in Darkness.
Marketing Plan
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Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781631527791 |
| PRICE | $16.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 256 |
Links
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Sandy H, Reviewer
Simply put this was a beautiful book! It starts in 1905 in the Ukraine as a mother and 2 of her children escape a tragic pogrom to start over in America. The reader finds themselves on this family’s journey through the decades .....to present day. Although there are many characters throughout the book, the author develops each one and you feel as though you are right there experiencing each character’s life’s challenges,, heartaches, accomplishments and celebrations.
Well written, poignant portrayal of life.
Ethel F, Reviewer
This book was near and dear to my heart in many ways, as my own family fled from Belarus and the pogroms that threatened their lives. Well written, truly, for me, understandable. As I read it, I remembered past stories that were handed down to me from my father. While I was too young to truly comprehend the horror he escaped and the subsequent life and scars he carried with him, this book was amazing. You read the book, you read about survival, you read about the toll it takes on the lives of this family, and in reality the lives of so many families. This book will be one I will re-read as I absorb once more what this family went through, and remember some of the stories told to me about my own family. My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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