For fans of Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere, a novel of devastating family secrets and a young Jewish woman whose search for truth—and her relationships with two very different men—leads her to discover the complex and redeeming power of love.

In a fine Brooklyn brownstone in the mid–20th century, Ruth and her brothers are raised by their Eastern-European Jewish father, along with a spinster aunt and bachelor uncle. Her father, a widower and respected physician, is proud to have risen from Ellis Island newcomer to a prominent figure within his close-knit immigrant community.

But family tensions mount: Ruth’s younger brother rebels against everything their father represents, while her older brother is killed in action in World War II. Not long after, the sudden deaths of her father, aunt, and uncle leave Ruth to inherit a legacy she cannot ignore. With half-remembered childhood moments, hidden documents, and clues appearing around every corner, she’s compelled to embark on a journey to piece together the truth about her mother’s life and death.

Along the way, Ruth struggles to imagine her future as she works to hold her fracturing life together—including her relationship with her betrothed, Shimon—but discovers that her own sense of purpose and a sincere life partner can come from reckoning with what it truly means to love.

WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT: Alongside its propulsive plot, Ruth in Shadow and in Lights explores Ruth’s evolving strength and self-awareness as she uncovers and grapples with the truth about her mother and insists on being fully seen and respected—particularly by the man who loves her for it.

GENERATIONAL TRAUMA: Through the reverberations of a single family’s fateful decisions, this novel encourages readers to examine how their own family histories and inherited wounds shape identity across generations.

A GREAT READ FOR THOUGHTFUL BOOKCLUBS: With complex questions of identity and belonging, this novel encourages rich discussion about how ethnicity, place, passion, and gender shape who we become.

JEWISH FAMILY DYNAMICS: Set during a pivotal moment when a new generation of American Jews began pushing against Old World expectations, this novel captures the tensions, aspirations, and transformations of Jewish life in mid-century Brooklyn.

DIRECT CONNECTION TO NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN: The novel’s portrait of mid-20th century Brooklyn vividly evokes Brooklyn’s brownstones, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and the intimate fabric of upwardly mobile Jewish immigrant life during a changing era.