The Ladies Auxiliary

by Tova Mirvis

The Ladies Auxiliary describes a year in the life of an Orthodox community in Memphis, Tenn.

The year begins in early summer with the arrival of Batsheva Jacobs and her young daughter Ayala. It ends just after Shavuot the following year.

Through that year, the community goes through tumultuous times that lead to two teenagers in the community leaving, separately and under dramatically different conditions.

Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love

by Dani Shapiro

Based on a DNA test she took because of her husband's interest in genealogy, Dani Shapiro discovered the man she grew up believing was her father actually wasn't.

This book is the telling of her search for answers: How did this  happen? Why did her parents never tell her? Who is her biological father? Who is she now that everything she believed has changed?

With both parents dead, she can no longer get answers directly. She instead dissects memories,  slowly making connections. She realizes why she never felt like she belonged in her family, with blond hair and blue eyes that were so unlike her relatives.

Washing the Dead

by Michelle Brafman

This is a story of mothers and daughters, of secrets radiating across generations, of betrayals and abandonments and of forgiveness and transcendence.

Barbara Pupnik Blumfield is living a satisfying life far from her ultra-Orthodox Jewish roots. She’s a nursery school teacher at a Reform synagogue. She has a wonderful, loving, upbeat husband who is a financial planner. She has a teenage daughter, Lili, who has discovered long-distance running as a way of coping with her attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).