No Place Like Home
I know she doesn't read English so I can't even hope for a thumbs up here but Ruth Arieli Rapaport has got to be one of my favorite frum novelists.
(And yes, I just changed my number and lost my email address as many of my writer friends will be highly insulted by the above statement. Oy.)
See, ever since she wrote the book "I'll Never Leave You (Hamodia Publishing)" years ago, I was hooked. I wondered, in that book, if she lived in my head. Having lost my mother as a child, I am highly critical of any book portraying an orphan's life or feelings. See, if they're not in line with what I felt or experienced, I blame the author for getting it "wrong". Immature, I know I know. But hey... I'm entitled to my opinion.
I couldn't decide if to read "No Place Like Home" (Tfutza/ Distributed by Israel Bookshop) on Yom Tov and I'm not sure my family is glad I did because it took me to some dark places in my mind but boy was it cathartic.
The novel has an aspiring frum female cardiologist get caught up in a case of two children whose mother is out of the picture and whose father collapsed emotionally and is in and out of their lives.
I can't give many more details or I'll ruin all the fun of reading this 530 page masterpiece but I will say that for those of us who love an author who can crank up our emotions and sweep us away with some make-believe story....this is it...on steroids.
As someone who did not always live home, I can attest to the very real conflicts these children experience even when offered an equal or better future.
Some of the unspoken thoughts, the author plants in these children's heads are painful for even many adults to think about.
But oh so important.
Available here:
http://www.israelbookshoppublications.com/store/pc/No-Place-Like-Home-p1203.htm
or
https://www.amazon.com/Place-Like-Home-Arieli-Rapaport/dp/1600915426