Now Offering Vegan,
Vegetarian & Gluten-Free Options
from bakeries in places like Monsey and
Teaneck. The title character, Maximo
Rothman, who made his way across
Europe to the Dominican Republic to
New York City, prefers
Dominican specialties
to the kosher food his
Orthodox daughter-in-
law, the wife of his ba'al
teshuvah son, insists that
by A l lidranskY
he eat.
Rothman, who lost
all of his family in the
Holocaust, is still angry
at God.
When Rothman is
murdered, many suspect
a Dominican kid who
visits the older man as
part of his probation program, but Tolya
is convinced that the kid loved Max,
who helped him to reconcile with his
own father.
Max's words, "Life is too short
to make enemies of those we love
resonate for Tolya too, as he reflects on
his own father and the traumas they
experienced in the former
Soviet Union. The case also
inspires Tolya to reconsider
the Judaism he has mostly
abandoned, even as he
comes face-to-face again
with the Orthodox rabbi
who callously told his par-
ents, knowing all they had
gone through, that he wasn't
halachically Jewish.
Headlining his chap-
ters with dates, Sidransky
weaves together the present
and Rothman's experience
in the Dominican Republic, revealed
through his hand-written diaries.
Lots of surprising twists, amidst the
slopes of the Heights.
FORG IVING
MAX IMO
ROTH MAN
❑
american bistro bar
Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots
0
JOHN D
22726 Woodward Ave
FERNDALE
by Jessica Soifer
ne of the pleasures of read-
ing Jessica Soffer's first
novel, Tomorrow There
Will Be Apricots (Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt), is the opportunity to
meet characters you probably haven't
encountered before.
One is Lorca, a troubled young
woman who inflicts
pain on herself as she
tries to attract the
love of her mother, a
very busy chef about
to send her daughter
off to boarding school
against her wishes. And
there is Victoria, an
Iraqi-Jewish immigrant
living in New York who
teaches cooking and
is mourning the death
of her husband after
a long and close marriage over trau-
matic times.
The novel is told in the alternating
voices of Lorca and Victoria.
Lorca, as described by Victoria, is a
"gorgeous combination of ancient and
brand-new:"
Soffer writes, "Something in her
eyes — perhaps the depth and sheen
of them, how they seemed to summon
the world around her and refract it
like an artifact window — aged her
in a way that had nothing to do with
years:'
Soffer's descriptions of food as well
as emotional connections are richly
layered. Lorca studies cooking with
Victoria, and, despite their differences
in age, their conversations soon cover
much more ground than
the dishes they are pre-
paring. Victoria teaches
the young girl to make
the complicated Iraqi
national dish, masgouf.
The author is the
daughter of an Iraqi
Jewish painter and sculp-
tor who came to the U.S.
in the late 1940s. She has
said that she has always
wanted to write about his
culture, and that desire
led her to write about food. Growing
up, her strongest memories are the
dishes he cooked, fragrant with
cumin, cardamom and cloves. She
includes a recipe for masgouf, made
with whole carp.
The title is drawn from an Arabic
expression, "Bukra fil mish mish" —
tomorrow, when the apricots bloom
— which involves looking to the
future with measured optimism.
❑
Jessica Soffer will appear at this year's JCC Jewish
Book Fair at 2 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, in West Bloomfield.
This is part of the Tea & Fiction event (which includes
Jillian Cantor, author of the novel Margot). Tickets are
$15, and reservations are required by Oct 29: (248)
432-5462. Check out our special Jewish Book Fair
package in our Oct. 31 issue.
Reservations @ johndbistro.com or 248.398.4070 (after 3)
186278.
BIG LEAGUE PRODUCTIONS, INC. PRESENTS
difr"
DOLLY!
starring SALLY STRUTHERS
4
.4b
Sally Struthers. from Allin the Family &
Gilmore Girls. shines in Hello. Dolly!"
—
rq FO X iw ■
THEATRE SERIES
2013-14
OCTOBER 18-19
ON SALE NOW
OlympiaEntertainment.com I The Fox Theatre & Joe Louis Arena Box Offices
Ticketmaster.com I Charge by phone 800.745.3000
Save up to 20% with a Theatre Series Subscription.
Group discounts are available, call 313-471-3099
Music Et Lyrics by JERRY HERMAN
www.HelloDollyOnTour.com
Book by MICHAEL STEWART
1862210
October 10 • 2013
45