30 June 20 • 2019 jn SANDEE BRAWARSKY SUMMER READING books arts&life Our annual compilation of new books offers everything from page-turners to politics — all with a Jewish connection. THE GOSPEL ACCORDI NG TO LAZARUS RI CHARD ZI MLER G RI CHARD ZI MLER ‘ ‘ A brave and engaging novel . . . a page-turner’ Observer The Gospel According to Lazarus by Richard Zimler (Peter Owen Publishing/IPG) is an imaginative retelling of how Jesus brought his friend Lazarus back from the dead and then how Lazarus struggles to regain his previous identity, flash- ing back to the boyhood and close friendship of the two in Nazareth. The novel recounts the story of the last week of the life of Jesus, through the perspective of Lazarus. Zimler, who lives in Portugal and is the author of The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon and other novels, brings mysticism and historical research to his telling. In celebration of the matriarch’s 70th birthday, the extended Feldman family take a cruise together in The Floating Feldmans by Elyssa Freidland (Berkley). Not exactly a celebration, the time sequestered together afloat on the Ocean Queen is filled with eating and feuding, as family secrets, rivalries and tensions surface. In alternating voices, the story unfolds with compassion and humor. A first novel set in 1666 by an author who has published acclaimed short stories, The Organs of Sense by Adam Ehrlich Sachs (Farrar, Straus, Giroux) explores science, politics and family dynamics, layered with philosophy, his- torical facts and humor. Here a blind astronomer using the longest telescope ever built, encounters the young math genius Gottfried Leibniz, just before the predicted time of a solar eclipse said to result in total darkness. Death and Other Happy Endings (Pamela Dorman Books/Viking) is the fictional debut of 62-year-old author Melanie Cantor, who previous- ly worked as a celebrity press agent before hosting a television series on home design in Great Britain. In this romantic comedy, a woman who is told she has a terminal illness with three months to live sets out to put her affairs in order with unusual candor through letters to her ex-husband, ex-boyfriend and difficult sister. The Song of the Jade Lily by Australian writer Kirsty Manning (Morrow) is a historical novel that opens in Shanghai in 1944, flashes back to Vienna and Australia in 1938, and then ahead to London in 2016, and then back to Australia and Shanghai as well. This is a story of refugees, friendship, hardship, love, loyalty and courage that recreates wartime Shanghai and its Jewish refugee com- munity. Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage is a collection of stories by rediscovered literary voice Bette Rowland (Public Space), who received many awards decades ago and then largely disap- peared from public notice until the end of her life. Rowland, born in Chicago and championed by Saul Bellow, who was for a time a lover, observes life with empathy and humor, in the tradi- tion of Grace Paley. Set in a weight loss camp for adults in a Vermont mansion, Waisted by Randy Susan Meyers (Atria Books) tells of a group of women determined to lose extra pounds who agree to be filmed as they take part in a program promising dramatic results. This is a story of sisterhood and self-respect as the women conspire against those in charge. Julie Zuckerman’s debut, The Book of Jeremiah (Press 53), a novel in stories full of rich imagery, spans the life of a regular guy named Jeremiah — son of Jewish immigrants, professor of political science, husband, father — over eight decades, showing his determination, missteps and inspiring humanity. A first novel set over three conti- nents and spanning four generations, The Limits of the World by Jennifer Acker (Delphinium Books) is the story of an American family, emigrants from the Indian enclave in Nairobi. The family has many secrets when they are forced to return to Nairobi by an unforeseen accident. One of the secrets is that their son’s Jewish-American girlfriend, who is with them in Kenya, is already his wife. As she unfolds this family saga, Acker, founder and editor- in-chief of The Common, considers family ties, cultural misunderstandings, immigration, empathy and love. A first novel of historical fiction, A Bend in the Stars by Rachel Barenbaum (Grand Central Publishing) opens in 1914 Russia as war is in the air and life is increas- ingly difficult for Jews. A pair of sib- FICTION