Episode 22: Jeremy Dauber
“Show me what scares you, and I’ll show you your soul.”
In American Scary, noted cultural historian Jeremy Dauber draws a captivating through line that ties historical influences ranging from the Salem witch trials and enslaved-person narratives directly to the body of work we associate with horror today: from the taut, terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe to the grisly, lingering films of Jordan Peele.
Episode 21: Jill Santopolo
The long-awaited follow-up to the Reese’s Book Club pick and New York Times bestselling global phenomenon The Light We Lost: a thrilling love story about the roles fate and choice play in shaping a life.
It’s been nearly ten years since Gabe’s been gone when Lucy finds a tiny piece of paper in a box of his old photos. An address in Rome. Why did Gabe keep it, and what was he doing in Italy? Lucy buys a last-minute ticket.
Episode 20: Allison Epstein
Fagin the Thief is a thrilling reimagining of the world of Charles Dickens, as seen through the eyes of the infamous Jacob Fagin. Colorfully written and wickedly funny, Allison Epstein breathes fresh life into the teeming streets of Dickensian London–reclaiming one of Victorian literature’s most notorious Jewish caricatures.
Episode 19: Nicole Graev Lipson
What does it take to escape the plotlines mapped onto us? Searching for clues in the work of her literary foremothers, Lipson untangles what it means to be a girl, a woman, a lover, a partner, a daughter, and a mother in a world all too ready to reduce us to stock characters.
Episode 18: Gayle Forman
Gayle Forman has written several bestselling novels, including those in the Just One Day series, Where She Went, and the #1 New York Times bestseller If I Stay, which has been translated into more than forty languages and was adapted into a major motion picture starring Chloe Grace Moretz. Her first middle grade novel, Frankie & Bug, was a New York Times best children’s book of the year. In our conversation, we’ll discuss the link between anxiety and creativity, Judaism's instructions for living with loss, and how all of us are capable of rising to the occasion of our lives.
Episode 17: Jennifer Weiner
Jennifer Weiner’s books have spent over five years on the New York Times bestseller list, including several times at #1. She has written over a dozen works of fiction and the nonfiction collection Hungry Heart: Adventures in Life, Love, and Writing (2016), which was a finalist for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay.
BONUS EPISODE: Dara Horn
Dara Horn is the award-winning author of six books, including the novels The World to Come, All Other Nights, and the essay collection People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present. Her latest book is the graphic novel One Little Goat.
Episode 16: Dara Horn
Dara Horn is the award-winning author of six books, including the novels The World to Come, All Other Nights, and the essay collection People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present. Her latest book is the graphic novel One Little Goat.
Episode 15: Georgia Hunter
When Georgia Hunter was fifteen years old, she discovered that she came from a family of Holocaust survivors. Years later, she embarked on a journey of intensive research, determined to unearth and record her family’s remarkable story.
Episode 14: Rob Kutner
Rob Kutner’s new irreverent book on Jewish history, The Jews: 5000 Years and Counting covers every major moment in Jewish history from Adam and Eve to Tuesday’s rerun of Seinfeld.
Episode 13: Allegra Goodman
Isola is inspired by the real life of a sixteenth-century heroine, and is the timeless story of a woman fighting for survival.
Episode 12: Tova Mirvis
We Would Never is a riveting literary page-turner that maps the extremes to which a family will go in order to protect their own.
Episode 11: Bonny Reichert
Bonny Reichert avoided everything to do with the Holocaust. The journalist had grown up hearing stories about her father’s near-starvation and ultimate survival in Auschwitz-Birkenau, but she never imagined she would be able to face this epic legacy head-on.