How to Make a Life: A Novel

In 1905, Ida and Bessie flee a pogrom in Ukraine for America, believing it will ensure their children's safety. However, choices and decisions made by one generation have ripple effects on those who come later, leading to family secrets, betrayals, and mistakes made in the name of love. The Weissmans' children struggle with Rubys mental illness, Jennys love affair, Rubys daughter's disappearance, and Irene's husband and granddaughter's accidental deaths. How to Make a Life is a sweeping saga that follows three generations from Brooklyn to WWII, Woodstock to India, and Spain to Israel, teaching them to accept each other's differences or risk cutting ties.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 328 pages
Publication date: 13 December 2020
Publisher: She Writes Press

When Ida and her daughter Bessie escape a catastrophic pogrom in Ukraine for America in 1905, they believe their emigration will ensure that their children and grandchildren will be safe from harm. However, choices and decisions made by one generation have ripple effects on those who come later, and in the decades that follow, family secrets, betrayals, and mistakes made in the name of love threaten the survival of the family.

Bessie and Abe Weissman's children struggle with the shattering effects of daughter Ruby's mental illness, of Jenny's love affair with her brother-in-law, of Ruby's daughter's disappearance as she flees her mother's legacy, and of Irene's husband and granddaughter's accidental deaths.

A sweeping saga that follows three generations from the tenements of Brooklyn through WWII, from Woodstock to India, and from Spain to Israel, How to Make a Life is the story of a family who must learn to accept each other's differences or risk cutting ties with the very people who anchor their place in the world.

Weight: 424g
Dimension: 140 x 214 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781631527791