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Coming May 17, 2022

From the Award-Winning Author of Rashi’s Daughters and 50 Shades of Talmud

Comes a Powerful Romance with a Purpose

The Choice: A Novel of Love, Faith, and the Talmud
by Maggie Anton, author of Rashi’s Daughters, Banot Press, ISBN: 978-0-9763050-3-3, $16.99

It’s Brooklyn, New York, and the year is 1955. Dr. Robert Salk discovers a vaccine for polio. The Dodgers play the Yankees in the World Series. The McCarthy hearings deport communists while the new state of Israel takes shape in the Middle East. Young Rabbi Nathan Mandel hears a knock at the door.

Expecting journalist H. M. Covey, he is shocked to find attractive Hannah Eisin on the other side. Hannah reveals that Covey was her birth name before her father died and her mother married Samuel Eisin. She uses an ambiguous byline because she’s writing for a Yiddish newspaper where female columnists are rare.

After the interview, Hannah convinces Rabbi Mandel to teach her Talmud, something forbidden by Jewish law that could cost him his job if discovered. Things start innocently enough, but soon the gloves come off as “Annie” and “Nate” discover they are passionate about much more than Talmud.

Maggie Anton has written a powerful love story with a purpose: to expose the many ways the Torah and Talmud have been interpreted unfavorably toward women. Anton is fearless in the subjects her characters tackle during their weekly sessions:

  • Niddah & Mikveh. Rules regarding sex and menstruation.
  • The Minyan & The Drash. Why Jewish women are excluded from services.
  • The Shanda of Mesirah. A rabbi refuses to turn a pedophile over to police.

Anyone interested in the role of women in Judaism will find Maggie Anton’s The Choice an unforgettable story that sets the record straight!

ABOUT MAGGIE ANTON:

Maggie Anton is an award-winning author of both fiction and nonfiction and a Talmud scholar with a deep understanding of Jewish women’s history. Her research into the great Jewish scholar Rashi, who had no sons, led to the award-winning trilogy Rashi’s Daughters, followed by a two-book series, Rav Hisda’s Daughter, a National Jewish Book Award finalist and a Library Journal pick for Best Historical Fiction. She lives in Los Angeles, California.

ADAVANCE PRAISE FOR THE CHOICE:

“Maggie Anton gives evocative voice to the generation of our mothers, whose questions and bold solutions, especially about the most intimate of subjects, laid the foundation for the contemporary transformation of women’s status in Jewish learning and law.” —Rabbi Susan Grossman, DHL, Senior Rabbi, Beth Shalom Congregation, Columbia, Maryland, and coeditor of Daughters of the King

“The Choice takes us into the Jewish world of love and learning and the love of learning. One can only be grateful for such an intriguing and engaging work. Maggie Anton’s combination of history, imagination, and feminist reading of classical Jewish texts is impressive.” —Rabbi Laura Geller, Rabbi Emerita, Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, and coauthor of Getting Good at Getting Older

“Maggie Anton utilizes her characters’ authentic voices to address social justice while still entertaining the reader with an engaging romance.” —Jackie Ben-Efraim, Special Collections Librarian, American Jewish University

“Maggie Anton’s new novel embeds issues concerning the intersection of modernity, belief, and ritual practices within a lively, intellectually engaging romance. . . . Best of all, the romantic relationship of Hannah and Nathan evolves in sync with their scintillating discussions of various Talmudic passages, from both traditional and critical perspectives, leaving us wondering just how much more enriched Jewish life would be today had women been participants in the Talmudic dialectic all along.” —Stuart S. Miller, Professor of Hebrew History and Judaic Studies, University of Connecticut at Storrs, and author of At the Intersection of Texts and Material Finds

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT MAGGIE ANTON’S NOVELS:

“True to her mission as a historical novelist, Maggie Anton offers a woman’s take on what has been a mostly male enterprise.” —Jonathan Kirsch, Los Angeles Jewish Journal

“Maggie Anton demonstrates just how sex-positive Judaism is.” —Rabbi Elliot Dorff, Rector and Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, American Jewish University

“Anton delivers a tour de force . . . [Readers] will fly through the pages and come away wishing for more.” —Library Journal (starred review)

“A compelling combination of drama, suspense, and romance.”—Lilith magazine

For further information, review copy requests, or to schedule an interview with Maggie Anton, please contact Rachel Tarlow Gul at Over the River Public Relations: rachel@otrpr.com.


Filed Under: Fiction, News & Announcements, Uncategorized Tagged With: Banot Press, fiction, historical fiction, Jewish author, Jewish fiction, Maggie Anton, OTRPR, Over the River PR, Over the River Public Relations

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September 2021 Virtual Tour for Bestselling Author Trisha Thomas’ New Historical Fiction, WHAT PASSES AS LOVE

We’re excited to announce this terrific lineup of bloggers who will join us in celebrating the release of Trisha Thomas’ new historical novel, WHAT PASSES AS LOVE! This heartrending and breathtaking novel is about a young woman who pays a devastating price for freedom. We hope you will follow along as we share reviews, features, Q&A, excerpts, and book giveaways.

“Thomas’ well-researched and compelling novel charts Dahlia’s complex journey of escape, reinvention and self-acceptance. Fans of Alena Dillon and Lucinda Riley will be moved by this historical glimpse into a brutal time period. Not shying away from the cruelties of slavery, Thomas gives a voice to the enslaved by exploring the power of shared humanity and newfound courage.” – Booklist

“The author really gets inside Dahlia’s head, creating a protagonist who knows how to make the best of a bad situation and who constantly puzzles over the enigma of being neither Black nor white, a girl caught in the middle. She’s resourceful, a chance-taker who dreams and schemes until opportunities present themselves. It’s impossible not to root for her, however risky her actions.” – Historical Novel Society

Wednesday, September 1: OYNIDA LOVES BOOKS, IT’S A BOOKISH WORLD, HEY THAT’S JAZ

Thursday, September 2: BOOK GIRL MAGIC 

Friday, September 3: NURSE BOOKIE  

Tuesday, September 7: BLACK, BIRACIAL AND BOOKISH, ALWAYS WITH A BOOK/K2 READER 

Wednesday, September 8: DAI 2 DAI READER, THIS BROWN GIRL READS

Thursday, September 9: ARMED WITH A BOOK, READING WITH GLAMOUR

Friday, September 10: TRAVEL WITH A BOOK

Sunday, September 12: COCO CHASING ADVENTURES

Monday, September 13: MOMMA LEIGH ELLEN’S BOOK NOOK

Tuesday, September 14: LITERARY QUICKSAND, SUZY APPROVED BOOK REVIEWS

Wednesday, September 15: BLISS AND BOOKS

Thursday, September 16: BOOKS, LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING

Friday, September 17: WHAT’S BETTER THAN BOOKS

Monday, September 20: READER THEN BLOGGER. KIM READS AND READS

Tuesday, September 21: TARHEEL READER

Wednesday, September 22: JYPSY LYNN, SECRET READING LIFE

Thursday, September 23: BOOKAPOTAMUS

Friday, September 24: SOME KIND OF A LIBRARY

Monday, September 27: SHE JUST LOVES BOOKS 

Tuesday, September 28: WE LOVE BIG BOOKS AND WE CANNOT LIE

Wednesday, September 29: READING MAMA REVIEWS

Thursday, September 30: TORI LOVING WORDS

Friday, October 1: BOOKS EN VOGUE

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: African American history, Black History, blog tour, fiction, historical fiction, Lake Union Publishing, Literary fiction, September blog tour, September book, Trisha Thomas, women's fiction

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August 2021 Virtual Book Tour for TWO SPIES IN CARACAS by Moisés Naím, translated into English by Daniel Hahn

Release date: August 1, 2021, Amazon Crossing

A “gripping political thriller that immerses the reader in the volatile Bolivarian revolution led by Venezuelan army colonel Hugo Chávez…This is a must for anyone who wants to explore this tumultuous and often strange period in modern Latin American history.” – Publishers Weekly

Mark your calendars for this fantastic virtual book tour for TWO SPIES IN CARACAS by Moisés Naím and translated into English by the talented Daniel Hahn.

Moisés Naím has been called “one of the world’s leading thinkers” (Prospect Magazine) and is one of today’s most widely read columnists on international economics and geopolitics. In the early 1990s, he served as Venezuela’s Minister of Trade and Industry, as director of Venezuela’s Central Bank, and as executive director of the World Bank. He is a Distinguished Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC and a best-selling author of 14 nonfiction books, including the New York Times bestseller The End of Power, which was selected by the Washington Post and the Financial Times as one of the best books of 2013. Naím’s background and extensive knowledge of the rise and fall of Venezuela in the 21st century offer the perfect foundation for his debut novel.

SYNOPSIS:

TWO SPIES IN CARACAS is the best combination of historical fiction, spy thriller and romance set against the passions and betrayals of Hugo Chavez’s revolution. Although fiction, the story is inspired by more than two decades of research, as well as Naím’s direct access to the best-informed sources about what happened in Hugo Chávez’s Venezuela.  The result is a captivating page turner based on unimaginable real-life events.

Venezuela, 1992. Unknown colonel Hugo Chávez stages an ill-fated coup against a government, igniting the passions of Venezuela’s poor and catapulting the oil-rich country to international attention. For two rival spies hurriedly dispatched to Caracas—one from Washington, DC, and the other from Fidel Castro’s Cuba—this is a career-defining mission.

Smooth-talking Iván Rincón of Cuba’s Intelligence Directorate needs a rebel ally to secure the future of his own country. His job: support Chávez and the revolution by rallying the militants and neutralizing any opposing agents.

Meanwhile, the CIA’s Cristina Garza will do everything in her power to cut Chávez’s influence short. Her priority: control the greatest oil reserves on the planet by ferreting out and eliminating Cuba’s principal operative.

As Chávez surges to power, Iván and Cristina are caught in the fallout of a toxic political time bomb: an intrepid female reporter and unwitting informant, a drug lord and key architect in Chávez’s rise, and personal entanglements between the spies themselves. With everything at stake, the adversaries find themselves at the center of a game of espionage, seduction, murder, and shifting alliances playing out against the precarious backdrop of a nation in free fall.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Moisés Naím is an internationally syndicated columnist and the host and producer of Efecto Naím, an Emmy winning weekly television program on international affairs that has been aired throughout the Americas since 2012 via NTN24/DirecTV. Naím was the editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy magazine for 14 years and is the author of many scholarly articles and 15 books on international economics and politics. In 2011, he received the Ortega y Gasset prize, the most prestigious award for journalism in the Spanish language. His 2013 book, “The End of Power”, a New York Times bestseller, was selected by the Washington Post and the Financial Times as one of the best books of the year. In the early 1990s, Naím served as Venezuela’s Minister of Trade and Industry, as director of Venezuela’s Central Bank, and as executive director of the World Bank.  He was previously professor of business and economics and dean of IESA, Venezuela’s leading business school. Dr. Naím holds MSc and PhD degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and lives in Washington, DC. For more information visit https://www.moisesnaim.com/.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR:

Daniel Hahn is a writer, editor, and translator with nearly seventy books to his name. He chaired the Translators Association for two years and served four years as a director of the British Centre for Literary Translation and four years as editor of the journal In Other Words. Recent translations include Juan Pablo Villalobos’s I Don’t Expect Anyone to Believe Me, Julián Fuks’s Resistance, and Carola Saavedra’s Blue Flowers. For more information, visit www.danielhahn.co.uk.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Amazon Crossing, August release, Book in Translation, Daniel Hahn, Debut novel, fiction, Fiction in translation, historical fiction, Latin America, Latinx author, Moises Naim, Political thriller, Venezuela

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May 2021 Virtual Blog Tour for JACOBO’S RAINBOW by David Hirshberg

Release date: May 4, 2021, Fig Tree Books, LLC

We’re excited to share this great schedule for a virtual book tour for JACOBO’S RAINBOW by the multiple award-winning author, David Hirshberg. Reviewers of Hirshberg’s debut novel, My Mother’s Son, compared his writing to that of Michael Chabon’s and Saul Bellow’s, among others.  My Mother’s Son just won its 9th award –  a 2020 Best Book Awards Finalist for Historical Fiction.   The early praise for his new novel – from the likes of Gary Shteyngart, Shulem Deen, Marcia Clark, and more! – has been fantastic. We hope you will join us on this tour and follow along to learn more about this great novel through reviews, excerpts, spotlights, guest posts and giveaways! 

SYNOPSIS: JACOBO’S RAINBOW is an historical literary novel set primarily in the nineteen sixties during the convulsive period of the student protest movements and the Vietnam War. It focuses on the issue of being an outsider “the other,” an altogether common circumstance that resonates with readers in today’s America. Written from a Jewish perspective, it speaks to universal truths that affect us all.

On the occasion of the 15th anniversary of a transformative event in Jacobo’s life – the day he is sent to jail – he writes about what happened behind the scenes of the Free Speech Movement, which provides the backdrop for a riveting story centered on his emergence into a world he never could have imagined. His recording of those earlier events is the proximate cause of his being arrested. Jacobo is allowed to leave jail under the condition of being drafted, engages in gruesome fighting in Vietnam, and returns to continue his work of chronicling America in the throes of significant societal changes.

Nothing is what it seems to be at first glance, as we watch Jacobo navigate through the agonies of divisive transformations that are altering the character of the country. Coming to grips with his own imperfections as well as revelations about the people around him, he begins to understand more about himself and how he can have an impact on the world around him … and how it, in turn, will have an effect on him. 

JACOBO’S RAINBOW is a story of triumph over adversity (hypocrisy, loss, lies, murder, concealment, prejudice) that is told with vivid descriptions, perceptive insights, humor and sensitivity, which enables the reader to identify with the characters who come to life to illustrate who we are, how we behave, and what causes us to change.

ADVANCE PRAISE:

“A beautiful novel set in the past but perfectly, scarily, relevant to our current moment.” —Gary Shteyngart, author of Lake Success

“Blending together historical events and wonderfully imaginative settings, David Hirshberg explores the American Jewish experience in this evocative novel of self-discovery, belonging, and the complexities of identity.” —Shulem Deen, author of All Who Go Do Not Return

“Hirshberg’s insights and observations about society, his peers, bigotry and anti-Semitism are both trenchant and currently relevant to the culture wars and threats to free speech we see on our college campuses and society at large today. Jacobo’s Rainbow is a deeply moving, sensitive, and profound novel—a definite must-read.”—Marcia Clark, author of Blood Defense and Final Judgment

“David Hirshberg propels the reader into the mix of the turbulent nineteen sixties, as if this novel was constructed from personal conversations between the characters and the author. They are all agents and witnesses of their times with intersecting ethnicities, religions, races, genders, languages, and ages. Characters in this captivating narrative hide, discover, and reveal their true inner selves as they interact with events and each other. This is a saga that drops bread crumbs for the discerning eye and gratifies the reader who recognizes them and revels in the aha moments when the pieces come together. Hirshberg is immensely skilled at conjuring plausible events that serve the narrative. He captures the essence of anti-Semitism experienced by Jews of different hues and origins. The author represents with imagined accuracy the experiences of young men and women caught up in the Free Speech movement and in the jungles of Vietnam.” —Debbie Wohl-Isard, Editor, La Granada

“Jacobo’s Rainbow is a powerful, electrifying glimpse into the life of a young student advocating for the Free Speech Movement and protesting the Vietnam War. It’s a story about truth, loyalty, tradition, and the shortcomings of human perception, an all-too-often occurrence for those who haven’t yet experienced much of life. Hirshberg’s keenly nuanced characters will remain with the reader long after the last page.” —Crystal King, author of The Chef’s Secret and Feast of Sorrow

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

David Hirshberg is the pseudonym for an entrepreneur who prefers to keep his business activities separate from his writing endeavors. As an author, he adopted the first name of his father-in-law and the last name of his maternal grandfather, as a tribute to their impact on his life. His first novel, My Mother’s Son was published in 2018 and won nine awards. Reviewers have compared Hirshberg’s writing to Michael Chabon’s and Saul Bellow’s, among others. Learn more at David Hirshberg’s website.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: blog tour, David Hirshberg, Fig Tree Books, Free Speech Movement, historical fiction, Jewish fiction, May release, May virtual tour

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May 2021 Virtual Book Tour for ALL SORROWS CAN BE BORNE by Loren Stephens

Announcing the fantastic lineup for the virtual book tour for All Sorrows Can Be Borne by Loren Stephens, a beautifully written new novel that explores how families are shaped by political and economic circumstances, tremendous loss and ultimately forgiveness. We are thrilled to have all of these bloggers on board and can’t wait for the reviews, spotlights, guest posts and giveaways! The novel will be out 5/11 from Rare Bird Lit.

SYNOPSIS: Inspired by true events, All Sorrows Can Be Born is the story of Noriko Ito, a Japanese woman faced with unimaginable circumstances that force her to give up her son to save her husband. Set in Hiroshima, Osaka, and the badlands of eastern Montana and spanning the start of World War II to 1982, this breathtaking novel is told primarily in the voice of Noriko, a feisty aspiring actress who fails her audition to enter the Takarazuka Theater Academy. Instead, she takes the “part” of a waitress at a European-style tearoom in Osaka where she meets the mysterious and handsome manager, Ichiro Uchida. They fall in love over music and marry. Soon after Noriko becomes pregnant during their seaside honeymoon, Ichiro is diagnosed with tuberculosis destroying their dreams.

Noriko gives birth to a healthy baby boy, but to give the child a better life, Ichiro convinces her to give the toddler to his older sister and her Japanese-American husband, who live in Montana. Noriko holds on to the belief that this inconceivable sacrifice will lead to her husband’s recovery. What happens next is unexpected and shocking and will affect Noriko for the rest of her life.

ADVANCE PRAISE:

“So many of us have suffered this past year or so.  Many of us have had to dig deep within ourselves to learn how to bear sorrows and loss.  Many of us have looked to the past for inspiration to get through difficult times. For all these reasons, Loren Stephens’ All Sorrows Can Be Borne has come at the exact right time. Inspired by true events and real people, the story looks at pain and suffering but also the ultimate triumph of love, forgiveness, and compassion. I loved the book.” —Lisa See, author of The Island of Sea Women and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

“Starting with the heart-wrenching opening chapter of All Sorrows Can be Borne, Loren Stephens weaves a tale of love, family and loss with a page-turning plot. Both harrowing and tender, this generous and emotional novel pulls you into a story of character and place that’s hard to put down. This is a beautiful book.” —Barbara Abercrombie, author of The Language of Loss

“All Sorrows Can Be Borne is a harrowing story of love and betrayal, all the more heartbreaking because it is based on family history. Post-war Japan comes alive in these pages, and even the most unforgivable acts make a tragic kind of sense when viewed through the prism of violence that marked every one of the war’s survivors. As this tale makes clear, in the wake of such trauma, humans can do the unthinkable, both to and for the ones they love.” —Aimee Liu, author of Glorious Boy

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Loren Stephens is a widely published essayist and fiction and nonfiction storyteller. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, MacGuffin, the Jewish Women’s Literary Annual, The Forge Literary Magazine, Crack the Spine, Lunch Ticket’s Amuse Bouche series, The Write Launch, The Summerset Review, The Montreal Review, and Tablet travel magazine, to name a few. She is a two-time nominee of the Pushcart Prize and the book Paris Nights: My Year at the Moulin Review, by Cliff Simon with Loren Stephens was named one of the best titles from an independent press by Kirkus Book Reviews. She is president and founder of the ghostwriting companies, Write Wisdom and Bright Star Memoirs. Prior to establishing her company, Loren was a documentary filmmaker. Among her credits are Legacy of the Hollywood Blacklist with on camera narration by Burt Lancaster, produced for PBS and nominated for an Emmy Award; Sojourner Truth: Ain’t I A Woman? produced for Coronet Films and recipient of a Golden Apple from the National Education Association; and Los Pastores: The Shepherd’s Play produced for the Latino Consortium of PBS and recipient of a Cine Gold Eagle and nominated for an Imagen Award. She is a member of the Regional Board of the Anti-Defamation League; a member of its Deborah Awards Committee for Outstanding Women; and a member of Greenlight Women, an organization of women in the entertainment industry who serve as mentors. For more information visit https://writewisdom.com/.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: blog tour, Debut novel, historical fiction, Literary fiction, Loren Stephens, May release, May virtual tour, Rare Bird Lit, Virtual book tour

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