Esther Levy Chehebar on Marriage, Sisterhood, and the Weight of Tradition
The Cohen sisters are at a crossroads. And not just because the obedient middle sister, Fortune, has secretly started to question her engagement and impending wedding. Nina, the rebellious eldest sist...
22 Jul 202550min
Elizabeth Graver on Lost Worlds and New Doorways
A kaleidoscopic portrait of one family’s displacement across four countries, Kantika―“song” in Ladino―follows the joys and losses of Rebecca Cohen, feisty daughter of the Sephardic elite of early 20th...
8 Jul 202555min
Jessica Berger Gross on Cultural Judaism and Creative Resistance
When Hazel Blum’s father gets a tenured job at a prestigious college, she and her family relocate from Brooklyn to a middle-of-nowhere college town in Maine. With her mother, Claire, a clothing design...
24 Jun 202543min
Mary Morris on Hidden Histories and Jewish Identities
Thirty years ago, Laura’s mother, Viola, went missing. She left behind her purse, her keys and her mysterious paintings of a red house. Viola was never found, and her family never recovered. Laura, an...
10 Jun 202547min
Announcement: Now an Always-On, Every Other Week Show, and a Newsletter!
Hi everyone! If you’re new here, welcome! At The Five Books, we’re all about connecting through stories. What role do books play in shaping who we are? Which beloved books do you share with your favor...
3 Jun 20251min
Rabbi Sharon Brous on Finding Her Place in the Jewish Community and Working to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World
In a time of loneliness and isolation, social rupture and alienation, what will it take to mend our broken hearts and rebuild our society? Sharon Brous—a leading American rabbi—makes the case that th...
27 Mai 20251h 1min
Jeremy Dauber on Jewish Literature, Pop Culture, and What The Horror Genre Reveals About America
“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 Sa...
20 Mai 202552min
Jill Santopolo on Being a “Pizza Bagel”, and Fiction as a Way to Make History More Human
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 li...
13 Mai 202546min
